Husky Football Game

After a cold game last year, we decided to go to a Husky football game in late summer. It worked out; it was much warmer. In fact, it was really hot. They were playing the EWU Eagles, and we had seats in the east endzone again. The Huskies won handily.

Towards the end of the game, Bridget and Tor wanted to be shown on the Jumbo-tron, so they both did the "floss" dance, hoping the cameras would film them.

On the way back to the car, we walked through the UW campus, and Daddy got to show everyone his old stomping grounds, including Drumheller Fountain and Red Square.

We ended the day with dinner at Ray's Boathouse and dessert at Baskin-Robbins.

First Day of School

The kids had their first school day of the year today. Jillian is now going to Monticello Middle for 6th grade. At Olympic Elementary, Bridget is in Mrs. Wilson's 3rd grade class, while Tor is in Mr. Wells' 1st grade class.

Jillian and her friend Morgan are in a few classes together.

When Daddy got home, the kids were sprawled out on the couch, mentally exhausted. Jillian said that she was late for every one of her classes because she was totally lost all day.

War and The End of Summer Party

Ava and Harper came to play for awhile and when they went home for lunch, Brock and Tierney played them all a game of War. That's what Tor wants to play all the time now because as he says, "He dominates at it!". Jillian also got to have a productive VB lesson from Tierney. She is getting her skills down!

They then went up to Aunt's for an End of Summer party. They played lots of games with water balloons and got prizes and a little wet. At the end of the party Ava and Harper came to stay overnight. They played outside until dark and then got to watch a show in the basement. Bridget wanted ice cream so she fixed a big fancy bowl to take down and eat. Then she got orders for snacks from the other 4, a couple of ice cream bowls etc. She was officially the snack lady then.

They all bedded down for the night in the living room, Tor too. But when the lights went off he joined Papa and I in the bedroom. In the morning there were some groggy girls. 

After getting dressed and playing outside for awhile they got crafty and were all painting pictures, plus some other crafts. The twins had to leave but they got another session of play as Jillian and Bridget went up after lunch but Tor stayed here to play with his buddy Brock.

Karlie's Pool Party

We celebrated cousin Karlie's 9th birthday with the traditional pool party at cousin Lisa and Lee's house. The kids swam for several hours ... this has been the summer of swimming.

Garage Sale, Anna

Bridget sold cookies at the garage sale and Kaleigh was so nice to help her make 2 kinds of cookies, Snickerdoodles and Peanut Butter. They sold fast at the garage sale.

 While Kaleigh and Bridget were baking, Brock was giving Jillian a shooting lesson. Brock said she had good form but needed to quit using the backboard all the time.

 Ever since we left Anna for the week, she has been needing a lot of love and attention, so Bridget likes to hold her kitty.

U10 Soccer

Bridget had her first soccer practice tonight with her U-10 team. She has a new coach for the first time ever (Coach Michael), and she knew most of her teammates. It poured rain at practice, and Bridget got soaked (and Daddy stayed in the car to take this pic).

U-8 Soccer

Tor had his first practice tonight with his U-8 team, playing up an age level. He has Coach Nicole again, along with Coach McKenna, and a couple other teammates he knows.

U-13 Soccer

Jillian had her first soccer practice tonight with her U-13 team, playing up an age level like last year. She has Coach Dan again, along with several teammates from last year. They'll be competing with Vancouver teams this season.

The Amazing Tor

Tor joined in the garage sale this year with a performance stage.  He was a big hit! He played songs on a bluetooth speaker, and danced for the shoppers as they passed by. Occasionally, some people would put money in his tip jar. He ended up dancing for at least 4 hours or so.

The sign says "The Amazing Tor, with guest stars Kaleigh and Brock". They didn't know they were included in the show.

Girls Selling Stuff

Time for the annual Piercy / Woodruff Family Garage Sale. The girls were prepped and ready, since they had done it last year. Jillian made coasters again, and also tried selling driftwood. Bridget made cookies (with Kaleigh's help), and also tried selling hand-drawn pictures.

After a bit, the twins visited, and decided to join in the selling fun.

Back to Briarcliff

It's the end of summer, which means it's time for swim lessons at Briarcliff. We chose the 9:00 am session to prep the kids for waking up early for school. Jillian is in Level 7 (basically lifeguard training), Bridget is in Level 4 (lots of laps), and Tor started in Level 1-1/2, but they moved him right up to Level 2 after seeing how well he's swimming.

Another ice cream pic

Here's a pic of the kids at Frite & Scoop, after a trip to the Astoria Pool. The beach looked a little too windy for us, so we made the pool our big event of the day.

Another Beautuful Beach Day

Today was much like yesterday -- sunny, warm and not much wind. The highlight of the day, of course, was the time at the beach, nearly all of which was spent in the water, either on body boards or lounging in the warm tidal lagoons. Afterwards, we stopped at Adelaide's for ice cream.

August Beach Trip

Andy, Karlie and Auntie Sheryl joined us at the beach cabin for a weekend of beach fun. We actually arrived late Thursday, but after a late night (11 pm), the kids were up and ready to go. The beach was perfect ... sunny, mostly warm, slight breeze. The kids spent most of their time in the water -- for the first time in a while, the ocean was actually OK, temperature-wise.

After a hot dog and s'mores dinner, we trekked back to the beach to watch the sunset. We took the shortcut dune trail. 

Aloha!

Our last full day in Hawaii, and the kids wanted to swim as much as possible. We went in the pool, to Magic Sands (big waves), to Queen's Bath (warm lagoon), and back in the pool. In the evening, we concluded with the final "decade talk", then celebrated Grannie and Papa with some cake.

Kamakahonu Beach

A bunch of family met up at this small, relaxing beach in Kailua. Uncle Kevin and Aunt Julie rented a couple paddleboards for the day. Jillian had pestered us about wanting to go out to the ocean on a board, but had a change of heart when Ty and Brock came back from there "terrified". So, the kids were content to paddle around within tbe small cove:

Lunch was at Splashers Bar & Grill, an outdoor restaurant with a view of the bay.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping on Alli Drive. The kids found all sorts of treasures.

Family Pictures

We had a photographer take family pictures at the old airport beach. Here's just a sampling of the dozens of shots:

Tor saw cousin Ty posing for some shots with his shirt open, and Tor wanted to do the same thing. 

Afterwards, Daddy took a few more pictures as the sun went down. 

Hapuna Beach

We drove an hour north along the coast to Hapuna Beach. It was pretty nice there, with soft sand and gentle waves, but also very crowded and windy. Bridget and Tor got lots of body board practice.

Volcano

The big event today was traveling to the Hawaiian Volcano Nat'l Park. Our first stop was the Kilauea Crater, which was impressive in it's size ... it was also incredibly windy!

Our next stop was the Kilauea Iki Crater. This time we hiked right into it. The trail started in a jungle, and after over a long mile, opened up inside the crater. A very cool experience! Overall, it was a pretty long hike, but the kids did it all.

After all the hiking, Grannie and Papa treated everyone to lunch at the small O'hele Cafe. Great food!

We decided to make a slight detour on the return home, stopping at Hilo to visit one of Mommy's former volleyball playing sites: University of Hawai-Hilo.