Alki Beach

  Alki Beach in West Seattle is one my favorite places here! My niece and nephew and I went with some of my friends for a fun day on the beach. It turned out that this day was the hottest day we have had this year and I got the sunburn to prove it!

Alki Beach, July 2010

Jumping rope with bull kelp

Puget Sound is freezing!

Lily the dolphin

That was a fun day at the beach! The water was freezing, but B stayed in it most of the 4 hours we were there. I'm convinced he's a polar bear! The girls played on the beach most of the time; apparently they don't have any polar bear DNA.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Work, not just a 4-letter word

What's a camp without chores? In most vocabularies, "work" is a bad, 4-letter word, but not at the Bell house!

Work is good and it has nice rewards!

Like getting to go on the roof...

Gathering nails and trash

Or finding a baby slug (that you just studied about)!

With the adoption paperwork complete, Mountain Man and I have been reading a few parenting books. One of my favorites has been Created for Work: Practical Insights for Young Men by Bob Schultz. It's not just for young men; in fact, it has impacted my life! I've always had a very negative view of work, which has resulted in laziness! This book has changed my perception of work, which has given me a new attitude and hopefully a brand new work ethic. Parenting is more about modeling than speaking, so it's important that I change now! I've really been convicted of this sin in my life, and praise God He has been kind to show it to me so I can repent and change. Bookworms: add this to your book list - you won't regret it!

Now, I'm off to work! {Smile}

Forts

Construction of a fort
dining room chairs + blankets + sofa pillows + books = a large, comfy indoor fort

Purpose of a fort

What's a fort without friends?

Camp NW

Our 10-year-old niece and 8-year-old nephew spent a month with us this summer. We entitled this great adventure "Camp Northwest." My MIL flew out here with the kids and stayed for the first few days. We had countless adventures during their month here, so I'll attempt to highlight them for the next few days.

We wanted this to be a time of learning and growth as well as pure fun! The first week, we began reading 100 Cupboards by ND Wilson. We enjoyed as much as (or possibly more than) the kids. We intended to make this a nightly routine, but Rock Band and Apples to Apples prevailed and we still haven't finished it.

Science experiments by the Mythbusters team was also a well-intentioned expectation but we only did one from the entire box! I'm thinking Amanda will have to come over and do the rest with me. This experiment taught us what hot water vs. cold water and hot air vs. cold air. It was a little messy and the kids got a little wet, but it was fun!

A favorite activity was working on the fort and whittling sticks into defense weapons. They spent hours doing this and preparing for battle! 

Fort BMBX

Never without their trusty 4-pawed warrior

Their imaginations are fantastic! Madison is very creative and likes to be the leader and in charge. Braydon is a hard worker and great protector of his sister. It was neat to see their character and get to know who they are and what they enjoy doing.

Crazy Summer in Seattle

Seattle - it's the place to be!

It's been a fast, fun-filled summer, but I'm glad there's finally some downtime. Our house has been like a busy little bee hive lately. We had Mountain Man's mom for a few days at the end of June and our niece and nephew for the month of July. Their family joined them on the 5th week. The day our family left, my sweet friend (and college roomy), Molly, came over with her family for a fun evening.

At the same time that the kids came, our good friend, Matthew, from Colorado got a job here in Seattle and moved in with us. He's been here since July 4th weekend. His wife (Mindy) and baby came up the day after Molly & her family left and they stayed for a week to look for a place to rent. Then, they went back home to pack up their belongings for the big move. Two days after Mindy and baby left, my long-time friends, Codie & Jennifer came in for a girls' vacation. They left yesterday. Mountain Man and I now have four full days to ourselves until Matthew, Mindy and baby return on Thursday to live with us for about a month, or until they find a place to rent.

CRAZINESS, I say, but it's been A LOT of fun. I've loved all of the energy buzzing around, but I'm not gonna lie; I love this normal workday at home! I'll be posting quite a few pictures of all of our summer activities soon.