In the good ole Summertime....

Makenna having fun relaxing watching "Toy Story 2" and eating some yummy baked bread....

First Monday of Summer break....Playing Settler's of Catan......Marshmellows.....what more could you want.... :) we have lots of fun together playing games....

Vampire Makenna

One day Makenna had been watching the "Littlest Vampire" and she put on her cape and cut herself some paper vampire teeth.....we thought it was very cute....Maybe she could be in the Twilight movie..... :)

The Planes....The Planes....

There were more Planes at the airport this weekend.....we went to check them out....

Happy Father's Day!!

The kids decorated some ties for Michael to wear to church today.....They were pretty fashionable has Makenna says.....He even wore them to church....

So long 8th grade...Hello High School.....

It just seems like yesterday that I was going to be a Freshman entering High School and now Braxton is.....Last night was the 8th grade completion ceremony.....458 kids.....the most ever to go through Brown Middle School.....We are very proud of Braxton he was one of only 24 kids that got 4.0 both years of Middle School.....Way to go!!

Rose Parade

Braxton very excited to be at the parade...lol....:) Thank goodness for books and snacks....
Madison(pink and blue shirt) front and center with her friend Veronica, all ready to see the horses.....

Makenna loved waving at everyone....she loved in when they would wave back...and she didn't like it too much when they didn't wave.... :) She really liked the princesses...

Landon taking a rest...a little after the parade started a float I guess ran out of gas or broke down or something so there was quite awhile with no parade activity....

Another thing that we like to do is go to the Portland Rose Parade.....This year was cold...mid 50's....and just a few light sprinkles....last year we got really wet... :) but the canopy keeps us nice and dry.....As you can see Makenna is showing us her back side...she didn't want her pic taken....and then when I'm putting them on the blog she wonders where the pics of her are....lol..go figure...

Another wild animal in the backyard

This morning I was looking outside and I saw something furry playing with the soccer ball....upon closer examination and from the safety of the window.....I saw that it was the mysterious raccoon that has been hanging around the neighborhood.....about a few months ago Landon told me that he thought a raccoon was destroying the pad on our trampoline of course i thought he was being silly why would a raccoon be on the trampoline....well, in May we all saw the raccoon in the backyard......we think that it has been eating the dog food that the neighbors behind us leave out for their dog....The raccoon was not even scared with me and Makenna looking out the window at it...I called some people that live trap wild animals, she told me that more than likely it has parvo and would have to be euthanized and that is probably why it is getting days and nights mixed up and getting more daring...... Kind of sad that it is probably sick, but scary for all of the animals and kids in the neighborhood. Well, that is the latest on the raccoon....we may be going around the neighborhood taking up collections to pay for the live trap....By the way, it totally had fun destroying the ball, we need to get another one but not leave it outside....you never know who or what might be outside playing soccer :)

Rose Festival Fireworks

One of our traditions is to go to the river front in Portland every May and watch the fireworks which are the start of the Portland Rose Festival.....Last Friday evening was no exception, come rain or shine we always head down to the river on the lawn with our blankets, chairs, snacks, glowsticks(that is part of the fun the kids think it is great), and camera. We have been doing this ever since we moved here, this was our 12th year....where has time gone?...

Annual trip to the Rose Festival Fireworks....the video was fun but of course they are much more impressive in person....