Road trip!

We had an amazingly wonderful trip to eastern Washington. My sister and I went with the kiddos over to a friend's house for the first time ever. We were going to tent camp one night, but at the last minute I found out there were cabins at the campground and I reserved one of those instead... soooooo glad I did. I might be ready to tent camp next year with the kids, but for now it's cabins for us. We went fairly slowly on the way there, making a few stop and having some fun. First major stop {Besides potty breaks, egads going on a road trip with a recently potty trained little girl... yikes. She did a great job though, even if we had to stop Way Too Many Times!} was at the Chelan County Historical Museum in Cashmere. Lala was seriously enthralled with this poor bear. I think she thought it was real at first. She kept wanting to go back and stare at it... There were A Lot of taxidermied animals at this museum... not my favorite thing. But the information and artifacts were very interesting.

Our cabin was adorable, clean and comfortable. Only thing that would have made it better would have been if it had a fridge for our food... but it wasn't that sort of set up. We survived regardless. I brought a camp stove and we made a campfire as well. It was kind of neat to do all the camp stuff on our own... I'll admit I leave all that stuff up to my husband for the most part. :) I had everything well planned out and organized so the whole thing went off with out a hitch. Except for the part where Lala had like 4 accidents in a row after we set up camp... she made the whole drive dry and then just lost it. Lets just put it this way, she pooped at the playground in her underwear while we were way far away from our cabin, I had to bring her back and I got lost and was wandering around with a poopy little girl {I had thrown the nastiness away but she was still a mess} in super hot weather, tired out from all the driving, and at that point I didn't think the trip was very cool any more... thankfully it got better after that.
Such is life with little kids, the unexpected always happens. It's more about building memories for them, and practicing selective memory for myself. ;)

Cute little chaos creator... on her way to the bathroom, thank goodness.

My little trooper.

Crushing nuts with a rock, Bubu thought this was a super cool idea that his Auntie came up with. He thinks his auntie is the smartest person in the world... seriously. I try not to be insulted by that because she is admittedly one super smart lady. When I don't know the answer to something, or I'm just tired of the never ending questions I just say, "ask Auntie Rissa, she'll know". It's kind of fun some of the questions I send her way. :)

Atty finding bird feathers, of course.

This girl was super proud of her big girl swinging... she was even trying to pump, ha ha!

This camp ground had an really big fun play ground for the kids, they loved it!

If you are wondering by now why my daughter was running around in just her undies, it was hot, and she wasn't inclined to wear clothes and I didn't feel like a fight. So there you have it. At least she agreed to the undies, and sun hat...

This tree was a favorite with my little monkeys, right out side our cabin.

The view from our cabin.

The lake at the campground had a really nice swim spot for the kids. I'm thinking next year we are going to try and find a way to bring the hubby and stay for a few days. :)

Love my adorable sister. She took a day off work at the last minute for me just so I wouldn't have to go alone... and she had to work the day we got back, after a 6 hour drive home! I seriously couldn't have dreamed up a better little sister.

Bubu keeping his little brothers safe on the board walk. :) His idea. He's such a caring, loving big brother.

We were at Lincoln Rock State park, can you see Lincoln?

A super sweet lady offered to take a group photo for us, and also told us some really interesting local facts. Then we found out that although she grew up in that area she actually now lives right around where we do, as in minutes away! Small world.

Always have to find rocks to climb!

Love this sweet picture, with her little arm wrapped around her auntie's neck. She knows who to suck up to, considering her auntie will carry her everywhere... Mommy not so much.

The next day we hit the road around noon after a slow relaxed start. We took a few pictures along the way but not very many stops. Even so it seemed to take Forever to get to our destination this time. Dry yellow field and rocky canyons get old after a while...

Finally, reached our friends house, the kids were so excited to see their long lost friend. She use to be a daycare kid before they moved and my kids have missed her badly... We talk about her often, but they had no idea where she had gone to and they were excited to find out. :) Their back yard is of course dry, so there wasn't much grass and lots of awesome dusty dirt... which was super cool in their book. Wow did they get dirty fast! After being cooped up in the van I just let them have at it, and they had a blast!!!

We figured since they were already dirty and in need of a bath, why not make them sticky first too... haha! It was definitely a hot watermelon type day. I'm pretty sure Bubu could eat a whole watermelon on his own if I let him, he has always loved watermelon...

Ummmmmmm, yummy! Then off for some serious bathing. :)

The next day we were treated to a local fair. Lots of fun.

