July Shenanigans

I thought my vacation would be over after the Hawaii/Oregon saga, but a vacation 2011 trilogy was meant to be. Here's how the month went down.
After returning from Oregon we spent a few days together as a family before Britton was scheduled to help a friend drive a car from here to New York. It was the ultimate man friend cross country road trip. I'm not sure what Britton is doing in this picture, but with the pajama pants you can tell the road trip is off to a good start. They took a scenic route stopping in Rexburg (Home of BYU-Idaho and Britton's newly wed little bro, Derek.) The next day they drove through Yellowstone, and took their time enjoying the beautiful scenery.They even took some time out to play frisbee in this sprawling field.
They were having lots of fun talking and driving through Montana when disaster struck! They were just barely withing reach of cell phone service, and called a tow truck. They paid an unexpected visit to Broadus, Montana. A very small, small town. They had to ship some stuff to New York, and fly their seperate ways. I'm sorry for Peter and Nikki's loss, but I was very glad to have Britton back a few days early.
And then he flew out to Washington D.C. for his annual CSGF conference, and was going to stay an extra week to attend his college roommate's wedding. My mom generously offered to fly me and the boys out to Washington while he was gone.
Thus began my unexpected two week adventure. We spent every day with Will's cousins, Nick and Natalie. My mom watches them for my sister while she teaches at a private school. My favorite outing was our trip to Coulon Park. I loved going there as a kid, as a teenager, and I'm still loving it. They have a sandy beach with really cold water. The kids froze faster than I expected so we warmed up on the playground for a while.
Then we headed over to the "island" (bird refuge) for some secret agent adventures. They all had code names. Will was Agent Weirdo, Natalie was Agent Lame-o, and Nick was Agent Awesome. Can you guess who was the mastermind of this game?
The island is really small, but it has lots of criss-crossing paths perfect for secret agent exploration. I just sat in one spot with my stroller and my camera documenting the fun. Every once in a while they would come out into this clearing with these ridiculously large water guns. Below, Agent Awesome and Agent Weirdo are trying to convince Agent Lame-o to cross through the water to the other side. She is scared of losing her flip flops.
Here's the whole group together with a view of Lake Washington in the back. Elliot was pretty irate most of this outing.
We ended the day with some ice cold milk shakes from Kidd Valley. Wipe that grin off your face Agent Weirdo!
Speaking of funny faces, Elliot does the cutest kissy face. He manages to suck his whole mouth in before you hear the smack sound. Kissy face or grandpa face? It's a toss up. No offense Dad.
During those two weeks I got back into the exercise groove. I got to go running every day sometimes without kids (!) thanks to babysitters at home. I also took a beautiful hike on Cougar mountain with my sister in-law Sara while my dad watched the kids. I grew up there, but didn't really take advantage of the many hiking trails in the area. Thanks for convincing me to go Sara!
I really don't get to see my family often enough. I got to spend some time with my sister and we took a trip up to the train museum in Snoqualmie. Will was in heaven! Below everyone is standing on the original train station platform in front of the ticket booth.
Besides the outings, we spent a lot of time at my parents house. We did a lot more motorcycle riding than I was expecting. I even rode this little one around and, and Will couldn't get enough of it. Then my brother bought TWO motorcycles while I was there and could be found working on them every day.
It was probably a good thing I exercised so much because I ate junk food galore. There was a large supply of ice cream and Cheetos just asking to be eaten. Two of Will's most favorite things.
Will was a little disappointed upon arriving at Grandma's house to find out that there were no trains or train tracks. But the amount of cousins and other stuff definitely made up for it. One of the fist days we were there my cousin came over with her kids, and we had a big water balloon fest. The kids were trying to lure people outside so they could ambush them with water balloons. Don't they look menacing?

I hope we can see them all more often.

I know this post should be over, but I feel like I should elaborate on Britton's trip to the east coast. His conference was actually in Virginia this year instead of Washington D.C. He won first place for the poster session presentation! Way to go Britton! He took all the work he's been doing lately to his adviser and I think Britton is now on track to graduate next summer! After the conference he spent a few days with his friend from high school, Bill, who now lives in Virginia with his family. Then Britton had a great time playing Halo with his ol' college roommates and attended Jon Bennion's beautiful wedding also in Virginia. This is the only photo I have of Britton at the wedding. :) Checking email? All playing Words With Friends with each other? I know... Angry Birds.