The unofficial end of summer is approaching...

And it seems like just yesterday that school was ending for the summer and now we are days away from Jenna starting Kindergarten and Miranda going back to Preschool.  Both girls seem pretty excited about starting school again and I am excited to see Jenna in her little uniform.  Our Baby Jenna is growing up!! 

We have been enjoying the last few weeks by taking a few boat trips and celebrating Jenna's 5th birthday.  Our first excursion since I last posted was to Poets Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia.  The marina was on the small side and very quiet and picturesque.  The girls enjoyed playing in the pool and looking for baby crabs on the beach.  We would turn over the rocks on the beach and find many little crabs scurrying away.  Miranda was not afraid of them at all and started picking them up and talking to them.  She loved them so much that she insisted on walking one back to the boat to keep it.  She held the little crab between her 2 fingers for the entire walk back to the boat.  We set it up in a container and she kept checking on it and taking it out to play with it.  Unfortunately, little crab didn't survive, but that didn't stop Miranda from wanting to go find more!  There was also a large rock wall on one side of the marina and we were able to see many purple and red starfish.  They were really pretty!  While we were at Poets Cove, Jenna turned 5.  We were able to sneak her presents on board so she was surprised on the morning of her birthday.  












Can you tell that "cruising" rocks us all to sleep???


Before we left for Poets Cove we invited our neighbors over for cake to celebrate Jenna's birthday.  Everyone seemed to have a nice time and the kids all enjoyed playing with the Legos Jenna received as a gift.

We spent this past weekend at a neat place called Rosario Resort and Spa on Orcas Island.  Their was a neat old mansion on the property that was built in the early 1900's that you were able to tour and see the original rooms on the second floor.  There was a huge music room with an amazing pipe organ.  The resort is actually going up for auction and will be closed as of October 10th to allow the new owners to do the renovations they have in mind.  It will be neat going back to compare the before and afters.  There were a few deer that roamed the grassy areas around the resort and they were so friendly!  We were able to hand feed them apples!  Of course the girls were petrified!!!!  We are looking forward to our next excursion and seeing some neat places over the fall.

Hard to believe 2 months have passed!

When I last wrote, the summer was just beginning and now, 2 months later, it is already August 4th!  There are only 7 days until Jenna turns 5, only 4 weeks until school starts and 5 weeks until Miranda turns 3!  We have been doing so many things lately and we have been having so much fun playing outside that by the time the girls go to bed at night, I am just about ready for bed myself!  So, needless to say, this blog has been neglected.  I have so much to share!!  Warning:  This will be long, but well worth the wait!

On June 13th, Jenna performed in her dance recital.  She tap danced and sang a song called "Where is the Chicken in the Chicken Chow Mein".  She did a great job and we were so proud of her.  I may be biased, but I think she was the best one in her class!

The rest of June was spent hanging out on the beach and the boat, visiting the zoo and riding race cars for our neighbors birthday party. Here are some pictures of these fun times:













July was another month filled with fun memories- Ian's parents came out to visit, watching the 4th of July parade and neighborhood fireworks, Jenna and Miranda "camping" in the backyard (with Ian of course), more fun on the beach and boat, raspberry picking at Remlinger Farm, Jenna and Miranda taking Fairytale Princess dance class, another fun day at Remlinger Farm with our neighbors, Austin and Tyler, taking delivery of a new boat and having our first look at Baby #3!










Jenna and Miranda as Snow White
Jenna and Miranda as Jasmine









Our new boat, a 2004 Meridian 381



Here is the first picture of Baby #3 due on January 31st.  I am about 12 1/2 weeks when this ultrasound was taken.  I will have another one in about 6 weeks & we will try to find out if this is a little girl or a little boy.  Any guesses???
And even though it is only August 4th, we have already begun filling this month with many fun memories. We just came back from a fun weekend to Roche Harbor on our new boat.


















While Miranda was sleeping, Jenna decided to "model" for me on the boat.  She was so cute striking her poses!



Miranda taking her first bath on the boat (this is actually our first boat WITH a bathtub!)

On our cruise back to our marina from Roche Harbor, there was one area of dense fog.  Good thing we have radar!!