Bird's Birthday

There's alot of catching up to do since we had such a fun filled yet busy summer.  The most important topic is Lila's birthday celebrations (there were many).  Appropriately, Kim made Lila a Big Bird cake, I think her best cake yet.  As usual, Lila was all smiles. 

It's amazing how fast kids grow up. It seemed like yesterday when we were getting ready for her to be born.  We love you, our sweet little Bird!

PNW Part 4: Hat Island

The last part of our trip was spent at my Sister and Brother-in-law's place on Hat Island.  Hat is located among the Orcas Islands and was a beautiful location to end our wonderful trip. 

We had to take a sailboat ride out there, and here is Kim and Bird in her little life vest.

Steve used the leftover salmon parts as crab bait, and the crab sure loved that.  We ate fresh crab all weekend (I'm allergic but Kim said it was wonderful).

The view from their deck.

Walking along the beach with Susie and Grandpa.

Here is my sister Leslie with Lucas and Lila. 

Grandma reading Lucy a book before bedtime.

My cousin Josh and my sister Leslie on the sailboat.

Doug, Lucas, Asher, and Susie on the boat.  What a pretty family!

 

 

 

 

PNW Part 3: Hiking and Boating

Another fun aspect of our trip to Washington was the hiking and boating experiences.  We don't get to do much of either in Chicago, so we and the kids greatly enjoyed them.  

Here we hiked around Winthrop with the kids in our back-packs. 

  

Here we had Lila bird on Steve and Leslie's Sailboat.  As always she was having a blast.

My cousin Josh and my sister Leslie also enjoying the sailboat ride. 

 

Here are most of us before one of our hikes. 

On our way back from Winthrop Washington we stopped to do a beautiful hike up into the Cascade mountains to discover this gorgeous lake nestled way up in the mountains.  I didn't make it as I sprained my ankle on the way up, but fortunately Kim took some stunning pictures. 

I was impressed by how well all the younger kids did on the hike.  They were real troopers and enjoyed it too. 

PNW Part 2: Winthrop Washington

For the second part of our trip we headed through the Cascades to Winthrop WA, which is this little western-style town with great views, lakes and hiking. We had the whole family there (10 adults and 10 kids) so it was organized chaos. My sister Jody and my Mom did a great job of planning, and my brother-in-law Trevor had the family boat for skiing and tubing. At night when the kids were all in bed we enjoyed some really meaningful adult time as well, mostly celebrating my parents' 50 years of marriage.

The Whole Family

All the Kids - ages 1 to 16.

Here's Lucy ready for the Water

The girls were a bit nervous on the boat.  Lucy even tried joining me on the tube (she was very brave but not a fan).

Kim on the hammock with many of the cousins.  Lucy had a blast spending time with all of them.

My Dad and Mom did a great job of spending some good 1-on-1 time with each of the kids.  Here my Dad is helping my nephew Lucas fish. 

Lucas and Simone were enamored with Lila bird. 

Lila and her Daddy having fun at the beach. 

Lucas and Lila again.  This was a common occurrence. 

Me with the kids goofing off on the lake.  They are all a great bunch of sweet kids.