4th Annual Doyle Family Campout

Once again the Doyle clan converged at Confluence State Park in Wenatchee for our 4th Annual reunion camping trip. This year's memorable feature was the wind--seems like there's something every year... Year 1 at Sun Lakes: oppressive 105+ degree heat and puking children. Year 2 at Fort Worden: RAIN and Jeff and Andrea forgetting the key to the camper at home... Year 3 at Wenatchee: hot (seems like paradise in hind sight). This year it was the WIND that wouldn't let up--we thought we might lose the tents and/or small children to it. Of course the kids didn't notice any of the challenges, and had a wonderful time playing together--which is what it's all about, right?

My favorite photo of the trip is this one of Steve and Tiffany, pretending to enjoy the river, which was SO frigid it was hard to even wade in.
















We definitely ate well on the trip, thanks to Steve's fabulous smoked ribs on Friday night, Jeff's tenderloin steak and Mary's to-die-for salads on Saturday night, and a Father's Day dutch oven egg casserole for Sunday brunch.



This last picture deserves some explanation... Jeff made the decision that we didn't need to get gas before heading over Blewett Pass on the way home. About halfway up the pass he realized the error of his ways, and we sweated bullets all the way to the summit, watching the gauge drop precariously low, then coasted down the other side until we saw this life-saver of a little gas station at the Mineral Springs campground, where they let people buy two gallons of gas to make it to a real gas station. Phew! THAT was a close call--according to the on-board computer we had LESS than one mile of range left in the gas tank when we got here. Imagine how embarrassing it would have been for Jeff if he'd actually run out of gas...

Catching up...

June seems to have zipped by, with the ballet recitals, end of school, my B'day, Father's Day, etc... Here are a few of our highlights leading up to this past weekend.
After Margaret's ballet recital at the Washington Center.

Posing with Grammy & Grampy after Caroline's recital. Yes, the girls were in two separate, back-to-back recitals, so we spent the whole afternoon downtown doing ballet...

At home after a long day of ballet.

Less than a week had passed since school got out when Caroline wrote this letter to her BFF (best friend forever), Kat. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the letter before sending it off.
In case you can't read it, it says:
Kat, I'm having a TERRIBLE summer. I stole a charm from Margaret's bead collection. She can't even take a joke!!! She hurt my finger because of it. Your mizerable BFF, :-( Caroline (peanut)

Me opening my totally cool new tennis shoes on my birthday.

Recital Sneak Peak

We had pictures on Friday night, and dress rehearsal today, for Margaret and Caroline's ballet recitals. Sunday is the big day.
Here are some candids from their photo session.
Caroline's dance is called "Boquet." Notice all the pretty colored flowers?

Margaret's dance is "Angelic." She looks the part, doesn't she?

Our two beautiful ballerinas posing together--it was all I could do to get them to keep the "bunny ears" down behind each other's head...

Margaret's Birthday - FINALLY!

After literally MONTHS of anticipation, Margaret's big day finally arrived. Her ninth birthday was quite a celebration.
Pancakes with butterscotch chips and whip cream for breakfast before school!

Red Robin with the family for dinner


Back home on the deck for cake & presents

Clowning around with friends Juliana and Annabel at her birthday party at Charlie's Safari