Before & After

Here's a shot of Maggie Lu before we left for the orthodontist yesterday.
And here's the after...she looks so old! She chose Kelly green bands to match her soccer jersey...love it!

Summer 2009...a picture recap!

Before the summer officially comes to an end I thought I'd better do a little summer re-cap blog. I will warn you this is long and full of pictures so either grab your cup of coffee and sit back or feel free to check out now. Our summer started as it always does with a birthday celebration for Sam. His birthday fell on the last day of school so it was a great way to bring in the summer. We skipped the big family shindig and instead Sammy invited a couple friends over for dinner and cake followed by a Rainiers game. He loved it and I'm still trying to come to grips with that fact that I'm a mom to a double digit!
Our next fun event was a surprise birthday party for my cousin Stacy. The party was at Auntie Frankie and Bob's house right on the water. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and sand. The hightlight of our time there was catching these little tiny crabs. They had a bucket full by the end of the evening.
Grandma and her little girls.

We caught the ferry on the way home and enjoyed some good cousin time!
We were so lucky to start our summer off with an extended visit from Ali and the kids. They came down to spend the week at mom and dads and we got to spend time with them everyday. It was truly like a mini vacation. The kids practically lived in the pool and only took breaks to jump on the trampoline and ride scooters. We made a trip to the library, coffee breaks at Starbucks, a walk around the Lake and of course a campfire and smores. I have to admit I was pretty blue when they went home. I got awful used to having them so close. Dear Navid, please convince your parents to move closer! Love, Auntie
Jo and Lua soaking up the sun!


Diving in!
The kids had a very short career on the summer track team. We made it to one meet and even though they had a great time it just didn't seem to fit into the summer schedule. So we have a few pictures and a couple ribbons to prove that indeed they were tracksters for a short while.
Mille and her competition!
We celebrated this little sweetie turning one!
At the King County Fair

A trip to the zoo

Josie loved the sea life!

Then we celebrated a few more birthdays! Liv and Navid turned 8 and Auntie Ali had a birthday too!
The water olympics were a blast and perfect for the heat wave we were experiencing!

This little girl started climbing...on everything!
We even tried to do a little schoolwork-you can see how thrilled they are! Pretty safe to say that homeschooling will never be an option at our house!
A hike around Deep Lake and lots of rock throwing. That's Jo peeking out behind the tree!
The highlight of our summer happened on August 29th when this sweet babe was born! Another summer birthday to celebrate...yeah! And we're so happy to have another boy in the family!
We made one last trip over to Grandma and Papa's before the crazy fall schedule is in full swing. Jo getting some love from Papa.
Our annual Labor day barbecue at Grandma and Papa Dacey's. Such a great way to wrap up the summer.
Navid is so smitten with his new cousin Owen.
Some quality cousin time, chilling on top of the dog house!

So long summer, we will miss you! You were so good to us this year with lots of warm, sunny days! So many special memories and milestones. We look forward to seeing you again next year but for now we are going to embrace the coming fall and all the joys this season brings!