Weekend at Pinecrest

When the girls got an invite to spend the weekend at a cabin up at our favorite summer spot, Pinecrest, with some of their best friends, they jumped at the opportunity!  Dave and I were even able to drive up for a day and meet them for some fun on the lake, followed by a pizza dinner, and family games at the cabin.  You've heard me write about these dear family friends before-- they are Donna, Tessa, Anika, Ben, etc.  A whole weekend with them was a treat!  What a fun life!

Mom and Dad gave us the kayak for Christmas, which we loved finally taking out for a spin!  It was paddled around the lake all day by all different combos of friends.  So nice to not have to worry about the time running out on a rental!  We'll get a ton of use out of this new toy.

Just doesn't get any better than this.

SUPs and a hammock enhance the lake experience as well!

The girls loved crowding into the cozy mountain cabin with this dear family of friends-- there are 8 of them!  On Saturday, all the big kids took off for the spectacular, but strenuous, hike to Cleo's Bath.  We heard all about this adventure when they got home, but just this one picture was taken-- which Delia insisted upon to "prove she actually went on this crazy hike"! ;)

The girls were too cute intentionally bringing up coordinating outfits for a little photoshoot (these pictures there were probably 20 of, haha!)  Ella and Delia came home last night exhilarated but exhausted from 3 straight days of paddling, swimming, hiking, and game playing.  We're so thankful for the blessing of beautiful places and special friendships!

15!

 

Wine and Waterslides with Heather

Heather took advantage of the long holiday weekend to come for a quick visit.  We had just finished our hardest and most exhausting week of the summer at VBS and having Heather at the end of it was a grand celebration!  As always, Heather is up for adventure, so we packed her 4 days with as much fun as we could!

First stop was at Ella's gym so she could show Auntie Heather her world.  Though she is not a lover of heights, Heather was an amazing sport, allowing Ella to show her the ropes and not taking too long to make it all the way up the walls!

Delia was able to get in on the climbing too!

Ella is at the gym almost every day.  She's enough of an expert that they pay her to teach.  But still, I had not visited since she first started this hobby and I loved seeing how much she's grown as a climber this year!  See that tiny speck on the ceiling in the above pic?  Yep, that's Ella.  She flew right up there!  And no, you don't need to rotate the picture below.  It's Ella who is upside down!

Heather's second day was spent at the water park-- our favorite summer tradition!  We lazed in the river, we surfed waves, we climbed a million flights of stairs, we raced, we braved the big, scary, dark slide, we got stuck, we tried to set Delia up with a cute lifeguard, and we screamed for our lives when we were sure our family raft was flying straight off the water slide walls!

We had the best time and plan to keep this outing in the books every time we are together in hot weather!

Heather's third day was a bit more relaxed.  We explored a new-to-us wine country, doing a little tasting, picnicking, and bookshop browsing.  One winery specialized in sparkling wines and we thought it was fun to taste all their unique flavors-- pomegranate, peach, and almond being some of my favorites.  Made me think of Moira Rose's funny fruit wine commercial! ;) IYKYK.

Of course Delia found all 5 bookshop cats while we found a pile of used books to buy!

This day ended with good eats!  A friend recommended we try her favorite waterfront restaurant, Boathouse, which was pretty and delicious, but a little chilly.  We then drove to the nearby Ghirardelli Factory for our dessert where fancy hot fudge sundaes and hot chocolate warmed us right up.  

Heather's last day was church, 3rd of July BBQ, Jackbox games, campfire, and sparklers.  Auntie Heather got to know Ben, as together we all we roasted marshmallows. listened to patriotic playlists, and laughed till we cried about hilarious Jackbox creations like Smacky Cracky Stucky, Drunk Madonna's cones, and Jazz Hands Church.  Don't ask me to draw a vacuum cleaner or Heather to draw a tongue!  Haha!!

We love you, Heather!  Thanks for making time to visit us and for giving us a reason to squeeze so much summer fun into 4 days!

Summer So Far

It's been a splendid summer so far!  I love how nice and slow it's moving.  We're not even through June and we've already had a great mix of relaxation, special time together, and big adventures!

Summer always kicks off with the celebration of Ella's birthday at the end of May.  Since she is starting to take online college classes, we gifted her a laptop before her birthday and told her to expect a pretty low key day.  A few silly science-y presents, a table full of her favorite desserts, and a house full of her favorite friends to watch her favorite movie proved to be a perfect 17th birthday.  Pictured above-- Ella's new pet Henry, a Venus fly trap who is waaaay higher maintenance, but also way more delightful to Ella, than I could have imagined!

