Our Trip to the Beach

Well...sort of. This is really the closest Yulia will get to the beach. She wanted to go to the ocean, but time is running out on all this fun.

My neighbor Jenni and I took all the kids to Bremerton for the day. We went to the park and played down by the water. Liam and Reilly found sand crabs and everyone loved that. Yulia looked for shells and things to take home. Natalie and Will ran around like two crazy two year olds.

Then we went back to the ferry and played at the Fountain Park. This was Yulia's favorite and the boys.

It was a fun day!

Land of the Naked and Free

Our home has become the land of the naked little girl who freely takes off her clothes and her diaper. She does not like clothes and I can not keep them on her. Our friends son asked "why is baby Natalie always naked?" This is how it will be for our little girl even underwear bug her.

One day...oh one day she will not be so happy about her nakedness when I show her all the photos I took of her naked and eating all the time. That was the other thing someone said "I have never seen a picture where Natalie does not have food in her hands or mouth". Yes, it is true she likes food and being naked.

Natalie while challenging in her over dramatic, feisty, and down right strong willed personality is still one of the funniest little kids I know. She has such a sense of humor. I try and capture the true Natalie in photos and well pictures are worth a thousand words. Some photos I can not show even though they show Natalie at her best...just think about it (naked...poop...me crying and saying "not again")


Enjoy!

Camping @ Lk. Mosquito Hostile Take Over...Seriously!

I am not kidding...we took the kids this past Thursday and headed up to Lake Kachees (other side of Snoqualmie Pass near Hyak Lake) to go camping. I actually drove up with all the kids on Thursday to make sure we got one of the 9 unreserved spots that were left. This is how desperate camping is getting. Yikes!

I thought I was prepared...but I was was not. We got there around 11am and I was amazed at all the open spots since online they showed up reserved. We found the best spot near the water so the dogs could swim and the kids could play. We got out and instantly we were being eaten by Mosquitos.

I of course did not think to bring the bug repelent with me in the car...no it was in the trailer that Jason was bringin up later in the afternoon. So we took a little walk to the Host's camp and bummed some spray.

Nothing seemed to keep those things away...it was really bad! When Jason got there around 3pm we were at the boat launch were the Mosquitos were not with about 20 other people trying to escape the attack of the bugs.



This is about how the next two days went. Gone were the memories of us sitting around the camp fire roasting mellows and singing songs as a family. Thank the Lord we have a trailer because that is where we spent the first night...roasting the mellows over a gas propane stove. Hey...we can still make memories, just not the ones we thought.



We spent a lot of time down at the beach because the wind was blowing and the Mosquitos were no where to be found. Of course, so did all the other people staying at Lk. Kachees. It was nice and the kids had fun.

Yulia has decided that camping is not her thing..."to cold, to many bugs and my shoes are dirty". Those were her words. She loved the Smore's, but kept asking when we were going home.

Natalie loved being with the dogs and had fun throwing a few tantrums. Liam discovered that he likes Frisbees and torturing Yulia. Reilly practiced his poses for the new "young men in training" Fireman's Calendar 2009. Jason enjoyed sleeping in the tent with Reilly were he got to sleep in..whatever! I enjoyed watching the kids get dirty and have fun even when the Mosquito's were eating them alive.













All in all we had a fun family time. We will not be camping by a Mosquito invested lake anytime soon. It is off to the Oregon Coast in August and then to Hood Canal in September.

Sports Camp

Liam and Yulia got to participate in a Christian Sports Camp here in Maple Valley. Liam was on the Green Beans Green #4 team and Yulia was on the Red Hots Red #4 team. They got to learn karate, volleyball, basketball, and football and learn about God. We missed the last two nights because we were gone camping. They had a lot of fun and it was really well organized.

Pedicures

After we left Yakima and the kids stayed with Mema and Papka Goobs Yulia and I went and got pedicures. It was so much fun! I think she loved the massage part the best. We had a great day just hanging out together. She is like every 8 year old girl I know and I am sure is loving all the attention being the middle child of five.