After how busy the end of the school year was, and then traveling to Croatia and Glacier National Park, the rest of the summer was pretty relaxed. That doesn't mean we didn't do anything of note! Here's the remainder of our summer in pictures.
Alex with his friends Noah and Spencer on the Sunday before Noah left on his mission.
One day we decided to break the summer monotony and go explore. We settled on touring the USS Turner Joy in Bremerton. When we arrived and I saw the size of the ship I was worried the tour would be pretty basic and boring. We've toured some pretty big ships and I just didn't think this would match it. Instead, it turned out to be the most interactive ship we've been on. There were so many things to explore, buttons to push, levers to turn, etc. We actually ran out of time near the end as they were closing and had to rush through the last bits. 10/10 would highly recommend!
See the jelly fish?
Afterwards we walked around Bremerton, got some dinner and played some games at their local arcade!
We had a game day with our friends Cena and May. We played a card game that you need to set aside 5-6 hours for, and we had a blast! We also had this amazing dish that May made for us. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!
In July I decided it was time to start getting my weight under control. I started following a program where my goals were: 10k steps/day, weights 4x/week, high protein, lots of water and staying in a calorie deficit. As of a month ago I had lost 20lbs before I injured my ankle while out on a walk one night. I've maintained my weight loss, and as I'm healing I'm ready to dig in and get back to it! Here's one of many hikes I did with my friend Kelly this summer!
One Saturday we went to Centralia and visited their antique market. Think farmer's market, but instead of everyone's stuff they've made and are trying to sell, it's all antiques. It was the best! Afterwards we got some lunch at Insert Coin, a retro video game restaurant and arcade. At your table you can play games, and I just loved how much fun Dan and Alex were having :)
Here's Dan and I at the Weird Al Yankovic concert...... SO rainy and fun!!!!!
I love performing with my kids! Over the summer director Nick Carlson put together a reading orchestra. We played some Wagner, Verdi, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4! Great rep, and a great time!
We knew that summer was coming to a close and the boys were getting restless. Sometimes it can be a drag that everything 'good to do' is quite a drive. After some searching, we decided to visit the Bullwinkle Family Fun Center out in Tukwila. I thought it might be a little cheesy, but we actually had a really good time. Go-karts, bumper boats, mini-golf and some arcade games. Alex and Cade were talking the WHOLE time about this game in the arcade and then Alex ended up winning the jackpot! They split their tickets and got some silly toys that are actually still getting good use.
After the family fun center we headed over to Lakewood to see one of Dan's summer concert performances. We brought some Chick-Fil-A and enjoyed a perfect evening of music and beautiful weather. Love a good day out with my family.
We had to wear the shirts we got Dan for Father's day <3
And when we weren't out exploring or working, we found lots of time this summer to play some games together. This is something Dan and I have wanted to do with our kids for a long time but it always ended in arguments. I'm so glad we're at a point in our family relationship to do these things together.
Summer 2025 ended in late August when Cade headed back to Oberlin, I headed back to school/work, and Alex started his Senior Year!!!
I feel like it is way too soon, yet not soon enough for Alex to be a Senior and getting ready to graduate. He's young for his grade but has always been ready to tackle it all. Scheduling and taking Senior pictures was the first of many Senior moments he'll have this year. A fellow musician friend of mine also does photography and we enlisted her services. She helped everyone feel at ease and make for a fun photo shoot. That means the pictures turned out great!
Here are my phone pics from the night:
And here are the final results!
Love you Alex! Looking forward to a great final year of high school and Running Start!
It finally happened! We went to a military ball... together! See, Dan has played at countless military balls, often playing for units that aren't his own. I couldn't be a plus one at a ball that I wasn't invited to. There was a moment in Korea where I thought I could go to a ball, but it fell through, so here we are at 18 years into his military career and finally the opportunity to be his plus one, AND he was performing too. Best of both worlds. That meant it was time to find a dress!
We had a REALLY fun night. We got all fancied up, talked the talk with the important peoples, waited forever for food, listened to long (and really WILD speeches/roasts), listened to Dan perform an awesome tribute to 250 years of Army, and then we danced! I'm not much of a dancer, but i did my best to relax into the situation and just have fun. I think we succeeded!
Before
After
with a pop of pink!
This girl came up to me and said she liked my dress, and then i realized, it was because she had the same dress! How crazy is that? Amazon, ftw!
April-June of any given year while I've been a teacher has been THE busiest season by far for me. All the groups I work for and perform with end up with their performances back to back to back and then you add the SPSCC musical on top of that. This is why I insisted on some rest time during spring break. I don't think I really came up for air until after Croatia, and maybe even after our trip to Glacier.
BUT there are still notable things that happen for the family during those months and while it may take a bit for me to blog about, they still gotta get documented :)
My friend Julie has a friend who has 4 schnauzers! She knew I was missing Carson so she arranged a visit. Aren't they adorable??
The boys and I got to play in the SPSCC orchestra together, even a bit of Mahler 2! I know this won't happen many more times in our lives, so pictures were a necessity :)
Cade had his first birthday away from home, so we put up the banner anyways and sent him a birthday package. He's 19?!
Dan plays at a lot of events around the PNW. He's played at the Mariner's games a few times now but this time I finally made it out! It was a really fun night, and they sounded great!
Drum circle set up in in my classroom!
Gym all set for our 3rd grade recorder concert
Dan and his performing group came to our school for the Month of the Military Child Assembly! It's our student's favorite assembly of the year!
Exploring some WA trails!
Dan and I have been trying our hands at pickleball, and we like it!
Julie and I at the OYC concert!
A little offstage Mahler action!
Gettin' out and trying a new trail at Millersylvania State Park
At Jorie's graduation party! She finished strong at YHS and SPSCC! Off to CSU Fort Collins
Our Father's Day gift to Dan was our awesome shirts! Mine says, your husband/my husband. He loved 'em. Then we got some Buddy's chicken and waffles and did an escape room. We did escape, but only because we were so close to getting out when the hour mark hit that the guy let us finish it.
Last day in my classroom! (funny that I'm typing this as i head back in a few days)
Alex is now 17!! We spent his day celebrating by hitting up a video game store, IKEA, topgolf and a fun restaurant that served up meat pies!
And because I had a feeling it would look awesome, and Alex agreed, he got a perm! He's been loving the curly hair lifestyle.
Not pictured are all the hours spent in rehearsal and performance with Lizzie, the SPSCC spring musical. It was, as always, a very fulfilling experience. I love going through the whole process of learning the musical with the actors and then seeing it through to performance.
The last day of school, alex's birthday and father's day were all pretty close to each other. And soon after all that we started rehearsals for our trip to Croatia! There was just one more special event that took place before we left for Croatia, and that you'll get to read about in my next blog post!
