Fab 5

I don't know how much my little heart can handle this week. This boy has had a momentous week. First week of preschool and now his birthday today. He turns 5 today. He was sooo excited he couldn't sleep last night. I went to Bible study but Blake said he kept coming out and saying he needed to "go potty", "needed a drink of water" routine so he could come out and hopefully espy his gifts.

1st Day of Preschool

Carter did a great job going to school today. He greeted them and hung his lunch up on his hook. He went right away to some kids on the floor and started playing. He was very excited when he came home too. He had fun on the monkey bars and playing with new people. I however, had a harder time adjusting. As soon as we walked out Avery started crying. She said she would miss me but I know her tender heart knew she would have a lonely mommy. She offered to stay home with me while the other kids went to school a couple times this summer. I was fine until I got home. I shed a few tears and prayed for my babies! God has blessed us greatly.

First Day of School

It seems like just yesterday children all over America were uttering some rendition of, "No more pencils, no more books..." It's hard to believe we are easing back into the rhythm of school schedules. My husband authors a blog. In this blog on August 3, 2012, he pens a letter that we would, and have given our children's teachers. If you wish to read it, click on "The Write Project" blog located on the right-hand side of this page located 3rd down on my blog list. Only 129 days, 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 12 seconds until Christmas Break.

Fountain of Youth

Ashland, Oregon has a fountain in the middle of the "town square" where sulphery, soda water bubbles forth. At some point in history Ashland tried to forge it's way as a spa town but things didn't bubble up to their expectations. It's suppose to possess many healthy minerals for all things healing but bottling it was not a success. Apparently people did not want to drink stinky water. We all had a lap of it. Upon first taste, well. . . it stinks. We all know how olfactory and tasting senses are in an iron-glad partnership. It smelled like rotting eggs and it tickled the tongue. I wasn't prepared for the fizzy, soda-like effervescence that prickled my tongue. But I have to admit, once I got past the sodium-like, stinky, bubbly taste, I still didn't like it. My oncoming cold went away though. No, that didn't happen either. It was however, a fun experience that I'm sure the kids will remember. I've heard that taste and sounds and smells play a big part in connecting with our memories. I have to think that some day when my children get the opportunity to drink rotting soda, they will think fondly of that day.

Emigrant Lake

We camped here for a few nights. It was in Ashland, Oregon. It was a great spot to swim since it was warmer than our other spots. The only disadvantage to the place was the wind. It was quite windy, it really picked up in the afternoon. Blake and I spoke with the camp host and he said they have been there since May and he hasn't seen a day without wind. This is also the place where Blake threw out his back. It wasn't fun for him to hobble around for the next few days. Fortunately we didn't have to leave for a few days so his back was good enough to pack everything up when we were ready. He was a trooper and hardly a complaint came out of him. He still went to the lake and swam in the water with all of us.

Redwoods

Not a Happy Camper

Camping together isn't all peaches n' cream. We had a great time together and really enjoyed exploring things but not without a few glitches along the way. We came back home with stories of stinging nettle, bee stings, raccoons eating a lot of our food one evening, time-outs, and a sore back (Blake threw his out and hobbled along for the last week). One of our biggest stories of the trip involved Carter. In the picture collage you can see our third place we camped was in Ashland, Oregon. We had a beautiful site overlooking Emigrant Lake. On the first day we arrived we realized we needed some flotation devices if we were going to enjoy our time at the lake. One of the devices was a floating, golden chair. We called it "the throne." Meteorologists probably could have forewarned us that it gets pretty windy in Ashland. It was warm enough to want to swim but there is quite a breeze blowing through too. One day we were at a cove that we had to drive to but it wasn't far. We used the wind to our advantage by swimming out a ways and letting the wind usher us back to the cove. The next day I realized we were right by a nice cove of our own which wouldn't have public access, with the exception of fellow campers. So we set up camp and the kids hopped right on their tubes and thrones. On this particular day the wind was blowing the other direction though. Carter was sitting like a king on the throne and wearing his arm floaties. Soon enough though he started drifting. We told the girls to get him. But the wind kept taking him beyond their reach. Blake, with his sore back, took the bright pink raft and ran into the lake after him. A man and fellow camper offered his long board to Blake but we didn't want to bother him. So off Blake went paddling his little heart out trying to stay afloat on the flimsy, pink raft. Soon our good Samaritan realized Blake was not going to reach Carter and even if he did, it would be too long of a swim back. So he set off on his long board, passed Blake up and was able to get both of them. By this time though, they had almost reached the other side of the lake. An onlooker with a boat offered them a ride back to shore, thankfully. I knew Carter was never in danger but I know it was more panicky for Blake to try to paddle to him and have him always a bit out of reach. We learned not to drift very far that day. Not after Kenna gave him a little shove a half an hour later or so and he started drifting again. Carter was never worried but he did declare after Blake dove in AGAIN to get him, "I don't want to float that far again."

