He had his friend Allie (along with her parents, Chris & Marcie) from Ellensburg come. She's not so camera shy. 
She and Gunnar get along so well, it's quite refreshing (compared to him fighting with his brother). Our friends Leslie and Troy came with Christian, Anna & Emily. I love those little girls, they are such dolls and even thought Christian is a couple years older than Gunnar, they get along really well too. I didn't do well with camera, so no pics of them. We had Gunnar's cousins Megan, Zoey, Tessa and Sunny there too. They all had a great time swimming and doing tricks off the diving boards with Uncle Neil. I'll spare them all the embarrasment of posting their pictures in their swim suits on the blog! :) Gunnar got some good toys from his party and he also got money for his birthday. We made the trek to Toys R Us to pick out some good toys. He was so excited because he got to get TWO things (from the clearance isle). He got a $50 hot wheels race track thing for under $10 and he got Krypto the Superdog's Rocket Ship ($30 value) for under $8. He actually has $10 left from his birthday money. So, thank you to Grandma Pam with the puppies for the books and money. We'll post pictures of him with his new toys to show you what he bought!
Friday, the 17th, we had to get up early again and drive to Union, Oregon for Family Reunion. Neil's grandma will be 100 years old on Aug 29th. So, this was the BIG reunion. There was a lot of people there this year and it was nice to see Grandma. She's doing remarkably well for being 100 years old (almost). The lodge where the reunion is held is a pretty fun place for the kids. There's a creek that's cold, cold, cold but the kids still love to play in it. There's lots of grassy areas to play and the volleyball court is usually used as the sand box. I don't think I took any pictures at the lodge because I am usually running around making sure I know where my boys are. They aren't quite old enough to not keep an eye on them. They think they are, but they are not. Perfect example . . . Gunnar with his accomplice, Tessa, were making a "club house" in the lodge upstairs. They were "borrowing" stuff from other people's rooms to use in their "club house" So, finally someone caught them (I think it was Megan) and they had tons of people's stuff in our room. I hope everyone found their stuff! We had them take it back, but I doubt they really remembered where they got it all. Tessa is pretty funny. I asked her if she helped Gunnar and she said so innocently, "Well, Gunnar told me to do it." I don't doubt that Gunnar did tell her to do it, he's pretty bossy most of the time. Crazy kids! Anyway, Saturday after breakfast, we took off and you always stop to say goodbye to Grandma at her house on the way out of town from the lodge. Here's a couple of pictures of the boys with Grandma. Paden was sleeping and he woke up and wanted to go in, but did not want to have his picture taken at all - wouldn't even let his grandpa hold him, which is odd.
Being in Oregon for the family reunion is pretty fun for the most part. It's a long drive (4 hours or so), but it's good to see some of the people you don't typically see. The Saturday we got back from Oregon we also had already committed to going to a dinner party potluck at some friends' house in Wenatchee (Malaga actually). They have these parties every couple of months and there's always a theme. Last time it was Asian and this time it was breakfast. It's SOOOO good. It's fun, but man did we have a long weekend starting from Thursday. Then of course we have church at 9am on Sunday, which is fine - more time for afternoon naps, which I did do and I don't usually!
In addition to family stuff, I am in charge of an annual Toy Drive at work and we start fund raising early. We've worked at the Gorge Ampitheatre twice (once the day before Gunnar's birthday party). Working at Gorge is actually pretty fun. We also had a car wash this month.
So, that's kind of the sum of the busy month so far. I still have some things to do. Our house hasn't sold - no offers either. We need to get some weeding done there and I am not sure when I am going to do that. We want to reduce the price so I have until tomorrow morning to decide on that to get it in the September advertising with the price reduction. Gunnar starts school this year. I need to go get him registered, like today! I forgot to schedule his 5-year check up wtih his pediatrician, so I did that yesterday and can't get him in until Sept. 4th. The kindergarteners start a week later than the others, so that should be fine. We keep hearing that the school here is doing all-day kindergarten, but I have no real confirmation of that, so I guess I'll find out when I get there. I need to get Gunnar some school clothes and supplies. I love shopping, so that's not a big deal. Although Gunnar is kind of picky when it comes to clothes. He's picky in a plain way though, so I shouldn't complain. He doesn't want the fancy clothes - he wants the plain stuff. I didn't want him to dress so boring for school, but I guess he can wear what he wants at this point because what he wants is usually pretty inexpensive!
