The Andersons

For her official birthday party, Emma decided to invite one friend to Great Wolf. This is the new indoor water park/resort about a hour away. It was so fun! We stayed the night in a "wolf den" room, let the girls have Starbucks hot chocolate in bed, and spent all our time in the water. We also ran into our good friends The Ryans, so that was an extra treat! Elena had her buddy Sarah to play with as well. I would highly recommend Great Wolf. It was even better than we anticipated.

My friend Pam was asked to be part of the Gig Harbor garden show. She gave us a sneak peek of her beautiful garden last night.

The girls just wrapped up a fabulous week of Vacation Bible School at church. The theme - "Power Lab". It was truly amazing. Chapel Hill goes all out for this sort of thing. It's definitely a highlight of the summer! (PS - The artwork below was painted by church members!)

"Rock-N-Roll baby!" A quote from Miss Elena as she was sportin' these shades.

I got to take my friend Norma out for her first manicure the other day. Her health is not good. Unfortunately, the bone cancer seems to be winning at this point. I told Norma ... if the Lord is going to take you, He's taking you with cute toes.

I love my Norma.

As Emma would say ... "Let the naked partaaay begin!" This is us at Jodi and Jer's place for father's day. Elena insisted on being naked. We weren't in the mood to fight it.

Shannon and Nate are now home for the summer, so we got to get all the cousins together recently. What a blast!

I told Emma I would take her to her restaurant of choice on her last day of school. She chose Thai food (my kinda kid!). We brought her friend Lauren along, who is also quite the eclectic eater. They are quite the pair. Congrats on finishing 1st grade! Off to second you go.

Emma was just given a big award at church. She memorized 16 verses this year. Way to go kiddo!

We had lots of fun at the Gig Harbor Maritime Festival. The girls caught dinner and Elena wrestled the mud.

She just makes us smile.

Emma had quite the 7th birthday. She woke up to breakfast in bed - strawberries and Honey Buns (thanks Mrs. Hobbs for introducing Emma to Honey Buns!!) Then we surprised her with the auction quilt her 1st/2nd grade class made (all the kids even embroidered their own names on the pillow!). And THEN (2 days later), Emma lost her two front teeth.

OK - so I've been WAY too busy to post lately (some will be here soon). But I just had to type this down before the memory was lost forever. Elena is in the next room sleeping. But she just started talking in her sleep. And all I could hear was "I gotta eat! I gotta eat! I gotta eat!!!!!!" And then back to sleep she went ... (and yes, I did give her lunch)

(This is another assignment by Emma - 1st grade)

"I am thankful for ... My family. My teacher. God. The world. dogs. toys like doby. My friends. good. This class. The Bible. But the world of the Lord endures forever. 1 Peter 1:25"

There’s a reason my dad did not become a supermodel.

There’s also a reason my brother-in-law Nate didn’t.

All kids really need is a hammock and some sand.

We definitely need more beaches in Washington (and more sun).

I’m grateful for old friends and neighbors. With them, it is as if time never passes, and their home is your own (thank you Michelle for a place to crash in San Diego, and all the fun at SeaWorld!).

Sea Lions feel like hotdogs.