Summer

Summer is definitely here and we have been busy as usual. I thought I would just do a big group of pictures that have been taken so far this summer, as a way to catch up:)

As some of you know we have had exchange students in the past and so I guess once you have hosted your name must go on a list of people that will host. We were contacted 2 times to host this summer and I had originally said, "No, we don't really have room right now, we are going to pass right now. However, if you are in dire need let me know." Well, they were in need so we couldn't say no.

The first two exchange students were two boys from China, Raymond and Rudolph, (obviously not their real name, I think they let them choose an easier name, so that we can all pronounce it.LOL) They were placed with a host family, but the host family was going to be on vacation part of the time, so we took them during that time, 10 days. We picked them up June 27th, and it was pretty quiet as it usually is when everyone first meets. By the time they left on July 6th they were anything but quiet...they fit right in. They had a great time playing with the kids, especially with the Wii. Pete and I would hear them all cracking up and teasing each other. We really had a great time with them and hated to return them to the other host family. They had really enjoyed our loud chaotic crazy family.
During Raymond and Rudolph's stay with us we also had Aratte from Spain join us on July 2nd. She stayed with us until July 29th when we sadly had to say goodbye to her. She will be greatly missed. While the 3 students where with us we celebrated the 4th of July which was a lot of fun for them. They all thought the fireworks were great fun. Here is short slide show of pictures taken from the Lacey Fireworks and fireworks we did at our house.


We went climbing through the Ape Caves http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/NatMonument/PointsInterest/ape_cave.html which was a good time for most of us. Raymond and Rudolph didn't like it so much, they had said that is was hard, dark and scary. We felt quite bad or them by the end. We all laughed about it at the end, trying to image what they were thinking when we said, "we are going to climb in this cold dark cave and it's going to take us about 2-3hours, and it's going to be fun". They were good sports though. Aratte on the other hand seemed to really enjoy herself. Our kids along with my sister's kids loved it and took off way ahead of us. Putting my boys to bed that night I asked them if they liked the caves and they said, "Yes, can we go again tomorrow"!
Here are some pictures that turned out okay. It was about 40 degrees down in the caves and extremely dark as you will see. When we turned out the headlamps it was pitch black you couldn't even see your hand right in front of your face.


We also enjoyed going swimming at Stewart waterpark in Tacoma. It was nice to go on a really hot day.

While Aratte was with us we went camping at Cape Disappointment. Hiked up to the North head Lighthouse, played on the beach (it was too cold to go in the water), roasted smor'e (Aratte's first time having them).

Pictures of our camping trip to Cape Disappointment


We also went to Ellensberg for Pete's best friend Andy's 40th birthday. It was really nice to see everyone we haven't seen in awhile.

Well, now that the exchange student are all gone, life is somewhat returning to normal, if there is such a thing.