We had a great day: camp staff, games, and treats at the beach in the morning. A long afternoon nap. And a great BBQ at my sister's house in the evening. We skipped the fireworks, but did see some being shot at the Purdy beach as we drove home.
Hope your day was just as fun!
(I'll share more photos later this week, but this was quick and fun.)
I was reminded this morning that we have many people to thank for the freedoms we enjoy, but as a Christian there is no greater freedom than the freedom found in Christ through his sacrifice for us. And for that, I am truly grateful.
Admittedly, I really didn't take too many pictures while camping with Daisy and Darin's family last week. I was enjoying just kicking back and relaxing, and I still haven't quite got the hang of shooting in full-on sun. But I do have a few to share.
The drive over was ok. We stopped in North Bend to get out of the car and walk at a "park". Well, to Miss Daisy a "park" equals play area, and this park only had a trail and grass. So we had to make due with a game of find the coolest stick before getting back in the car.
Next stop was Cle Ellum for lunch at Subway where Daisy was just delightful. They didn't have any high chairs so she just sat in a big-girl chair and ate all her lunch. She did offer a running commentary on the people who entered the restaurant, though. I'm finding it amusing that every woman lately is a "mama" and every guy is a "papa".
The last leg of our trip I was hoping Daisy would nap, but that was just not to be. Instead I had a cranky toddler in the backseat that made concentrating on the curves of Blewitt Pass a little more difficult. And when we arrived at the campsite Daisy was having so much fun with her cousins and Aunts and Gran that a nap just wasn't gonna happen. But it was okay, because she stayed in a pretty good mood until bedtime.
Smart Gran even figured out a way to give Daisy her nightly bath.
The best part of family reunions are the kids getting to play with their relatives. Here Daisy and her cousin Quentin are enjoying some splash time in the pool.
They made up this game that involved them splashing in the pool, then running to the other end of the campsite and back, all the while shrieking like mad men. (Actually, they kinda sounded like seagulls.)
Here she is with Grandpa giving her cousin Israel's bike a try, but couldn't quite reach the pedals. Hopefully next year she'll have her very own ride-on toy like all the big kids.
And Gran and Daisy playing at the beach.
But by far Daisy's favorite person at the reunion was Darin's cousin Anna. (Not sure how that makes the two of them related.) Daisy would follow her around and ask about her 100 times if she wasn't. The two of them playing together was really very sweet.
We really had a great time camping; there's nothing like doing it with kids! And here's to hoping we can take a trip with Darin in the fall!
The last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.
Daisy hung out with my parents while I went to Idaho Falls.
Came home for three days then Daisy and I went to Wenatchee for Darin's family reuinion. Drove over on Thursday and "camped" with Dale and Linda in their motorhome.
Left Daisy with her Gran, Grandpa, and "Aunt Ta" on Saturday and drove to Lewiston where I got one more chance at rocking a cute baby girl to sleep and then got a great visit in with Miss Amy. (Who is having an AMAZING recovery, by the way.)
Woke up early Sunday morning for a drive to Pullman and the campus of Washington State University. Three long and inspiring days with an awesome group of teens and volunteers at the State 4-H Teen Conference. Wish I could go back next week for our summer meeting in Spokane, but just can't do another cross-state drive right now.
Left at 1:30 on Tuesday morning with the plan to drive to Lakewood and spend the night before coming home on Wednesday. But I was desperate to get home and since I was making such good time, I convinced my wonderful mother-in-law to pack up Daisy and meet me on the road. So we met in Factoria and Daisy and I arrived home at about 8:00 pm.
I crashed hard.
Over 400 hits on my Google Reader.
Over 50 emails in my inbox.
A mound of dirty laundry.
A messy messy house.
And yesterday I completely took the day off to play with my family and rest. It was perfect.
I'm thankful to be home and thankful for the month of July with no travel plans. Just a chance to clean and organize and tackle a pre-baby to-do list that includes lots of loving on my toddler before her little sibling rocks her world.
Six years ago, on Lopez Island, we capped off a gorgeous week of fun in the sun with our closest friends to tie the knot in Center Church. It was the best wedding I've been to yet--though that's kind of like saying we have the cutest baby ever (we do)--there's a bit of bias. With 4 groomsmen, 4 bridesmaids, and 6 flower girls, that beautiful little church got really crowded, really quick. But that's just how our life is...crowded by too much love to fit into one room.
It's been a great six years, and as I think about the years ahead of us I just want to say:
Thank you Deanna.
