PAPA

THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT PAPA:

1.  He loves horses like me. (Sam)

2.  He's really nice and he plays with us. (Liam)

3.  I love riding in his truck. (Grace)

4.  He is the hardest worker I know and raised me to know the value of work. (Erin)

5.  He is a real huke.  (Erin)

6.  He's an Amish man deep down, living a wild modern man's life. (Garreth)

7.  He would do anything for me and my family... even help us move fifty times. (Erin)

8.  He does great stuff for us. (Liam)

9.  He has horses! (Grace)

10.  A cooler father-in-law could not be had. (Garreth)

11.  I love his interest in draft horses and wagons - what a cool, unique hobby. (Erin)

12.  He takes us to Pizza Villa. (Grace)

13.  Scott is one cool customer, he takes everything in his stride. (Garreth)

14.  I love his sense of humor and I love when something funny sets him off and he can't stop laughing. (Erin)

15.  He can stand on his head! (Erin)

16.  I miss Cousin Eddie. (Liam)

17.  He gives us really cool presents. (Grace)

18.  When someone tells me I'm like my dad, it's the best compliment I could receive. (Erin)

19.  He is always calm and has an amazing quiet strength. (Erin)

20.  He has great taste in music. (Garreth)

21. He has the best smile. (Liam)

22.  All the grandkids absolutely adore Papa. (Garreth)

23.  He is so thoughtful, generous, and giving. He and Mom are always doing something nice for somebody.  He is a great example of service. (Erin)

24.  I love going to his house. (Sam)

25.  If he was a bee, he'd be one of the workers in the hive. The guy gits 'er done. (Garreth)

26.  He is so cute with my kids. He is the best grandpa I could ever ask for for them. (Erin)

27.  He lets me help him plow snow. (Liam)

28.  For ten years I've watched him single-handedly lead his wife and five daughters on a 2 day shopping bonanza at the mall at Christmastime and remain as calm as a cucumber. That's one amazing husband and father. (Garreth)

29.  He is not easily provoked - a very important quality with all his kids! (Erin)

30.  He gives great gifts, always putting so much thought into them. (Erin)

31.  He takes us on his four-wheelers and Jeep. (Sam)

32.  He is the best dad I ever could have asked for. He is so fun to be around and visit with and I value his advice and opinion more than anyone's. He has so many qualities that I admire and I still want to be like him when I grow up. (Erin)

HAPPY FATHERS DAY, DAD!  

WE LOVE YOU!

Pimp My Ride

Dear Venture,

Well, we've had a good run.  We've had six years of good memories and you've taken us on some wonderful adventures.  But we've grown apart and it's time to move on.  We know you will find someone who appreciates you for who you are and we wish you all the best.  But we've found someone else... someone younger, and (let's face it) in better shape.  

Her name is Sienna... and we are in love.

Grandpa Tom

THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT GRANDPA TOM:

1.   He has the best stories you've ever heard. (Garreth)

2.  When he gets laughing, he can't stop. (Garreth)

3.  He's really really friendly and kind. (Grace)

4.  He's a current events expert and a history buff. (Garreth)

5.  He has Sean Connery-like charm. (Erin)

6.  He's always there when you need him.  (Garreth)

7.  I like his smiles. (Liam)

8.  He loves Steven Segal, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood movies. (Garreth)

9.  He gives us tooty things. (Toy Flarp) (Sam)

10.  He is really generous and kind. (Garreth)

11.  He lets us go to a store and pick things and he pays for us.  (Liam)

12.  He's a very honest man.  (Erin)

13.  He gave up his home and job to move to America and give his family a chance at a better life.  He always tried to give us more than he had.  (Garreth)

14.  He has a great love for his kids and grandkids.  (Erin)

15.  He's one of my greatest grandpa's ever.  (Grace)

16.  I like running on the grass at his house.  (Sam)

17.  He was a great example of a father to my husband, who also grew up to be a great father. (Erin)

18.  He's the reason I got into firefighting and Hazmat. (Garreth)

19.  He's really fun to talk to and he's got a great sense of humor. (Erin)

20.  I love the golf course at his house. (Grace)

21.  I like the squirrels at his house.  (Sam)

22.  He is a very hard worker and always took us with him to work on his projects.  He taught us to build and work with our hands.  He's an amazing carpenter and builder.  (Garreth)

23.  Even though we don't ask for them, sometimes he gives us dollar bills.  (Liam)

24.  He's so great with my kids and they all love him.  (Garreth)

25.  I like his shirts.  (Liam)

26.  He's so down to earth and usually cuts through the crap.  (Garreth)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DA!

WE LOVE YOU!

Scottish Highland Games

This weekend we went to the Scottish Highland Games, which our town hosts once a year.  Garreth grumbled a little bit about all the wanna-be's, but we had fun walking around and checking everything out.  We got to hear a bagpipe and drum band and a rock/celtic band that was really good.  Lots of kilts.  Sadly, we weren't there for all the athletic events.  I really wanted to see the tossing of the caber!  Next year, I guess...

