I have yet to stop laughing at this one...

Math Problem:

What does: One new grill off craiglist with a broken igniter switch...

Plus 1 match (and a wife who warned him, but no one listens to Rachel) equal?

A quick way to increase your already receding hair line via explosive fireball.

I knew I could get that beard off him somehow.

Moral of the story: When playing with matches, stand back when you throw them at a grill full of propane gas.

Our Long Awaited Vacation 2009

So many pictures, so overwhelmed by the task of writing about them all. I will spare you the novel and let the pictures do most of the talking.

Every year, my parents, my siblings and all our kids go to the Oregon coast for a week or so. We have been lucky enough that everyone has been able to attend every year. We keep thinking that it will not last and soon some of us will move too far away, have too many kids or learn to hate each other but until that day, we are still together. 18 of us in all, we eat our weight in food, stay up late and play games (but are it seems we are always too tired) and try to get in as much beach time as possible. There is something very alluring about the coast and we can't get enough.

Our adventures this year were as follows:

Our deluxe yurt accomodations...

Lots of food...

Our campsite...

Gettin' us som crab for dinner...

This crab was backed and mutilated before he even knew what hit him...

Mike O, our fearless crab backer...

Olivia, the eager bathing suit desirer...

Building, cause that's what you do in the sand...

My brothers...crazy...

My sisters...

Luke flying his kite...

Amazing right?!...

Audrey, smiler extraordinair...

The dunes and our dune buggy ride at Adventure Land...

Always a game of ladder ball going on...

The famous Octopus Tree...

The Umpqua Lighthouse...and the very upset Indiana...

Matriarch and Patriarch of our family...

Us...

My brother and his adorable family...

My sister and her adorable family...

My single brothers and sisters...

And that concludes our tour of the coast trip. I hope you have enjoyed your stay. Please come back next year for another exciting installment of the Thackeray Family.

Been Gone...

Spending a week with my family at the beach!

How?

How? When? What?

Why must garbage reproduce under my children's bunkbeds?

Chewed gum, ripped books, tv remotes, aaaahhhhhhh! I swear that when I put them to bed at night they don't have anything to play with yet within 2 weeks IT grows and then it turns into this and I have no idea how it happens.

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels

Invited by friends, we went to a park in Bellevue to watch the Blue Angels perform over Lake Washington for Seafair. The first time they flew overhead, the sound was so emotionally overwhelming that Rob got goosebumps and I started to cry. It was amazing. I have a real soft spot in my heart for the military and what they stand for. No matter if they are putting on a show, going to war or flying overhead in memorium of fallen comrads, I tend to burst into spontaneous tears. I had a very strong response to the whole event and I was once again so grateful to live in beautiful Seattle and even more so, the United States of America.

The bubbles were a huge hit too!