2013 Summer wrap-up

We had a super fun visit with our dear friends the Gourley's. They were in town from Pennsylvania.  Above: Race, Aaron, John and PJ. Below: Juliann, me, Kristi, and Monica

Race and some friends playing guitar.

1st attempt at slow feeder for the horses. It was a great idea but not durable enough..on to the next idea..

                        Snohomish High 20 year reunion. Above: my memorably important friend Sarah! I love her!!  Below: Aaron and Darren Dwyer. We were elated to have had a visit with Darren and his wife. He is a good friend!

A very sad loss: We said goodbye to our Weimaraner, Leisel. This is a picture of where we laid her to rest.

Race competing at Washougal motocross park

              My dad's 70th birthday was especially exciting! The party was held at an airplane hangar that houses MATA (MissionAviaitonTrainingAcademy)

            It was a great summer of riding.  Juliann decided that she likes riding and included a couple of her closest friends. Above: Stephanie, below: Mati  (not in photos: Rhyan and Victoria)

My scooter! I use it a lot. I put over 1000 miles on it this summer riding around the neighborhood taking care of animals

              Above: Juliann's horse Khizzy(she is still out on a lease but will return soon)

The view from horseback on the Oregon coast.  I got to go on an awesome horse-back riding trip with some great horsey friends.

Juliann has discovered the harp

We never get enough of seeing beautiful Italian cars. Car show in Woodinville

Juliann has become quite an accomplished rider this summer. So proud of her!

Race adopted a Golden Retriever puppy. He loves his 'baby'!

2 of our friends we met in Italy. Adah holding "Elmo". "Elmo" was given to us before we moved home. He is a great addition to our family

Youth group meeting at our house

Maisy is so good with "Doug"

Our friends, Angie and JP, from England. Great visit!

       Camping trip in Eastern Washington. Above: J's friend Rhyan's initiation at camp. Below: it's too fun to carry puppy around

Rhyan's 1st ride on a dirt bike

Tandem bicycling=bonding :-)

4ton hay in Eastern Washington. Hard work but so worth it!

             Aaron got to baptize Juliann this summer. A wonderful event

Our return to Washington

    Is it really true that our Italian adventure has come to an end?!  I did not expect so many blessings to have been  bestowed on all of us in Italy; mostly in the form of friendships.  Words are not enough to express my sincere gratitude and care I have for those I met!
     Our flight home was uneventful-Thank God :-). We got through customs easily. It was especially fun to fly over north Washington.  It all was familiar!
      Everyone asked me what I wanted to do first when I got home. Guess what I said? I wanted to go get my horse and guess what? That's just what I did. When he saw me he seemed happy but then I think he remembered me and ran away. I think he was on vacation while we were gone. I brought Sully home and it was wonderful to be in the presence of a horse again.
    After I got Sully I looked around the house and saw that my mom, my aunt,my sister ,and my niece had done some decorating and organizing. ( not to mention some "little garden fairies"did some gardening for me) I was so happy. Our home feels so nice and comfortable.  To those I love,  consider this your open invitation to come over :-)

View of our front porch-ready for company

View of our living room, complete with clothes drying rack we brought home from Italy

Master bedroom with Gufa, Juliann made this in Italy.

Sully had a lot of 'work' to do when he returned home

A place to have tea with loved ones. Isn't this lovely?

Isola di Ischia-off of the Napoli coast

     Our last excursion for this Italian adventure, was to the island of Ischia.  We can't see it when we are in the city but when we stand on the beach near Il Faro church, we can see part of the island.
    Since it was Juliann's birthday and she expressed interest in going over to the island, we made it happen.  Also, Aaron really wanted to go check out the natural hot springs that the island is famous for.
    I didn't really grasp what we were going to be doing on the island so I didn't prepare very well to be there.  I brought a swim suit and a towel but that was about it.  Oh well. The day was about Juliann and she had a great day!
    We started with a bus ride around the island.  I had read that the bus circumvented the island, pretty much; so that is what I wanted to do.  Aaron did not want to be that free-spirited and he bought a map and picked a destination.  However, the bus we got on, took us for a long ride around the island-much to Aaron's chagrin. It would have been more fun, though, if there weren't so many stinky smells on the bus and we went around lots of curves,bends,etc. while I happened to be sitting backward on the bus...barf..I did get queasy.
     We did get to a stop that was close to our destination so we walked down to Poseidon Resort.  Again, I wasn't really prepared, so I didn't fully understand what we were doing(I admit I got a little grumpy ;-(.  Aaron just told me we were going to a hot spring resort.  We paid to get in and started looking around.  There were pools-man made, bright blue, tiled pools-not the natural hot springs I had envisioned. There were so many 'grandma-kinis' and 'grandpa-speedos' and none of us were prepared for that! haha  (not to mention 'uncle sack'- the middle-aged guys dressed in speedos or small swim trunks while stretching their legs up as far as they can on a bench or edge of the pool)
     There were about 20 different pools-all different sizes and most of them were different temperatures-15 degrees Celsius-40 Celsius (and a stream that was 90 Celsius! Caldo!) I challenged the kids to go in every pool-even the pool that didn't allow children. They reached that goal and they even went in to the sea.  Fun day!

 view of the port in Napoli. Castel Nuovo in the background;  Mt Vesuvius below

 The resort required that we wear hats or swimcaps. Race's hair rejected that idea.

 We ended the night with dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants. Robin Hood