Update on the Grounds

This post is for Neil and Raquel who asked about our recent home improvement projects. The main thing we have gotten done so far this summer is at the side entrance to the house through the laundry room. We finished the steps and patio there and also started on the steps and porch up to the second floor over the garage. As you can see we still have siding and a railing to finish, but we are making progress! That's what counts right? I'll take some more pictures of our other improvements and post those too. Take a look at the two deer hanging out in our driveway. They stood there all calm like when a motorcycle roared by, but as soon as Ryan opened the front door to take a better picture they bolted.

Our little white church

Last weekend was Bald Eagle Days in Cathlamet. This is Cathlamet's big celebration of the summer. There is a parade, fireworks, street vendors, boat show, etc etc. Keith, one of our guys at church built a replica of the HBC building for the parade. Its just like a little playhouse with a door and windows. (You can see a full picture of it on our church blog). The kids were so happy to ride in the parade and throw candy out the windows. Isn't it great to see kids excited to be in church?!?!

Summer fun

Building a Bridge

Project time! Ryan is always looking for things he can work on with the kids and decided to build a bridge to the playground. Emily has been very excited to work on it and got her daddy going bright and early yesterday morning. The girls experienced both the old fashioned way of carpentry - pounding nails with a hammer and the more modern version - using a nail gun (as well as other power tools). Emily was brave enough to squeeze the trigger on the nail gun. Rylan stayed away for most of the proceedings because he is still a little jumpy around the loud noises of the power tools. The project isn't yet complete - handrails and a paint job are next on the list, but the crew accomplished much. Aren't they a cute little work party?

Boatin' and Beach Bummin'

It was a beautiful day out here on the river. We just couldn't pass up the chance to get the boat in the water and play in the sand! Collecting rocks - this one's a keeper!

Lila Cool

Lila is glad summer is here so she can wear her sunglasses - upside down.

Daddy's Back!

Ryan has returned from his 2 week trip to Israel and boy are we glad! We missed him a lot! He learned so much and is excited to share his experiences with the church. He has wanted to make this trip for several years so it was neat to see how God worked it all out and Ryan was able to visit the land where Jesus walked when he was on the earth. The first picture shows the kids seeing Ryan off at the train station in Kelso. The next picture was when we picked him up at SeaTac. They were all very excited to have Daddy back!