Last day on the lake

On Friday, John had arranged to take our boat to Lake Whatcom and meet up with some guys from work to wake board. There were to be 8 to 10 guys and two boats. He called at 10 and told us to come down there were only 4 guys and the lake was like glass. "No." I replied. We had school, laundry, to mow the lawn - we had too much to do. "That's what homeschooling is all about - taking advantage of the situation, now get down here!" So I packed up the kids, packed a cooler (carrot sticks, string cheese, water bottles, ham, apple slices, and granola bars), and towels. He headed down to the lake. John had left the boat tied to the dock so we jumped in and took it out to the lake. I love cell phones. We were able to call to find out where they were. We watched some of the guys wake board, then I tried to slalom ski. First I tried dropping a ski and then just deep water start on one ski. It was hard. I can get up just no stay up. My neck was so sore the next day from all the face plants. Luckily for me, Isaac put away the camera. Good son. Then we took a couple of guys wake boarding and skiing. The guys left around lunch time, John ran home and sold our other boat and brought lunch. We were out until about 3:30. It was like glass the whole time and the lake was practically empty. You'd think that it would be freezing but after the initial shock and loss of breath you could stay in the water fairly long. It was such a perfect day. I know that the guys look bundled up but that's because they had just spent time in the water and the air was chilly with a wet suit on.


I think that Isaac had fun controlling the camera.

It's one thing to brag about getting up to hang out on the lake at the end of September the night before, it's another thing to actually do it. These are the brave souls. Doughnuts also helps.

Way to get out of the wake Isaac!

Mr. Z rocks at wake boarding. Thanks for the use of your tube and set of grown up skis. Also thank you for taking Isaac to the other end of the lake and back. He felt special being able to hang out with grownups.

Catching air.

So Mr. L. wake boarded for the first time on Friday (ever) and was very good at it. I think that it helps to be a good at water skiing. (The thing wrong with this photo is the background. It is tilted. According to my instructor it should be perfectly straight or angled intentionally - this isn't either one. I like the reflection in the water though)

(better with the background)

(Background problem again but the reflection shows how smooth it was.

Lake Diablo

A couple of weeks ago, John took the boys on a canoe trip to Diablo Dam along with Charlie and his son, Gabe. Here are a few videos they took of the trip. It was a total guys weekend.

All I have are the photos of the trip and a little explaination.

Can You Believe He's 9!

Today my Job turned 9. NINE years old! I can't believe it's been nine years. I tend to get nostalgic and start to remanisce when birthdays come around. It's been so long since we had him. So much has change, sleepless nights to a wiggly baby that could not sit on my lap for more than 30 seconds. He has over come food problems and health challenges. He continues to grow at his own pace and not at the pace "average" kids grow. He is addicted to Legos and has been that way for many years. When ever he gets money he starts picking out Legos to purchase. He is developing some great friends and this year has requested that friends come to spend the night. For a while we were worried that he would not have friends but he has a few special friends. His best friend though is Isaac and Isaac feels the same way. Isaac was a little worried that Job wouldn't invite him to go bowling with him. How could Job leave out his best friend? At 9 Job still will cuddle with Isaac when scared or Isaac can't sleep. I find them in one small bed in the morning. This year I asked Job what he wanted. His response, "My family, my friends, and my Legos." Very simple list.

Job bowled a STRIKE!

We had a bowling party at Mt Baker Lanes and invited his friends. He didn't want a cake or pie, just M&M cookies. So we went bowling and I made 3 large cookies and stacked them. It was nice and I'm glad John was there. He's good at organizing kids in a "PE" event. Then last night we opened presents after Isaac's soccer practice.

I let them play until 9:30 and then off to bed. This morning when I returned home from working out, I noticed the lights on in the house. I knew before walking in that a child was up. It was Job. He was building the Lego sets that he received last night. I decided that school should be cancelled due to Job's birthday so he played with either his Legos or with his Heelies all day. We've had one accident with the Heelies and now he can cruise through the house and turn.

He's getting better. The only bummer was the yo-yo I bought him doesn't work for us. Then tonight he wanted pizza, carrots, cucumbers and cookies for dinner. The pizza had to come from Nicco's (at Greene's Corner) and I asked them to spell Job's name on the pizza with pepperoni. There it was spelled out with pepperoni. I love non-chain stores.

Water skiing, tubing and wakeboarding

This year for our anniversary I bought John a wake board. He has been wanting one and so I

took him down to the store to pick one out. He was going back and forth about getting something the whole family could use but I talked him into getting something for himself. Every now and then he just needs to do something for himself. He is always thinking of doing things with the family or for the family or because of the family. I love watching him do sports, play soccer, kayak, lift weights and water sports isn't anything different. Maybe it is because I can live vicariously through him or maybe it's because he looks so hot since he's fairly athletic. Whatever the reason I like to watch him. Although the wipe outs look wicked!

The kids love to tube. Lona doesn't like to go fast and no big waves. Job says that he doesn't like big waves but the look on his face and his attitude are totally different. One night after tubing we were checking on them before we went to bed and Job sat up and said, "No big waves, Dad, No big waves!" Then he turned around and it looked like he was trying to grasp the handle of the tube.

I made John line the boat up so that I could get a photo of Mount Baker in the background. It just looks cool.

Why he needs to wear goggles. I have no idea. He really doesn't get wet but he looks so stinking cute with them.

He is changing so much right now. What a show-off.

This little girl is so brave at somethings and cautious with other things. She likes to go sloooow.

Look at these little "stork" legs.

This little boy told me this summer that he WILL learn to water ski. He tried once last year and it really didn't work for him. This year it took him a couple of tries and he was up. The next time we went he just popped right out of the water. He has even gone out of the wake. Coming back into the wake is another story. He really likes skiing. The skis we are using are short little wooden skis that still have the goodwill sticker on them when John's Dad bought them when John was 14. It was amazing that John's Dad still had them. Now we get to teach our kids on them too.

Ouch that hurts.

I didn't grow up water skiing. In fact it wasn't until I was in college that I even tried to ski. It was a rare trip that I was allowed to take to visit a college friend that I tried it for the first time.
I had bruises on my thighs from my hands and rope handle hitting them when I tried to get up. The next time I tried was at Baker Lake a couple of years ago on these little skis. My arms hurt so bad the next day. Out of shape. This year I had to water ski. I didn't want to be out done by my 11 year old. I can barely ski better than him. I think that I got my bell rung. It was a little fuzzy coming up. I tried one more time but three face plants in the water and I was done for the day. I'm happy to say that I had purposefully left my camera at home so there aren't any wipe out shots of me. Thank goodness Isaac doesn't use a zoom lens so you can't see how much my belly sticks out. We are looking forward to next summer.

School Kick Off

Last week or maybe the week before that I can't remember. We had a school kick off party. While most of the rest of the kids were slaving away we had pizza at Greene's Corner. A favorite place to read, meet friends, and have pizza. Then we headed out to Birch Bay State Park to find crab, through rocks and meet up with some friends.

We tried to fly a kite, but no luck on this day. There is always a breeze there but it was still.

Lona was afraid none of her friends were going to show up but she just had to wait a little while. Funny thing, she wants to live in a mansion with two of her friends and try out for America's Got Talent by doing jump rope tricks with her friends.

Job is always digging, finding sticks, rocks, whatever. He's my junk collector that will do something someday with all that junk.

Doesn't this look like a great crew?!