[day 215 ... aug 3]

I'm not sure if this is one of the original plates from the set, but I remember this pattern so well from my childhood. My mom still has a few of these plates, so I got to use them at her place this week. Brings back memories from so many years ago. I love the pattern too. I wonder if someone still makes it? (Unlikely!)

[day 214 ... aug 2]

Cory and I went for a nice paddle on the slough this morning - down the river and then up the river. Cory alternates between wanting to paddle and taking a more supervisory role.

On our way back down to Grandma's, we saw two big herons standing by the water. This one looked a bit old and ragged, but still majestic. Such stately birds. I didn't know they frequented these parts.

[day 213 ... aug 1]

Took the kids to the beach this evening for a picnic dinner. It was still hot, and I thought it'd be nice to cool down by the water and take a dip. Turned out to be not such a great idea. The lake is full of grass and green gunk, and the kids were not into playing and cooling down.

This is Niall having a timeout for not stopping some kind of misbehavior, with worse to come. Sigh. Sometimes parenting is just the pits.

[day 212 ... july 31]

Niall and I both love this t-shirt from Yellowstone. Such a cool pattern, and fun to check out all the different kinds of animal footprints as well. We'll be all set if we need to track anything through the woods. :-)

[day 211 ... july 30]

The heat this week continues relentlessly. High 90's now feel like some relief but it's still dang hot! The nights are brutal; it's just doesn't cool down so any air coming through the windows is still too warm to be soothing. It's improving bit by bit though.
Candi does some fun projects with the boys. These are some plaster casts they made (they did casts of leaves too that are gorgeous) and then painted. That's one of Candi's on the right. :-)

[day 210 ... july 29]

Record highs today around the Seattle area. It hit 107 degrees in Woodinville but thankfully, we were not outside to feel it!


I grabbed pictures of the outside temperature reading in the car several times throughout the day, and this was the hottest reading: 103 degrees! Yikes!

Took the boys and the van through the carwash (much needed after our Yellowstone trip) and this was the view through the windshield partway through the rinse cycle. Just looking at it was refreshing. Though I kept the engine running with the A/C throughout!

We went to see the movie "Up" at the Woodinville 12 movie theatres and enjoyed it - mostly. It's a bit of a tear jerker and Cory was pretty sad in several spots. It was worth it to be out of the heat, regardless.

After we got home and had dinner, I set up the sprinkler in the front yard so we ALL could cool down. It was still in the high 90's, even in the late evening. Between dashes through the sprinkler to cool off myself, I took this photo of Cory enjoying the spray.

[day 209 ... july 28]

Niall's little jalapeño plant has grown a lovely little pepper. It's so cute! Niall is dying to pick it but I really don't know how to tell when it's ripe. Maybe anytime now...?