Thank you for treasuring me as God's gift
Thank you for letting me know love like yours
Thank you for showing me God's love through the way you love me
Thank you for nurturing our love through happiness and sorrow, sickness and health, poverty and wealth (though definitely more of the former)
Thank you for bringing joy into every day that I have known and loved you
Thank you for honoring me, serving me, and cherishing our friendship
Thank you for not letting anger or disappointment take hold in our marriage
You have been gracious, tender hearted, and forgiving of my failures as a husband, showing me those qualities of God as well: Thank you
Thank you for your humble admission of wrong (on those very rare occasions)
Thank you for supporting and encouraging my growth as a man hoping, dreaming, and seeking God's will in my/our life.
Thank you for mothering our beautiful children so incredibly and for being the woman of our home.
Thank you for remaining by my side with enduring devotion and devotion for the first six year until death parts us.
Deanna, I love you, and through the grace of God, I will continue to do my best to uphold these vows. You are an amazing wife and mother and I wake up every morning blessed to be lying next to you, and come home every day dumbfounded that I get to come home to you. Happy anniversary.
Have you heard of this sport? It's basically gymnastics on horseback and it's something taught as an activity class at camp. So last week during staff training, our horsemanship coordinator Josh (who also happens to be MJ's dad) had a vaulting team to camp to demonstrate techniques to our wranglers. And he invited us to come watch.
It is pretty impressive what these girls can do. The younger ones do their moves while the horse is at a walk or trot, and the most experienced of the girls work with their horse at a canter. The top girl on the team even showed us how she could do a jump split on the horse while it was moving at a canter. We were all impressed.
Here's a younger member of the team.
When Daisy heard we were going to the barn she just had to bring along an apple for the horses. Of course, once she had it in her hands she needed a bite and, well, she ate at least half the thing before any horse got some.
Here she is with her apple watching the demonstration.
After the demo, the team let the wranglers have a try. Here's one girl trying to stand up.
Josh came over at one point and asked if Daisy could give it a try. Believe it or not, this was the first time Daisy's been on a horse at camp. While the horse was pretty big, I wasn't too worried with the other girl holding on to my kiddo.
Look at that grin! Someone's enjoying herself.
And look! She even got talked into standing up!
I was very impessed by how willing and brave she was.
Everyone was telling me that I'm now in trouble. But hey, if they're right next to our house and someone else is paying to feed and house them, I'm not in that much trouble! Right?
When Amy got sick and Jen was going to be taking care of her 7-month-old twins, as well as her own one-year-old, I knew I had to come and help. But how much help would I be 34 weeks pregnant and with a busy two-year-old myself? And there's no way Darin could care for Daisy right now as camp is just beginning.
Enter a little prayer and some really cool parents.
If you didn't already know this, my parents are full-time RV'ers. That means they have no home other than the one on wheels they haul behind their truck. We bid adieu last September and they have been travelling all over the south and southwest since then, slowly making their way back north to spend some time with their grandkids and help out when Spud arrives.
So I called my Mom and asked if they'd be willing to change their plans and come watch Daisy over a long weekend for me. Didn't take much convincing (they love Jen & Amy too) and reserations were cancelled and plans rearranged. They pulled into my yard last Sunday so most of my blogging time these past few days was instead spent hanging out with them.
It was great that they arrived a few days before my departure as it allowed Daisy to get to spend some time with them and for them to see her routines. It makes this Mama a lot more at-ease knowing her little one is in such good hands.
I've brought a stick full of pictures so hopefully I can do some blogging in between my cooking and cleaning and laundry and errand running (hey-this pregnant girl is gonna need some breaks!). And for now I'm enjoying this chance to serve some of my favorite people in the whole world. It's how I can show them how much I love them. And that we really are family.
I have a scrapbook page in my head that would include these photos and say,
"the beginning"
"the end"
The journaling would talk about how we've been a family of 3 for two years now, and how it's all about to change. About how Daisy's going to be a big sister now and that's a role she'll have for the rest of her life. I need to do some working on it, and get the photos printed, but it's sitting in my head.
Speaking of photos printed, anyone know of a good developer? I usually use Costco but wasn't super thrilled with my test batch of these professional shots. And our local photo shop in Gig Harbor just closed.
This one makes me smile:
And oh, if you could see the real colors in this one. It's gonna go on my wall for sure.
I brought some lollipops along to the shoot with us and we busted them out at the end. Didn't get a cute candid shot like I was hoping, but this one makes me smile.
