Vacation - August 2011

This year we decided to actually take a vacation (novel idea for us)! We actually have never taken a week off from work together (except for when Jaxon was born) the entire time we have worked at Fairwinds- which is coming up on 9 years, CRAZY. We decided to take a road trip - we left Spokane early (4 AM) on a Saturday morning and drove to Birch Bay, just outside Bellingham where we rented an absolutely amazing beach house. We we fortunate enough to have the Knowltons come along with us for this leg of our journey. Here are some pictures from our time in Birch Bay.

Oh and I better mention that this vacation blog post is probably going to be gigantic because Jason takes LOTS of pictures and there are just too many to choose from. So, sit back, relax and hope you have a few minutes :-)

Beautiful sunset from the patio. Sadie showing off the view! There were stairs down to the beach right next to her. So we had direct access to the water.

Family shot of the Knowltons. Hard to believe that it's been 13 years since Jason and Sam first met at Office Depot and became friends!

Heidi was able to come along with us as well, enjoying a great glass of wine, with an even better view!

Jaxon adores Cameron and Sadie!!

Jaxon had lots of room to play in this house, it was 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and had double doors that opened up from the dining room / living room to a large patio and grassy area before the fence and stairs that went down to the beach.

And there were outside toys too!

This was quite the fun game they had going on. The kids all took turns "riding" in the dump truck.

Taking a break from the dump truck game for a quick photo.

We really could have been in Hawaii and you wouldn't have known the difference. We had gorgeous 80degree plus weather, beautiful view, amazing sunsets!! It was great!

Jaxon could have stood and thrown rocks in the ocean for days, he thought it was great fun.

Seriously, gorgeous sunsets!

Sisters!

Daddy and Jaxon skipping rocks on the beach in front of the beach house.

Jason posing for a very cool photo!

Aunt Heidi (or Aunt Abu as Jaxon calls her)

Surrounded by Love!

Mommy, Heidi and Jaxon exploring the ocean floor while the tide was out early in the morning.

Jaxon holding seaweed!

Fun at Loon Lake

Last weekend of July we took advantage of the gorgeous summer weather and took the boat out to Loon Lake. Jason, Jaxon, Heidi, my dad and I all went out for the afternoon and enjoyed the sun! After the lake we decided to get Jaxon a special treat and stop for ice cream at the Clayton Drive In. Definitely a local classic. Jaxon had never been there before, so it was pretty fun. Jason actually worked there for a while during high school and it has been around since - well I don't really know when, I just know it's been around since as long as I can remember! Here are a few photos from our day.

Getting ready to go swimming! Jaxon looks THRILLED! LOL

Swimming. He thought it was a little cold until we started the fun game of splashing! He loved that, so then it became fun. He just kept saying "Splash Mamma, Splash Babe (which is what he calls Jason to be funny)"

Enjoying his lunch.

Captain Jaxon.

Getting ready for Ice Cream at the Clayton Drive. We split a half and half cone (I don't think that I have ever had any kind of ice cream there besides soft serve half and half). We were joking about the days when we would drive up as a family to get ice cream there when my sister and I were young. On the car ride home, Heidi used to wait until mine was starting to melt then she would say we needed to trade so that she could "fix mine". She would eat my cone and then we would trade again, this would go on back and forth for most of the ride home. I think that was her clever way of getting to eat most of both our cones - ahhhh older siblings!

Ice Cream!!

Family photo

Nice shot of our truck and boat with the Clayton Drive In sign in the background.

Getting so big!

Best of Summer!

We love it when the weather gets hot because that means we are out on the lake each weekend on our boat! On this weekend in July we took the boat out to Deer Lake and had a great time swimming, tubing, and spending time with the Bakers!

Jaxon's first time tubing! Of course he was with mommy, and he wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but definitely ended up loving it!

Jaxon, Teagun and Emery!

I think they will love this picture when they are older. Reminds me of some of the pictures that we have of their mom (Jaidean) and their aunt (Jennifer) with Heidi and I - priceless :-)

Jaxon LOVES little girls!

End of the Season Softball Tournament

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we play on a co-ed softball team. We have a lot of fun and look forward to it each year. Jaxon absolutely loved going to the games and was sad when it was over. The day after the end of the season tournament, he walked around with his hands turned up saying "offball, over - nay nay (Shaunae) bat run, doud (Doug) bat run, mama bat run, nam (Sam)bat run, dada bat run, namie (Jamie) bat run, offball over" It was pretty cute. Here a few pictures from our last games at the tournament and then an end of the season bbq that we had at our house after the games.

Getting ready for the game. We had gorgeous weather!!!

Jaxon and Kaila playing in the sprinkler at our house. (Sorry pictures are a little out of order!)

Shaunae (Jaxon's nanny) and Jaxon looking at something - probably the moon, Jaxon loves to point that out any time he sees it!

Kids in the hot tub relaxing!

Guys goofing around on the deck.

I just have to say it - he is so CUTE!!!

Love our time together playing softball!

Brothers!

Grandpa and Jaxon hanging out during the game. My dad comes to just about every game! Love our FANS!!

The Fairwinds-Spokane Team - the whole gang.