Moclips

We took a trip to the Washington coast to spend time with family in Moclips.

A lot of family - 20 people in total.

It was wonderful to hang out - there are quite a few more family members than the last time we did this back in 2011.

Here is Cousin M assembling his first LEGO set with the help of Papa, Seimi and Eejee

The boy cousins spent literally hours wrestling on the couches.

The girl cousins being beautiful and princess-y. We celebrated Cousin B's birthday, but Cousin H wasn't left out and she got some matching presents.

Lots of hang-out time over meals and games

As well as time at the beach

Boookie teaching Cousin M how to use a katana

Cousin M attacking the ground.

Playing "Rocket League with Feet"

Eejee and Cousin B

Family!

Growing Up

We've been working on chipping away at Boookie's driver's training hours, most recently with a long freeway drive.

The Mayor and Boookie stopped and had a lovely little hike on the way back.

Thunder/Weber Week

We recently had a chance to have just the Sons of Thunder around the house, so we had "Thunder Week" to celebrate them. We started off at the hardware store to buy some supplies (more on that later), and we picked up some cool new cars.

Our complete collection of pull-back cars.

On our way off to an adventure, Seimi noticed this Aston Martin Vantage next to us at the gas station.

Heading off to go backpacking! It was Eejee, Seimi and the Mayor for the hike, and we headed off to Pete Lake, which is also where Boookie had his first backpacking trip.

Ready to go!

On the trail...

Relaxing in camp after 5 miles of hiking.

Camp all set up.

Early morning in the Cascades. It doesn't get much better than camping next to a lake and river with these views.

Hiking back out.

Eejee noticed this "sperm whale" downed tree.

Back at the trailhead after 10 miles of hiking!

While the lads were celebrating Thunder Week, Boookie and Ela were doing Weber Week down at the Cabbage. Boookie helped Apu do some work around the place.

Ela also helped out with yard work...

...and also did some art commission work.

We wrapped up Thunder/Weber Week with fun at the Cabbage, where we tested out something we built together (at Seimi's request) - a potato bazooka! The Mayor did his research beforehand to make sure there were no legal issues with this creation.

Summer So Far

The summer has started with lots of downtime for hobbitlings, who are enjoying taking a break from school.

We all kicked off the summer with a trip to the zoo, after almost three years' absence.

For Father's Day, the Mayor got a stuffed raccoon kit, "Harry."

The Mayor and Boookie took a backpacking trip up into the Cascade alpine lakes this past week. There was still some snow and ice on some of the lakes, but it was a great trip.

Happy 12th Birthday, Seimi!

Here are pictures of Seimi on his 12th birthday.

Happy 15th Birthday, Ela!

Here are some recent pictures of our beautiful princess.

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