Our Favorite Place

Our favorite place to go in the summer, besides Maui, is the lake at the home of our friends The Groves.  We pop in whenever we want and they accommodate us.  We are so thankful that they allow us to use their home and property almost as our own. 

We love spending the 4th over there each year.  This year, it was drizzly and chilly, but our little swimmer couldn't stay away from the cold water. 

We have invited ourselves over there at least three days a week since then.  It's a blast watching Gabe literally flail himself off the dock into the lake.  He likes to kick his feet back like he's a snowboarder, run from the beginning of the dock and fly off the end....there is no fear to this kid!

 In fact, when some family of the Groves from Switzerland flew into SeaTac for the evening, Gabe was the host for their four kids.  He really took to the 7 year old girl, go figure.  He had to paddle the three older kids out to the floating island on the windboard and then later on that evening he got his chance.  The 7 year old, Emmilia, floated away in her raft and Gabe swam out to rescue her.  He swam out about 25 yards and pulled her in.  He was by her side for the remainder of the night with quite a little beefy skip to his step. .

We always top the night off with a fire and s'mores.  We had fun trying out the giant sized marshmallows and watching all of those little eyeballs light up as we pulled them out of the bag.  Talk about a kid sized dream come true!  But, the best part, was watching them try to figure out how to eat those massive mallows!

Sum, Sum, Summatime

One of my favorite moments this summer was watching my boy hear the ice-cream man, run inside upstairs to his bedroom to grab his "treasure box," jet out the door holding his box so tightly and wait at the curb for the truck to come by.  Look at his little hand waiving at the truck...so precious! He used his own money to buy his ice-cream and he was so proud of himself.

We also took Gabe to the Cougar Mountain Zoo which received a 10 from us on cleanliness, but a 2 for animals/sights to see which is why we have more pictures with bronze statues than actual live animals. We made the best of it and had fun anyways!

The life of a teacher's kid.......poor kid.....his mom is making him practice his letters and reading skills during the summer!  I love the determination and seriousness that he takes in his work.  Shoot!  I just looooove that cute little face!

Gone Fishing

One of Gabe's most favorite activities this summer is fishing.  He has such focus and patience for it. It seems so strange to see a four-year old be so willing to wait, and wait, for his catch.  Although, his first trip out this summer at a friend's pond did not include any waiting whatsoever.  Gabe cast his line in the water, Mike turned around to pick up his pole when Gabe said, "Dad I caught one!" Mike didn't really respond because he didn't see Gabe catching one so quickly.  I said, "I think he does." Gabe reeled it in and had caught his first catfish within 8 seconds.  Mike reset Gabe's pole, Gabriel cast it into the pond, Mike turned around and Gabe had caught another one.  Yes and his third came, fourth, fifth, sixth......tenth....all within a little over an hour.  Yes, he caught a lot of fish that night, but what he truly caught is fisherman's fever.

Swim Lessons

Gabe is taking swimming lessons again this summer.  We won our first set of lessons through Costco's grand opening last year.  He did so well, and by the last two lessons was swimming without any floats or assistance. He was shocked when his teacher had him working on his backstroke and snuck his last floaty off without him noticing.  We were thrilled, especially because we both love the water and really want him to be confident and safe, but also to teach him to scuba dive when he turns of age at 11.  The second set of lessons that have involved him in now, is at the Renton Waterpark, outdoors, and he's learning in leaps and bounds.  His teacher has them learning the typical crawlstroke, backstroke, butterfly, diving to touch the bottom, etc.  It's a blast watching him learn and we are all smiles after every lesson.