I still love you

Last weekend was lots of fun. Friday Braydan took off work and we got up early and went fishing as a family. It's salmon season.Kaleb told Braydan later, "Dad, I still love you even though you didn't catch a fish." It's true, we didn't catch anything. The guy at the bait shop later told us that we aren't going to have much luck without a boat. We got lots of practice casting though :)

Friday night Alisha watched the kids and we went on an awesome date to Paradise Lake. The place has miles and miles of mountain bike trails! It was so awesome. We rode for 2 hours and didn't see a fraction of all the trails. I don't think I ever will either because some of them are crazy. I had to walk my bike on a few of the loops Braydan flew through. Scary!

He said I was getting better at the end though. (yea right). Braydan was 10 years younger afterwards. He forgot how much he loved mountain biking. And he's really good at it too. I remembered why I'm not good at it.

Saturday morning we went and watched Alisha run her triathlon. Kaleb loved all the people racing and decided he needed to do his own race.

These random people cheered for him. Then he spent the rest of the time "mountain biking" on this hill.

Alisha's team did great. It made me want to do a triathlon too, except not the swimming part.

Two Wheels

Kaitlyn and Henry learned how to ride on two wheels this summer, so Kaleb was determined to to keep up with them.

I tried teaching him one afternoon until we were both frustrated and sweating. Then Amber came out and ran with him a few times and he got it! I couldn't believe it. Thank you Amber! She showed me some tricks. I was holding on to the front of his bike or holding him up under his arms. She told me to just hold on to the back of his seat and that helped a lot.

Now he's obsessed.

He's had a few bad crashes, but he keeps going!

We've gone on some long family bike rides together and he loves it! I love it too cause I only have to pull Eliza!

Point Defiance Zoo

I used to think zoos were boring. Now I don't know how I could have ever thought that! Animals are so fascinating. It makes me marvel at how creative God is watching and learning about them. Some of the highlights: the shark feeding,

creature show,

(the kids were laughing out loud at all the funny creatures running across the stage)

camel riding,

feeding the budgies.

Eliza kinda freaked when one landed on her stick, dropping it and jumping back a foot. But then she got brave.

The Gibbons showing off their tricks, and the walruses.

This guy was a slim 3,000 lbs! It was fun to have Alisha with us too. She had to give up a frisbee game and boating at the lake with her friends, but she really wanted to go with us! Maybe she regrets it now because her shoulders ache from lifting kids, but thank you anyhow sis!

I better include a typical DuRee family photo: Braydan-with his eyes closed, Kaleb-too busy to look, Eliza-grumpy :)

What a fun day!

Gold Basin

We had the best family camping trip this last weekend. Braydan has not wanted to go all summer with me since I was so grumpy last year. But, Kaleb begged and begged and I swore I would be on my best behavior, so he relented. I've never seen Kaleb go so crazy. He helped get the firewood ready, the car packed, the food ready, and then he ran around the house cleaning. He shoved clothes under the bed, threw toys in the closet, saying excitedly, "we have to get our house clean like Emily's before we leave!" I guess our house is a dump compared to Emily's. LOL!

Eliza took over my spot as the grumpy camper. We barely got to our campsite and she said, "Momma, I want to go home." Really!? We hiked down to the river to explore (I had to carry her the most of the way) and 5 minutes later she said, "I want to go sleep in the tent with my blankie." Good grief! Good thing we're all talented at ignoring her.

She didn't complain at smore time or Swedish fish time.

Kaleb tried really hard at roasting his own this year, but he would get distracted by a squirrel or something and bob his marshmallow in the ashes.

We had fun exploring our huge campsite. The kids collected all their treasures in a water bottle to show Alisha. I didn't let them put the dead bird they found in there.

So, the bugs were annoying, but we were fine until one of them snuck in the tent at night and attacked Eliza. Now she looks like she has the chickenpox. She has two band aids on her face where she scratched her mosquito bites so much I was afraid they would scar. And the rest of her face is covered with bites too. There's even bites her hair.

