Just Plain Fun!

We had a great weekend at the cabin in Plain (by Lake Wenatchee) doing projects and enjoying the scenery. Diane, Mickey, Andrew, Dale, Ella and I all went over on Friday and stayed until Sunday. While Ella and I worked inside cleaning like gangbusters, the "outside crew" put in walkways, accent river rock and some fencing. It is starting to look really nice over there. We always enjoy going and the sounds of the river while sitting by the nightly camp fire. Ella loves it because she can play in the dirt, eat as much as she likes and run around experiencing new things. It is good fun for all! I snapped this picture of Ella and Mick taking a little work break. Following, She took to rock eating and saying "icky poo!" As always, whenever we go... I can't wait to go back!

Banks Lake, friends partake...

We went camping with a group of friends to Steamboat State Park on Banks Lake (by Coulee City). It is an annual camping trip we take each year which has turned into a slight version of camping... we are pretty much taking RVs now. Those of us with little kids are deciding it is much easier to nap children (and ourselves) in an air conditioned environment. However, evening fires and smores with conversations focused around worldly topics are still part of the experience! We brought the seadoos and everyone enjoyed taking them out for cruizes on the lake. All in all we had a great time. Our only complaint... fargin mosquintos! We will be working on getting a propane skeeter eliminator!

Boobie squeeze, would you please?

Since returning from Hawaii lots have happened in our family. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent some surgery before we left for Hawaii. Today was her first day of chemotherapy. Although the chemo is just preventative (it had not spread to any other tissues or lymph nodes), it has still been a very scary thing for her to undergo. Over the last few weeks we have taken some time to enjoy the horses and getting out together. Her and Dean were married and she has moved out to the farm and now lives with the horses (well not WITH the horses but at Dean's were the horses have been for a while now!). She is now Marilyn Segle. They have been getting situated and moved into their new master bedroom. Dean (aka Pops) is glad to have her home and for both of them to be under the same roof. We are working at getting her house ready to sell. All is well with our family otherwise. Ella has learned to identify herself as an individual person which has been very cute when she is telling stories about what she did or is doing. We will be going camping here soon which should make for some good photo ops!

Gray sky, for goodness sakes it's JULY!

Back to the daily grind and Maui has become a distant memory! I am looking forward to my next opportunity to get some sun. We are beginning to wonder if the sun will EVER come out! Father's Day was wonderful. We went to the cabin in Plain (by Leavenworth) and did some projects there with Dale's parents. It was great fun to be in 75 degree and sunny weather for the weekend. We had a delicious brunch at Mountain Springs Lodge (www.mtsprings.com) for Father's Day. The food was amazing and I took away a great brunch idea for these scrumptious little pancakes the chef made. Ella had tons of fun outside playing in the dirt and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She came home with black fingernails and a few slivers but couldn't have been happier. She sleeps well in her playpen there so it is a nice place to visit and have a little change of scenery. This weekend is the Central Welding Supply Annual Golf Tournament. Dale will do that while I hold an open house. Should be a pretty busy weekend!

Finally back... hittin the sack!

We are officially home from Maui and had a wonderful time! Our flight was mellow and the Puddin did wonderfully. In the car on the way home Kalee, Dale and I laughed and reminisced about the trip. Dale and Kalee will be detoxing from toffee and chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and myself from guava juice. If we could only have a "patch" to help us through each of our vice with drawls. Guava patch... just like nicotine but sweeter! We had to leave our vices in Maui or you may find us in the gutter with nut residue or guava splatter on our person! We were all very close to needing a 12 step program. This morning we had a great time at the beach as you can see in the pic! Our toes tried to squeeze in as much time with the sand as possible. It was a fantastic way to end our journey. Both Dale and I are looking forward to the next time we are together on vacation. It was very enjoyable and Ella made it overwhelmingly heartwarming. We have some marvelous memories! We are all tired but the family consensus is that all was worth it! Staying in Elua Village was the key to our relaxation. Walking everywhere was perfect. Shipping out luggage and having www.akamaimothers.com handle our baby needs made travel almost effortless. We are looking forward to our next excursion... but for now... it's back to reality!!!

Last full day of play!

We are all in agreement that this was the best day of Maui thus far. The morning beach time was excellent as there was some cloud cover and the beach temperature was perfect. Ella decided that she liked the ocean today and enjoyed playing in the surf with Daddy and climbing rocks. We actually got to sit and play with her in the sand without chasing her. She enjoyed sitting in a big sand pool daddy dug out for her between his legs. She ate her fair share of sand by dipping a rock into the sand and water and sucking it off. After a busy morning at the beach she took a 3.5 hour nap. Kalee hung out while we sat in a beach cabanna soaking up the last bit of afternoon rays while the tradewinds blew and the surf kept us cool with sea spray. Following her nap we went to the pool, cleaned up and out for a final dinner amongst a beautiful sunset. It really was an amazing day! Micheal left today, so did Gary and Judy... tomorrow we will do the same.

One day to go... hit the plateau!

Another day in paradise yesterday. Ella and I went walking in the morning for almost 2 hours while Dale caught a few extra winks. We hit the beach in the afternoon instead of the morning which was a nice change. The weather was really windy and the waves were crashing. We watched a turtle travel down the shoreline. Ella busied herself with eating sand and running on the beach! She has just gotten in to the beach groove and we are headed home. Just lets us know that it will be fun for next time when we come! Dale and I had dinner last night at Freds (Mexican) while Kalee and Michael were shopping in Lahina. We all met for dessert and coconut drinks with Gary and Judy at HumuHumu. We walked along the night boardwalk among the tiki torches while the surf crashed along the shoreline rocks. It was a great night. Ella slept like a champ (test drove some benedryl for the plane ride home). We have all woken up refreshed and ready to hit the beach. Michael, Gary and Judy leave today. We are headed out to get in the sand before he has to head to the airport.