The Great Northwest - Part 1

So, a few weeks ago, we flew out to the Great Northwest to visit my family for 2 weeks. What a great time we had with everyone! We started the trip in Gresham, Oregon and spent a few days with my brother and his wife, Sera. One of the first things Jacob couldn't wait to do was play chess with Uncle Aaron. Aaron has the Star Wars chess set from Episode 2. They played 3 games...they each won one game and the 3rd was a stalemate.

On Thursday we drove to Seaside with Sera's sister-in-law, Becca and her three kids ages 5 and under. It was a gorgeous day...we couldn't have asked for better beach weather!

This was the kids first time to play in the Pacific Ocean.

Abbi decided she wanted to get buried in the sand...
The boys had no trouble obliging her.
All covered up with sand!
The aftermath
Isn't Seaside beautiful? I hadn't been there since childhood and it really brought back a lot of memories. It was strange being there with my own kids.
My three with Becca's 2 boys, Seandor and Zolie.

After the beach, we headed to Becca's house where she prepared an AWESOME dinner for all of us. What a terrific day! On Friday, we spent the afternoon at a park in Sandy.

The kids (bigs ones included) had a great time. Abbi got a bit too dizzy on the tire swing and then found a nice place to lay down for awhile.

She couldn't even eat her lunch.
That night Sera's parents and one of her brothers came over for a big burrito dinner. The boys played a nail-biting game of Star Wars Monopoly. My brother and Jacob have so many loves in common...Legos and Star Wars!

Babysitting Olivia

This afternoon we're babysitting almost-3-year-old Olivia. The kids played with her in their magic tent in the living room for awhile and when I came upstairs, this is what I found.

From the blog of a friend of a friend...

Sometimes I'd like to ask God

why He allows poverty,

famine and injustice

when He could do something about it.

But I'm afraid God might

ask me the same question.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I get a weekly email from The Homeschool Minute and today's issue was on A Few of Our Favorite Things. Todd Wilson had this to say...it was too good not to share.

Favorite things about homeschooling . . . hmmm . . . favorite things . . . favorite things.

(Queue the music.)

School in my pjs and short simple school days
Hot steaming coffee and basking in sunrays
Children that miss out on lots of 'bad' things
These are a few of my favorite things

Oom pah pa . . . oom pah pa

Mountains of good books and time for their hobbies
Learning to be godly daddies and mommies
Chores and routines that help keep our house clean
These are a few of my favorite things

Babies and toddlers and growing teenagers
All in the same house without social dangers
Living and learning although the phone rings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the kids scream
When I am mean
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
and then I don't feeeeeeelllll sooo baaaad.

A Visit from Justin & Tonya

Jon's brother, Justin and his wife, Tonya came for a visit this month. We had so much fun with them going bowling (where I beat Justin by 1 point!), playing miniature golf (where Jon beat Tonya by 1 point!), visiting the town of Helen, seeing movies, eating out, etc. One of the fun 'touristy' things we did was visit the World of Coca Cola. We had never been there before and it was actually a pretty neat tour...well worth the money! Here we all are with the Coca Cola bear.

Above - listening to inspirational Coke stories.

They had the world's largest collection of Coke memorabilia.

I couldn't even take pictures of it all.

There were many neat things made out of Coke cans and bottle caps.

And lots of Coke art.

You end the tour in the Tasting Room where you can try over 60 soft drinks from around the world...just stay away from Beverly!

After the World of Coca Cola, we headed over to Stone Mountain. Justin and Tonya had never been there before. It was a hot, sticky day, but we made the most of it. We took the SkyRide up to the top of the mountain where I let the twins loose with my camera. I didn't look at their pictures until just now when I downloaded them...I thought these two were particularly clever. Doesn't it look like they're climbing up the mountain-side?
The view from the top!
There is so much to do at Stone Mountain, it was hard to choose. One thing we did was take a 5 mile train ride around the mountain. Fun! It was nice to take a break and sit down for a while. And the breeze felt good, too!
Tonya and I
While the boys went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tonya and I took Abbi to see the new American Girl movie, Kit Kitteredge. I know it's hard to tell in the picture below if Abbi was excited, but trust me...she was!

