Memorial Day

We went to "the gun place" (as Tor called it) today. Papa Ken fired off a few rounds with the Legion in Castle Rock, and Tor got one of the casings as a souvenir. Then, we had lunch at the Legion Hall.

Birthday BBQ

We celebrated Auntie Greta's birthday with a backyard BBQ. The kids then watched a movie and ate ice cream with cousin Meagan and Andy at their place.

Flag Helpers

Jillian, Bridget and Tor helped Papa Ken put out flags at the Castle Rock cemetery. To our surprise, our family friend Kyle was there helping out, dressed in his police cadet uniform.

Snowball Fight

 Each year when the snowball bush blooms, Jillian, Bridget, and this year Tor, have a snowball fight.  There are lots of snowballs and they threw a lot.

Jillian snapped this picture of Anna as she was getting the camera for me.  Anna likes to be in all the action and keeps a keen eye out to see what's happening.

Dogs and Kids and Sand

It was a hot day for our Mother's Day late celebration, so we decided to have it on the patio where the sandbox is located.  It felt good in the shade with the damp sand, so all three dogs, Julie's Bo, Mocha, and Sophie (behind Mocha) and Jillian, Bridget, and Tor had a grand time together.  Sand was flying and Bridget buried her feet.  I think Jillian and Tor tried to build something which was a lost cause.  There was a hose nearby to wash off sandy legs and feet.

Mom's Day BBQ

We had our annual Mother's Day BBQ in Castle Rock this Sunday. We altered the tradition, moving the gathering from the lower fire pit up to Grannie and Papa's backyard.

Breakfast in Bed

Even though we missed the actual Mother's Day last week when Mommy was in North Dakota, the kids still wanted to have breakfast in bed with Mommy. Here they are having chocolate muffin (Jillian and Tor) and peanut butter toast (Bridget) and watching a cartoon on the tablet, while Mommy relaxes with her Starbucks coffee.

Olympic Carnival

The kids couldn't wait to go to the Olympic Carnival tonight. The girls (and even Tor) saw lots of people they knew. They played all of the games, put in for some raffles and ate dinner.

New Member of the "No Floatie Club"

We had no idea that Tor was ready to swim without floaties. The swim teacher had just taken off one set of arm bands the other day. Today, she removed the rest of the arm bands ... and he swam all on his own! He made over a dozen trips across half the pool, paddling like crazy. He was one very tired boy afterwards.

School for Tor

Jillian and Bridget brought Daddy a sign-up form for Tor to attend their school. Of course, Daddy signed it so his son would receive a unique education. The girls taught him the alphabet and how to read the word "cat". He ran away from school more than once, but his teachers tracked him down and dragged him back to class.

Tug-O-War

I had to laugh when I saw the 3-way tug-o-war.  Pretty soon Tor was laying down pulling but Mocha wouldn't give up her stuffed animal until Tor stopped pulling, and then Mocha just dropped it.  Then Tor could throw it for her to fetch.

Sendoff at the Train Depot

Mommy and Auntie Sheryl left for their trip to North Dakota to see Meagan's college graduation. They took the train out of Vancouver, so the kids got to send them off.

Busy Days

 Tierney came home for a few days so Jillian, Bridget, and Tor came up to play and see Tierney.  They played all kinds of games.  Tierney brought Tor a light saber pen that he really liked and Jillian and Bridget got a fashion building notebook to put together.  These kept them real busy.

 Later they all helped me for awhile to clean up an area.  Bridget and Tor got distracted and decided to climb a tree while Jillian, the worker, kept busy.  All three helped a lot!

 Brock was so excited that Brock was home and waited all day for him to come fight with light sabers.  Brock is a great Star Wars fan too.

They went at it for a long time and when they finally stopped, after about a half hour, Tor face was red from all the action.

Spring Swimming

Swim lessons at Briarcliff had been cancelled the first time we tried to go in mid-April, and the kids were really bummed. We were successful this time around, though, and the kids had a great time and did really well. Jillian is starting at Level 4, and she kept right on cruising with her nice, smooth strokes. Bridget continued in Level 2, and is working hard at keeping her head in the water and at diving correctly. Tor is in Level 1, and this year he's really motoring around and is more focused on following directions.

Padawan Tor

Here are some jedi pics of Tor, in honor of his cousins who posed with lightsabers long ago. He also finally got back his Darth Maul blade, after Daddy fixed it. Lately, Tor is wanting to battle every day when Daddy gets home from school. Typically, one of us is Obi-Wan, and the other is Anakin.

More Puzzles and May Day

 I bought a 6 pack of Avenger puzzles and Tor didn't stop until he had done them all and then he didn't quit until he made a Paw Patrol puzzle.  The puzzles weren't easy so I helped him do the edges and then he could go from there.

Since it was May Day I explained what kids used to do.  So we made paper baskets and then they picked flowers to fill the baskets.  Then the part they enjoyed most.  They took a basket to Aunt Julie's and hung it on the door knob, knocked and ran to hide.  Then they did the same for Aunt Robin.  Finally it was time to surprise me!  What fun!