Merry Christmas 2009!

Attached is our “Christmas Project” for the full Studer / Russell /Lankey clan.  Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

You can also view it directly on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90gx2XkURoU

James Video

 

Here is a link to the video one of James’ teachers made about him.  Enjoy!

Braden’s 4th Birthday

On Tuesday, December 1, we celebrated Braden’s birthday a day early, because Andrew and Sharon both had rehearsals on the 2nd.  Our friends Jan (James’ speech therapist) and Ruth Ann (the boys’ pediatrician) came over bearing cowboy-themed costumes and the cake Jan had made.  Here are some of the pictures:

Braden with Jan

Ruth Ann reading to the boys

School Pictures

November Sunrise

Thanksgiving

Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving.  We had a great dinner and then went up to Whidbey Island on Friday on a beautiful day.

 

Halloween

Sickness kept us from doing all the things we wanted for Halloween, especially James.  But here are pictures of Braden picking out a pumpkin up on Whidbey Island at Forget Me Not Farms, and in his pirate costume.

Buddy Walk 2009

The 2009 Buddy Walk was a success, with good weather, face painting, and James getting to walk with “Blitz,” the mascot for the Seattle Seahawks, as well as “Sassie” the clown .

First Day of School

Welcome to the school year 2009!
James had a successful first day in first grade at Edmonds Elementary.

Here he is with his backpack, ready to go:

And here’s the bus:

 

And Braden, who will start preschool on Friday, was ready to go too.  This morning he went with Sharon to the University of Washington to participate in the second phase of a study there.  So here he is, ready to go:

Last Summer Travels

So we made another trip or two to Whidbey Island, and a quick drive to Darrington, in the foothills.  Here are some pictures.  First, of the boys “looking for monsters” in the military installation at Fort Casey:

In Darrington, which is in the shadow of Whitehorse Mountain, we played in a stream called Squire Creek.

Then this weekend, as a final Labor Day fling, we took the kids overnight Sunday night to a nearby hotel with a pool.  They had a great time.  No pictures, but lots of fun.

Bellingham August 22 2009

On Saturday we all drove along Chuckanut Drive from southern Skagit County up to Bellingham. 

It was a beautiful sunny day, with amazing views of the San Juan Islands along the way.  We stopped first at Larabee State Park.  No pictures, but it was pretty.  Climbing on rocks and looking at tidepools at low tide, eating lunch, etc.

Then we drove into Bellingham proper, and visited Whatcom Falls Park, a city park dating back to the teens.  This arch is from the stone bridge over part of the falls, built by the WPA.

Here’s the water, coming from several directions:

and a couple views of the bridge itself:

A really beautiful and well-used park (including lots of teens and twenty-somethings jumping off a rock into a pool at a spot called “the Whirlpool” as well as miles and miles of trails.  We only explored one direction, and were there nearly 2 hours.  Definitely one to visit again.

 

But…after all the driving (Sharon also visited Fort Flagler State Park with the boys on Friday), we decided that since what they really want is playgrounds, two hours in the car probably isn’t necessary to accomplish that, especially several days in a row.  :)  By the way, Fort Flagler is the third part of the “Triangle of Fire” created at the end of the 19th Century to protect Admiralty Inlet (the others are the better-known Fort Worden outside Port Townsend, famous as the filming location for “An Officer and a Gentleman” in the 80s, and Fort Casey, where SPU has its conference center, on Whidbey Island.)

Anacortes August 20 2009

The boys and I drove up to Anacortes and the surrounding area last week.  One of the new places we discovered was Cap Sante Viewpoint,

which looks out over Fidalgo Bay to the east (picture with us), and Anacortes and its marina to the north and west (second picture).

We also drove through Washington Park on the western edge of Fidalgo Island and Anacortes; it’s really beautiful, though the pics don’t quite do it justice.  The kids were most interested in the playground at the NE corner of the park.  But right there was the following marker for some of the cable that serves the San Juan Islands (next 2 pictures):

  

Earlier in the day, the boys got to play on the amazing playground at Storvik Park, and here they are enjoying themselves:

  

We also made a stop at Deception Pass State Park, on the north end of Whidbey Island. 

We’ve discovered that’s a really great spot too, with a swimming lake, beaches, driftwood, etc.  (And constant flyovers from planes landing at Whidbey Naval Air Station).