"Operation 1 Child" Road Trip Part 1

Our arrival on the decrepid Washington State Ferry....she was a beauty! Mike was going to scare us, but changed his mind thankfully ~ i was still rattled by the customs guards....why does one always feel so guilty when you have nothing to feel guilty about?? Apparently i DID have something to feel guilty about......i unknowingly forgot i packed a few slices of pineapple from my mom that morning....yup--could have had a MUCH different trip than we did!

My beautiful boy playing on the playground soon after pick-up.

Again.....love the Nikon lense Susan...sigh!

Mike and Isaac playing in their back yard.....i didn't tell isaac this trip that they actually have this wild zipline that you hold onto from a ledge built up into one of their trees and you take a wild ride across their yard!!! He'll be ready by next visit, i'm sure....

Susan and i getting ready to hover around the bottom picture....see below

How i gained weight in 2 days......

No Knead Bread....hers turned out amazing!

Part II will come later......so much crammed into 2 little days....but it was exactly what i was hoping for--time alone with Isaac....time to do some special things with my little guy who will soon head off to kindergarden like a big guy!! And Susans house was a great place to be able to do this.....because it was an adventure for me too!

Life goes on.....

Cristin and her girls came to stay over thursday to friday......always good to be in their company..very low key.

Mom and her sister martha arrived last night.....its been a very busy day with shredding in the morning with the 2 of them (though they both wore no shoes! sheesh!!)...Forest Museum this afternoon.....starving for Saturday night Turkey Dinner at the camp but didn't get fed until almost 7!! i am still hungry!

Tonight we chilled with Markayla who is back from cabin leading and we put the kids to bed by 7 and kicked back to watch a movie.

Mom and i jetted out to grab a few movies for isaac and i for tommorow (he and i are taking a trip to Washington to see Susan and hit up Seattle on monday for some fun and shopping).....i am hoping to be the coolest mom cause i picked up Star Wars I, II, and III for Isaac and i to watch on the terribly long Washington State ferry!! He has almost worn out his copies of IV, V and VI!!

I need a break from Elliot and his incessant whining and stubborness....so Markayla will be keeping him company for the next few days....sigh! Feeling a little guilty at the moment, but hope to be over it by tommorow! ;-)

But its been a busy week but filled with lots of friends and family.....life is good.

Life after guests....

They left this morning...i still haven't done the dishes.

The boys and i quaded to the gate, walked the rest of the way on the trails to the mail and the playground.

Exhausted after an hour of toddler-paced walking....i left isaacs cool star wars plane at the play ground......

We drove back in the van--it was gone.....he didn't seem too broken up (thankfully)

Groceries, stop at the petstore for fish food....i am done!

But i found a new artist i am listening to today -- Josh Wilson....feeling pretty chill and listening to Savior Please.....sweet melody...but don't click it if you are wanting to be upbeat! But he is an amazing guitarist, click here for proof!

Birds of Prey Day....

It was more like 'lets get these kids out of the house' day! And no big surprise here, but while it poured in lake cowichan, it was just a little overcast in duncan......

Check out Isaacs face.....sweet hey?

Elliot and Kadence...little buddies who love and hate eachother throughout the day....depending on the hour!

Isaac and Kale

Crazy boys....seriously.....they seem to match eachother for energy and search for fun....

Thought this caught how life normally is around here--isaac never stops and elliot just strolls along...

Gorgeousness......

Voila....another day done and over -- we made some sweet memories and we are all still alive.....

the little things....

The last few days have been challenging in a way....not in the way of adult company...but in the way of the amount of children under one roof...in rainy conditions. I am a woman built to be outside...or even just a woman who loves to have the option to be outside AND to have the option for my children to be inside if they are being too much inside!!

This is unheard of- but we have NEVER had company stay with us for this long...we are going on our 10th night tonight and i think, have finally entered into the final stages of the 'awesome' visit that may soon turn into the 'visit that went too long'...we all recognize it and awknowledge that the kids seem to be taking up a lot more 'space' and 'energy' and are melting down in droves!! That all us adults are starting to live for their bedtime (Chris is excluded in this generalization because he is safe at work throughtout the day).....Kids aside, i could have Gina live with me....i could!! She is easy to talk to, makes herself at home in a real comfortable way, we don't always have to be talking and its ok, she exercises with me and seems to be up for anything, and we laugh.....i love that we laugh.

