July in America! Part 1

 In July the kids and I headed to Port Townsend, WA for a NEW fiddle camp! We were going to try out the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes since all our regular camps were happening while school was in session for us. After our LONG day of travel (seriously, can you GO any farther than SA to Seattle?!?) we drove up to the American Girl store, met up with some friends, and Sasha adopted a new girl that she had been saving up for. Josefina!

we settled into a really quaint B&B overlooking Puget sound.

The next morning we headed to a cool marine aquarium and park because we only had a 2 hour drive and we didn't have to check in at camp until 5pm. The polar bear was full-on playing for about 30 minutes... he was amazing to watch!

 And the wolves were in crazy-fight mode!

 On the drive to camp Sasha passed out in the car. We didn't want to wake her up so Teddy and I snuck into Coldstone Creamery, a place I had told the kids all about. We both got small's and they were HUGE!!! Teddy had tried to talk me into a large but he has no experience with American portion sizes. Well that ice-cream kicked our butts. Neither on of us was able to finish and for Teddy that's saying something! When we left he said "Note to self: when at Cold-Stone, ask for a SMALL!"

We got to camp and got checked in. Our dorm was awesome and we had a great view overlooking Puget Sound and the mountains!

 The camp was held at a historic military base, Ft. Worden. It was beautiful and the perfect setting for a fiddle camp.

 Camp was a BLAST!!! VIDEO HERE. In the morning you could take 2 different potluck sessions but then in the afternoon you had to commit to a band lab and stick with that all week. I was in band lab with an amazing group called the Foghorn Stringband. The kids also had a morning session and then they were in kid band. Teddy made this awesome friend named John and they went everywhere together. He kept talking about his big sister Olivia. We finally met her on like the 3rd day.

She looked so familiar and finally I was like "I know you!!"

 In 2009 Sasha went to fiddle camp for the first time. Guess who one of her buddies was? And that was waaay down in California!

AND Nic was also at this camp, so here's my time-warp picture of the 3 of them:

We had a blast all week. We played with friends, attended concerts, played in concerts, and just generally celebrated music.

 Kids and one of their awesome teachers.

 And these 3 monkeys ran like loons from one end of camp to the other!

 After camp we had a late flight to Bend so we had time to visit the Seattle flight museum. It was pretty cool!

 And we had lunch at an old favorite!

 Our flight to Bend was amazing. I miss that part of the world so much! We flew over Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.

 And then we were in Bend! It has, if anything gotten even better in our absence and it just feels like home. I so miss it. Everything there is JERF/Paleo and the temp is perfect and the river and mountains are beautiful and I WILL get back there someday! Sasha ran out to the horse barn with Auntie Cris and basically stayed out there for the whole trip!

 In heaven!

 We dragged her out with us finally to canoe the Deschutes with us. Laurakay hooked us up with a cool paddle that took us most of the afternoon!

 Teddy even braved that COOOOLD water!

 And switched boats!

 While Sasha did horses Ted and I did a 9 mile loop on Phil's train. I have always dreamed about riding this trail with one of my kiddos so this was a dream come true. He crashed several times as you can see by his shirt, but got right back on his bike and kept riding. I was so proud of him!

 We celebrated our ride with some shave-ice:

 They told us it was the best shave-ice in the world. I was like "hmmm how can shave ice be better or worse than any other shave ice?" Boy I was wrong. That stuff was magic. Even Nimanim and Auntie thought so!

 All too soon though we had to get back on a plane. We are missing the days when our summer holidays lined up with summer in the USA. A summer trip to America is just too hard to fit into a mid-year break!

Another Fall in SA...

 We got back from East Africa and hit the ground running... it's been a VERY busy fall! Sasha unpacked her bag and then immediately re-packed for a 2 night bush camp with her class! She was actually away the day of her birthday but came home that night so we got to see her on the big day. 10 years old!!

The day she got back we headed to the Mall with 2 good friends to (FINALLY! She said...) get her ears pierced. Somehow my extremely needle-phobic child was able to get through this with nary a flinch. Hmmm....

 We celebrated with some frozen yogurt...

 Teddy achieved his yellow belt in Judo. Great job Ted!

Then it was time for some birthday parties! Sasha and her new buds from Herzl had a pamper party with mani's and hair styles...

 ...and chocolate fondue instead of cake! No complaints here....

 Ted and friends had a massive 2 hour paint ball session with full riot gear. I was exhausted just watching them!

 Those are some happy, sweaty boys!

The Ironman came through PE again and Jeff got to do the run for NOV in the corporate version. It was fun coming out to cheer him on!

 And the kids and Dad did the Glow run!

 We had a CRAZY Easter weekend that probably warrants it's own blog post entitled "weekend disaster" but we did get 2 really great mountain bike rides out of it and that was kinda the point...

 Early morning Tent Selfie with my 3 babies...

 Lovin' it!

 This guy is a mountain biking CHAMP! He's starting to tackle some technical elements and is getting really good a tough climbs!

 Although I'm not sure who likes mtn biking more.... Ted or Roxy:

 We have had a frequent visitor to our yard... can't figure out where he's from or where he goes but he keeps coming back!

 And we've gotten to do some rides right here in town:

"Roxy I know you're excited about mtn biking but I'm pretty sure Dad is gonna need to sit there...."

 We had 3 weeks off from school during Easter and finally I got to PET A CHEETAH!! He purred like crazy. It was awesome... I want that sound on speakers all around me while I sleep....

 And we've had some WACKY weather lately. The kind of days where it's raining on one side of the street and sunny on the other. It creates some pretty awesome rainbows and the ones here seem to form an entire arch. They seem so vibrant and so close that we are always tempted to try to see where they hit the ground so we can find that pot of gold....

 The expats got to represent at this year's Potjie competition. Our table layout featured Defiant!

There were sack races. Little did they know that I'm like a professional sack racer. South Africans got SCHOOLED! bwahaaaa.....

 And, we won!!! How crazy is that?

 But then, tragedy... Roxy got hit by a car! I thought she was a goner. Grabbed her fast, got her to the vet and stabilized..

Poor thing has a fractured pelvis. She is on bed-rest for 2 weeks and then 4 weeks of being "calm and quiet". Of course now that we are at that 2 week mark she is trying to jump out the windows and is OVER being calm. She always seems to have a kid or a cat keeping her company in her bed though.... and we are so thankful that she appears to be on the road to a full recovery.

 Ted's class had an African fashion show. They sewed their own skirts and everything. I was pretty darned impressed!

So that's all the news that fit to print here on Team Stolasz. We are headed to the USA TOMORROW for 4 weeks!!! Soooo excited to see you all and just be home for a bit. Can't wait!!!