Thursday, July 10th- The kids & I met Mom & Dad Allen in Olympia and headed to Portland for Ashley Hronek's wedding reception (Ashely is Bradford's sister-in-law). We got to Portland a little early, so we enjoyed visiting with the Crismon Lewis' for a little while before the reception. It was especially fun as we surprised Bradford, Megan & Lucy as they didn't know we were coming. It was fun to see all of them! And Corrine LOVED seeing "the princess" (Ashley). When Ashley went to take pictures she would follow her around carrying the train. And Ashley was a good sport to let her tag along!
Corrine carrying Ashley's train
Hronek Family
The Princess Ashley & Corrine
We headed back to Washington late that night and parted ways at Olympia. Corrine went with Mom & Dad as she had been begging to go visit "Maple Alley" for awhile. It sure seemed quiet around our house without her there!
Friday & Saturday July 11th & 12th- We took advantage of the gorgeous weather we were having and did lots of BBQ. Mom & Dad Priamos and Cheree joined us making it a fun little party.
Tuesday, July 15th- Allen & I headed up to Pt. Defiance Zoo where we met Mom, Dad & Corrine. We had to get one last trip on before the annual pass expired! It was a gorgeous day and Corrine of course loved seeing all the animals. She was especially enthralled by the 2 beluga whales that kept swimming right up to the window! And the "jungle" part of the zoo (tiger, monkeys, elephats, etc) is always a hit. We discovered a part of the zoo we had never been to before- the reef area. It's underground and they have built reefs for sharks- pretty good size sharks too! It's quite dark (since the ocean is) and has large glass walls you can see through. There were 2 large sharks sitting right up next to the glass- it was very cool.
Corrine & the Tiger
Even Corrine is no competion for this shark mouth
Allen has had enough of the zoo
After the zoo we grabbed some dinner with Mom, dropped her off at a Seminary Teachers training and headed home. Corrine of course didn't want to go with us as she had had such a fun week in Maple Valley. But when we finally pulled into our driveway she said "I guess I'm glad to be back in Abereen (Aberdeen)." She's so funny. It's so great that we are close enough to actually just spend the day together! I'll be very sad when they finally leave Seattle.
Wednesday, July 16th- Earlier in the summer we started looking for some good deals on adult bikes & a bike trailer. We were lucky enough to get all of them second-hand and spent under $150 total! This was our first day to venture out. I learned that bikes move much slower when pulling 2 kids behind you, but I guess it's more of a workout too- so that's good! We have loved using them lots of times since!
Allen helping to fill up the kids pool on a warm afternoon
I LOVE the look on his face in this picture!
Sunday, July 27th- This was a big day for Corrine as she gave her first talk in Primary. She talked about being a missionary and showed a picture of her Uncle McKay (I think that was her favorite part of the talk!). She did great!
Allen had a lot of "milestone" moments during July as well:
* July 7th- Waved "bye-bye" on his own
* July 11th- 3 more teeth (2 on top, 1 on bottom)
* July 22nd- Blew kisses
* July 26th- Climbed up the long staircase all by himself
* July 28th- Played "Pat-a-cake" all by himself
Allen adores his daddy and loves to "help" him BBQ
And of course Corrine wants to have her picture taken as well