Grace, Liam, Angus the bagpiper, and William Wallace the Scotty dog.

They had booths everywhere from the different clans and lots of vendors.  Fun stuff to see.

The highlight of the day was watching a rugby game.  I've never watched one before, so I was glad to be watching with Garreth, who knows all the rules and could give me the play-by-play.  Really cool sport!

Grace and Declan cheering "our team," chosen because Sam and Liam loved the two HUGE Polynesian guys that played on it!

Sam was so inspired by the players' toughness that he started taking big leaves and ripping them apart violently to show his strength.  "See how big this one is, Mommy?  RRRRR!  Easy!"

Brute strength. 

Art Fair

This week at our school, we had a really cool art fair.  Throughout the year, all the classrooms have been studying (very in-depth) five artists, and each grade did a related art project for each one.  For this night, they turned each wing of the school into a gallery celebrating the artists they had studied and displayed the students' work.  Each hall was really decked out with decorations and interactive projects for the kids do there.  They really did a great job and we had a fun time.  

Earlier in the week they had an assembly and had a lady come talk to them about art.  She has illustrated children's books and written several books about teaching art to kids.  Well, the night of the art fair, we got there a little early and were in the Japanese artist Hokusai's hall on our own.  Then this woman came down the hall.  She was half talking to herself and half talking to us when she said, "How am I supposed to pick just two?"  The walls of the hall were filled with projects from the whole school and she had to pick her two favorite to receive the "Artist's Choice Award."  We talked to her for a minute then she started walking down the hall again to choose.  Suddenly she stopped and, looking at one of the paintings, said, "Well, there's one of the winners!  How beautiful!  It's small, but very powerful."  She leaned in and read the name: "Liam Ratchford, kindergarten."   I told her that the artist of that piece was right here and she met Liam and said she loved his work and pinned the award on it!!  We were so excited!  

The winner of the prestigious "Artist's Choice Award" and his work.

Working on the Hokusai mural.

Painting "Starry Night" in the Van Gogh hall.

Grace and her art in the Frank Lloyd Wright hall.

In the Norman Rockwell hall.

Tide Pool Field Trip

I got to go help with Liam's field trip to Birch Bay State Park today.  The tide is at record lows right now, which meant that there were tons of things to discover in the tide pools along the beach.  I may have been more into it than the kindergartners were.   I think some of the other parents were amused by my excitement over everything we saw and my complete lack of knowledge of all things nautical.  I had to explain that I just moved here from the deserts of central Utah, alright?

It was yet another rainy, windy day, but the rain let up for about an hour while we were at the beach.  If the offer we made on the house ever gets accepted, this will be right down the road from us.  Sigh.

Turning over rocks to search for...

...crabs!!  Sam was in heaven here and would pick up anything.  We also found hermit crabs, sea stars and snails, and tons of barnacle and mussel-type things.  I had hoped to find an elusive sand dollar, but no such luck today.

I'm glad the woman in the back directly above Liam's head doesn't know about our blog.  She might be pretty TO'd about this shot.

One of the dads found this giant crab.  We were down the beach aways when he found it and I heard one of the moms shout, "Where's the desert lady?  Show the desert lady!"

Ladies Man.  All the girls in his class LOVE Liam and I must say, they all have some terrific taste in men.  He's a little stud.

Liam and his teachers, Ms. Lee and Mrs. Robertson.  We truly lucked out with these two.  They are absolutely amazing teachers and Liam has had a fantastic year.  

Hertz Trail

On Saturday afternoon we went on a bike ride on a trail next to Lake Whatcom.  We had biked this trail once before in the rain and wanted to go back on a sunny day.  We picked up some dinner from Port of Subs on the way and had a picnic in the forest before we headed down the trail.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  

Since the weather was so nice this time we went much farther down the trail and discovered this beautiful waterfall.  There was a small hiking trail up to one part of it, which we followed, then headed up the rocks even higher.  

The forest was so lush and green!  Grace and Liam hummed the tune to Indiana Jones the whole way up the trail...  

Liam made it the highest, all the way to the bigger waterfall.  He's quite the little monkey!

When we finished exploring, we went a little farther down the trail and found this little spot where the river meets the lake, where of course there was much rock-throwing to be done.  (There are a lot of boys in our family, and a strong urge to throw rocks into any body of water seems to be genetically part of being a Ratchford male!)

Since there are so many great places to bike as a family here and we all love it so much, we got Grace and Liam new bikes with good gears so they can handle the trails better.  Here's Liam with his new sweet ride..

I love living in a place where there are so many great opportunities close by for outdoor family fun!  We only drove about 20 minutes to get to this place.  It was a great afternoon spent together as a family! 

What did we do this weekend?

We found an awesome kid's bow and arrow set at the thrift store...

Garreth and Liam male bonded over their favorite Play Station game....

Declan made a full recovery from the stomach flu (Hooray!)

and went for a wagon ride with Grace.

Sam and Liam tried to break rocks open with a hammer to see if there were "gems inside."

Liam, Grace, and I made a trip to the Farmers Market.

We also worked on the yard and cleaned the house.  Good times.