Florida 2009

Once again we were able to take a magnificent trip to Orlando Florida...for 13 days!!! The first week we were there with Steve's family....His mom, sisters and nieces and nephew. We spent the week visiting all the theme parks and enjoying the Florida sunshine as well as visiting Kennedy Space Center. One of the highlights of that week was getting to see the space shuttle launch. That was truly a thrill. Once the family left, we stayed for another 6 days to enjoy more Disney, visit Seaworld, and a short stay at the Nick Hotel. We are truly blessed to be able to take a trip like this and want to thank Steve's mom for her generosity. We had a great family bonding time! Enjoy the pictures!!


Magic Kingdom


Sea World




Nick Hotel...all your favorite NickJr. Characters!




Magic Kingdom all decked out for Christmas!

Halloween Fun!!

For Halloween this year, our small group from church all gathered together for a family party. Costumes were required, of course. The kids went trick-or-treating, we had great food and played some fun games...even though the men were being kind of "duds". I borrowed a costume from a friend. We found Ally's in different pieces and put them together. Steve made AJ's costume from a box. And, finally...as you will see, my husband became a woman for the evening! It was a fun time had by all!


Here we are all ready to Party!!




AJ as a Wii remote!


Ally as the "cute" witch!


Which one is the real Queen?


The Reeve family...Ahoy mateys!!


The Vitzthum family...Dr. Shakihands and Dr. Ima Klutz...brain surgeons! Princess Lea, baseball player and soccer player.


The Lettiere family....Cleopatra and Caesar...scarecrow, ninja and army dude.


All the kids lined up!!

Dave and Carrie Buddle....going back in time!

A little game of "bobbing for marshmellows"

The Month of October

It is hard to believe that the month of October is over. We were, again, so busy that I will have to update this blog on a monthly basis. October brought Ally and AJ's birthdays, more soccer and a new addition...volleyball. Luke, of course, has been up to more mischief as you will see. The temperature is changing and is bringing that dreaded rain! But, look on the bright side...Christmas is just 2 months away!!! Uggghhhh!!!


As you can see, Luke has been up to no good. He recently has successfully got out of his kennel. We always put him in his kennel when we leave so he stays dry and stays out of trouble. But on this day, he "tore" through the bottom of the chain link and made a big of enough opening that he could crawl through. Yikes!! I am guessing that that won't be the last time he tries that!




AJ turned 9 on the 9th! He was able to have 7 of his friends over to the house for cookies and ice cream (he does not like cake); we took them to the park for a game of soccer and football. And then back home for some video games. The weather that day was beautiful. Happy Birthday, AJ!!

His new game for the Wii...Wii Sports Resort.


It was great competition of soccer and football. Even Steve got into the game. The boys loved it!!

Did AJ catch the football? Well....let's say he did!:) Time for cookies and ice cream!


Ally turned 11 on the 18th! She is becoming quite the preteen! 8 of her girlfriends came over for food, fun, and conversation...what else can you ask of girls! There was much laughter, singing and nail painting! Happy Birthday, Ally!!




The girls decided to "rock out" to Party in the USA, by Miley Cyrus. It was a sight to see...9 girls dancing and singing to the top of their lungs.....over and over and over and over and over and over and over....whew!!!



The kids then celebrated together at Grandma's house....Ally got her Sounders FC scarf! Can you tell she is excited!!?

AJ got he 2010 version of the Guiness Book of World Records.




This year Ally started playing volleyball. I am helping my friend Stacey coach the team. These 11 girls have never played before. They have not won many games, but have improved every week. I hope they are having fun!!




Ally and AJ continue to play soccer and both love it. Well....Ally at times says she "hates" it, but that is usually when she has to leave her friends at home and go to practice. She is really quite good at this sport and is fun to watch when she is having a good game.



AJ continues to play up a level for his age in soccer and is excelling. It has been fun to watch him grow this season and really learn the game. His team is doing real well, considering most of the boys are younger for this age level. We see great things to come.

