Goodbye Freshman, Hello Sophomore

​Today, Annika wrapped up her Freshman year of high school. She had finals Tuesday-Friday. Her hardest/most taxing finals (honors bio and alg 2/trig) were on Tuesday, so the rest of the week was rather manageable for her. Today’s final was PE; the kids had to run a mile (hence the workout clothes in her pic below).

Annika’s first year as a Bear was full of fun, challenges, and adventures. Some of her key takeaways from the year include:

- Building a new friend group

- Being in choir, English, and painting classes

- Going to NY with her choir group

- Bio class field trips to Greenlake to test the water for their ecology labs (and some people jumping in!)

She’s looking forward to a summer filled with relaxing/sleeping in, sailing camp, Irish dance, and Miss Emma!

While taking this photo, Annika realized how she has grown into her Class of 2026 shirt. It used to go almost down to her knees (see 2nd grade photo) and now it fits her like a regular, ol' shirt.

(I truly appreciate her willingness to humor me and still take beginning/end-of-the-school year photos.) 

Proof we clean up from time to time

​Anyone who truly knows us understands that we are a mighty casual family. Shorts, t-shirts, and bare feet are our go-to attire whenever possible. 

A couple of weeks ago, we ventured to Lake Chelan to attend our nephew’s wedding. Yes, we still wore shorts and t-shirts most of the time (it was HOT!!), but we also donned our fancy clothes for the ceremony and reception. 

I think we clean up quite nicely when the occasion arises!

Blog app acquired and Memorial Day fun

​I realized something awhile ago: I have many been as good about maintaining the blog (duh!) because most of my photos are on my phone and the blog was maintained on my laptop.  It was a hassle to get the photos moved from one device to the other; yes, I’m that lazy. Ha! Today, I took it upon myself to look for an app for our blog server. Lo and behold! I found one. Yippee!! Now I can more easily record our family happenings and adventures.

Speaking of adventures, last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Our plan was to spend the weekend getting tasks at home done, but Eric also suggested that we head to the WAC (Aka UW waterfront activity center) and rent canoes for a little outing on Washington. Such a smart guy!!

We chose a gray, overcast day in order to avoid crowds, having to wait for boats, and sunburns. (Strategy!!) 

Eric and Annika were in one canoe; Conor and I were in the other. We saw lots of wildlife (heron, ducks, a turtle, an eagle, and geese) while on the water. 

We explored a new (to us) part of the lake, which was quite fun. In the past, we have always gone south l toward and under 520, but couldn’t due to the bridge’s ongoing construction project. Instead, we went north along the shore. We went right by the football stadium and under a very cute wooden foot bridge. (Yes, we did have to duck VERY low to go under the bridge!)

When we talked to the rental gal, she mentioned the possibility of seeing turtle by going north. We had no clue Lake Washington had turtles and were quite excited to see on sitting on a log as we paddled by.  (We also witnessed some sort of heron spat, which was exciting in a different way! So many large, flapping wings!!) Fortunately, the rest of the wildlife we encountered was less agitated than the herons were.

After an hour or so, we were back on shore. I’m happy to report no one capsized, no phone went into the lake during photo opportunities, and we remained sunburn-feee. Win all around!!