Hole-in-One!!!

Yes, it really happened! Tor got an ace! Daddy got to witness it at the Mint Valley Par 3 course today. Tor hit his long iron on Hole 6, and the ball was heading straight for the pin. Daddy said "Wow, that looks really good", and then it hit the pin and dropped out of sight. Tor immediately took off on a sprint to see if the ball was in the hole, and it was! That was followed by lots of dancing and cheering on the green. Amazing! Here's the scorecard and a very happy young golfer (with a text bubble blocking out some personal data).

Of course, we placed the ball up on a small trophy that Tor had, alongside the scorecard.

Toutle River Time

It was 111 degrees out and they spent a lot of time wading and sitting on the water tube to beat the heat, while Papa and I decided to watch from the air-conditioned car.

When they were ready to go they decided to float down the Toutle to where the park entrance is, which is pretty shallow all the way but with places with mini-rapids. We picked them up there. Lots of people were at the river.

 

Water Games, Puzzle, Schedule, Boating

With it so hot in the afternoon they dreamed up this and other water games. In this one they had to race to fill up the basin with sponges they dip in a bucket. It was Jillian and Tor against Bridget which didn't seem fair until they explained that they drew lines on the bins so Bridget didn't have to fill it up as high as they did. Later it was the water cannons and squirt guns plus showers with the hose.

Later when it was too hot to go out they worked on a "family puzzle". It had 3 different size pieces and they got the big ones in first, all the while working while Anna is conked out-close to the action. Tor worked on the smallest pieces and put a flower together. They didn't quite finish.

Have to say they're organized sometimes. Here is one schedule from Jillian of things to do that they wrote on the driveway. Bridget had one too but used really light chalk that didn't show up.

Aunt Julie and Uncle Kevin invited them to go boating at Silver Lake. They were so excited and reported a great time on the lake!

 

Boating on Silver Lake

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Julie took the kids out on Silver Lake on their new boat. Here's Jillian's account:

"Aunt Julie and uncle Kevin successfully got the boat in the water and we started off. Bridget and Tor thought it was so cool when the boat went super fast and tip of the boat went high in the air. Then we got out of the boat and went swimming, Aunt Julie and Uncle Kevin jumped in too, the water was pretty cool but felt good."

Post-school Beach Trip

We left for the beach right after the Fathers Day BBQ, and just settled in at the cabin for the evening. Monday was sunny and warm, and we spent 3 hours at the beach. The water was freezing, but we made our own tide pools to play in. 

Tor brought his sand wedge golf club, and played a 9-hole course that we made.

Early that morning, Tor and Dad went to the Surfside Golf Course to play 9 holes. Considering how long the course was, and how many strokes were needed to get to the holes, Tor did pretty well (though he didn't feel that way, as usual).

We wrapped up with hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit, and a visit with Otto, followed with a late night viewing of Godzilla vs. Kong.

The next morning, Tor and Dad went to the Peninsula Golf Course for another long 9-holes.

In the afternoon, we biked to the park, library and Okie's (for lotto tix), and got stopped by a fire department employee ... who gave us coupons for free ice cream as a reward for wearing bike helmets (this is the 2nd time this happened!)

We spent night eating make-your-own pizzas and watching the Tom & Jerry movie.

Wednesday is clean up and drive home day.

Father's Day

Father's Day in Castle Rock for Papa and Rick. Rick got nice homemade cards from all the kids and a special treat they made-Keto peanut butter brownies with a lot of help from Tor. After a prime rib brunch, we all enjoyed a cheesecake with strawberries that Heather made specially for Rick and a peanut butter chocolate pie for Papa. It was a hot day but a very fun get-to-gether!

 

Kona Ice Truck

One of Heather's first organized events as the new Olympic Elementary PTO President was to bring in the Kona Ice Truck to serve students on the last week of school.

The kids enjoyed some shaved ice and ice cream, and hanging with friends and the neighbor girls while in line.

Dog Sitters

When Julie and Kevin were gone for a few days they enlisted Jillian to dog sit. She had lots of help from Bridget and Tor as they love to pamper Bo and Bella. 

 

Tierney & Jared, lessons, pond

Tierney and Jared came up Friday after dinner and they played with the kids until dark. It went from basketball to ripsticks, to volleyball, and wiffleball. Tired kids Friday night!

Tierney and Jared are leaving soon for New York so Jillian, Bridget, and Tor were really happy to get some time with them.

 Papa finally got the pond up and running, so when the kids were playing in the water, Jillian got this picture of her dog, Sophie, in her perch at the top of the pond watching the fun.

The kids had to finish the pond by arranging all the rocks on the stream and they were surprised to see there were steps leading to the top that had been covered by ivy from long ago.

Tor wanted a job to earn money for a phone (not happening) but undaunted, he wanted to start saving money. Earlier at breakfast I had given him a fork that was really tarnished and he wanted a clean one instead, so I decided a good job for him was polishing all the silverware. He did a great job-clean knife, dirty fork.

Jillian and Bridget are going to a small Kelso VB camp and Bridget now likes volleyball, so she's letting Jillian be her instructor too. It was almost non-stop lessons all day.

Here Bridget is showing good form on her passing!

Early Fathers Day

Since Papa Ken is leaving for North Dakota soon, we hosted an early Fathers Day dinner for him, featuring roast beef and veggies, and cheesecake for dessert.

Josie Jean's B-day Party

Time for cousin Josie Jean's 1st birthday party and Emmy & Dan's new house. It was packed with friends and relatives, and the kids were thrilled to have a bunch of Josie Jean time.

Lessons & Pie

Declan and his sister Farah (Erika's nephew and niece) came Friday and played outside with the kids until dark, The girls played mostly tag on the zip lines but the first thing Tor did was to teach Declan how to play golf so he would have a partner. 

Tor said Declan caught on fast and could hit the ball far.

Saturday again it was outside almost all day. I saved these pom-poms from when Aunt Robin was a cheerleader but these girls don't use them for that. They used them to battle on their ripsticks! Tor joined in the battle for awhile too.

In the morning Jillian made a peanut butter pie. It had to set in the frig for a couple hours and they couldn hardly wait to get a piece. Here Bridget put whip cream on hers but then again, everything gets whip cream They all agreed it was a yummy pie!