Here we are waiting for the much-anticipated movie to start.

Let it Snow - Abbi's story

Abbi wrote this story several months ago. Enjoy!

Let it Snow

Chapter 1 - The Flurry

It's the fourth time it snowed! A girl named Samantha Jernigan was so excited. She had never seen a flurry before and now was her chancce to go ice skating at the arena!

"Mommy, Daddy can I go catch some snow on my tongue?"

"Yes, you may!"

"Thanks!"

When Samantha got outside she stuck her tongue out, stretched her arms out sideways as far as they could go and twirled. She got two inches of snow just on her tongue! Then Samantha went inside to have some hot chocolate. When she came back outside there was even more snow!

Chapter 2 - The Snowman

The next day Samantha looked out her window to see if there was any more snow. It looked like there was so Samantha got dressed and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. When Samantha got to the kitchen Mrs. Jernigan, Samantha's mom, was there.

"What do you want to eat?" Mrs. Jernigan asked.

"French toast!" was the reply. When Mrs. Jernigan put the french toast on Samantha's plate Samantha ate as fast as she could.

"What's the hurry?" asked Mrs. Jernigan.

"I want to go outside to build a snowman."

"When your plate is finished you may go outside and build a snowman."

When Samantha was finished she got her coat, gloves and boots on and went outside to build a snowman.

Chapter 3 - The Snowman Changes

The next day Samantha went to the kitchen with a full stomach.

"Good morning, Samantha," Mr. Jernigan said when she got to the kitchen.

"May I go outside to build onto my snowman because I'm not hungry."

"Okay."

When Samantha got outside her snowman was gone. Samantha ran inside to get her dad.

"What is it, honey?"

"My snowman is gone!"

"Gone?"

"Yes! Gone! I made it yesterday, but now it's not there. It's a mystery!"

Chapter 4 - Strange Noises

When Samantha got up the next morning she heard someone knocking on the kitchen door and saw her snowman standing right in front of her! So she picked it up and put it where she left it when she made it and stood back to admire it when she realized that there was a hat and scarf on the snowman. Then Samantha heard someone say 'hello.'

"Huh? Who's there?"

"It's me. Frosty."

Samantha just stared. "I'm right in front of a talking snowman!" Then Samantha took the hat and scarf off of the snowman and said, "Come towards me." The snowman didn't move so Samantha ran to her room and wrote a note that said:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I will be at the library if you need me.

Love,

Samantha

Then Samantha went to the kitchen and left the note on the table and went to the library and went to the computer and looked up 'snowmen.' When Samantha got home nobody was in the kitchen and nobody came to the kitchen when Samantha yelled "HELP!" So Samantha got the phone and dialed.

"Yes?" said a voice that sounded familiar. It was her dad!

"It's me, Samantha. Where are you?"

"I'm at work. Where are you?"

"I'm at home. Do you know where Mommy is?"

"She's taking a nap and I just realized that if you yell as loud as you can she'll stay really still so don't yell. Bye honey."

"Bye Dad."

When Samantha hung up she said, "No wonder nobody came when I yelled!"

THE END

Raven Cliff Falls

This past Saturday we drove up to Raven Cliff Falls and spent the day hiking. It was a five mile hike (2 1/2 miles to the water fall and 2 1/2 back out). Jon and the boys had done it a few times, but this was the first time for Abbi and I.

The weather was perfect...upper 60's and no humidity.
Most of the trail was pretty flat, but there were a few steep spots.
Why use the bridge when there's a log?
Caleb trying to build a fire while the rest of us took a little break.
We stopped at DQ on our way home for a wonderful ice cream treat!
While we were all enjoying our ice cream, Toby was doing this.
So we let him out and gave him his own ice cream cone.
He wasn't quite sure what to do with the cone, but once he figured out it was food, it was gone in about 3 seconds.
And then he was happy again.