summer happens

 the kids and eric went to eatonville for a friday evening mtn bike race put on by eatonville outdoor.  they did the long loop.  not sure what that means since i wasn't there, but i guess it was pretty tough.  but they are tough kids.

 when they went camping in winthrop, they also went mtn biking.  quite a bit i guess.  i love this photo of sirus heading down the trail.

 the kids went to several camps.  seamus went to mtn biking dirt riders at duthie hill.  it was on tuesday evenings for 5 weeks.  i think it started when school was still going on.  but she also went to track and field camp.  both kids went to lacrosse camp.  they look pretty tough and they both really liked it.  whenever sirus would talk about it his little hands would instantly go into position holding an imaginary lacrosse stick and enacting the cradling motion.  then sirus once again proved how he isn't our kid and went to tennis camp.  last year it was golf camp, this year it was tennis camp.  good for him for branching out.

 seamus spent the weekend with grandma.  they went to the star ball which was extra fun since they got all dressed up and stayed in a hotel!  the star ball is a ball room dancing competition of some sort. 

 seamus raced the xterra the same day i did.  i guess it wasn't technically an xterra, they call it the kids rock triathlon or something.  she had a tough time on the swim - she got out to the turn around buoy but then help onto it until the kayaker came over and let her hang on.  then eric swam out to her and they swam back together.  after the race she told me and danelle how she thought the swim should be shorter and the bike longer. 

 then we went white water rafting.  we went through the osprey rafting company in leavenworth.  we did the main event!!  this was very fun.  but lets start with how i made the reservations like 2 months in advance.  i wanted to make sure we were all going to be able to go and wanted to make sure we picked a weekend that would work. i forked over the cash and got my confirmation emails and documents.  on saturday july 27 we woke up at the crack of dawn and drove out to leavenworth.  when i went to check us in, guess what?  yeah, our reservation was for on wednesday - the 31st!!  what?  WHAT?  i checked my print outs and ya know what, they said the 31st!  thankfully, they had a group of 10 that didn't show, so they were able to put us in a boat!  the day could have been very disappointing but instead, i am very thankful that they were able to accommodate my huge mistake. 

 no wetsuits?  huh?  i thought we would get them.  we did get booties, but no wet suits.  seamus got a a paddle, sirus did not. 

 this is still in the first group of big rapids and i love the look on seamus's face! 

 after that first bit of excitement, we stashed seamus's oar and eric and i switched places with the kids.  had i known that they would have been able to stay in the front of the boat like that, i would have suggested that from the very beginning.  they had a blast!