More Than S'mores

Continuing summer tradition for the third time now, we loaded up the van with all our gear and headed to Pinecrest for 3 days of camping.  Mostly due to site availability at this popular and perfect camping spot, we took our camping adventure at the very start of summer this year.  Yes, we come home tired and stinky and we each have our moments of crankiness, but overall our camping tradition proves to be one worth keeping as we all just love it!

 

Each year we look forward to seeing how the number we reserve in January translates into the actual campsite that will be our home for a few days.  This year we had another great spot-- a large space with little traffic that was filled with pine cones and rocks for the girls to collect and play with.  While Dave and I set up camp, the girls did this scavenger hunt I printed out. 

Fun this year was adding geocaching to the list of outdoor activities to keep us busy.  Right away we took a little walk around the campsite loop to find the first cache that was "for kids, hidden by kids."  It was a canister full of toys, pretty easy and fun to find.
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Besides some hiking, beach play and geocaching, we didn't try to cram too much into our days.  We're learning that the best parts of family camping are just hanging out at camp-- reading, enjoying the fire, playing cards and letting the girls run around setting up stuff like their "Rocks for Sale!" stand by the road.

I spent an entire morning slicing fruit and veggies and cooking chili, burritos and potatoes to wrap in foil and cook over a fire.  We take hours setting up a nice camp and then taking it all down.  And I'm working on 3 loads of smokey-scented laundry.  But, it's all worth it when we take those first bites of delicious s'mores-- possibly the greatest dessert ever invented.  To try something new, we also made these campfire cones and they were yummy too.  Just take a waffle cone, fill it with mini-marshmallows, chocolate chips, diced strawberries and bananas, wrap it in foil and then let it get toasty (but not burned) over the fire.

Creature-loving Delia was on a mission to catch every butterfly and caterpillar she could find.  And at this time of year in Pinecrest, there are tons!  She said letting this fuzzy caterpillar crawl all over her arms was her favorite part of this year's camping trip.

Like last year, we spent half a day taking the 4 mile hike around the lake.  Having not slept great our first night, this wasn't the happiest of hikes and, honestly, Dave and I are both nursing sore back and knee muscles from carrying 40 pounds of girls through some rough terrain.  However, scenery that can only be seen by walking and some more "treasure-hunting", as the girls call geocaching, made us still glad we did it.
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The hike is really one of my favorites, some places are shady pine-needle-covered paths, some places you have to carefully step through streams and some places require actual rock climbing. 

(Can you find Dave, Ella and Delia in this picture?)

As you hike, you're rewarded with a constant view of the blue mountain lake water and eventually the rushing rapids of the river that feeds into Pinecrest Lake.

After the footbridge and at the halfway point, we needed to just take a rest.  Ella started this boulder-lounging and we quickly followed her lead!

In total we found 3 caches and each got to take a turn navigating with the GPS.  Dave likes to print out a few clues too and one cache clue said, "Watch out!  As I was reaching for this one, I found a rattlesnake!" Yikes!  We were super careful of rock cracks and crevices and I am extremely happy to report that our only reptile wildlife encounters were fun ones-- lots of lizards and the cute little rock frog pictured below.

The girls were rewarded for persevering through the hike with the choice to do whatever they wanted next.  They just wanted a nice long time to put their feet in the icy lake water and play on the little beach.  Ella dug and filled holes.  Delia chased and caught more butterflies, while somehow managing to get in the water all the way up to her waist with her clothes on.  That girl!

I said s'mores alone make all the work of camping worth it, but so does the fun that naturally happens when the sun sets.  I just love those moments of playing cards by lantern light or getting giggles in the tent over something goofy, like how many people you can squeeze into the mummy sleeping bag. 

All these things described add up to equal one of my favorite family traditions.  I guess it's safe to assume that you'll be reading yet another very similar camping post in about a year!

Last Week of Preschool

As we write the last tuition check ever to the preschool and get the details organized for a whole-class gift for the teachers and order a copy of the upcoming graduation DVD, we are faced with the reality that our 4 years of preschool are drawing to a close.  We've been so blessed to be able to send our girls here and we truly give thanks for their wonderful teachers and all they taught-- both school stuff that has made the girls kindergarten-ready, but more importantly, about Jesus and His love for His children.

