Soccer Mom

While I don't drive a mini van or wear mom jeans I still fit the basic description of soccer mom on Wikipedia.  

'The phrase soccer mom broadly refers to a North American middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to their youth sporting events or other activities.'    

Even though Kenzie played soccer last year, this year the Soccer Mom title really hit home since both kids were playing on different teams. I now have to juggle two practices, two games, two times to volunteer for snacks or drinks.  It's been a fun season so far and the kids are enjoying it almost as much as I am.  I never  thought I'd be that annoying Mom on the sideline yelling at my kids to get moving but I am.  Seeing them play the game makes it personal for me and makes me engage as a spectator.

Ben's team is called the Green Dinosaurs and they are very fierce.  So far it's been a great team with kids who actually stay on the field and play which is huge for the 3 / 4 teams.  Ben does really good if he happens to come in contact with the ball.  We do need to spend some more time working on getting the ball from the other team.

Ben and his team during their pre game huddle.  You can see here how their height vary drastically on his team.

Defending the goal - he did a great job as goalie and loved throwing the ball back into the game.

Kenzie's team is the Black Cheetahs and they are fast.  They do a great job of getting the ball and moving it down the field but teamwork is what they lack most.  If they just passed it successfully to their team they could really change the game.

McKenzie in the goal box, she's ready and waiting but the ball ended up at the other goal for most of her time as goalie.  As her Mom I'll chalk up that success to her skills.

Power kickoff from the center line, the time she hustles the fastest is when there is a chance to kick off or throw the ball in from the sideline.  She loves to make those plays.

Kenzie defended the ball well against some tough players from the other team.  That's one things that other players might underestimate about Kenzie - the girl does not back down.

Looking forward to continuing our soccer season and enjoying many more sunny days on the sidelines cheering on my favorite players.

Hidden Treasure

I've lived in this area of the Northwest my entire life and twice this year I've discovered an amazing island that is within a half hour of my house.  This months hidden treasure is Jetty Island which is actually on the way out of the same harbor that runs the ferry for Hat Island.  After discovering Hat Island back in April, it's all I see when I get down near the water and look across the Sound.  Jetty Island is the perfect day trip beach for taking kids to enjoy the natural wonder of our beaches.  One sunny Saturday Rachel and I packed up the kids, a picnic lunch and headed out for an adventure.  I'd heard great things about the park but had never been. [side note from Gma C while editing: oh yes you have, we took you there when you were in elementary school] It will definitely be on my yearly summer bucket list from now on.

The sandy beach stretched forever which seemed ideal at first since the kids are small but Rachel and I soon agreed that it was perhaps a bit too far from the water to our stuff.  The kids had us running all over that beach exploring everything.  

My second favorite discovery of the summer has been this pop up half tent that Matt and I discovered we had purchased from Costco at some point.  We were cleaning the garage and found this blue bag that we thought had a big folding chair in it but then we opened it up and it was this great tent.  It gave us that feeling of finding money in the washer machine.  We have no recollection of buying it but we're sure glad we did.  Jetty Island was it's maiden voyage this summer but it has been a steady companion on our adventures since.

Kenzie and Ben in the water which is very warm since it is so shallow leading up to the Island.  You can see Hat Island on the right across the water.

Playing with Keaton in the sand, teaching him all sorts of new ways to get dirty.

Here's Ben probably thirty yards out in the water just wading around up to his tiny knees.  Such a great place to let the kids really enjoy the water without having to worry that they couldn't touch.

My cuties making a mud pie together.  They hauled that bucket filled with sand all the way back to our camp.  For some reason they really wanted that sand and not any other along the way.

Rachel and Keaton on the ferry boat on the way back to shore.  We gave Keaton his first sucker - corrupting the poor guy already.

Testing Out New Waters

I'm truly a marketeer at heart, just like with my annual Santa Clause campaign, where I pump my kids up on how great Santa is for months in advance before we have to sit on his lap for pictures.  I've been on a long term campaign to prepare McKenzie for entering Kindergarten.  As part of the prep work we've been talking about riding the bus and pointing out where her new school is and all the big kids things she can do when she goes there.  We took advantage of every chance that came up to continue to show her how exciting going to Kindergarten was going to be.

My favorite prep activity over the summer was taking the kids to the school playground  to meet up with one of Kenzie's friends from her Pre-K class who is going to be at school with her.  The kids loved exploring the new playground and trying out all the different equipment.  I think they were amazed at how big it all seemed compared to their school now.  We walked all over the campus peeking in the windows telling the girls about the different rooms like the library, the cafeteria, the music room. It was a great way to get Kenzie comfortable with the setting without all the chaos that comes when school is in session.

McKenzie, Ben and Bella enjoying a snack in the shade at the top of the slide.

Look at these two little monkeys. This will be a great picture to save for that Senior slideshow.

The excitement over school starting has been growing and so far my marketing campaign seems to be working.  Though I will mention that McKenzie wants to own literally every item she sees on infomercials so I know she is a soft sell on pretty much anything.

