Summer has begun!

So much has happened since my last post:

1) Natalie had her baby - our newest addition to the Marecle grandbaby pool - Megan Katherine. Born June 17, 2009. She is adorable.

2) Kara finished up Kindergarten! What the heck...she is a first grader now! She had such a wonderful experience in Kindergarten. Thank you Mr. D!

3) Jace finished up his first season of soccer. I have to say the Bonney Lake/Sumner Rec Pee Wee Soccer program is so wonderful. Thank you Coach Carrie. Jace just loved his coach and the entire experience.

4) Kara celebrated her 6th Birthday! What the heck...she is such an amazing child. I could go on and on and on about how wonderful she is. We are so very proud of all she has accomplished and become in the past year! Here's to another great year. Thank you to all our family and friends who celebrated with us. She loved her b-day party! This was the first year she was just jumping off the walls and so excited about the b-day party

(sweet Jocelyn with her baby boy, Miles)

(new baby Lily Ann Kowalchuk born June 7, 2009 - 2 weeks early - isn't she adorable)

5) We actually took off to Friday Harbor for the 4th of July weekend. What an adventure! We left our house around 11:15a on Thursday, July 2 and didn't arrive to our destination till 11:15p. It sounds horrible, but we really made the most out of the CRAZY travel situation. We literally flew up to Anacortes to catch the ferry, but that's when we sat in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes before we even got to the ferry terminal. Then we thought we might get on the 5:10p ferry only to find out we would have to wait for the 8:25p ferry, which of course ended up being late and we didn't set sail for Friday Harbor till 9:00p. Once there we had a good night sleep and the kids were absolutely awesome! Bryce was a bit of an exception, but we all survived.

(I just love this picture of my boys)

6)Kara got 6 stitches on her 6th birthday! What a crazy weekend at Friday Harbor. She was innocently playing soccer with our friends son and she slipped on the gravel only to bust open her knee. It was the most awful wound I have ever seen. I wasn't able to grab the camera and I still haven't taken a picture of the stitched up wound, but I will.

(here is a picture the day after with the bandage on her left knee)

7)Whales, whales and more whales - of course, I couldn't get a good picture, but we saw quite a few whales on our trip to Friday Harbor. Kara also got lessons in shooting a bow and arrow. She got really good. Jace just liked to watch.
8) Fishing, prawns, clams - YUM...if you love seafood Friday harbor is the place to go! The kids got clams and fished a lot - although I think Jamin has a gypsy hex on him as they were skunked all weekend catching any salmon. They went ahead and caught some Cod so the kids had something to reel in.

(Jack, Jace, Ty and Kara after their only successful fishing trip)

(Bryce just loved driving the boat - that's Kelby in the background, he and his family live on the island. They were so nice to host us this past weekend. Thank you very much Anderson Family)