Days with Dad

Everyone was taking first day of school pictures and posting them on facebook.  Well here's ours.  This is the best he would give me....little punk.  By the way, it isn't raining.  He just chose that coat and did the sweet hood thing himself....whatever.

 

Seth came to Anacortes with us to check out a boat building place for one of his friends.  Kya and I went to the gym as usual and then met him for a walk at the marina when we were done.

Good thing the marina has port o potties. 

 

Seth had a million things to do and was only going to be home for a week before he had to head back to Alaska for about a week, but he prioritized.  First up, build a bike trail through the woods.

You get mighty dirty building trails.

 

Kya discovering the interesting sounds heard when your ears are under water.

Putting the finishing touches on the trail.

 

Eagerly awaiting the opening of "Loop de Loo Bumpity Bump Backyard Dirt Track."  I would have had a ribbon cutting ceremony, but no one wanted to wait for me to get a ribbon and string it across the entrance.  Maybe we'll do that after the expansion next spring.

 

And they're off!

Opening up all that area exposed a lot of blackberries that we couldn't get to before.  Kya picked a bunch and sat down to watch Ryker ride and enjoy a snack.

 

Seth flew back to Alaska for SEAS Board meetings, so we had to round up some surrogate fishermen to take us crabbing.  Alex took us one night and Clayton another.  Above Alex rocking a crab to sleep so Ryker can hold it.

 

This flamingo has been making the rounds in our neighborhood.  It was in some bushes, then set afloat in a pond, then ended up on a stump.  Kya wanted it so the neighbor gave it to her and she "rode" it home.  While everyone was at work the next day, we put it in the tree in our yard by the main road.  It took everyone about 3 days to notice.  Ryker and Kya thought it was pretty funny, especially how we got it up there.

 

Home Sweet Home

 

I unloaded the bikes from the car and they were off.  They hadn't been on them for a full two days because I didn't want to repack the trunk every time we stopped.  They were begging for me to get them out first before I packed anything into the house.

 

Dinner outside

 

Bird watching?

We had to all eat at separate tables because Kya's new thing is to grab other people's food.  Ryker was calling it triangle eating because all the tables formed a triangle.  I'm a big fan of "triangle eating."  I get my own space without anyone kicking, touching, or trying to drink out of my water.  When someone spills their milk, I could care less.  It never gets on me and Cosmos moves in to lick it up.

Cosmos is wondering why the travel toilet is in the yard now.  Well, Kya decided she'd like to keep using it instead of going back to the house.

Playset dumbwaiter

They requested I send lunch up in the dumbwaiter. 

 

Painting Rocks

How do you like this wheelie Ryker?

Preparing for Dad's homecoming

They've waited a whole summer to have him back.  Have fun sleeping with them for the next 3 months because it's going to be hard to get away from them!

Westbound

Yep, 102 degrees.  August in Montana, you never disappoint!

Spinners in Billings.  This is their second time.  The first time Kara took us, Ryker was dancing to the music and sampling yogurt with a perma grin.  It was pretty funny. 

They love this place.  I think it is pretty obvious why.

We picked up Kara in Billings after work, stuffed her in the back seat between the two car seats, and headed to Bozeman.  She was still working at both bank branches so we timed our trip so we could stay with her when she was in Bozeman.  It gave us an extra 2 hours on the front end of our trip back to Washington instead of on the tail end when it was just me, two kids, a dog, and 700 miles of highway with no where to stop but a hotel if the going got too tough.

Cosmos, glad to be out of the car and even more glad he didn't have to squeeze into the back where Kara did!

We left Bozeman about 6am when the kids got up and stopped at Burger King for lunch.  On the way to Montana I had all the meals and snacks packed in cooler and we stopped at rest areas for picnics where they and Cosmos could run around.  I thought they would enjoy a restaurant on the way back, but they pretty much drank their milk and ate a couple fries.  They were pretty pleased with the crowns though so I guess it was worth it.

Cosmos ate their burgers and we were off.  After a couple hours in the car, he started stinking it up and I was wishing I hadn't given him the leftovers.

 

We made it home by about 5 pm our time.  The kids traveled great and although they didn't sleep that much they were pretty content to just sit.  I think they were tired, excited to get home to their own stuff, and by the plethora of questions about whether or not Seth would be there when we got to our house, thinking about their Dad quite a bit of the drive.

Last Few Days with Grandma

Whenever we'd go up by this statue of Pierre Wibaux, Kya would say he looks like Dad.  I asked if it was the cowboy hat, the boots, or the holstered guns and she would just laugh and say, "that's Dad."  Okay Kya, whatever?????

Football has started, school is about to.  Time for us to head home.