Thanksgiving is such a special time. We want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family.
And whatever you do today—don’t overeat!
Family
Best Friends
For some reason no matter what is outside, looking out the window is more fun with your best friend.
My little girl and her best friend always enjoy their time together.
Mexico Fun
We always love it when we get to take our almost annual trip to Mexico. This year, we were able to do it again, after missing a few years. The sunshine and Vitamin D are a welcome additive to our lives, so is the time with extended family, and also the minimal access to email and phone.
It’s a real treat when we get to see the whales from Mom & Pop’s house.
It’s hard to keep us out of the water, as we don’t much have access to warm water near our home.
Sliding off of this natural slide has become a favorite activity of nearly the whole family. The younger ones are still braving up for it.
Can’t beat playing in the sand.
And it’s always fun to take a walk on the malecon at night and stop and have an argument with Poncho Villa.
School Pictures
My husband decided to try his hand at doing school pictures for the kids this year. This is his first try. We’ll see if more come later. The only thing is that Zippy has had braces put on since the pictures were taken. It’s fun to have school pictures though.
Henry Doorly Zoo
This is one of those very much over due posts, but it’s still fun to look back at some of the things that we have done. Here is a photo collection from our visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska, which, mind you, is one of the best zoos on the planet.
“G’tums” is Now “Ace”
Well, time is marching on and kids are growing up, and one of my kids does not like the nickname that I have been calling him on my blog, so he has renamed himself. He will no longer be G’tums, which was an abbreviation of a real nickname that I called him. He has been reminding me for over a year now, that he is too big for me to call him any nickname that ends in “tums”. He got online yesterday and found a nickname that he thought would be acceptable for me to use on my blog. He will now be “Ace”. I guess time will tell what he is an ace at.
Crater Lake
Unfortunately, we didn’t leave Lassen National Park until late afternoon. I was mistaken on how long it was going to take us to get to Crater Lake, our next stop. We didn’t pull in to Crater Lake until 9 pm. It was (obviously) dark. It was freezing cold. It had just stopped raining, so everything was wet. And what was worse, my husband had flown home after we left Yosemite, so we had to set up camp without him (for the first time), in the dark and wet and cold. The kids were big helps, but let me tell you that when that tent was up and the sleeping bags were spread, we were a very happy bunch to crawl into our sleeping bags. We also learned to appreciate that we have good sleeping bags, because of the cold. In spite of all of that, or maybe because of all of it, we slept like tops.
The next morning was still cold, but we got up early, tore things down, ate in a hurry, and headed out to see what Crater Lake looked like (and to pick up our Junior Ranger Books at the Ranger Station.) We were not disappointed.
Photo Credit: The above picture was taken by Zippy
Photo Credit: The above picture was taken by Zippy
Photo Credit: The above picture was taken by Zippy
You should meet the squirrels (Golden-Mantle Squirrel) at Crater Lake. They are the biggest beggars ever. They will eat out of everybody’s hands. They even stand on their hind legs to get your attention. And it works!
Photo Credit: The above picture was taken by JD Boy.
What a beautiful place! We surely enjoyed ourselves.
And of course, before heading out, we stopped and got the kids’ Junior Ranger Badges and had their National Park Passports stamped. The Ranger there thoroughly embarrassed them. He hollered for everybody in the gift store to please give him their attention, and then he waited until everybody did and then he introduced the kids as the newest Crater Lake Junior Rangers and everybody applauded and the kids turned red and I grinned.
Photo Credit: The above picture was taken by Zippy
Oregon Coast
To get in the mood for school this year, we took the first week of September and did some amazing sight seeing. I have finally uploaded the pictures to my computer, so this week I will share about the different places that we were able to visit. Enjoy!
Well, the first day we spent driving, and we have no pictures to show for that, I s’pose, we should have taken some tail light pictures, but we just enjoyed (for the most part) each other’s company and the fun of feeding a family of six in the car. (Did I say messy?)
The second day, we spent a bunch of time playing at the beach—playing in the sand, running in the waves, watching the birds (and the other people) and, of course, taking pictures.
We visited the Sea Lion Caves. That’s where the above picture was taken. I’m sad to say that we were a bit disappointed in them. I was bummed, because I had visited them as a child, and had such strong memories of the place, but it turned out to be smaller than when I was kid and not as interesting either.
After that, we spent the rest of the day, driving, driving and driving some more.
We ran into a snag that night. I had packed with the intention that, we would do laundry twice during the trip. That night was supposed to be my first chance, but the wash machine didn’t work at our hotel. Oh, no. Well, a little planning, and I thought we’d make it okay through our next few days of camping, as long as the toddler didn’t have any accidents and nobody fell into anymore water. (Everybody under the age of 20 had to have a complete change after playing at the beach.) But that was only the beginning of our laundry woes.
Forget the laundry woes, the trip kept getting better from there.
An Important Day — A baptism
Recently our second child decided that he would like to give his heart to Jesus in a public way. It was a very special day for not only him, but for me too. It is my hope and prayer that all of my children will give their hearts to Jesus as children, as teens, as young adults, as elderly people — their whole lives. Baptisms are always so special, but there is something extra special when they are your own children.
(Sorry, it was so bright, that it was difficult getting decent pictures, but I still treasure them, so I’m sharing.)
A Day at the Park
Everybody loves a day at the park. Even I do, even though my kids don’t think I go nearly often enough. Recently we spent a day at a new park, just because my husband wanted to take pictures there. He got some great shots too, so that means that I definitely have to blog about it. Sorry I can’t blog about every trip to a park, but then again, that would get a little too boring, even though my kids don’t think we go to one nearly enough.
Here is a view of Seattle from the park. Now you know why my husband wanted to go there.
Then, of course, he couldn’t resist taking pictures of the kids enjoying themselves. So here you go—a day at the park in pictures.
And a couple more views from the park.
