Memorial Day Weekend (part 1)...

Pretty silly I have to divide our Memorial Day pictures up into several posts but I went a little crazy with the picture taking!  The weather on Saturday was beautiful so we packed up a festive lunch, drove out to Deception Pass State Park and biked our way to "our beach"...

Sometimes I get a little neurotic over the details but I really can't help myself.  We had strawberries, jicama and blueberries to snack on...

 And red and blue jello with marshmallow creme topping for dessert...

Emily helped me get all of the food set up while the boys explored the beach...

One of our favorite things to do at the beach is to eat cherries and spit the pits...

 Even Charlie mastered the spitting technique!

 I LOVED eating jicama as a kid and apparently my kids acquired some of my taste...

With full bellies they set out to explore the beach...

 

 

Emily seemed to make her way back pretty quick and tested out the jello...

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon gathering wood to make a tee pee...

 finding treasures to put in the tee pee...

 playing football...

 hiding treasures from Charlie's curious hands...

That sneaky little guy found and broke them all!  Maybe I should have been stopping him instead of capturing it all on my camera but honestly I was a fascinated watching him scour that tree trunk, searching for the forbidden treasure...

 I felt a little guilty watching this all go down so I found something to entertain him for a little bit while I searched for replacements...

 Hands work a lot faster than spoons!

 Jack and Emily were very impressed with the collection we acquired...

Soon after, the boys began to get very tired so Bryan took them on a bike ride while Emily and I planted crops, cooked the food and prepared Pocahontas and John Smith's meals...

It truly was a lovely day.

Pre-FUN...

The week before Memorial Day weekend the kids and I decided to have a little pre-weekend FUN.  After preschool on Tuesday I had to get new tires and brakes put on my car so we hung out at Chuck E Cheese for the afternoon...

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Charlie was way too little to climb up into the tunnels so Emily waited behind him and patiently lifted him up on each level...

On Wednesday the kids were feeling extra fussy knowing that Grandma Emily was leaving along with the rest of my side of the family for our annual family reunion in Eastern Washington.  It was the 24th year of celebration but we Joneses just couldn't make it so I did my best to make it a fun "camping trip" at home.  The kids painted a large CAMP JONES sign along with some trees, animals and a sun to hang on the walls...

 Then I set up our little tent (we sold "the castle" in the garage sale) and did a little camping indoors...

 

On Thursday Emily's preschool took a field trip to the skating rink.  Usually Grandpa Jim takes Emily on her field trips but I figured rollerskating on a new ankle might not be the best plan!

 Norah and Emily were inseparable...

Little sister, Elise, found Emily as well...

 Besties last year...

... and again this year...

 The hokey pokey...

 Then the limbo...

On Friday the sun finally came back out so I took ALL the kids (Emily, Jack, Charlie and Christian) on a walk to the park.  I didn't get too many pictures since I was chasing these little guys the entire time but we did have a great afternoon...

 Friday evening was Jack's choice so the kids had a fancy dinner of pancakes and flavored milk...

Even with such a fun-filled week I have to admit that there was an ache in the pit of my stomach knowing that I was missing out on seeing my family and it would be entire year until I saw them again.  Maybe it was the frequent calls from my mom and sister letting me know how much fun they were having or knowing that people I had not seen since my wedding reception showed up to see us and we weren't there.  Regardless of the reasons I am sad we missed but I am also so incredibly thankful for the weekend that was about to begin...