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!!