Summer Plans

Summer officially started at 3:30pm last Friday June 21st.  That was the time that both Erin and I were done with not only students, but also various meetings and trainings for the summer.  You may be wondering what will be in store for us this summer, and let me tell you, it is shaping up to be quite busy.

Originally, I was planning to work a full five weeks over the summer and to basically get just two full weeks off, but one of the two summer programs I was set to teach had a low enrollment freeing up three weeks of my summer.  I was slightly disappointed because this particular program had me teaching 6th graders that included using iPads and daily PE time that usually involved throwing frisbees at kids, or playing kickball (plus the extra paycheck is nice). But, I was also excited to have more time at home with Nathan and Erin.  Now I am just working two weeks with incoming freshman.

With work out of the way I could fully participate in what we might as well call the summer of weddings.  We have at least 4 weddings to attend to this year, 4 more than last summer and I can't emphasize this enough:  I am really excited to attend all these weddings.  Despite sounding pretty sarcastic, I am excited to attend each and every one of these events.  They are all friends that we have known for quite a while and we are excited to be part of their special days.

In fact we already attended one of the weddings this past weekend in Seattle.  Our friends Phil and Monica were wed in a wonderful industrial art gallery in downtown Seattle.  The ceremony was a ton of fun and almost my entire immediate family was there.  However, I forgot all my wedding attire at home and had to go shopping for an entire outfit minus shoes and belt the day of the wedding. My Dad convinced Nathan to try Jelly Bellies and Gummy Bears and now he is hooked.

The Bride and Groom who had super sweet vows they had written each other.

Grandpa who is in all likelihood feeding his two grandsons all sorts of unhealthy snacks

My day of wedding outfit and my beautiful bride.

The rest of the summer will be busy too.  Some of our plans and goals include:

Going berry picking
Painting both Nathan's room and the new nursery
Furnish and decorate the new nursery
Transitioning Nathan to a twin bed
Potty Training Nathan
Traveling to Colorado for Erin's family reunion
            Going to Arches National Park
            Checking out the Great Salt Lake (I have hopes of swimming there)
            Seeing the Mormon Temple
            Seeing Shoshone Falls
            Going to the Utah Zoo in SLC
Attending 3 more weddings and a 50th Anniversary Party (update: had to reconsider our plans to attend anniversary party. Definitely sorry to miss out!)
Attending an International wedding (If Canada and September count)
Grilling constantly
           Perfecting Ribs on the grill
Baking a few pies (well, only one pie so far, but that counts, right?)
Go to the Oregon Zoo
Go to the Oregon coast
Protecting our new house from the mayhem of a Battle Ground 4th of July
Watch the Ridgefield Independence day parade
Teaching Nathan to ride his balance bike
Add to our garden
Not wearing long pants outside of said weddings
Reading a a bunch of good books (any suggestions)
Watching a bunch of movies (Erin is not so sure of this one)
Celebrating my mom's 60th birthday!  (shhh don't tell)
Spend some some time in Maple Valley next to the Cedar River
Find a fair with lots of farm animals to attend
Take Nathan to a Mariner's Game at Safeco



This should keep up busy.  Look back for blogs recapping all our adventures, or mis-steps.

Nathan either on his sugar high or just before the crash.

"You Shall Not Pass!"

We also stopped at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium on the way home from Seattle.  We were almost immediately greeted by this peacock who did not want to let us pass on the path to go down the hill.  Nathan got a bit freaked out when he started strutting and bobbing his head, but I was able to nobly put my body between the peacock and my family and get them to safely walk down the path.  Other than this incident we had a great time at the zoo.  Nathan loved the aquarium and how the fish constantly move, as opposed to the animals which often are sleeping or moving just a bit, and I wanted to watch the tigers much longer than Erin and Nathan were willing to wait for them to move much.