FAMILY CAMP!


This year David & I decided to join a long standing tradition in our church. We decided to join several families for the annual camping trip. We have been preparing for this trip for a little over a month now. We purchased everything we needed and packed the car up for a 45 minute drive north of our home to a Christian Camp site named Warm Beach.

We arrived early Thursday morning and got our camp site all set up. The reason why we have never gone to family camp is because I am not really a camper and Family Camp always falls on the week of my birthday, so going camping is not my idea of fun, but this year was going to be different. David & my dear friend Kim set out to make the day a special one. Late in the afternoon I returned to our site to find a Strawberry Shortcake table cloth with party hats, noise makers, birthday cards & a everything else needed for a party, including a nice banner that I wore that said "Birthday Diva" on it. It was definitely a birthday that will go down as one of the best- even if we did have to roast marshmallows in the pouring down rain.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday were also a blast, so much so that I want to go camping again before the end of the summer. Josiah learned to ride his bike and Alex had a blast will all his friends running around the property causing trouble and having fun!

Tomorrow starts another week, one I am not really looking forward too, it will be the first full work week we have had to endure in two weeks- it may not seem like a lot to some, but having some time off has really been wonderful the last few weeks and it will be hard to go back to the daily grind.

Love you all!!!

PS Alex doesn't like having his photo taken so this is the best I got :-( and my camera broke on saturday so I didn't have the chance to take more pics :-(- thank goodness for Ebay!

The opportunity came to me a few weeks ago, someone at worked offered me some airline miles and I took them. They had to be used sooner rather than later so I chose to take one of the boys to Disneyland. Since Alex and I had made our own trip a couple of years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to take Josiah on my own. I knew it would be an interesting trip, I just didn’t realize how interesting it would really be.

We left for the airport at 2:30 for a 5:00 flight. We made it to the airport with an hour to go, I got through security, juggling a backpack, carry on, stroller, carry seat and a cranky four year old. What was I thinking, not checking a bag??? We managed to make it to get something for dinner and headed for the gate. I was so consumed with juggling all I had that I didn’t even notice that THE Ty Pennington was waiting for a plane at the next gate. Who would have thought?

We got on the plane and were settled and awaiting take off. We took off a little late, but it was great. I was worried Josiah would freak out, but he thought it was a lot of fun! As we ascended into the clouds I managed to get an amazing look at Mt. Rainer sitting just above the clouds. I wish I had my camera handy, it was a view that could not be described.
As we were landing in LA our plane caught a little bit of wind and we tried doing a barrel roll, thanks to the quick pilots they were able to pull us out of it before we went completely upside down. This was something Josiah thought was so “COOL”.
When we landed at LAX and this is when I started to learn from my mistakes.
Mistake number 1- if something is a really good deal there is probably a reason for it. I found an amazing deal with Budget car rental. But what I didn’t realize is that I would have to wait 30 minutes for a shuttle van (Remember all the stuff I was Juggling?). Then once I got the rental car I got a mile down the road and a light cover from the break light in the back fell off and knocked Josiah on the head.

Mistake number 2- flying in so late. We didn’t arrive to the hotel until 10:30. By then Josiah and I were very exhausted, but Josiah was way to excited to go to sleep. Josiah is the type of kid that if he misses out on any of his normal routine than he can be a little stinker for days after. Mistake number 3- letting Josiah get up at 6:45 the next morning. Friday morning we were both awake first thing and ready to go. So we hit the road headed for the Magic Kingdom for breakfast.

It was already 80 degrees out with the forecast of 102 for the day!?! I didn’t realize what I had gotten myself into until that moment. We got into the park and headed straight for Pirates of the Caribbean. Since it is the hot ride we thought we would jump right on so we didn’t have to wait in line. It was a great morning. We headed for Mickey Mouse pancakes at the River Belle Terrace and were greeted by some friendly birds who wanted to share our breakfast.

We then hit the rides in full swing. Now that Josiah is 44” he was able to go on almost everything and that he did. Including Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad and Space Mountain. I was more scared about him going on Space Mountain than he was. I love the ride, but I know that it’s dark, fast and scary for a young child. The only thing was… he LOVED it!

I also learned on this trip that I am a push over, and when I am in Disneyland I am an even bigger push over. Josiah didn’t want a nap so I didn’t mind; but by 1:30 we both needed one. So much to my dismay we left the park for a few hours.

When we returned the park was packed. We still didn’t wait long for any of the rides, and we had a great time.

We left Disneyland at 9:30 that night (another Mistake). And were in bed by 10:30. This time Josiah had no problem falling asleep. But once again he was awake & Ready to go by 7:00.

Saturday was going to be another HOT day. I have never experienced this kind of heat, it was a heat that made me realize I NEVER would want to or could handle living in Southern California. We were only going to spend ½ the day in Anaheim so we set out to make it a productive day. About ½ way through the day Josiah brave “Tower of Terror” a ride that I had tried to discourage him to go on. But he wanted to be like Alex. When we were done with the ride, Josiah thought it was “Awesome!” when I asked if he wanted to go on it again he said “no, I didn’t like it that much”.

We left the park and drove to Malibu for the Walt Disney Company picnic. It was a lot of fun, but one hour after arriving Josiah had a major melt down and I decided we were done with California. We headed to the airport 6 hours before we needed to with the hope that we could get onto an earlier flight. To my surprise & relief there was a flight 90 minutes after we arrived that had 73 open seats and we were able to hop on. It was an interesting trip home. The DVD player didn’t work and we were both struggling to find something to keep us busy for two hours.

Overall it was a good trip, would I do it again? No Way!! Traveling with a four year old is hard work, traveling with a tired four year old in 100+ degree temperature, in Disneyland was insane.

I have never been happy to leave Disneyland, but on Saturday I was practically running for the car!!
I can’t wait to return to my home away from home. But next time I won’t go alone J.

Fourth of July!!!
First we enjoyed our annual church picnic...
The kids got to play games, including the church's parachute which is a favorite.



Happy Birthday DJ! Even though you weren't there we still had cake & set off fireworks just for you!!! Just remember you are still younger than I am! HAHA!

Then we went to Cori's parents house for some fireworks. It was a lot of fun watching them light off. And in good Seattle spirit we even got rained on.





Did I mention that Alex also got his first cell phone this weekend? I feel a little better now since he is spending the summer at home by himself. I can't believe how much he is growing up.


I hope you all had a good and safe fourth of July. Now it's back to life for most. Josiah & I go to Disneyland tomorrow for two days and then we all go to family camp with our church on the 13th for a few days. I love summer!

A Day at the Beach