Camping Neighbors

Our camping neighbors in Point Reyes were great. Gary and Kris were a very helpful resource for us. They frequent this area every year so they were full of information. They also invited us over to roast marshmallows a couple of nights. One tip they led us to was to a maritime historic site. This was one of the locations where they translated Morse code. This place closed down about 12 years ago or so but open up once a year on the anniversary of their closure. They had a few people sending out and receiving messages. One "expert" explained all the different models of the devices. It was a very neat learning experience because the kids and I read "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart this past school year. In the book 4 gifted children try to save the world. In the story they communicate to their friends using Morse Code. The trees lining this driveway is the path leading to the maritime building.

Pierce Pt. Ranch 2

Pictured is part of the ranch and our trail we took behind it.

Pierce Point Ranch

"Give a two-clap for..." is often heard in our home or car from Blake. He often likes to give a shout-out to someone for doing a great job. Well, I would like to give a two-clap for our kids. We went to an historical farm in Point Reyes where we were able to walk around a farm that used to run in the late 1800's. Also known around that area is a Tule elk preserve. We took a trail behind the farmstead that wends its way around the cliffs. It was a bit foggy so often we could hear the waves crashing below us but we couldn't see them. We must have hiked about 5 or 6 miles that day in search for the elk. We spotted a couple herds. The male herd was an awesome site as we can see there antlers silhouetted in the fog. We probably got as close as 30 yards from a herd. The kids were troopers and really did a great job. Jacie was the MVP of the hike and was often seen giving Carter a piggy back ride. P.S. The ironic thing is on our drive to Crescent City, our next leg of the trip, we saw male elk sitting on the lawn in someone's yard and got pictures of them lounging around where we were probably 10 yards away (and separated by their fence).

Oysters

Love 'em or hate 'em, that's what it was like for our family. I was so proud of a couple of our kids for trying the oysters. As you can see in the picture, Kenna got as far as poking and prodding it but couldn't quite get herself to try one. We visited an oyster farm at Drake's Bay on the way back from our trip to the lighthouse. There were oyster shells everywhere. The beach looked like it was a huge oyster shell. It was very interesting to learn how they farm and harvest them.

Point Reyes Lighthouse

We went on some neat hikes while we were in Point Reyes. One hike was to the lighthouse. It was 308 steps down to it and well...308 steps up. It actually went well considering our kids. The last time we trekked up and down those steps, Blake had Jacie on his back in a backpack and I had Kenna so I would like to say that it was considerably easier. The fog had cleared and it was a beautiful sight. We were lucky because we only had to wait a few minutes for a park ranger to open up the lens room for people to view. The only loss was Avery's hat. As soon as we started the steps up, her cute, knit hat flew off her head just out of reach over the ledge. We watched it for awhile until the wind took it away. She was one sad girl for awhile.

Olema

We're back from our 3-week stint. Our first stop was to Olema campground in Point Reyes. We stayed 7 nights at this first campground. It was fun to reminisce a bit with the girls. Our last time at this campground was when Jacie was 2 and Kenna was 1. We enjoyed ourselves a lot. We had great neighbors who invited us to make smores with them a couple nights and filled us in on all the ins and outs of the area. They were quite amused with us when we first arrived and piled out of our van like a clown car at the circus. They had wondered if any more kids were going to pour out of the car.