On her birthday, Ella also started her summer job which she has been LOVING.  She's a camp counselor/climbing instructor for the summer day camp at her rock climbing gym.  She trains, she encourages, she belays, she teaches crafts, she referees games, she awards prizes, and she helps kids conquer fears, achieve goals, and fall in love with climbing the way she has each day.  It's the perfect summer job!

Delia found a fun way to make some money this summer too!  She and a few friends were hired to serve at a big graduation party.  Serving this Mexican family, the girls enjoyed a legit fiesta with the best tacos, a pig roast, fresh made churros, and fancy fruity drinks.  She had a blast and made $100!

A large chunk of our summer has actually been Dave-less!  He spent two weeks in the Midwest visiting family and attending Synod as a delegate for our Classis.  We girls found one fun thing to do together each day that he was gone.  Ivy's first pup cup, a shared sundae, a visit to the farmer's market, dress shopping for Delia, and a Tom Holland movie brightened our days.

Dave has not had any kind of break since last August, so we were thrilled to send him away for a good time to reconnect with loved ones!  His time with family was wonderful!  Besides getting to hang out with his siblings, nephews, and parents, he especially enjoyed all the fun Chicago food-- Buena Beef, Giordano's, and a fun date at the teppanyaki place where they light firecrackers at your table and fling broccoli into your mouth!

While Dave was in Chicago, our nephew Miles had a surgery to adjust the growth rods on his spine.  Dave was so happy to be able to see him a few nights later when they had a sleepover at Karen's house together!  On his last day in Chicago, his dad had an unfortunate fall at the golf course, doing a number to his leg and ankle that will require surgery next week.  While not the most fun outing, Dave was glad to be there to take Dad to the ER too.  He continues to minister to the sick and injured, even when far away from our church! :)

Synod was exhausting and challenging, but Dave really enjoyed most parts of it and says he would for sure go again. Wisdom, discernment, sound judgement, and good listening skills are some of his strengths, so he served well and voted on hard things prayerfully and fairly.  The best part of Synod was reconnecting with old seminary and pastor friends!  Above is Scott, one of Dave's best friends from seminary.  Back in the day, their professors actually nicknamed them "The Dream Team".  Fun to see them reunited-- with beards! 

And, probably the summer's biggest highlight so far, the girls went to their first HiCamp!  They've grown up visiting their dad there, so for them to finally experience it for themselves was something we were really excited about this summer!  All their expectations were met and exceeded.  HiCamp was full of all the cabin shenanigans, powerful worship, challenging speakers, wacky games, volleyball competition, beach and boardwalk days, and time to bond with friends as always!  We've loved hearing the stories of how the girls laughed during all the crazy fun and grew closer to the Lord throughout this special week.  Above, a picture of Ella's cabin after dominating their volleyball matches.  And below, some fun game where they had to recreate famous paintings.

Ella's cabin and her whole class.

I got way more pictures and updates throughout the week from Delia!  Haha!  I love this about her.  Her best days were beach day and boardwalk day.

Delia was a tad apprehensive about HiCamp, knowing how much volleyball, games, and competition there was going to be-- NOT her things.   My favorite story, though, is that on Delia's last day she chose to take a big uphill hike (also NOT her thing) to the cross for her Time Alone with God (morning devotions) and listed this as one of the highlights of her week!  The whole week I prayed that she'd be brave enough to do things outside of her comfort zone.  She did and she had THE BEST week.    

Delia's best friend and best teacher, who went up as a counselor-- Mrs. M. is now Karissa! :)  And her cabin pictured below.

The HiCamp speaker for the week was our old high school Bible teacher!  When we picked up the girls, we had a wonderful time reconnecting!  Rev. (or as the girls call him "Jeff") is timeless!  Here are 4 VMs who've now been impacted by his stories and sermons during formative high school years! 

And what did I do all week while everyone was gone?  I must admit there were times that stretched long with no meals to prepare and no one to expect coming home.  A to-do list of weird projects to complete (Filing cabinet is now totally cleaned out!  Curtains and valances washed!  Car maintenanced!) and a few movies to watch and books to read helped.  I also filled those long hours with one friend date each day.  I had lunches, breakfasts, and coffee with some of my favorite people.  My best day was one spent entirely at the lake with Doreen and Lisa at Lisa's parents' amazing lake house.  The week went quick enough with several high points, but I sure do love having everyone home again-- even if they brought me 4 loads of laundry and an unending sink full of dishes! :)