Cooper is 11!!

Crazy but, true. Cooper celebrated his 11th birthday on 12/21. He actually started the celebration on Monday 12/20 with a sleepover with four of his school friends. The boys were told at 11:30 they should turn off the TV where they were playing video games. Apparently that was interpreted as just turning off the video games because I had to tell them to go to turn off the TV and the lights at around 1:30. Somewhere in there they may or may not have fallen asleep briefly. Dennis had to yell at them at 4:30 again that it was too early to be awake and to go to sleep! Oh to be young and stay up like that all night (not really).

Cooper is a fun loving, always smiling young man. He loves to laugh and is often doing just that. He loves to play with any kid any age. On his actual birthday, Dennis had arranged for our whole family to go on an Argosy cruise around Lake Washington with the Christmas Ship. It is a little flotilla that gathers every night and may include just the Christmas Ship which has a choir on it and the dinner ship which is the one we were on if the weather is bad or if the weather is nice many ship oweners join in the "parade" around the lake. We got lucky and the weather was nice so there were probably about 10-15 boats all decorated with lights and such that followed along. The Christmas ship stops twice to perform for people on shore and all the other ships gather round. We got a lovely four course meal and the lounge band sang Happy Birthday to Cooper (and a few others on board). It was lots of fun for the whole family. Something he will probably remember for awhile.

Winter Wonderland

You'd think we lived in Idaho and not Seattle. The forecaster have been saying we would have a wetter & colder winter than we have in some time. I guess they were right. We did have school today but only a 1/2 day. It started on time and got out two hours early. That means we do not have to tack an extra day on at the end of the year (yeah!). We however, still the biggest wimps in the universe when it comes to snow. We have maybe 2-3 inches and the city is practically at a standstill. I asked Spencer my budding photographer to run out and take a few photos to commemorate this glorious occasion where the forecasters have gotten something right (at least for now--we still have the rest of the winter to go).

Our street corner

Fire hydrant on the corner
The neighbors hours and a look at the snow blowing sideways. That's also a big part of this snowstorm. Gusts up to 40 mph or more.

The view looking south down 22nd street.

The 2-3 inch accumulation.

The storm is supposed to blow through about 10pm tonight and the temperature for tomorrow is forecasted to be below 30 all day. Who knows what that means for a school day (or not). Meanwhile the poor neglected 3rd child (Cooper) is out trying to sled on a cardboard box, because of course it never snows in Seattle so why on earth would you have a sled?!

Visit To Aleta

Halloween weekend we drove over to Pullman so Dennis could scare some pheasants. Okay they actually shoot them (I guess that is scary for the pheasants). While Dennis scared pheasants the boys (Cooper & Spencer--Tucker had to work) and I went to Leah's volleyball game. It was a little trip down small town memory lane. Lots of fun. Volleyball has really changed since I played it (well that was over 30 years ago after all). Here's Leah in action and Kimberly playing in the band.

Kimberly did a huge project for her senior project. She volunteered to spearhead the repainting of a huge railroad boxcar that sits on the side of the track/football field. Aleta said Kimberley ended up doing alot of the work herself. So here is a "before" picture that is the boxcar behind the one Kimberley did which is what hers looked like before she painted it.

Here is the after picture. Amazing isn't it!! Kimberley did a great job didn't she. Aleta said one time the football team was practicing when she was painting and they gave her a "standing ovation. Pretty cool huh!

It was lots of fun to hang out with Aleta & fam. Always a fun weekend.

Unlike everyone else, I do not have a Halloween photo to share. Poor neglected third child, Cooper did not get any photos taken by his bad, bad parents. He did go trick-or-treating and got lots of candy and I guess that's the whole point.

