Relocated Texans: July 2014

July was a very busy month for us. It's absolutely gorgeous in the summer up here and we had a lot of fun doing various activities.

We also had the Skov's come up and visit for a week and took a weekend trip to Mt St Helens, but those will be on a different post.

Enjoying Newcastle Beach Park on Lake Washington
Lake water here is freezing! The kids do not seem to mind though.

We took a day trip over to Bainbridge Island. We drove to Seattle and parked our car to ride the ferry over. I thought we'd visit the children's museum over there and have lunch and come back home. The little ones become super excited over ferry rides so I thought it would be a fun day for everyone. Thankfully, I convinced Ashley to go with us and I believe she had lots of fun.

Rock wall at the Kids Discovery Museum

After visiting the museum, we had lunch and gelato in downtown Bainbridge. Afterwards the kids played at a local park until we were ready to ride the ferry back to Seattle.

This is the first July 4th that we've spent away from Cedar Creek Lake in 10 years.

We actually ended up having lots of fun at the Newcastle July 4th celebration. There was music, a playground, tons of kids and, surprisingly, a really good fireworks show. The venue felt so safe that the kids were allowed to roam around by themselves. We discussed with two other relocated Texan families that that we have never attended a venue in Texas where we felt so comfortable with letting little children run around with minimal supervision. Autumn and Levi had an amazing time. Ashley's plans were cancelled at the last moment and she came with us. She had fun but thought the event was geared more for families of small children than for teenagers.

Even though we had a blast, I really miss going to the lake on July 4th with our family.

He was soooo happy that Daddy
bought him a light saber

Upset because he was in trouble for not
behaving properly with his light saber

Enjoying a snow cone with friends before it was dark and the fireworks began.
First snow cone in Washington. This was a weekly treat in the Texas summer,
but snow cones are not really consumed up here.

Levi thinks he's cool and a big boy when he goes to the dentist

Autumn and Levi were both in a week-long bike camp. On the first day of camp, they took Autumn's training wheels off and she was riding wonderfully by the last day. Levi's camp was geared towards little ones and focused on riding around obstacles instead.