Roots

"Pardon me, but your roots are showing." I have never dyed my hair but I may come to it soon as I am finding a gray hair or two. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that these roots are growing and breaking through the red rock. This was in Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Lifeguard training

Heart

Glass Blowing

Here is the guy that worked in Harmony. It was very cool because he talked us through all his steps of glass-blowing. He showed us all his other creations that were still in the kiln but cooled down. What a very neat art.

Harmony

On a whim one day in Cambria we stopped in Harmony. It's known for it's population, as you can see by the sign. I was glad we stopped though. It had a pottery place, a little chapel, and a glass blowing place. We were fascinated by the glass blowing.

Similarity

Hopefully when you see this picture posted we will be doing something similar to this picture on our trip. We are traveling up where the weather is cooler for awhile.

Ave

We don't have anything creative to call Avery. The best we've come up with is Ave. Perhaps because she is the simplest in personality too. She's very sweet, tenderhearted and sensitive. She's very inquisitive. She has never gone beyond the stage of many questions. Sometimes she asks questions that she already knows the answers to but most of the time she has questions about everything. Once I wrote a note in her lunch before she could read so it was in pictures. I wrote a D + (picture of a lightbulb). I was trying to say she was a delight but she thought I said she was a delight-bulb. That is exactly what she is. Oh, don't let her two little dimples fool you, she also knows how to assert herself when need be.

Hon-a-bun

Jacie hasn't been called that in awhile. I don't know if it's because she's older now and that name is more juvenile but either way she no longer goes by that moniker. Lately, we call her Jahs. She is turning into such a lovely, responsible young lady. She is very helpful around the house and with her siblings. It's funny though, because even as great as she is Blake and I were talking about how all of our kids can have a strong streak in them when they feel they need to be. It's good to see that they don't bend totally backwards all the time but choose to assert their way when they feel that needs to happen. It seems this summer with all of them home that they are all choosing to do that simultaneously but maybe that's just my imagination. :)

Hurricane Kenna

Kenna was dubbed Hurricane Kenna at a youthful age of 2 or 3. She has a fiery-ness about her that is both a lot of fun and a challenge. I can honestly say that she is more like a tropical storm now and hopefully some day I can say she is just Kenny-Cat. That's what we have been calling her the last year or so. I can't wait to blog about the times when her spirited personality is working for God's kingdom and is doing great things in God's name. She is a lot of fun and adds quite a bit to the overall level of excitement in the home.

Cards

Lately we've been calling him Cards instead of C-dawg. Just one day Blake started calling him that and it has stuck. This guy can be so funny sometimes. I found a bargain of a deal for him. It was a bathrobe. For some reason that is what I called it when I got it for him. He was eagerly waiting for me to wash it so he could wear it. I had it hanging on the door knob when he woke up the next morning and that is the first thing he put on. He told the girls, "You guys have robes and I have a bathrobe."

4th

We had a great day celebrating our freedom. We and a few other friends gathered at our friend's house for yummy food and swimming. There were a lot of kids (15) running around and having fun. Afterwards, they lit some sparklers.

Nostalgia

I hadn't thought it about it for years but all of a sudden, the girls wanted to choose someone to be it so everyone stuck their feet in, "Eenie meenie miney mo." I wish they would utilize that more with sharing things around the house. There would probably less fighting sometimes.

Junior

We were able to see a junior lifeguard group practice at the beach everyday. It was fun to watch all of them kicking and paddling in the water and around the pier.

Bubble Gum Alley

Ok, so I'm no Martha Stewart. First, she would not be pictured in Bubble Gum Alley. I'm sure she would be on a cobblestone rue that is over a few hundred years old where every town blacksmith has constructed some type of art work instead of an alleyway where everyone has discarded their gum. Second, she would have remembered to pack everything. Not only remember but giving 5 tips on how to do it efficiently, thus our trip to SLO. So one day one of my offspring tells me they didn't pack any panties. Hmmm...quickly my mind went to how long that could last. Then another of my children says he doesn't have any socks. (We all know what that means when we wear shoes with no socks, P U). So after much consternation and debating about where and how far we had to go we decided to drive the 30 miles to buy some of these items at a more affordable cost instead of buying panties that say, "My parents went to Cambria and all they brought back for me were these panties," for $29.99. Just to add insult to injury, the same young lad that didn't have any socks also replied to my inquiry of his wearing a sweatshirt, that "no" he didn't have a T-shirt on underneath. We made the most of the unexpected trip and checked a few things out. We were able to purchase things at a very good price and they are also stocked up for this fall for school. As an organized media mogul would pen, "It's a good thing!"