The last of my favorites from our shoot: Daisy and her little bro/sis.
If you'd like any shots from the photoshoot series, let me know. That is, once I find a developer I like!
I haven't scrapped in a while. Wanna hear some excuses? My pregnant back isn't up to the task of sitting at the desk chair for extended periods of time. I recently reorganized my stuff and I can't bring myself to start messing with all the niceness of everything in its place. Most of the shows I watch on the computer while I scrap are on summer break. And I've really enjoyed relaxing on the couch or bed in the evening with my hubby and my cross-stiching lately.
But about a month ago I did make it to a friends house for a little crop. And while I usually save my journaling (and often the title) for when I get home, I managed to begin these three pages that night.
Christmas Eve
"December 24, 2008 Bright & colorful tree. Stockings full. Santa present delivered, the rest all wrapped. Quiet. Ready for the magic of Christmas morning."
Book Lover
"and mess maker. You love to pull all the books off your shelf. I think I put them back every day."
Rally in the Valley
"My first time competing in Darin's family's annual 'Rally in the Valley' tournament was in 2002. A hot September day in Quincy and a second place finish. We were so sore the next dya, but sure had a lot of fun."
Daisy at 22 months
Remember this post from a few months ago? Well, I decided it needed to be made into a mini-album.
I dug out one of my favorite special publications (Album Shortcuts) from one of my favorite scrapbook magazines (Simple Scrapbooks, sob, now out of print) and found a "recipe" to use. This book is full of mini album ideas with great instructions on using them as "recipes" to create your own albums.
I grabbed some papers and a package of embellishments from my favorite new collection by American crafts (backyard) because the bright colors and fun prints just suit our little Daisy so well. I used Photoshop to print the photos 2x3 and publisher to make journaling blocks. I had to be careful to match the right amount of horizontal blocks with horizontal photos, but it wasn't too hard.
A little corner rounder action and glue stick and this album came together in a flash.
Once the pages were underway I went to my local scrapbooking store to find a 6x6 album. I ended up buying the only one they had, which I really like. Unfortunately the interior pages aren't too sturdy and since Daisy loves to look through this album I have to supervise closely. I'll try to remember that in the future!
And since my little buddy was supervising as I took pictures of pages and albums, I decided to turn the camera on her and practice a little exposure compensation. Man...how the learning process goes so much easier when you have a willing (and immoble) subject!
It began with singing "Happy Birthday" to a sweet kid in her big-girl bed. She loved it, smiled hugely the whole time. And begged "again" at least 3 more times before getting up and running around her room during the last rendition.
After some breakfast at home we headed out for drinks and pastries at Starbucks where Daisy got her first "coffee" (aka Kid's vanilla steamer). She was so thrilled with her own special drink.
We then took our treats down to Gig Harbor for the Maritime Festival and parade. Despite arriving about 10 minutes before the parade reached us, we had a pretty decent spot for viewing.
Even with the grey skies, the rain misting on our heads, and the fact that Daisy spilled about half of her coffee, we weren't letting anything ruin our parade moods.
Daisy has been obsessed with chapsticks lately so was pretty thrilled when one group threw out 5 new chapsticks in our direction.
And Ronald McDonald came by.
One little girl was just about as happy with a lollipop as she was with the chapstick!
One of our favorite entries was the "Pierce County Library Cart Drill Team" and they were hilarious. We even got to see our favorite children's librarian: Miss Holly!
After the parade Darin waited in the longest line ever for lunch while Daisy and I waited in the longest line ever for the bounce house. Luckily, there were fun kids in line to play with, and she did enjoy her 3 minutes of crazyness (I was a little worried she'd stress out).
The festival had a great children's area full of free activities. So we crafted a pirate eye patch together (since the theme was pirates) and practiced saying "argh".
And Darin got to help her color a tile.
We then met the tooth fairy, checked out a magic act, and touched some sea life in touch tanks before sensing naptime was long overdue. We kept Daisy awake in the car by playing the voice mail "Happy Birthday" from her cousins about 15 times.
During naptime I sorted the parade loot. We had brought a small bag expecting to collect a bit of candy, but apparently in Gig Harbor candy just isn't gonna cut it. We got t-shirts, hats, balls, pirate treasure, chapstick, a frisbee, a pinwheel, and more...
After nap we played outside for a while, eagerly anticipating the arrival of Papa Ty & Mama Stace. When they did arrive it was time for pizza! and presents! and tuptates! (cupcakes).
We had a wonderful day celebrating our little girl.
