A Change in Weather On Our Farm

This week I had such a fun time with the girls one morning, just out doing some of our farm chores after the rain.  The weather was refreshing and we got the goats hooves trimmed, eggs collected and chickens fed.  Noelle was happy to have new boots so she could join in the fun.

Look who is happy with her new boots!

We were up with the goats and Preston found this awesome spider web still wet with dew.  It has been so nice to finally get some rain!  

She caught a chicken one handed...it escaped while she was collecting eggs.

Playing in the water the rain left in the wagon

Updates From August

 All aboard!  The kids put together a train for all of us to ride together.  Who wants on?

 Preston finally lost a tooth...it has been a few years!

 I never tire of seeing little kids in potato head glasses...especially when they are mine.

 Lookin' pretty nasty, but that is what happens when you are little and having fun by the camp fire.  She was helping Briana make some bark stew.

 We were blessed to have good friends from CA come visit us for the weekend to run the Umpqua River Run with us.  What wonderful examples of people who live life with the right priorities.  We have lots to learn from them.  Thanks for taking the time to come visit!

Briana making her bark stew...she was really into it and didn't want her brother throwing in random ingredients.

Noelle Antics

Playing in the laundry basket

What a patient dog we have...Noelle used her blanket for a saddle and had a fun ride!

This is Briana in Oct. 2012

Look who's wearing the poodle costume now!  Noelle even crawls around and barks like a dog. Briana is not sure she likes sharing her all time favorite costume.

Our hot tub swimming pictures always turn out so great.  She doesn't get to join the other kids too often, but she sure had a blast with Briana on this day.

Camping at Lopez Island

Riding the Ferry to Lopez Island.  Cordell even saw an Orca Whale...

The boat ride was one of the highlights of camping at the island! 

A typical camp meal....mom at the stove, kids demanding food and dad managing the outbreaks.
I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole  camp ground.  It was enclosed in greenery.  Beautiful and secluded!  I'm afraid we may have been the noisiest ones there.

Cool old fishing boat at the little Lopez museum. 

Boys will be boys. Notice Ethan's "missing" arm while they sword fight.

The driftwood was so great to play on and light enough to build lots of forts.

A proud builder...they spent half the day playing and building with the driftwood on the beach. The water was pretty cold! 

Sylvia's favorite thing to do on this beach was to catch the little crabs.

Gotta love pit stops!  I tried to get the least messy one for her, but I guess everything she eats is messy!

NC Highlights

The best part of this trip was seeing family!! Living so far away from each other makes it hard to visit, so we all look forward to this time together every other year. So fun to renew our relationships and spend time with cousins, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents! The kids had great times playing together in the sand, at the ocean (the house we rented was just a couple of blocks away from the beautiful water) and at the house we rented. We went to the flight museum, saw wild horses along the beach, went to a lighthouse, had yummy ice cream at a fun shopping center, saw extended family, liked the frosting our of donut boxes (Ethan and Briana), played lots of games with grandma and enjoyed the theater seating at the house. So much fun! We hated to leave and look forward to the next time we can all be together!

Flying to NC

Flying with 5 little ones on an airplane for an all night flight was a trip in its self. We began by leaving the house around 4PM on a Friday to eat dinner on the way and make it to the Portland airport to check in and fly at 10PM. Luckily things went smoothly and the kids did great considering it being all night. They never sleep well at night unless they are in their own beds, but they did sleep for a couple of hours through the flights..wish I could say the same for myself. Noelle slept in my arms as long as I was very still. All the kids had their own carry on backpacks and did an awesome job getting where they needed to be. We had a short layover in the early morning. Luckily during the times we were flying, the airports were not too crowded, so we let the kids get some energy out by creating back pack obstacle courses and chasing games...um, not the best but better than crazy kids on the plane right? We finished up our flight around 7:30 or 8 in the morning in Virginia, meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa. We were so happy to be there and see them! Since we were a bit sleep deprived, we had a mix up with the rental car situations, but luckily didn't drive off with the wrong one before realizing it, and it ended up all right (we almost paid for 2 rental cars!). The kids were more than happy to finally be able to get settled and sleep. You will notice them in the few end pictures...they were exhausted!! Normally they don't want anyone to be touching anyone in the car, but they were too tired to notice. We then had a couple hours of driving to make it to Duck, NC. We were happy to be staying in one place and see our wonderful family for the week!