Lakehouse: Montalvo Clan visits

Montalvos + Wendls Visit

By the time the Montalvo family came to visit, two weeks after the Kapalkas, Ginger had painted the sunroom yellow. (She later went back to a white ceiling though.)

Montalvo men re-intalling windows to make a second guestroom. Even Bailey pitched into help. He's just become a teenager.

We ate some apples from our tree while surveying the roof.

The first week, the Wendl/Kiehl family joined us with Honey and Rene. So we had fun with our nephews, visiting the car museum.

 

We took a big camping trip to the Olympic National Forest, renting an RV from the military base. 

 

 The boys were allowed to fish without a license, and everyone got to take a turn kayaking.

 

We made a side trip to a special location for Tippy: 

Forks has several Twilight-themed gift stores... and examples of Bella's car in the book and movie.

 

We also saw the outdoor part of the mining museum. (As far as I know, not featured in the books.)

Dehlers Visit

 

We took the Seattle Underground Tour. Seattle raised the streets in the 1890s after devasting flooding and fires, leaving behind a mostly abandoned series of streets and first floors of old businesses.

 Honey and Rene were excited to see the original Starbucks.

We rode the Space Needle elevator to the top (first time!) to dine in the slowly spinning restaurant, SkyCity. The girls ordered "The Lunar Orbitor" for dessert, an ice cream dish with dry ice smoke and sparklers!

Stephen captured the view with his phone.

We drove out to a favorite bridge and a view of Mt. Ranier for a family picnic.

Lakehouse: Kapalka visit

Nancy and Ron came to visit, and as usual, were put to work. We planned to repaint the windows in the sunroom, which were badly water-damaged. But it quickly became a bigger project when we decided the windows should be removed and repaired.

 Scraped off flaky paint and gunk...

did I mention chopping down a row of blackberry bushes to reach the exterior? (Worth it- made some lovely pies.) 

Scraping, sanding, water blasting!

We knocked out the cheaply built-in cupboards and closet, opening up the room. (The windows have temporary plastic in this picture for the one rainy day of the summer.) 

We loved the big, open space!

Then we finally got to re-paint the windows bright white.

For some fun time, Ginger took her parents on our new favorite tour- Theo Chocolate Factory.

 Ginger and Stephen also spent a night out attending "Zoobilee," a Tacoma Zoo Fundraiser. (Absher Construction was a sponser.) Having Nancy take our photo made us feel like teenagers going to the prom.

 

The weather was wonderful for kayaking on Lake Steilacoom.

A night in, playing a favorite old board game, "The Farming Game," which is based in Washington, and include a chance card with Mt. St. Helens exploding.

Stephen finished patching holes and replacing edging left by water damage and the closet. What's next?

Lakehouse: Summer

We took our anniversary trip #6 to Leavenworth, WA, a small cute town full of German descendents, archiecture, shops, accordians and more.

Stephen has an Absher friend living in town, who showed us the wood and riverside where his family visit.

In June, Nathaneil was visiting WA to wrap up a class he's been taking at Gonzaga to get his masters degree.

We visited the capital building and paid tribute to the state's namesake.

At STEM Tutoring, we hosted two summer camps, doing reading, math and robotics. 

Theresa teaching young readers

The students wrote simple computer programs to make the robots travel certain distances, respond to basic inputs like color or motion.

Bennett teaching Lego Robotics

Ginger's co-worker Theresa brought her garden club to take one of the organic soil garden boxes and give it a new home in the community.

Speaking of the yard, Stephen made an amazing video, hoping HGTV would pick us for a free yard makeover. 

Setting off little fireworks on the dry summer grass was risky.

 

Last fun of the summer was the WA State Fair, seeing adorable goats and more exotic animals...

Happy Summer!