Elephant Seals

We were blessed by a generous family offering their home by the coast for a few days. The first day we went to the elephant seals. It's not their peak time to be on the beach but there were enough to watch. They throw sand up on themselves, for what reason, I am unsure. The last time we saw them it was raining so we enjoyed this time a little better.

Kissing Camels

This rock structure is called "Kissing Camels." We saw this amongst many other beautiful rocks in Garden of the Gods. We were delayed getting into Denver last Friday due to mechanical problems. So that made our quick weekend that much quicker. We missed one of the family parties for my Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Mary's anniversary party at Glenn Eyrie. So we packed a lot of thing in on Saturday. We ate a very quick breakfast and drove to Garden of the Gods for a couple hours. After that we were able to see all the family at my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party. After that we visited the Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family. From there we got to eat with all the remaining cousins and their families and then a few of us got to play a friendly game of miniature golf. It was so good to see all my family from there again. It had been 20 years since I had seen some of them.

Here is the chapel at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The smoke in the background is from the Waldo Canyon fire.

Shade

Summer's haven from the sweltering heat of the sun.

Amphibians

We brought our tent trailer to the dairy yesterday. It's always a fun time. We get to have coffee with Opa and experience rural life. I can tell though that my kids have not grown up on or near a dairy. At our arrival they were turning up their nose at the smell and asking if they were walking on cow poop (mud and rice hulls). First, let me just say that I can't believe they can be squeamish about it. Second, they don't know the difference between cow excrement and muddy rice hulls. Hmmmm, you may NOT be a redneck if. . . Anyway, after coffee time they got to catch some frogs. We brought 3 frogs home with us and put them in our abandoned fish aquarium. It is now an amphibian terrarium. Maybe living in the "city" produces rapid, resourceful thinking. Anyway, I think this frog is comforting the remaining frog, yes, I said remaining. The other has gladly escaped from our children's clutches. But not before consuming his fair share of baby crickets.

Family Jamboree

Our annual family trip to the coast was a nice, cool breeze in the midst of very hot temperatures at home. We enjoyed ice cream, swimming, and lots of family time. The annual golf outing ended up with Blake arriving and leaving with the family trophy. The yearly scavenger hunt for the kids was another success. The prize was a candy bar for all the participants. We had successful bike rides and yummy s'mores. What great memories!

Toothless

It's been a long time coming. Kenna has seen many classmates and younger, lose their teeth, one by one or two by two. She is finally starting to lose some. For the longest time she has only lost 2 teeth, up until this past week. The "tooth fairy" forgot to give her money, which is a shocker since she's been waiting so long for her to make her appearance. We were all happy to see the tooth fairy goes on vacation with us. She's just days away from losing another. She's going to get fitted for her second apparatus tomorrow at the orthodontist. Her first one wasn't working. I think it had more to do with her not remembering to wear her retainer which is suppose to work together alongside of her apparatus. I think the tooth fairy should dole out more money for the teeth because she's an extortionist in the name of dentistry.

K's birthday

It was Kenna's birthday. . . a month and-a-half ago but as long as we're not keeping track of how long it has taken me to post some things we are very glad we didn't celebrate her birthday late. We dared to have a slumber party, but only with 3 extra girls. With our family though, we still had 6 young girls running around. It was nice and laid back. I don't know if that has been used to describe slumber parties before but we had a good time.

Piano

Jacie finished her second year of piano lessons. This also marked a milestone for her piano teacher Sharon as well. After having baby number three she decided to end lessons permanently. We are sad to have to find someone else but glad she's making decisions that are best for her family. Fortunately for us, we go to church together and hang out occasionally so not all is lost in seeing her.

