Cousin's Weekend

What a fun and adventurous weekend we just had! My cousin, Derek and wife Megin organized a cousin's weekend at their beach house on Whidbey Island. We decided to make a full weekend out of it and left on Friday to camp part way at Pleasant Harbor (Brinnon, WA). So, off we go along with Tony, Kris, Tootsie (K9), Mariah, Lee and Virinda in the motorhome Friday afternoon in the pouring down rain. What a perfect weekend for camping! When we arrived at Pleasant Harbor our plan changed to having all of us cram in motorhome to sleep....making for an interesting sleeping arrangement for 8 people and a dog!

After our comfortable night in the motorhome we travelled up to Port Townsend to ride the ferry to Whidbey Island. We were thankful that we made it to catch our ferry because we would have had to wait a few hours before the next one. We arrived at the beach house just in time to cook up some lunch of hot dogs and veggie dogs. Also in attendance were Ty, Taryn, Duane, Erin, Paige and Clay. Grayson had fun playing with his slightly older cousins....and I'm sure he learned some new tricks from them! We all had such a great time catching up with one another, playing on the beach and just relaxing.....this will surely become an annual event.

Ft. Lewis Triathalon

These pictures are taken on July 14th at the Ft. Lewis triathalon. Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with our camera's flash card.....so the really great photos taken are non-existant. I (Jessica) did a relay triathalon with dad and Carol....me being the runner, dad the biker and Carol the swimmer. We did fairly well and placed 5th out of 10 co-ed teams. Greg (cousin Amy's husband) participated in his first triathalon and did great....but, according to him, he "sandbagged" most of it just to make sure he had enough energy to finish the run. With one under his belt, he knows what to expect and will really kick it in on the next triathalon in August. As for myself, I may just try the tri in August also!


This isn't the greatest photos of us, but for some unknown reason Heath was being naughty in the other ones of us....that happen to be much better of me.

Here goes dad on his 13 mile bike ride...sporting his Texas jersey to support his Texan connection!

Greg going out on his bike ride.

Greg looks mighty happy finishing his 1st triathalon! Great job!

Heat wave

Many of you probably know that we had quite the record temperature here in Western Washington yesterday. I think it got somewhere around 104 degrees in some spots....that is pretty warm for around here! It has cooled down tremendously today and is supposed to be reaching around the high 80's. We do fine when we get to play at the Point (our family lake property) or hang out in the shade. The part that isn't fun is our house....we have no A/C, so it got to about 86 degrees yesterday. Grayson had a hard time going to sleep last night, but by the time I did (around 1am) there was a nice cool breeze coming through. I love these warm evenings and nights (just not in the house)! I did forget to mention that Grayson and I spent most of the hot part of the day driving to REI (in Tacoma) and other air conditioned stores. We didn't do too bad! I was feeling a lot of empathy for my poor pregnant friends in this heat! I can't even imagine surviving that while I was pregnant. I was lucky enough not to endure any crazy hot days....but if I did I would have had to seriously live in the lake! Sorry girls....please call me next time when you need a cool down!

The picture above was taken on the 4th of July. Grayson has really been enjoying the lake and now starts getting excited when he knows we have arrived. Sand tastes good too!

I only turned around for a split second to put some dishes up....when I turned around, this is what I found! Grayson decided that he would be of more help by actually getting into the dishwasher. I couldn't believe that he crawled up there....so, of course I had to go get the camera. What else would I have done?! He is very enthralled with the dishwasher and will sometimes try to help me unload it by handing me silverware to put into the drawer. Knives get a little tricky though. :)

After Grayson's fun dishwasher experience....he then decided to go for a ride on his Harley rocker....by himself! We have been letting him try to climb up on his rocker for a couple days now, but this was the first time that he swung his leg over. What a huge milestone! (just kidding) After today, I think that I should be expecting more of these "climbing" episodes. I'm totally in trouble!

These are some photos from our recent trip to Sunriver, OR. We have made this an annual event (5 years now) along with my dad and the Boyle family with the new attendees, Carol and Natale. We go here for the Pacific Crest Endurance weekend....triathalons, 1/2 marathons, 5k, 10k, and the fun times! You will notice the feet above....those happen to be Carol's after running the 10k in only her socks (during the triathalon). Long story short....she obviously didn't have her shoes waiting for her at her transition area (from bike to run). Everyone did very well in their races this year! Great job team!

Our new site to share

Ok...so, I have been less than prompt with sending our recent photos and keeping everyone updated on our lives. After visiting my cousin/friend's (www.thegrubes.blogspot.com) blogspot several times a week, I decided that I should invest a little time creating our own! I'm not saying that I have extra time to add yet another project to my current list of endeavors, but I believe that this will be easier in the long run....and of course be fun! I will keep this site up to date and will hopefully post a few blogs/photos per week.....so keep us on your "favorites list" and check back periodically. By creating this site, I will hopefully be removed from the naughty list by the grandparents who want new Grayson photos :)