XCountry Kid

I was going to post something around his birthday, but the pictures are still on the camera. So instead I will post about Spencer's new sport this year. He joined the Ballard High cross-country team. He has pretty much been running every day since August (except when he got his wisdom teeth out). He's not the fastest but he's not the slowest. He seems to be enjoying himself despite the constant running and being tired. We are pretty proud of him for sticking with it and doing his best. He gets up for Seminary at 5:30am every Mon-Fri and runs after school from 2:45 until 5pm. Needless to say he is one tired puppy at the end of the day. Here's just a couple pictures from recent meets. He keeps getting better every week. He has been cutting of a few seconds every race. Look at my pale boy run! However, at last weekend's meet is was sunny (weird but true for Seattle) and scorched is arms and neck.

So I was hoping to do a birthday post for him because he got his biggest wish ever. A cell phone! With an actual plan that includes all the texting he wants. And, it wasn't me that caved--it was Dennis. Weird I know. It was so fun to give him the present. He was so surprised. He hadn't even put it on his wish list for his birthday, he was so convinced it would never happen. Fun times.

Beach Camping 10

Okay it was over a month ago I know, but that gives you an idea of how my life has been going lately (translation--all I have been doing is working). But I knew I needed to change of my blog so here it is.
As most of you know we go camping every year with the whole Chandler gang (minus Oma & Opa now--but that's a bitter story for some other time) plus various add-ons. This year it was a little cold and a little rainy but we endured.
We stopped at Spencer's old piano teacher's house on the way because she lives in Olympia. We hadn't seen her since the baby was born so we wanted to see little Sophie. Lisa has four girls now! I wanted to get a picture of her & family with Spencer because they will most likely be moving to California soon. As pictured they are Allison, Isabelle, Lisa holding Sophie and Spencer holding Emma. Emma is very quiet but a little cuddle-bunny that I would always hold while Spencer had lessons. She had changed the most of all of them since the last time we saw them. I also spent time reading stories to the two older girls at various times during lessons as well. We will miss this really sweet family! This is Spencer with his cousin Kelly (middle) and a friend of hers from her Sorority, Allison (one of the add-ons this year). Spencer always shares a tent with his girl cousins because they are such good pals.

Did I mention that it was pretty cold?? Somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees. That did not stop our intrepid boogie boarders, Cooper & Trevor w/Kevin in tow. The spent hours and I do mean hours boogie boarding in the 48 degree water.

Trekking to the beach the first day at about 4pm. Where they stayed until probably 6 or 7.

That really isn't grimace of pain or cold on Cooper's face, they literally had a blast! (Me I was sitting on the beach with a sweatshirt on wishing there was a fire).

I thought this was a really sweet picture of Kevin & Trevor.

Spencer & his cousins spent a little bit of time trying to get pictures where they were all jumping together. I was off to the side trying to figure out how to time it with my darn camera. These are the best ones I got. I love Emma's vertical leap in this first one.

Spencer just looks joyful in this one.

Cailey, the little blonde is a gymnast (nationally ranked) so it's not surprising she can get that gymnastic looking pose in the air.

This is David with one of his two dogs, Walter. I just thought it was kind funny. David is quite proud of his cowboy had because his noggin is not exactly easy to fit (over size 8 which always requres a custom hat)

My battery died and that is all I got. It wasn't the best weather, but as always, camping with the Chandlers is memorable and fun. I don't know how many years we have left of this tradition but I hope a few more!

2 1/2 Weeks

First I have to say that usually we only visit Idaho for one week every summer so it was a real treat this year to be able to visit for 2 1/2 weeks! Spencer, Cooper & I left on Wednesday, July 14 and drove the Montana way. It's always beautiful but full of construction.

First Stop Wildhorse
We arrived at our first stop which was Wildhorse Campground located in the beautiful Copper Basin which is about 35 miles NW of my hometown. It is beautiful as I said and features a gathering of some of the Vaden clan (we are not allowed to call it a reunion). It features hiking, four wheeling, mosquitos, crafts (for kids & grown-ups alike), sleeping in tents (for those of us who don't have campers or motor homes--personally I like the tent), mosquitos, playing in the water (although this year it was too cold for jumping in the beaver pond). In otherwords it is a lovely time--despite the mosquitos.
Here's one of the crafts the kids did this year. They had a ball painting their blocks of wood and mod podging on paper (yes, you can still mod podge!). Doesn't Cooper look like he is trying to cheat off Alec??
Just a shot of how beautiful Wildhorse is. It is a beautiful valley with Wildhorse Creek running through it.