There have been a number of special things going on to celebrate Delia's preschool time ending.  First, all the 4/5 year olds took a special class trip to a nearby zoo.  Dave was able to go along as a parent chaperon and said all the kids had a nice time seeing the zoo animals who have been helping them learn their alphabet letters, eating a picnic lunch in the park and then getting to go on a few rides.

And this week, Delia's summer birthday was celebrated at preschool.  She loved being the center of attention as Miss Debbie showed her baby pictures to the class and they sang "God's Blessings on You!".  She even received a special birthday present from her teachers.

Delia wanted her treats to be butterfly everything, so we filled goodie bags with butterfly toys and sunglasses.  We picked out butterfly napkins and we cut the brownies into butterfly shapes.  We heard this theme was a hit!

Next week is full of practices for the final preschool program.  Delia has the songs from the Psalty musical they perform down and she can't wait to sing in the microphone and do finger twirls in the dance number.  Note to self: bring a handkerchief for when she walks across that stage in her little cap and gown! 

Reason #729 Why I Love Living in the Valley:

When you're out running some errands and you get a hankerin' for some cherries, you can pull right over for some unplanned U-Pick in a local cherry orchard.  Fifteen minutes and just a few bucks later and you have several pounds of sweet, juicy, perfectly ripe white cherries to bring along on your weekend camping trip in the mountains!

Road Trip!

My good friend Amy and I have not connected in person in a long time.  Busy months/busy stages of life have left us without any play dates for far too long.  We've been really looking forward to the June 4 date we had reserved with one another about a month ago.  When our first two ideas (blueberry picking and a children's museum) were a bust, we scrambled to put some new plans together this morning and came up with a new park.  I told the girls we'd be exploring a brand new park with our friends, but strangely, my little park-lovers were most excited about riding in the big-kid backseat of Miss Amy's minivan!

Good thing this was such a thrill because, little did they know, they'd be spending about an hour and a half in this van!  When the confused GPS took us to the totally wrong destination, we literally drove in a giant circle for over an hour.  (I'm gonna keep blaming Susie the Nuvi, but the fact that I typed in a bad address probably had something to do with our long detour!)

We finally got on track and made it to our new park destination.  And the park was actually pretty cool!  Worth an over-an-hour drive?  I'm not sure.  But, bless Amy for being such a good sport.  She pointed out that the kids were more than happy in the car and there was no other way we would have gotten such a long uninterrupted time to just sit and catch up!  As I sipped my Starbucks mocha and listened to the kids playing their own goofy version of Rock, Paper, Scissors in the back seat, I had to smile and agree that our Plan D actually couldn't have been any more perfect or any more fun!

I am an Awesome Mom

The Chevy's that we had Ella's pre-birthday dinner at in Monterey a few days ago had a Chuck E. Cheese right next to it.  When the girls saw it they said, "We know that place!  We see the commercials!  That is a kid restaurant!"  Having no desire to ever spend any money on the type of food and entertainment Chuck E. Cheese offers, I gave the girls this explanation: "Oh yes, that restaurant is for kids.  They serve pizza and they have lots of games and some kids think it's pretty fun.  But, they also have a guy dressed up as a giant mouse who roams around and talks to you."  Just as I knew she would, Delia immediately said, "I don't ever want to see those scary guys!  I don't ever want to go there!"  And with that, I gave myself a little pat on the back for taking Chuck E. Cheese off the table before it ever even became a request.

One of the great delights in a getting a hotel room is mixing up our sleeping arrangements.  Dave and I each get to cuddle with one of the girls and it's a sweet time.  I got Delia on Monterey night and smiled as she rubbed my back while we were falling asleep.  During the night she was super restless, though, thrashing around the bed and even yelling out at some points.  In the morning I asked her what happened and she told me about her horrible nightmare.  "I dreamed the scary Chuck E. Cheese guy was chasing me around!"  In my efforts to avoid crappy pizza and money-wasting arcade games, I gave my daughter nightmares.  Great. I got the Mom of the Year Award all sewed up!

