Independence Day @ Sun Up Bay

Although the weekend of the 4th was much more chilly than we're accustomed to, it didn't stop us from having a fabulous time at the lake.  And, our guests from Arizona enjoyed the break from 100+ degrees!

It was a weekend of simple pleasures.

 

 

 

 The little community at Sun Up Bay has a parade every year on July 3rd (also the night they do their fireworks show).  Faith, Charity, and the little guys even walked one loop around in it!

 

 If you missed the mini race cars in the parade, you better bet somebody didn't! (didya notice his sidewalk art above?)  As soon as they were parked after the parade, Andy was drawn to 'em like a magnet, and Jason, Josiah, and Tobias were right behind him!  These neat little cars are true race cars, built to precisely 5/8 the scale the original car it is modeled after.

Other weekend highlights that need a little explanation:

Andy's friend Ryan rode his new jet ski into the bay so Andy could show off his paint job.  

Looks pretty sharp!

 Charity and I got away on a little hike up to the Girls' Scout Camp.

We discovered an incredible sand sculpture on the beach.  They have a contest every year (we competed 2 years ago), and although we missed the award ceremony, we're guessing this was the winner! 

We temporarily got rained out while trying to set off our own kiddy-pack of fireworks.

 But, the big fireworks show was rain-free and spectacular!

One Sunny Saturday

Last Saturday was the most beautiful, most summer-feeling day we've had all year!  And, we ate it up.

W never paid much attention to our Rhody before, and they are such intriguing flowers!

Happy hosta!

The lanky tomatoes finally got to spend a night out of doors without a risk of frostbite.

The Dodge rolled out of the shop to make more room for the project in progress. (a post about this to come)

And, I invited my friend Monika to come enjoy the sunshine with me while Andy worked away in the shop.

We decided an adventurous stroll was the ideal way to spend our afternoon.  We took our time, stopping often to "smell the flowers" and maybe being goofy from time to time. 

 We love living on the palouse!

Hot Rods and BBQ

Last weekend, we had our club's annual car show in Palouse, WA.  We watched the weather forecast closely as the date approached, and every day the prediction changed.  Would rain scare the crowd away, or would we get a break?  As luck would have it, the clouds went away for 24 hours and we had an absolutely perfect day in downtown Palouse!  89 cars and countless spectators filled the main street of this quaint town.

The fun little Dodge was our choice of ride to take to this show.

The day was eventful from start to finish.  One of the first cars to show up arrived with busted suspension.  Not a bad place to roll into when you're in need of repair!  In no time at all it was welded and they could enjoy the show.

Pinstriper Lance Jasper stayed busy all day, adding a touch of traditional art to restored classics.

His first job of the day was our friends' fully restored 1914 Buick.  Pretty neat.

Other favorites of the show:

After a very successful show with amazing cars, a delicious lunch of barbeque sandwiches from a local business, and impressive live music, the bulk of the crowd left town and the club and friends stayed to clean up and relax with a potluck dinner.  Once we recuperated from the organized chaos of putting on the event, we strapped on our rollerskates and hit the streets for a good time.  When exhaustion set in, Andy and I bid our farewells and headed home.  About halfway home, the rain started again.  And then....the Dodge sputtered and died.  Andy knew right away that we were out of gas, so...we called back to the crowd we'd just left and ordered a gallon or two of fuel. 

In no time at all, we were back to the business of going home - very glad to have this network of friends who know and appreciate cars and are always willing to help you get down the road. 

May at Our House

Can you believe it's June?!  Judging by the weather, it could still be April Showers...except that we had a wonderful show of May Flowers in our yard all of last month!

 

 

 They inspired me to finally fill the pots on our deck with colorful blooming things.  They were left by the previous owners and have sat empty for 3 years!  We had fun picking out some perennials to fill them up.  The pot shown here has a Sugar Bush amongst the flowers.  You can eat the leaves and they taste like sugar!  It can be used as a natural substitute.  How cool is that?

 I'm happy to report that the Hostas that we transplanted in the new rock bed survived and are brightening up that part of the yard.

 And the veggies are putting on a show of their own in the garden.  You gotta love the neat rows of green, growing things!

All of our little pond fish died over the winter, and we were a little surprised to see movement in the pond.  It looks like a family of frogs have moved in!  We often play a little How Many Frogs Can You See game, as they are often just peaking a nose out from under a lily pad or something.  How many can you see?

There's 5 in that picture!  

I took close-ups of 4 of them, and they didn't seem to mind one bit:

 We have had a few cloudless days, and got to break out my new Badminton set to play.  That's a sure sign of summer!