Happy 45th Anniversary

On Saturday, we celebrated Nana & Papa`s 45th Wedding Anniversary. We took an Argosy Cruise to the Tillicum Village. The village is located on beautiful Blake Island which is also a Washington State Park. It was a 45 minute boat ride over to the island where we were greeted by one of the Native American dancers. Nana & Papa got their picture taken with him. Then we were handed a cup full of steamer clams and encouraged to throw the shells down on the pathway and stomp on them after eating the clams. Papa ate all of our clams. We had fun stomping on all the shells on the pathway leading up to the Native American Long House. In the Long House, we got to see how the salmon was cooked over the fire and how it was traditionally prepared to eat. Then we headed to the dining and theater room. The lunch was buffet style and they served a delicious salad, fresh fruit, rice, mushroom dish, bread, meat stew and salmon (only Papa ate the meat items and he said the salmon was very tasty). They also served a yummy berry crumble dessert with coffee. After dinner, we were entertained with the Salish Native storytelling and dancing. Then we were able to meet the dancers and a traditional cedar weaver. Nana tried on a $5,ooo hat that the weaver had made. We also got a few minutes to explore the island and we were able to see a herd of black tail deer. The park ranger said the deer spend some of their time on this island then they swim over to another island nearby. Then we were called back to the boat with a very loud horn, announcing that our departure would be soon. On the boat ride back to the mainland, we got to see the beautiful city of Seattle (Space Needle, Alki Beach, the Big Wheel, Aquarium & much more). This was great day!!

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Happy Memorial Day Weekend from the Casey Clan!! We are spending our weekend at home around the campfire. Yesterday Papa set up his wheelbarrow/bbq pit and we roasted hotdogs. Then Shawn & his friend came over for a campout. Papa & Shawn played their guitars for us at the campfire. We had lots of fun singing together. Today Shawn & his friend are fishing down at the lake. We all plan to spend the rest of the weekend just relaxing. Thank you to all the men and women who have fought for our freedom to enjoy a peaceful weekend with our family!!

Dress a Girl

Today Nana helped me make my very first kid`s dress for "Dress a Girl". We are going to try to make four dresses for our church`s "Dress a Girl" project. Our church has been making lots of dresses for girls in other countries that don`t have pretty dresses and also as an outreach ministry. We have one lady in our church who plans to deliver some of the dresses to Africa and help build a church. Our church alone has made over 1,000 dresses. Along with the dresses, the ladies also make little dolls and stuffed animals.  

Go Seahawks!!

We are celebrating the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl by eating hoagie sandwiches with french dip and wearing our blue & green. Normally we aren`t huge sports fans but it is exciting to see our local team go to the Super Bowl. I also made cute blue & green toothpick flags to put on our sandwiches. GO HAWKS!!

No Electronics Day!!

Today Caitlyn and Evan were at our house and I challenged them to a no electronics day. I told them that I would check them at the door to see if they had brought any electronics (games, laptop, kindle, phones, etc.). Caitlyn had brought her phone but she promised to not use it all day and Evan left his Kindle in his mom`s car. I planned a fun day to keep them busy and I have to say that I had alot of fun too!!

First Activity: Go on a nature scavenger hunt.

Second Activity: Get some yummy treats at Starbucks.

Third Activity: Play with toys at Target.

Fourth Activity: Shop for a muffin mix.

Fifth Activity: Make "Happy New Years" cards for the neighbors.

Sixth Activity: Bake chocolate chip muffins for neighbors.

Seventh Activity: Groom the dog and take her for a walk while the muffins are baking.

Eighth Activity: Taste test the chocolate chip muffins.

Ninth Activity: Walk over to the neighbor`s house and give them the treats & cards.

Tenth Activity: Eat icecream and feed bread to the ducks at Lake Goodwin Park.

  Eleventh Activity: Get coloring pages at the Stanwood Public Library & visit the Griffins.

We had a great day full of activities and I don`t think the kids missed their electronics once. Well...maybe Caitlyn was wondering how many texts that she missed from her friends. Did Evan mention his video games once or twice? Maybe once.