But my prayer has always been 'to make my home open to others at all times and make them feel welcome'. I struggle with the last part sometimes, because i love my own space and you will always be able to see how i am feeling...its written all over me...it's a curse sometimes!!

But i have always loved when people stop by, stay over, make themselves at home....we are so fortunate that we have a home people can come to. Well, don't really know how to end this one, so i will start on the next entry - we went to Birds of Prey today........

The men catch dinner....

Yes, its true--our amazing men went out and caught us dinner!! Fresh lake trout, a whole pile of crayfish.....so good! Gina made that basil/cucumber/tomato salad, fresh bread and the camp provided the chocolate cake.....we actually didn't eat til closer to 8 since we wanted to eat in peace!! But it was all good....except chris got a call at the end of dinner to come and fix a septic spill....yum hey??

Awaiting the feast....

2 little fish...perfect for 4

Its been so nice having them here....i normally don't like a full house for this long, but seriously we seem to blend real well and our kids get along and are the same age....so we are all in the same boat. Its been quite sweet.

Gone Fishing.....

So Gina and i got a night off last night while the guys took the kids.....we went to Nha Trang, saw Julie and Julia (really cute) and hit White spot for appies and dessert after......

While we were gone, they put the little ones to bed and took the older boys out fishing!! I love that the boys were in their pj's while fishing!!

We are currently in the process of putting all kids (aside from napped Elliot) to bed so the adults can enjoy a fish and crayfish dinner!! Gina made tomato and cucumber and basil salad, garlic mashed potatoes and Jeff is doing the fish up on the bbq! Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert (even though i have been real active this week and have been shredding every day, i have still gained a few pounds from how i have eaten (so WELL) this week!! I told them that any guests who cook are always welcome in our house!

Chris and Jeff are eager to head out tonight to go goldpanning while Gina and i have a date....with the couch!!

Wednesday Night

The Boys went quading........

Gina and i watched the top 4 perform on "so you think you can dance" (Brandon has got to have this in the bag!!!!)

And this morning we pulled a TON of crayfish up from the lake--if we weren't having steak already for dinner tonight...we would have crayfish!! Maybe a midnight snack is in order later tonight!! We'll see.....

Look at Elliots face! Precious hey?

Such a good big brother---he stopped chasing elliot around with it as soon as i asked him......;-)

After breakfast, Gina and i did the shred and jumped in the lake....now she and i are going to head up the mountain with the family campers for lunch on the top! With NO KIDS!! Should be totally awesome!! Its so nice having another active girl up here with me.....loving it.

Wonderful Megs

Here she is......my dear friend Megs: We were only able to hang for a couple hours---so we did what we used to do--laugh, chat about life, deep stuff, silly stuff, sexy stuff, hard stuff.....and then we took self shots..yup, we used to do that too!!

This is what we did for alot of the visit:

This is what we wanted to do or felt like doing:

Halle and Maya are beautiful girls, like with a capital B, but they are at the stage where they TAKE it out of her with a capital T!! Here is our reminder of the stage:

Baby Maya.....

Chris took the boys to Fort Rod Hill.....don't ask why isaac is just in his gitch! I got in the car, and he had his scrawny legs crossed and everything..like a little prince. He had a blast with Kale (Jeff and Gina's little guy)...

Thank you for a wonderful afternoon Megs...if i lived closer, i would do your laundry, listen to the babies while they slept so you could go play, and i would take you out for starbucks so we could walk along the beach laughing about silly stuff.....and it would be ok if you cried. i love you megs...

Crayfish Hunt

Pulling up the crayfish trap late at night!!!! We GOT some!! Little one.....

Chris impressed with the little one!

Still impressed.....

Gina recovering from Caleb scaring the pants off her!!

Chris caught Kale and i in the hammock tonight.....he crawled in hoping to avoid Gina who was going to put him to bed...within 5 minutes he was spazing and snoring--so sweet.

Its been so wonderful having them here with us...we've been laughing all week.