Trip to Port Townsend

Ally's 5th/6th grade class took a trip to Pt. Townsend last week. Her teacher likes to take a camping trip in the fall to work on bonding and team building for the kids. We could not have asked for better weather. As you can see, the views were spectacular! We stayed in old army barracks, toured the old gun batterys and went on a whale watching excursion. Sadly, we did not see whales, but fun was had by all. The boat ride around the San Juan Islands was beautiful and we got to spend a couple of hours at Friday Harbor. I enjoyed myself, even though we did not get much sleep!




This is Fort Flagler where we stayed. Our barracks is the one in the far distance. The view was great!!


Ally with her friends Kendra and Lizzie....waiting for the tour of Fort Flagler.


This was the view from outside our barracks....Sunrise one morning! Truly magnificent! We praise our Lord for this awesome creation!

This is one of the old gun batterys....they had to bring cement in from Belgium! This fort was never officially used for defense. Just a lot of training there. Guess it did it's job of protecting these waterways.




The only sea life we saw while on the boat ride were seals and sea lions....they love to bask in the sun!!!


Ally was nervous at first about the boat ride....but calmed down quickly and then loved it! It was a beautiful day!!


Our boat leaving Friday Harbor!


The boat captain took us around the San Juans....this is a view of the bridge at Deception Pass....one of Steve's favorite places!!

Picture of the class outside the barracks....we had a great trip!!

End of summer and Back to School!!

What a fast summer we had....it is already over and I feel like it never began. We had great weather, but the time flew by. Here are some of the things we did over the summer (which did not include much work on the backyard:)
The kids were excited to go back to school, even though the summer went fast. They both have great teachers. We look forward to a great year of learning.


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!



Ally and Lizzie


AJ and Dorion

TORCH LIGHT PARADE
We had never been to the Seafair Torch light parade, so this year we decided to go. Steve's sister, Sue, works downtown Seattle and her office building is directly on the parade route. So, we spent the day in Seattle, enjoying the waterfront; and then the night time parade.


Mike Holmgren was the Grand Marshall of the parade.



Here we are waiting patiently.
Seahawks....Cool!!!


Arrgghhh!!! Is that a Seafair Pirate? Oh no.....it's just Sam:) He was all decked out in "pirate gear" and really got into the spirit of the day!

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS
The Downey family gathered at our home to celebrate Steve and Sue's (his sister) birthday. We had yummy food prepared by mom and then smores by the fire!
Here is Barb and Brittney with AJ.

The entire Downey clan!! This rarely happens, that we are all together.


MCCANDLESS/DOWNEY SUN VALLEY, ID....CAMPING 2009


Every year we take a summer trip to Idaho to visit my family. It is now becoming tradition that we spend a few days camping near Sun Valley, ID and this year my brother and his family went with us again. This year the weather was a bit chilly...for August in Idaho, that is unusual. In fact, on night the temp was down to 36 degrees!!! Brrrrr!! We did have fun!


Here is my brother and my dad!! Handsome men!



Ally and Chelsea!! Cute!



All the kids....Chelsea, Carlos, Derrick, AJ and Ally.

This was Luke's first long trip and his first camping trip. He did pretty well, however, he had to be tied up most of the time, cuz he would run and chase other dogs or all the chipmunks. I think he liked the outdoors, but was he DIRTY!!




How many men does it take to cut some wood...apparently 3...one to hold the saw, one to sit on the wood and one to hold the chain saw......why are they not using the chain saw?


The boys with the fish they should have caught:)



AJ casting his line.




There are many hummingbirds at the campground and my mom always brings her feeders for them. Here is a great shot of one!! It is fun to watch them all fight over the food.




Girls doing dishes.



Beautiful Baldy Mountain of sun Valley....Famous Ski resort.



The new gondola that will be taking skiiers up the mountain! Nice, Steve!!!







Thanks to all my family for a great trip! We love you!!