A McStotts Clan gathering--October 18th

Michelle's Aunt Sarah, who lives in California, came up to Washington for a visit. Michelle's brother, Rick, graciously hosted the group at his house. Considering it was mid-October the weather could not have been any better, it was beautiful!! It was great to see everyone there!!

Richard (Michelle's Mom's friend), Michelle's Mom, Larrian and Larrian's sister, Lorna in the background.
Michelle's brother Rick, talks with Uncle Lee.

Michelle's cousin Dani, with her son Jake.

Marcus and Alex saying hello to Uncle Lee. {When we had our camping lot at Port Susan the boys would ride their bikes down to Uncle Lee's trailer and he would always have Oreo cookies there for them. When Uncle Lee saw the boys he said "I don't have any Oreo's with me."}

Uncle Lee's son, Scott and my Aunt Sarah from California.

Michelle's Grandma, Eileen, and cousin Scott.

Uncle Lee's daughter, Chris, and Rick.

Jake, Collin, Nicole and Carson

Collin, Nicole and Carson. Collin and Carson are Michelle's cousin Dean's twins. Nicole and the boys went to the same Montessori school last year. They had a great time together!

Homecoming--October 4th

Alex and his date, Ashley Serna

Alex's group of friends all went to dinner together in LaConner. Bruno and I drove three couples over and stayed in town and had dinner somewhere else. Alex said they all had a good time. We then drove them to school for the dance.

Marcus, with his really good friend Nicole Cruse. Nicole's Mom, Patty, was a really good friend of mine in high school. What a small world.

Marcus with his date, Amberleigh West

Marcus and his group of friends all went to a mexican restaurant in town.

September 30th--Nicole turns 6 years old!!

Nicole and her friends enjoyed some playtime at Jungle Playland. Grandma came down from Ferndale with Richard, Dani and Jake came up and the neighbor boys came over. A couple friends from her new school came by too. They had a good time!!
Mmmm, cake.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Nicole.

She loves her new skates from her Auntie June.

She wanted to go to El Gitano for dinner, so that she could have them sing "Happy Birthday" to her and have her picture taken with the sombrero. Uncle Rick and Aunt Staci came up and joined us for dinner.

After dinner it was time to go home and open presents.

Yup, what's a birthday without Barbie.

She loves her new organizer! She got new markers and crayons, her own tape dispenser and stapler. She's all organixed and ready for hours of coloring.

September 19th--Mich & Tree go on a "Journey"

Actually, we went to go see the band Journey, as well as Heart and Cheap Trick at the White River Amphitheatre.

Getting candid before the bands started.

It was a great crowd. Not too boisterous, not near as much pot smoking as Tom Petty, and no drunk half naked guys (thank God!)

Cheap Trick was alright.

Heart was awesome!! Those ladies sure can sing, and they sounded just the same as they did 30 years ago.

Journey was really good. Even though it's not Steve Perry the new guy sounds so much like him. It was great to hear so many of their old songs.

September 14th--A beautiful day at the beach

It was a gorgeous Sunday!! Pretty amazing for the middle of September. We packed a cooler and went to Rosario Beach on Fidalgo Island. They have great tide pools, and a nice beach, although it is rocky.

Nicole and Alex

Nicole

Totem Pole

Bruno and Nicole

Nicole

First day of school

Alex waiting for the school bus on a chilly first day of school.

OK Mom, hurry up and take the picture, the bus is coming. He had to take the bus because Marcus has late arrival and didn't have to be to school till 9:00. It's great to be a Senior!

Nicole's new school!

She actually didn't have real class today. It was just an hour orientation for the kids, and a meeting for the parents. She will go to class on Monday. She's a little apprehensive, but having visited the classroom twice I think she is starting to look forward to it. What a big kindergartner!

Alex and Bruno go fishing

On Aug. 22-23rd Bruno and Alex went up to Vancouver Island to go fishing. They arrived at Painter's Lodge, near the mouth of the Campbell River, around 2:00. They had their first fishing trip at 4:00. The guide does everything for you, except reel in the fish. They didn't have one line in for more than 30 seconds and "bam" they got a hit. Alex took this one over and after having the guide yell at him for several minutes he got the hang of it and landed a nice 20 pound king. Not 20 minutes later, Bruno gets a hit and brings in a 25 pound king. You can see on the "daily catch" board that Bruno and Alex took in 2nd and 3rd for the days catch. Up early the next morning for another four hours they didn't do so well. They got skunked that day. But they came home with two really nice fish and some good stories. I didn't get a picture of them with the fish because by the time I got home Bruno was already fileting them. Alex looks forward to going again next year!