Ripe for the Picking

We're finally hitting my favorite crop of the season, fresh tomatoes and most specifically sun golds.  I discovered them during my very first season of growing tomatoes and I've had a least one plant ever since.  I've certainly tried other varieties but I keep coming back to the tried and true sun golds.  The longer maturing crops are starting to yield now and I've been thinning things that have reached their prime like the broccoli which produced several rounds this season before a few unattended days lead to some bolting.  I'm glad that we got some good meals out of the plants and now I'm thankful for the extra room for the pumpkin plants to spread out.  I never got a picture of the cheddar cheese cauliflower, some of my plants did produce good sized heads but overall they seemed to be a one shot plant.  Not sure I'll waste the space they needed  for just a few heads of cauliflower which no one really enjoyed but me.  Overall things are still thriving and nothing has gotten totally out of control this year.

Here's what we have been enjoying:

- Chives
- Rosemary
- Sage (so good with Matt's pork chops!)
- Peas
- Beans (the kids started these at school)
- Broccoli (now removed)
- Cauliflower (now removed)
- Sun gold tomato (notice there is no 's', so far only one which was eaten on Aug 3)

Here's the garden as of August 3rd.   You can really see how much it has grown over the course of the summer.  Despite the cooler conditions we've had it has done well with the sun it does receive.  I hope fall doesn't come in too harshly this year so we can enjoy the late harvest items as long as possible.

Here is a shot that shows where the majority of the broccoli and cauliflower was removed.  The pumpkin plants are already filling the space in the search of a hiding place for their fruit.  Last year as I was cleaning out the garden I happened upon a second pumpkin down by the stream so this year I'm trying to keep tabs on what the plants are up to.

Amazing flowers on the zucchini plant, almost worth growing just to see these open up in the morning sunshine. There are plenty of flower so I'm hoping the zucchini isn't far off.  I'd love to have the problem of having to leave them on my neighbors doorsteps.  

The pride and joy of my garden, the first sun gold of the season.  A sight to behold!  I wasn't sure if it was quite ripe enough to pick on August 3rd but I touched it and it fell down to the ground so I picked it up and enjoyed it.  Can't wait for the plants to start delivering more of these each day!

My cabbages are continuing to grow and increase in size, this is one area of the garden that I will need to rework next year as the cabbages are smashing my row of carrots.  The carrots are still growing and frankly I'm over trying to grow carrots.  I enjoy more visible results in my garden or at least something that can be enjoyed early in the season while I'm waiting for other things.  I am planning big things for these three cabbages - so far I'm most excited about Uncle Chris wanting to make sauerkraut out of one of them.  Should be interesting to watch them continue to grow.

Conga Conga Conga

Another summer favorite is the Mill Creek Town Center concert series which is every Wednesday night in the summer.  They have all types of different bands and plenty of room for dancing.  This year we met up with Aunt Kacey, Uncle Eric, Nathan and Kayla to listen to Gold Rush sing some pop classics from the 50's/ 60's/ 70's.  After some frozen yogurt the kids were ready to dance the night away and add their own flair to the show.

There are a ton of little frozen yogurt places popping up all over this year and the kids love to go and pick out their own flavor and toppings.  It's fun that it is self serve so we can mix and match and try new things.

Ben dancing with Kayla and McKenzie, he loved to watch the band members sing and play their instruments.  He also was putting on quite a show for some of the older audience members who loved his crazy dancing.

Ben finally convinced Nathan to get out and dance and the kids worked hard at forming a conga line.  They made it around a couple of times before they were laughing and goofing off too much to continue.  These four have so much fun together!

Beach, BBQ and A Little Brrr....

We had our annual summer picnic at the beach with Aunt Renee and Uncle Nick at the end of July but it wasn't anything like that last two years in terms of the weather.  Noting the weather we opted for a park with beach and playground toys so that the kids could have some fun no matter the weather.  Usually at our beach BBQ the kids are just in their suits splashing in Puget Sound like it's bathwater.  This year we all kept our sweatshirts on and stayed out of the water.  It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed a great meal prepared by Uncle Nick and stayed until the sun was starting to head down.  

Here are the kids just hanging around at the park while dinner was being made.  

This was as close to the water as Ben got and I even thought this was too close given our lack of extra clothes.

My dare devil girl getting even closer, she did get sprayed by the surf and had to take off her socks.

Ben was such a big boy, Aunt Renee let him walk Shelby down the path next to the beach.

Ben and his buddy Shelby, he desperately wants to love her and she is kind enough to tolerate him.  

Aunt Renee and Shelby by the beach practicing being models for my group photo shot.

I am loving the auto picture feature on my camera but perhaps I should double check if I can really see everyone before I push the button and run to get in the picture.  So funny that you totally can't see Ben or McKenzie because of the giant plant in the way.  It would have been a great family shot, I'll plan better next year.