Is he right-handed or left? It’s still up in the air as he switched back and forth using the scissors. We’ll see in time.

Grooming and leading horses through a maze day! Dear 33-year old Miss. Pattycakes has been working through some long standing digestive issues…which makes brushing her tail a multi-sensory experience:) Meryl was happily up for the job! Plus, it’s fun when the older kids help out with the youngster class - social scene!

One night, as we were walking out of the kids’ rooms, we heard and felt continuous loud booming. Well, there was most certainly a raging party, but it was all the way across Elliott Bay on Bainbridge Island…and these happy people planned a fireworks show on par with what shoots off of the Space Needle each year. Lucky us to have gotten to watch from our deck!

Lift off! At the end of August we took a float plane from Lake Union (near our house!) to visit friends on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle. (The pilot put the kids in the back with the cargo to balance out the heavy luggage the other passengers brought aboard…clearly not following the <25 lb. soft carry-on recommendation we painstakingly adhered to otherwise! Our bags went into the pontoons, and it was a joy to travel lightly…that is, after we figured out how to edit.)

Other people’s toys are the best.

Until well after the sunset, all the kids collected rocks, lined them up on driftwood pieces, and floated them out as ‘wishes’ into the ocean as the tide went out.

Forget whatever anyone is wearing, if there’s a body of water, they’re going in. Not quite swimming, but definitely not wading:) I can’t blame them here, it was so idyllic. Though, this was more of a before they all waded out deeper moment.

Biking for blackberries! Only this was Meryl’s first real bike ride off our neighborhood block. She borrowed a non-gear bike (much like her own) and faced the challenges of gravel roads and lots of rolling hills (read, not flat pavement). There were emotions, there were doubts…and there were blackberries! (And she doesn’t even like blackberries that much, ha!) She did it! She was so proud of herself, in the end:)

One of these cows will be in our freezer this fall! We’ve been buying beef from this farm on Lopez Island for several years now, so we had to see the cows and learn from the couple who raise them each year. And, watch out for cow poop along the way. (We have two freezers in the garage filled with beef, pork and chicken from a farm outside of Seattle, and seafood…from Alaska, of course. Thankfully, our electric grid continues to hold tight!)