And in the spirit of keepin' it real, thought I share an honest picture to go with my honest story.  In this popular photo spot at the aquarium, Ella is pretending to be a beautiful mermaid while Delia is toooo tired to possibly have ANOTHER picture taken (Guess why she's tired?  Yep, because she was too busy being chased by nightmarish Chuck E. Cheese guys to sleep!)  Need a new screensaver, Grandpa? :)

Cake and Presents

After a great two day getaway, today-- Ella's actual birthday, has been more of a normal day.  Preschool and piano lessons were still on the schedule, so we're just hanging at home today.  But I planned Ella's favorite foods for each meal and decorated the dining room and the phone has not stopped ringing (including one wonderful call from the singing Gilmore Girls in Haiti!), so it's still been a special and happy day. We started the morning off with some present opening.  Since so many of you who send such thoughtful birthday gifts by mail don't get to see the birthday girl's reaction in person, I always like to post a few pictures of this on the blog.

The pile. (And the sombrero.)

 One of the main things Ella wanted this year was a watch, and she actually got two!   But, she loves and wants to keep them both.  Thanks Aunties Heather and Karen!  Ella's been telling me what time it is literally every ten minutes today.

 Check out this big girl gift-- a library of Boxcar Children books, also from Auntie Karen and family.  (Ella was very excited.)

Silly poem books from silly Auntie Kris and family-- perfect!  Ella immediately cracked them open and started reading and giggling over prose about burps and wet dogs.

The BIG gift this year is a trip to the American Girl Doll store in Seattle from Grandma and Grandpa.  On our vacation this summer, the girls will experience Little Girl Paradise for the first time, then each pick out a super special new American Girl Doll and maybe have tea in the restaurant.  Here are Grandma and Grandpa breaking the news to Ella on the phone.

Ella requested under-the-sea sweets to go with her aquarium outing choice.  We made these oyster cookies together for her school birthday treat last week.  And we decorated her cake today with sea turtles.

After 3 straight days of celebrating the lovely person she's growing into and the blessing that she's been in our lives the past 7 years, I think I'm finally ready to acknowledge Ella's new age.  For some reason, 7 was feeling especially old this year and I was having a hard time! :)

Celebrating Ella in Monterey

I'll start this post with a confession: I am overwhelmed and less than thrilled about the idea of planning birthday parties for all the girls in my girls' classes.  If I can, I encourage a birthday outing instead of a birthday party.  Though I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna get off the party-hook for Ella next year, this year she was happy to choose 2 days in Monterey as a special way to celebrate her birthday.  Yay!  I much prefer the memories we can make as a whole family at places like the zoo, the water park or Disneyland to a whole living room full of new birthday toys anyway.

For her birthday outing to Monterey, Ella had a whole list of things she wanted to do and I think we managed all of them.  One was to have her favorite Mexican food followed by the birthday sombrero and serenade at Chevy's.

Another was to play on a beach and write "Happy Birthday" in the sand.  We tried to take "Watch a sunset over the ocean" off our summer bucket list, but it was just too chilly and overcast to wait for it.  We spent a little time running down dunes and drawing in the sand, but mostly freezing.  It was so awesome to jump in our hotel's hot tub after the beach and Ella will tell you that this hot tub was her favorite part of her birthday outing in Monterey! 

As mentioned earlier, the girls have been earning money all year doing chores and behaving well.  They've known for a long time that they wanted to spend their hard-earned money on something from the aquarium gift shop.  When the time to finally shop came, they were thrilled to pick out penguin and otter stuffed animals, and I don't think they've put them down since!

We took a morning walk along Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf to see some wildlife.  We watched pelicans all lined up on railings and these entertaining sea lions playing King of the Mountain on this little floating barge.

We were actually able to spend two days at the aquarium, but I'll put all the pictures together.  FYI, if you stop at the information table on (or near) your birthday, the aquarium will give you this special button to wear and then everyone will say "Happy Birthday!" to you.

We just couldn't wait to check out the new Jellies Experience exhibit at the aquarium.  Since we first saw it late afternoon of the day we arrived in Monterey, we had it practically to ourselves!  I was expecting it to be more peaceful and soothing, like the seahorse exhibit, but it had a totally different feel!  Black lights, tie-dye and Jimi Hendrix quotes on the walls and groovy music gave it the "Outta This World!" feeling it was going for.

And wowza! were these jellyfish something to see!  Again, as we so often do on aquarium visits, we just had to marvel at God's creativity!