It happened to be my birthday as well and so my sister bought me a really cute tie-dye dress at the fair... I then bought my daughter and my sons some tie-dye as well. So cute.

Aren't they adorable!

We also headed to a local park, and Atty found a rainbow to hug, so funny.

Spike and his friend holding hands on the way home, sweetness.

We stayed two nights there and then woke up at 4 in the morning and hit the road because my sister needed to work and because I wanted the kids to sleep for as long as possible. They did end up sleeping for a few hours and my sister and I had some amazing conversations and got to view a beautiful harvest moon setting. It was really nice, possibly my favorite part of the trip, haha! We took a few pictures on the way back and stopped a couple times for potty breaks and to get breakfast out, but other then that it was straight home. My kids are troopers and really great road trip buddies. The only sad point was not being able to spend my birthday with my honey, but we celebrated when I got back and it just made the birthday fun last that much longer... not that I want to dwell on getting Older for very long.

Now we are full swing into our first week of school... more on that later. :)

Snapshots of summer

Wow, as summer winds down {and a new school year is soon to begin} I am reflecting on how full and wonderful it truly was. We didn't do anything spectacular but we sure did have a lot of fun. And the kids grew before my very eyes! I've posted about some specific things we did, so this is a fill in the gaps sort of post. :)Sporting a beautiful dress and snow boots, haha! She knows what she wants to wear, and there is no talking her out of it now. It can be... interesting.

We played at a LOT of different park, we went park exploring. We are lucky to have some amazing parks in our area. Picnics at a park are a favorite in this family.

We also went on some amazing walks/hikes. Explored new places and old favorites. Add in a picnic with this as well, and you have a full day of fun!

Visited different spots at local rivers. Lots of great river spots around here too!

More fun at a river, most of the river banks around here are rocky, but our favorite spot which happens to be really close by is a sandy river bank, and we love it! We like the rocky spots too though, fun to throw rocks into the water and grab some for our collections. :)

This girl learned how to climb ALL OVER the play equipment this year, wow is she quick. She also wants to do it on her own and is quite amazing {and a bit scary}! I let her do most of it on her own{still ready to jump in when needed} and she has become very capable this year... and very proud of herself.

Our ladies have GROWN! They are laying 6-8 eggs a day now, and last week I stopped buying eggs at the store... We go through a crazy amount of eggs a week, so I'm really excited about this! Can't beat fresh eggs. Makes me want to figure out ways to be even more self reliant.

We went to a lot of really fun birthday parties. This one was their cousin's second birthday, and it was so much fun... Lala didn't go into the pool when she had her swimsuit on though, she waited until I dressed her and then went in, crazy girl!

Another fun party we went too, I asked Bubu to keep an eye on his sister for a moment {it was safe enough for him to do that} and when I turned back around he was holding her like this... adorable! He takes his job, as big brother, seriously. :)

Awesome rope swing, the boys all took turn, after turn, after turn... Wish we had a tree big enough to have one!

All the kids enjoyed this fun tire swing at the same house, Lala even enjoyed spinning on it with her brothers!

We want one of these, so relaxing...

Found this frog while gardening... there's been a lot of gardening this summer, always fun. The kids love helping me too, I'm lucky if I get a moment to sneak out there for quiet reflection alone because usually they beg to come with me.
{I love both, but sometimes I really do crave those quiet reflection moments in the garden alone.}

Lots of silly moments this summer, mostly from this kid... Don't ask, I have no idea why he is dressed up this way.

We went to a really great park with friends that has a water park and a petting zoo and just happened to have a fire truck to tour there too! The kids were sooooooo excited!!!

Little firefighters. ;)

Summer fun with my dear friend.

We had a few sleep overs with her and her girls and that is always a blast! Our kids play so well together and we have been friends for so long that it's just relaxing, we don't feel like we have to entertain each other, it's like hanging out with my little sister {which is also really fun}.

The kids loved the petting zoo, almost as fun as the real zoo... and not nearly as exhausting, plus this petting zoo is free, bonus! Of course there weren't any tigers and such but for now they seem to get just as excited about bunnies and pigs, so go figure.

More fun at a park... told you we went to a lot of parks, and I didn't even take pictures of all the park outings and hiking adventures. Parks are free and my goal this summer was lots of fun free {or really cheap} out door or educational activities. I really feel like I reached that goal {which doesn't happen often enough} and I'm excited to add on even more stuff next year. As well as some new favorites we discovered this year.

