Dueck's Roost

Oops, almost forgot the 2017 Cross Country season ... James joined Porter on the High School Cross Country team. With a bunch of other goofy but fantastic guys!! And in fact, a whole team of really great kids and coaches! They had way too much fun together.  Including during their Seaside, OR trip ... Oh brothers;)!! NOW September's done:).

And to finish out September, we have ... Make bakes (with a new Arkon camera/phone mount) (tried out a meringue frosting) (and Reese's bars) We enjoy one last trip to Dash Point Beach ... Brooks and Cousin Carter get twinner haircuts. Joseph becomes a human motor. And Mae has fun doing Ballroom dance!!

Later in September Porter turned the big 16, and became an official independent driver!! He had a pretty low-key birthday ...  But did get some family prizes ... Mostly printed pieces of paper representing digital gifts:) ... Mae made him his favorite Rainbow Chip cake! And he topped things off with a hangout night!!! Watch out world, there's no holding him back now!;)

First day of school 2017, began with Porter (10th) and James (9th ... first year of HS) heading out before sunrise to Seminary. Yikes, that's early!! Brooks (5th) and Joseph (1st) were next to go. Getting a decent picture of them proved to be a bit tricky ...  But we FINALLY made it happen:). And then there was Mae (7th). She actually did Internet Academy at home for the 2017-2018 school year, but still went along with me to drop off her younger brothers. I'm thinking I must have forced her to wear a backpack and take 1st day of school pics:-)!! Let the school fun begin;).

I really don't remember which happened first, this or the start of school, so we're going with this;) At the very end of the summer of 2017, Joseph turned 7!!! He celebrated with his fave food ... mac n' cheese ... A family party with family gifts and prizes ...  (James even carved him a sword) And THEN he celebrated with his first ever FRIEND PARTY!!!  He's awfully lucky to have this amazing sister ... she definitely made his Power Rangers party pretty fantastic:) We had Ranger Chews (fruit snacks), Super Charge Snacks (crackers/pretzels), Nylok Spit (koolaid), Morph Cubes (cheddar cheese), Mega Force Slices (apples), and Mighty Morphin Sticks (carrots). Funny how such simple things can be so exciting to a  group of 7-year-olds!! Mae made this super cool Power Rangers cake!! Pretty nice having a sister who can bake (especially when your momma can't;) This is an awfully cute group of Power Rangers:) ...

In 2017 we decided that the girls (Mae and friend) should have a High Adventure just like the guys! A plan quickly formed for the dads and daughters to travel around Ross Lake by Kayak for a few days.   I think the plan was almost halted when Mae ended up with symptoms of Strep Throat just a few days before the scheduled departure. Fortunately, the initial culture ended up negative so they decided to push on through. Of course, a day or two later (when they were already long gone) the Drs. office called back saying the full culture did text positive. Oh, well. Too late!:-) Map of the amazing Ross Lake in the North Cascades. Here they are setting off at the connecting (and FREEZING) Diablo Lake These two were pretty excited for the trip together.  And this beautiful weather and scenery did not disappoint! Even at night, Ross Lake is quite a sight. Dad enjoyed spending time with this fun girl:)! And they all had enjoyed playin...