There were lots of interactive parts to this exhibit.  We could draw our own digital jellyfish, bounce stools up and down to make a jelly's bell pulse and learn about a jellyfish's symmetry by kaleidoscoping our faces.

These guys were our favorite.  They have a fancy name, but we called them "the light-up jellies".  They had flashing lights along each tentacle-- as if they were powered by batteries!  So awesome!  We saw some of these cool light-up guys catching and eating fish too.

I've gone on and on about these jellyfish, but I know I have a number of readers who know the aquarium and I wanted to give them an idea of what this new exhibit is like. 

Besides the new jellyfish and getting to watch a school of 20,000 sardines swarm the Open Seas tank at feeding time, we also enjoyed the rare treats of another active octopus and a skate willing to be touched.  All in all, one more awesome aquarium visit.  Ella picked well!

The two last things on Ella's birthday list were to eat lunch at Pizza My Heart, which we did, and play at Dennis the Menace park.  We call the bumpy slide in the picture above "The Butt Buster".  I laugh when I look at Dave's face-- he's such a good dad!

Having split our aquarium visit into two days, we had lots of time to play at this favorite park.  The girls thoroughly explored each of the play areas and wore themselves out so well that Delia actually fell asleep in my arms later on.  I suppose being that tired is probably a good sign of how hard you played and how much fun you had over the course of two days, though!

Happy 7th birthday to Ella!  (More details about her actual birthday coming later today...)

Nothings Says Summer Like...

A big ol' bucket of caterpillars, found and lovingly adopted while we pruned the geranium. 

 An after-dinner bike ride...

to the park. 

 An entire day to play with sister, help her complete school tasks and annoy her so badly tears and time-outs are had.

A good raiding of the craft closet.  And finally enough free time to dive into some new crafts kits that were received at Christmas.

Enough time to also make a decent dessert after dinner.  It's usually "Go! Go! Get the homework done!  Clean the toys!  Get in the bath!  Get to bed!" Dave's been super busy, but we ladies are all really loving life at a more leisurely pace!

How I Plan to Keep My Sanity:

"DEEEEEELIAAA!!!"

"I'm bored..."

"Moooooommy, she just ______ (fill in the blank)!" 

These are things I just know I'm going to hear in this first week of summer.  And because I hate getting to the end of a day and realizing all I did was yell and scold, I've been readying myself and building up my arsenal of summer stay-home activities.  During the school year, the girls earn money with a behavior and chore sticker chart, and I decided to take a little break from that.  Pinterest gave me some great new ideas and the management plan I decided on was a bunch of those all kinda squished into one.  It rewards the kids with (hopefully weekly) fun family activities by requiring them to do some chores, do some school stuff and have the right behavior/attitude each day.  After I introduced it, Ella immediately asked, "Cool!  Can I do some math right away?" (um, !!!).  I'm excited about and have high hopes for this new Penny Jar system.  Maybe I'll be able to lounge in the sun, reading and sipping a cold drink while the girls independently and enthusiastically complete their chores and academic tasks!

Nah, I'm sure it's not THAT good! :)

The Penny Jar
Put a penny in the jar for each task you complete each day...

Delia
-Feed Lily
-Help put toys away
-Clear table
-Do alphabet flash cards or activities for 15 minutes
-Fill one sheet with letters you practice writing
-Eat your meals
-Get through the day obeying, being kind and not whining

Ella
-Feed Lily
-Make the bed
-Set the table
-Play Fact Master for 15 minutes
-Write and illustrate one journal question in a complete sentence
-Read one (not too easy) book or chapter
-Practice piano for at least 20 minutes
-Get through the day without bossing or yelling at your sister

Prizes-- Fill the jar then roll the dice to see which one we do!
1. Stay up later switching bunk beds or having a sleepover
2. Go out for ice cream
3. Take a long family bike ride
4. Movie night-- KIDS' CHOICE!
5. Go to the park-- KIDS' CHOICE!
6. Go to the craft store and pick out a new project

(I'm writing this post for the few friends who asked to see it and here are a few notes:  One, I made our penny jar super small, so it would fill quickly and rewards could be won each week.  Two, I had the girls help choose their own prizes, and surprisingly, all the free ones were their ideas!)