Nutcracker Auditions!

Today was Margaret's big audition for the Nutcracker ballet. She'll find out next week whether she's been cast and, if so, whether she'll be part of the mice or toy soldier crew. She's hoping for toy soldier since she thinks they have better costumes... Parents weren't allowed to watch the dancers during the audition, but Margaret reported it was "pretty easy." Mostly they just had to march around in large and small groups. We're excited for her but a bit anxious about the major time commitment that goes along with the rehearsal and performance schedule. If she gets in, you'll all have EIGHT opportunities to come watch since she'll have four shows per weekend for the two weekends prior to Christmas (yikes!).

In the driveway, on our way to the studio...

Burning off some nervous energy with a friend from school before the audition

In the line on the way into the audition

Keep your fingers crossed for her!

91 and still partyin'

Earlier in September we celebrated Great Grandma Dorothy's 91st birthday in Oak Harbor. The weather was fantastic, so the adults were able to sit out on my Uncle John and Aunt Linda's patio all afternoon enjoying the incredible sunny views while the little kids ran around and entertained themselves throughout the place.

Fall get-a-way

Last weekend Jeff and I snuck away for a couple nights to Walla Walla for some wine tasting. What a great trip we had, despite the lousy weather. We visited several wineries, some well known and others that are pretty tiny and new. We got quite spoiled tasting a lot of REALLY good (and expensive) wines. Makes it hard to go back to the regular grocery store variety. On Sunday morning we took a nice stroll around the Whitman campus on the edge of downtown Walla Walla. What a beautiful place--now if we can just convince one of the girls to go to college there, life would be perfect!

Jeff at L'Ecole (little school house), a winery in a neat old restored school building.


Andrea attempting to take a picture of us outside Pepper Bridge (after too many samples on an empty stomach...)


Jeff making a purchase at Yellow Hawk Cellars, which had just opened up its tasting room in the past month. We enjoyed the ambience of the nicely decorated space a bit more than the wine (although they had a good port). Notice all the neat antiques, including the vintage cash register that really works.


Enjoying a chilly picnic lunch on Sunday in Pioneer Park. It's a very pretty spot in a residential area of Walla Walla half way between the downtown and the airport.

School starts...finally!

Today was the much anticipated start of school. The weather was perfect, and the girls were excited to see their friends and new teachers. They both had their hearts set on "fancy" hair, hence the wavy braids on Caroline and the poofy bob on Margaret. Everything seemed to go smoothly at school--and they were still full of energy after getting home. Margaret's highlight of the day was getting her "planner." This is a big deal in 3rd grade, where the kids are responsible for writing down all their own homework and we parents sign off on it each night. Caroline's highlight was earning two "lucky bucks" for being so well behaved (although they're changing the name to "behavior bucks"--I guess so that kids don't think it's just "luck" to earn them....). These are a rite of passage at St. Mike's as all 1st graders are trained with them to help make the transition from the fun and games of kindergarten to the serious work of elementary school. The kids have to forfeit them for bad behavior and get to spend whatever they've accumulated at the class "store" every Friday.

Last lazy days of summer

Summer has lasted longer than usual for Margaret and Caroline this year with the delayed start of school. During this last week of vacation, they enjoyed their lazy mornings snuggling on the couch with Caleb and playing outside in the beautiful September sunshine. Melissa had an extra little one a couple days this past week, the younger sister of a friend of Margaret's from the neighborhood. Lola made another great playmate for Caleb and the girls.

Labor Day campout

Where to even begin describing our great camping trip... We decided to take a chance and head out on Labor Day weekend without reservations (big risk takers that we are...). To improve our odds, we thought we'd try a more primitive camping experience off the beaten track a bit, so we headed to the Teanaway valley outside of Cle Elum. All the campgrounds up there are less developed (i.e., pit toilets, no running water, etc.) and accessible only by dirt roads. We lucked out and scored a BEAUTIFUL spot right next to the river and set up camp on Friday afternoon for a wonderful weekend that ended up being the most relaxing and yet fun-filled camping trip we've ever had as a family.



The girls played for hours in and around the river, making fishing poles (complete with homemade fish hooks carved from sticks), washing clothes the Laura Ingalls Wilder way, building forts, and just exploring up and down the river.







We ate well! A couple gourmet breakfasts (not counting the Captain Crunchberries), and Margaret cooked dinner for the family using her newfound skills and stew recipe from her Girl Scout camping trip earlier this summer. Caroline helped bake the brownies in the dutch oven--who wants to have to eat s'mores for dessert EVERY night? :-)




(yes, Jeff is babysitting the dollies while the girls drink their hot chocolate and warm their toes by the morning fire...)







Margaret tried out our "sunshower" which worked pretty well although it was still too cold for Jeff and I to use it. The girls did really well handling the pit toilet experience, even in the dark of night. But we also took the opportunity to learn how to set-up the high-tech porta potty that came with our camper that we'd never used. Yeah! No more tiptoeing through the wilderness in the middle of the night!



We took a short hike one day, part way up a trail not too far from our campground, and had lunch in a pretty spot along the way. The trail is part of a much longer loop that is usually used by trail riders on horseback. Because it's a horse trail, it crosses the river a lot, which made it a bit more exciting and challenging for us since we forgot to bring waterproof shoes (apparently the horses don't mind this because they don't have to stop and take off their shoes each time!).







There were lots of other fun highlights, including exploring further up the other forks of the Teanaway in search of future camping spots. This is an area we will definitely be coming back to!


After jealously watching the horse campers at the other end of the campground all weekend, Margaret and Caroline got a happy surprise on our last evening. The group rode through camp and invited them to hop on for a quick ride. Margaret got to ride down to and into the river to let "Doc" get a drink, and Caroline got to ride back to the horses' campsite.



I can't be certain, but I think the girls had a good time...

High tea

To finish the summer off in style, the girls (with a lot of help from Melissa) hosted a fancy tea party for several of their girlfriends. Using ideas from their tea party cookbook, they made cute little petit fours, finger sandwiches, and other fancy stuff. Margaret and Caroline also made placemats for each of their guests that doubled as party favors to take home. The event was a huge success, meaning a good time was had by all and no china was broken!!!

Off Broadway...

Last week the girls had their friend Chloe over for a playdate, and they really went all out with the PLAY part. Melissa reports that they worked all afternoon on the script, the set, and rehearsals. They even enlisted Caleb to play the part of the little cowboy.