Winding down

Shannon asked that I take a picture from within the hotel's restaurant to remind us never to eat there again! We were only there to take full advantage of the free meal we received in lame compensation for construction inconveniences anyway.


The four of us got a weird (and violent!) stomach sickness at various times yesterday and last night and we are a bit slow to recover today so therefore had to skip out on the conference picnic. Here's a shot of the awesome Kimya Dawson performing for all of us yesterday:


Eff and Ferg did feel well enough to do some swimming today with Frankie and Cooper - taking advantage of an empty pool:

More buddies

This is the fourth straight year that Mary has offered us and other families the opportunity to gather, to discuss, to contemplate, to observe and to have fun! Woo hoo Mary!!!


Mercedes and Gillian rockin out to The Greybeards, Life is Good's own house band.


Key Greybeard Frank looking rather disinterested with one of his groupies:

Buddies

Funshops and Talent Show

Still raining here but no one seems to care much. Effie, Ferg and Mitchel selling their cards (many were sold to each other!):


Shannon looking purdy at the Mommy/ Daddy makeover funshop. Thankfully it stunk like toenail chemicals or whatever in there so Ferg refused to enter the room even though he was delighted at the thought of applying makeup all over us.


Frank ridding himself of his locks for the first time since the 60's (for Gulf oil spill cleanup)!


Frank, Ronnie, Emma, Effie, Sabine and Mitchel singing "take me out to the ball game" at the talent show...


Ferg and Sabine enjoying the show:

Life is Good Conference Day 1

Between the constant rain and issues with the hotel, this year's conference began more "Life is... Meh" than "Life is Good". That's a bit unfair, but lack of sleep has made us all a little grumpy and negative and I just wanted to throw "Life is... Meh" in there somewhere.

We are in our usual room overlooking the pool, except this year the hotel decided to rip up all our balconies and the metal on metal hammering and assorted construction noises begins at 8 am. Not a particularly good hour for unschoolers! Anyway, all is well now and we are in full conference mode having reconnected with old friends and made many new ones. Plus, we're super excited about having Shannon's family in the room next to us as its the first time we've seen them since they moved to the San Jose area.

Today, Effie REALLY needed to check out the cool store she went to last year that sells Pokemon cards in bulk. We know from experience (hello Target!) that she needs to get this shopping expedition out of the way early or it weighs on her the whole time (ie: grumpy Effie), so she and I made the long, cross-town trek today and spent an hour pouring over their selection. Or at least she poured over the selection for as much as I try to keep up, I had no clue what she was sifting through:


Extreme satisfaction:


KJ, Mitchel and Fergus at the Pokemon funshop:


Ferg, and others, awaiting their turn to play the video games:

Bicycle built for...

Bret, Vivian and Fergus riding the Yuba Mundo...

Down to Portland

On the way to Portland we stopped in at the Hanna Andersson outlet store/ Rachel's second home (Ferg's into the stripey pj's bigtime these days). The store did not disappoint - in fact they played some Rachel-approved Andrew Bird while we were there! As I took this exterior shot, some ladies were taking pictures of some other buildings and asked if I was an architect as well. Instead of massaging the truth, I told them that I was a Canadian! Smoooooth...



At the Wahoo's in Portland:


Chess with Sabine


OMSI

Fun with the Everettonians

While MJ and Fergus played Halo...


Chloe and Effie did that dress-up thing. Prom dresses:


Curls:

The troll under the bridge

Seattle's very popular/ free tourist attraction - The Freemont Troll:


Gillian caught under a hand:


Head up a nose:

Slice of Americana

Frank and Ronnie took us out to the ball park today - our first major league baseball game ever:


Junior at bat:


Ichiro:


That's the extent of the ball players I recognize.... Anyway, we had seven dollar bleacher seats with great views but of course to get the true feel for the experience one needs to spend a boat load of cash on food and beverage:


Mmmmm... traditional food offerings:


Exiting the game. As a side note to our awesome experience, the Mariners lost to the Padres 8-1 (apparently not all that an unusual scoreline for them this season):

Hanging in Everett and environs

Heading back from the park:


Chowing down at the Sons of Italy spaghetti dinner:


At Ronnie's Mom's house:

Away to Life is Good

On the boat:



A familiar position - Ferg on Frank's neck:

Where life is beautiful all the time

In a canoe

Kelly, Effie, Cooper and Fergus playing Knights and Dragons at WildKids (photos by Frankie):

The invention of the sneer

A recently unearthed family portrait with me on Dad's knee:

Bear man down from mountain

We had Uncle Pump and Bindi dog over on the weekend - from midnight through until dinner time. A welcome surprise indeed.

Playing what was once Pump's old table hockey game, things got very heated as the sibling renewed old rivalries:



In between rain showers:




Everyone got to release their own butterfly:


Kicking it up at the lake!