I love our conversation every time we realized we forgot something. Braydan: "Isn't it in the camping tub?" Me:"No, I already checked 3 times." B: "Well, it was there last year." Me: Well, it's not there this year. Then I would wait for him to blame me for not remembering the ketchup or the paper towels, or the water, or the bug spray, but he wisely didn't.

The next day we had a blast building a dam, having stick races, leaf races, berry races, pretty much anything that would float races.

We played hide in seek in the forest, went on a hike to an old mill, caught some water skippers, watched some tadpoles, and found the weirdest plants. Maybe Braydan will go camping again soon!

Science Center

Last week we got to see Josh and Kara one day. They wanted to see the Pacific Science Center so we met up in Seattle.

I asked Kaleb to pray for me on the way there that Mommy would drive safely and he said a good one.

I've realized one of my favorite things to do is explore and learn new things with my kids. I love their excitement and curiosity about biology, history, chemistry, physics, everything! This was a fun place to learn little bits of all those things.

We loved exploring the bug section: black widows, bees, cockroaches, gigantic millipedes, scorpions,etc.

And of course the butterfly place. Josh told me later I had a butterfly on my back the whole time and didn't even notice. It was cool to see them up close, sticking their long tongues in the flowers. The kids tried really hard to catch one, but I'm glad they didn't. Poor things!

Eliza was a little freaked by the robotic dinosaur exhibits, but Kaleb loved it of course.

Then we went outside to ride the high rail bicycle.

I screamed the whole time. I felt like it was going to tip, plus I had to wear Josh's size 13 shoes. They wouldn't let me on in flip-flops. Scary fun!

I liked the Body Works place too. We had to test Eliza's strength.

Josh was awesome on the grip tester. I got a 500, Kara got 600, Josh got the "Ouch!" level, which is off the meter. Me and Kara couldn't get that with both our hands squeezing. It was a fun day. Kaleb loves Josh, mostly to wrestle and tackle with. Eliza loves Kara and even asked to hold her hand. Cute! Thanks for the visit!

Forest Park/ Lake Roesiger

This last weekend felt more like summer! Friday we went on a fun picnic with the Bettilyons to Forest Park. It was hard to get the kids to eat because they were so excited to play. Even though the sun was almost down, they still got their swimsuits on and got a little wet.

Last year they were so afraid of splash parks, but this year . . . . I could see potential for them actually enjoying it . . . maybe.

Saturday we loaded up the kayaks and drove to Lake Roesiger. I really love this lake. I'm going to adopt it for the summer I think. Not many people, clean water, and 20 min. drive.
Braydan dared me to swim out to a buoy. I waded in and out about 10 times up to my waist and would come back shivering. He said, " I knew you wouldn't really do it." That did it! I dove in and swam out there just to prove him wrong. It was really cold and I got tired, but I made it!

The boys tried fishing, but no luck.

Eliza didn't want to leave. This video is at 4pm after playing since 10!

Forbidden Peak/ Leavenworth

Braydan climbed Forbiden Peak last weekend.

He summed up the trip, "The way up was fun, challenging, and exhilarating. The way down was cold, wet, and miserable."

Matt said Braydan looked dead when they got back to camp. He climbed in his tent and fell right asleep. They asked him if he needed water and he was already out. He didn't even eat dinner.

Last year they didn't summit, but this year they did! He says he's officially retired now, but I've heard that many times.

So, we found some fun things to do while he was gone. I can't remember most of it now, but Saturday we went to Leavenworth with Amber, Rebecca, and Danette and kids. We wanted to escape the weather, but arrived to pouring rain. We said a prayer and started our hike around Blackbird Island. I didn't even bring a jacket! Luckily, after about 1o minutes, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Yeah for prayers! We had fun exploring, playing by the river with friends,

or not . . .

going to lunch, getting ice cream,

The kids had a blast rolling down this hill in the town square. Once they got bored with that, they started pulling each other down. They all had brown bumbs by the end of the day.

Eliza screamed the whole way home because I forgot her blanket and she was soooooo tired. But, other than that, the day was a success.