Challenge

I was telling the girls about the 90-day challenge the women of our church are doing to read the New Testament and asked them if they wanted to do it too. This is them listening to the Bible being read to them on my Ipod. I don't always like technology but here was one awesome way to use it. As Jamie Grace would sing, "God Girl."

Berries of Blue

We love summer! Especially when it isn't so "blazing hot," as our children like to say. We love picking our own food. We were able to pick blueberries the other day. That was a first for all of us. If we had to take a vote, I think 5 out of 6 prefer this over any other produce we've plucked from the earth. The 6th liked picking them she just doesn't prefer to eat them. What a servant-hearted girl to labor over something you don't even get to enjoy the bounty of.

Mini-me

Can anyone guess what she's doing? After the kids got their disposable cameras we went on a hike around our campground. The kids were all too eager to snap some pictures. I think they've seen me take a few. I like to capture different points of view and it's apparent that I'm not shy about getting in awkward positions to achieve a shot.

Legoland

We really enjoyed riding all the rides in Legoland. Carter was just over the required height which made things nice. The only limiting thing was fear. It took some convincing to get Jacie on the roller coaster. We told her we wouldn't have to go on another one if she didn't want to but she had to at least try one. I think she enjoyed it after all was said and done but if there was some heart monitor on her it would have spiked as soon as we said we were going on one and didn't stop until we got off. The only complaint we had of the park was the displays were a bit dirty. The grounds didn't seem to be kept up quite as well as we had expected. We had a great day though.

San Juan Capistrano

We visited the mission in San Juan Capistrano. I must say, it was very beautiful. It was nice because they handed out "phones" to all the kids so they got to punch in a code to hear about that part of the grounds. I was amazed at how big the mission was and of course how beautiful it was. We had heard that this is the "jewel" of all the missions in California.

Carlsbad

Is anyone a fan of Huell Howser? I can't remember the last time I watched him. Maybe when I was nursing. Anyway, he travels up and down California looking for "California's Gold." I remember seeing an episode on the flower fields of Carlsbad and thought that some day I would like to go see them in person and take some pictures. I think the only way to do that place justice is to rent an airplane or helicopter and take an aerial shot. We went camping in San Diego county. We planned on going to Legoland one of the days there. I knew that if we went to Legoland the first day they'd practically shun me at the thought of visiting flowers after that, so I scheduled this for the first day. We also got them recyclable cameras so they were pretty excited to visit the ranunculus. Personalities sure did come out upon receiving the cameras. Carter was practically done with his pictures before we left the campground. Avery and Kenna were a little more conservative about it but still ended up being done by the first day. Jacie had allotted 2 for the campground, 3 for this, 4 for the flower fields, etc... Although she showed the most promise, she did end up using them up quicker than what she planned but lasted longer than the rest.

April Fools

 I have enjoyed finding things to trick the kids with for April Fools Day.  I think last year I made candy bars look like breadsticks and green Airheads rolled into peas.  This year I had a few up my sleeve.  Kenna likes having a fried egg for breakfast sometimes so I made this for her.  It's yogurt and a half of a peach. 

Jacie has been into collecting seeds for her garden so I printed out this seed packet and put Cheerios inside it.  She read the label and still didn't realize it was a trick until she was going to divide her "seeds."

For lunch I made them Jello in cups with straws so it looked like punch.  After that the kids were scheming.  They tried mixing glue, lotion and some other stuff to make it pink.  I thought at one point, this could get kind of messy.

Cherry Cupcakes

 The kids, traditionally, get to pick their birthday cake.  This year Avery wanted cupcakes.  We had the Boersmas, Kostelyks, and the Olsens over for after-school snack.  After all the fun and running around we went to Red Robin for her birthday dinner.

Birthday Girl

 This is Avery on her birthday in her class.  We made butterfly crafts for her birthday since it also is the first day of spring.  She helped me the night before assemble the snack for her class, which also looked like a butterfly.

Pioneers

 Here's Jacie, her class, and a demonstration of what they might have felt after their journey.