Spencer with Riley on the way back from our hike to the waterfall. We saw three of them on our hike.

Next Stop Yellowstone

After a few days at Wildhorse we went to Mackay where we showered, relaxed, Cooper & I played golf one morning and just hung out. We convincec Celiac to take a three day trip with us to Yellowstone. See her blog link for some of those details. She takes much better pictures than I. It was a lovely whirlwind trip--alot of driving but totally worth it. I hadn't been since I was a very little girl. You forget how beautiful and amazing it actually is.

Spencer & Cooper really did have a good time--despite what their faces might say otherwise.

The first night there we drove out of the park down to the Grand Tetons National park to stay in a "rustic cabin" (translation--no coffee maker or blow dryer in the rooms--oh how does one cope under those circumstances?) Here is a shot of the rustic (?) cabin.

Here is a shot of one of the two bedrooms we had in the rustic (?) cabin. Each of us had our own bed. It was quiet and serene in a beautiful setting. There was a scooter gang across the way in another cabin but they were tame. Notice the writing desk and there were about a bajillion towels we could use in case we need to shower several times in our overnight stay. All in all it was absolutely beautiful and I would stay there again in a heartbeat (in fact a few nights there would have been totally lovely, because we really didn't have time to explore the area much). Coulter Bay Cabins in the Grand Tetons in case you are wondering!

The next night? Well not so serene and peaceful. We decided to stay in West Yellowstone rather than drive the three hours home to my mom & dad's place--bad decision. Should have known it was a bad omen when they didn't have our reservation (despite my spelling my e-mail twice over the phone). The guy at the desk really was nice and tried to help. He had one room he had "saved" for us and accommodations being scarce this time of year in W. Yellowstone we took it (ask me about the hotel we almost got in Big Sky Montana by accident some time). Anyway, when we got the the room, this is what we found.

Air conditioning with a view...straight out to the pool!

Air conditioning installed by real professionals. And boy did it work well. NOT. By 11pm we were roasting so Celiac called and asked for a fan. They gave us another room instead (someone hadn't shown)

I guess cleaning thouroughly is not a high priority at the West Yellowstone Inns & Suites.

The next stop was actually river rafting in Riggins, but I really didn't take any pictures there other than Brian trying out his new birthday raft in the pool. So,

NEXT STOP MACKAY

Here's just a few shots from our Mackay visit.

Mowing grandpa's lawn (actually for Cooper the blades were not in operation)

The cousins on a "scavenger hunt" that required photographic proof.

LAST STOP REDFISH LAKE

We tagged on with Randy's family for a visit to Redfish Lake which is located near Stanley Idaho in the Sawtooth mountains. We had pretty good weather in between the thunder storms that rolled over the lake. We did manage to get in some good water fun.

Tucker wakeboarding at Redfish Lake.

Dennis waterskiing at Redfish

Me before waterskiing at Redfish. I was just thrilled that Icould still do it! This was just before my second run that day. I did pay for it the next day (or two) in soreness!

Two & half weeks of absolute fun. Love my family, love my home state. Loved the whole trip!

Odds & Ends

Since I haven't posted in awhile, okay a month ago. Here's just a few things that have happened in the last little while.

Tucker became a reader!! (See the book in his hands!)

It's true, just out of the blue Tucker decided to start reading. This is the boy who probably read less than 5 books in all of middle school and high school. You know that saying "If you read to your child, your child will be a reader" With Tucker I always figured that was bunk. I never read to the other two boys as much as him. I guess he was a late bloomer is all. Since he started about a month ago he is always reading now. He takes great pride in finishing a book in a day. Go figure. I guess you should never lose hope.