We found really fun water parks, free water play, so exciting! I guess I'm just lucky that my kids are easily entertained...

They were finding it a little cold, but that didn't stop them. They are Washingtonians after all, on the rainy side no less!

And then there were summer time haircuts, right at the end of summer, silly boys. Ryder got his hair cut my the local hair stylist {that would be me} and then all the boys decided they wanted to look like daddy. It was a bit harsh for me, cutting Atty's hair.

No summer time post would be complete with out some pictures of our favorite sandy river spot! Lala was jumping in puddles, so cute... Splashing like a big girl.

Then there was this little drama. I left her in my bedroom for a quick moment to take the sheets to the laundry room and she managed to smear a favorite lipstick of mine all over her face. Uggggggg, at least it wasn't poop painting {I screamed when I first saw her, fearing the worst}. Speaking of thinks potty related this girl is wearing big girl undies all day long now and having hardly any accidents. She's even napping in undies now, and waking up in the morning dry... So pretty soon here she won't be wearing a diaper to bed either! She is just growing up way too fast my girl.

I've been promising myself a new play room carpet as soon as she is fully potty trained {as an incentive to keep going on those really hard days...} so I'm getting pretty excited! :)

Building towers, so proud of herself...

More fun with daddy at our favorite spot, building sand people.

Daddy snuggles, no summer is complete with out that!

Crazy dirty fun in the back yard, and silly tiny pigtails. :)

Bubu spent a morning drawing all of us, so cute! Lots of art projects this summer as well...

Then there was Bubu's sixth birthday this last weekend. I can't believe I'm the proud parent of a six year old! Got to have those birthday pancakes!!!

We went to our favorite house, to visit some of our favorite people on Bubu's birthday. We stayed over and had a camp out style dinner for him. He went on a treasure hunt for his presents in an amazing garden, it was so much fun. We have such an awesome extended family!

He got a bigger bike for his birthday, and was so excited! I wouldn't normally let him ride with out a helmet or shoes, but he just wanted to try it out real quick. :) Now to work on getting those training wheels off { I have a feeling that Spike with be doing that before Bubu though...}

Cheese cake with raspberries, around a camp fire, doesn't get much better then that!

Happy birthday to a wonderful boy.

And the biggest news of the summer... My husband decided to try out fishing and caught himself his first fish! So awesome. We are some big fish eaters in this family, and it is so expensive, so I am looking forward to some more fresh caught fish! He did all the work too, even cooked it on the BBQ, he knows how to make a lady happy... ;) He also knows there is no way on God's green earth I am cleaning a fish. He jumped right in and figured it all out on his own, I love how he isn't afraid to learn new things.

Love this picture and really loved being there to share in his excitement!

We have one last adventure coming up before we start our school year. We are going to eastern Washington for the first time. We have friends that moved over there and we are going to go visit them. It's quite the drive {about 5 hours if you drive non-stop} so I'm a bit nervous about that. We are going to split up the driving on the way there by camping one of the nights so that we aren't driving such a long stretch all at once. Plus we want to take our time and do some sight seeing. :) Then we are staying two nights at our friends house and then leaving really, really early {as in 3 or 4 am} in the morning and driving straight back with no stops. Well except some potty breaks I do believe... The only thing that makes me a bit sad is that my husband can't come now because he finally got called back into work, after being laid off for about three months {the going back to work part is a good thing though}. My birthday falls on a day that I will be gone and I haven't celebrated a birthday with out my husband in about 15 years I believe...

:( Lucky for me my sister took time off work to come with me, she's awesome like that. The idea of going alone with the kids was a bit overwhelming in all honesty.

So wish me luck and keep us in your prayers for a safe trip and I'll tell you all about it when we get back. Oh and soon I can't wait to post all about the beginning of a new and exciting school year, the homeschooling way!

Do I seriously have a six year old?

My first born beautiful little baby boy has turned six today!You are an amazing little man now Banden, so loving and friendly. One of the best big brothers anyone could ask for. I remember gazing at you in the hospital the night after you were born, I couldn't sleep I was so filled to overflowing with love. A love I had never felt before, the love of a mother for her child. I cried, and laughed and dreamed of what you would become. Of everything that we would do together. You though are more wonderful then I could ever have dreamed up. You make me want to be a better person each and every day. Every year that passes I love you more and more and I don't even know how that is possible.

Happy birthday to one of the sweetest boys I know!