Summer Update

It's been awhile since I've blogged. There always seems to be something more pressing than creating a new post. So in an attempt to catch up, here are the highlights of the past month or so. I had trouble uploading pictures so I may try to do that at a later time.

1. In late July we all packed up and headed for the U.S. Our primary objective was meeting up with our close friends --the Taylors. This reunion was more than could be hoped for. We joined them in Gold Beach, Oregon and spent the next two days fellowshipping on the beach. We sang and prayed together and watched our sons fight with light sabers while our daughters danced in the sand. We strolled through a dinosaur-ladened roadway park, and we took lots and lots of pictures. Everything was beautiful--especially beautiful was the assembly of this portion of the Bride of Christ, and the hope of more times to come.






2. Also of note was our trip down the coast and back. To save money and because we're just weird and like to-- we camped out. My camping experiences have been limited and I was quite impressed at how nicely these campsites were--both in Oregon and Washington. Nice showers. Nice scenery. Clean and free of obnoxious drunk people. A definite plus in my book. On the first night down, we stayed in this way-cool structure called a yurt. It had power and bunkbeds--a big splurge for us. But then again, it was 10:30 when we arrived and we were all pretty wiped out by the time we made it there. The next night we arrived at our destination fairly early and had plenty of time to set up camp and explore. We also had a fire and made the traditional s'mores. After we ate, we took a walk from our campsite and ended up at the Great Sand Dunes. The kids loved running around in the sand. All along the Oregon coast there are tremendous rock formations and in Banden we were present at low tide and explored all these awesome tidal pools. We saw many many sea anemones and starfish. Unfortunately we saw no puffins. Sigh! Sniff, Sniff. This bird continues to allude me. One day. And also in Banden, the best chowder and fish and chips and fish tacos I can remember. A definite highlight for me on our return was a quick trip to Target. How I miss Target. And of course there were 2 ferry trips. We took the Coho to Port Angeles on our way to the States. Here, everyone refers to the US at "the States" Try it. It's pretty catchy. On our way back. The Coho was booked so we had to drive up to Bellingham which just takes longer.





3. We went to Family Camp at Camp Imadene. For me this week was uneventful as cold and rainy weather decided to set in for the entire week and made it pretty near impossible to enjoy the water. On a plus side, there were some very dear friendships made and I had a lot of fun teaching the younger kids.

4. I have been planning for the upcoming school year. I designed a word wall and plan to use it to introduce about 200 of the most common words in writing to Ethan and Laurel. Many of these words have to be learned as sight words as they don't follow the normal grammar rules. I'm also planning some fun themes. a few are fish, owls, quilts, insects, gingerbread man, harvest, and winter theme. I'm especially excited about the fish unit because in late October we have the salmon spawning right outside of Victoria. It's supposed to be something to see.

5. This past Friday Clint woke up with pain in his abdomen. He recognized it as kidney stones and directly went to the ER for pain medicine and a confirmed diagnosis. He has 2 stones (one is 4mm; the other is 2mm) He was sent home with meds and instructions to keep drinking. As of Monday night, no luck yet. Ironically, his body seems to make rocks every 4 years and it just so happens to correspond to election years.



6. This past week I also attempted with the help of Barb Horton, a dear lady at our church, to can peaches. We made 7 jars. I don't think these will last long, but I'm hoarding them for a while. It was pretty easy and I may also try to make some jelly.

7. Ethan found some blackberry vines in our backyard and has been picking berries the last week or so. We went down to a place where I had seen some massive vines and picked enough for a pie. The pie is now all gone. I guess we will have to go out and gather some more.


8. I am packing for our trip to Texas at the end of week. We are excited and anxious to visit with our family and friends. We will go to Fiesta Texas on Saturday and I made the mistake of showing Ethan the website. He keeps asking to look at all of the ride options and which ones he is tall enough to ride. The only downer is that Clint won't be able to come along. He is planning to hike the West Coast Trail while we are gone, that is, if he gets his little problem taken care of by then.