We took a trip to the Cupcake Cabin. This is Cooper doing a happy dance while playing croquet.

Cooper went to Ft. Clatsop where Lewis & Clark spent the winter when they made their big trip. I came along as a chaperone (my one field trip of the year). It was an interesting trip. The kids were great. The parents, not so much.
Spencer was "promoted" to high school. We don't call it graduation because it's not. We have a little outdoor ceremony which lasted about 35 minutes. Just the right length. Here is Spencer with a few of his many girl friends. He doesn't really have any friends who are boys, but tons of girls.


He also won a major award that was voted on by his teachers called the Harold Hines Award. It is more or less given to students who do good things for others and stand up for others. I was very proud of him winning that award. As a few parents said to me after, "that is the award you hope your kid wins"

Here's Spencer at the Cupcake Cabin. I just like the picture I took.

Tucker did graduate from High School but opted not to "walk" in the graduation ceremony, hence we have no pictures to share of his big moment because there wasn't one. We are proud of him nevertheless. He is working hard this summer with two jobs--Safeway & the fruit stand--and an occasional stint at the Dirt Exchange. So really 2 1/2 jobs I guess. He is a hard worker.

He keeps having bad car karma though. Last Wednesday we got a call from the Seattle Police at 5am. It seems that someone or ones had stolen Tucker's car right out from in front of our house, taken it over a few blocks away in an alley an proceeded to strip it of all the lights and the battery. They probably would have taken more but must have gotten interupted in the process. So here are a few pictures of the car.

Someone in the neighborhood said they saw it being driven by not too long before we got the call fromt the police so it happened between 4am & 5am. I can't believe I didn't hear his car start because it is really loud because the engine races. Dennis was able to find a car on Craig's List that he could get parts from so they took a "man trip" on Friday with Cooper and got most of the parts back. It is most of the way back together now but we wonder if it might be stolen again some time. Poor Tucker and his cars!

That's pretty much what's been what lately.

Little League

The baseball season is actually winding down. We are in the "playoffs" portion right now. Dennis coached Cooper's baseball team again this year. They have had a pretty good season--at least a winning season. Which is actually pretty good when you take into account some of the players on the team. I have been the official scorekeeper for the team all season. This because none of the other parents would step up to do it. Although one mom said she would do it but wondered if "you had to pay attention to the game if you were scorekeeper". Not a joke. So, by default it ended up being me. I guess it was a good way to get me to go to all the games. I don't mind keeping score as it is a good excuse not to have to participate in social chit chat with the other parents. Not that I am anti-social...well okay maybe I am.

Cooper is a pretty good little player. He looks like a hitter when he is up to bat. Not that he always is a good hitter but he looks like he should be. Dennis has him playing catcher and 1st base and he does a pretty good job at both positions. Takes after his mom and dad (and Aunt Karen as I recall) in playing catcher. For some reason the way he throws always reminds me of Celiac. I don't know whether it is the bend in the wrist, the position of the arms, but there is something in his throwing motion that just looks like I remember her throwing. That's not to say that he throws like a girl. None of us Vaden chicks "threw like a girl". We all had pretty decent throwing arms back in the day. I do kind of miss playing baseball. I have very fond memories of playing church ball as a teenager. It was alot of fun. Peggy coached us every year and we always did pretty well against the other wards in Lost River Valley. People always used to be amazed at how well I played left field. I always attributed it to being afraid that Ardena MacInelly would beat me up if I missed the ball. Dennis & I played in an advertising softball league for awhile when we first got married and that was alot of fun too. After the kids though we just kind of faded out of it. Coaching Cooper is a way for Dennis to get back in the game I guess. Although he does say that his arm gets sore if he pitches too much to the kids. That's middle age for ya!

Photos are by Spencer because of course I was keeping score and "paying attention to the game".