Look Ma... no tooth!!!

Seth lost his first front tooth this afternoon! They are all growing up so quickly, aren't they?!? I still remember when that tooth came in a little less than 7 years ago... now he is getting ready to start 2nd grade in just a few days!

A Head of Lettuce...

While we were shopping for some fruits and vegetables, I muttered to myself, "I need to get a head of lettuce."

Overhearing me, Seth asked, "do they sell bodies of lettuce??? If that is a head, what did they do to the ears and nose and hair and..."

Hmmm... he IS my special child :)

Home Depot

We've been working hard to get my parents' house in Irvine back on the market for lease for the last 10 days. I've had all sorts of people doing everything under the sun in the house last week and the beginning of this week. My kids have been such troopers in helping with scrubbing tile grouts, sweeping, washing down cupboards, etc. and not complaining (too much) about having to be at the Irvine house (again!!!). Through it all, we've been making our (almost) daily trips to Home Depot for one thing or another (both my dad and Matthew's dad would be proud :)). So... today, after our visit, Abby said to me:

"Mommy, I think Home Depot has everything I need to live when I am a grown up."

"How's that?" I asked.

"Well, aside from food and stuff, it has wood, tools and nails to build a house, sink and toilets for the bathroom... I guess I would go to Tall Mouse too, so that I can get fabric to make my own clothes."

Wow... I think my daughter will be quite the Proverbs 31 woman when she grows up :)

Ahhhh.... Almanor!

Look at Abby's cute little filthy feet... camping at it's finest :)

We were on our annual camping trip the last week of July at Lake Almanor, aka, Heaven on Earth. It was WONDERFUL!!! We had the best time :)

Heading out... sweet dreams, Little Ones... ummm, are you all buckled in???

We left Friday evening, drove up to Santa Nella, slept for a few hours, and continued our trek up to Lake Almanor. We always pray and hope our hardest for a waterfront site, but since we were arriving on Saturday, Matthew (very wise husband that he is...) had prepared me to be unsettled for the first 48 hours (because the weekend campers will not have left yet, and the camp ground will most likely be full and we would not only NOT have an ideal site, we may have to camp off-site down the street a ways away from where we usually camp). Being tent campers, I was ready for the challenge, but not really looking forward to moving sites and cutting into our precious vacation time. Apparently, God was pleased with my heart attitude (?!?) and blessed us (with a little help from Matthew's cousins) with THE BEST SITE EVER!!! We were not only waterfront, we were able to beach the boat right in front of our site!!! On top of that, because this fabulous site was a double site (or "family site"), we were able to share with Rebekah and Bethany + kids when they came up!!! Everyone got to hang out and relax in our site, especially all the cousins (even the Baby Justin and Baby Luke!)... it really was just perfect!

This is what we call "Prime Real Estate"!!!

All throughout the week, we made forts on the beach, water skied, splashed in the water, went on bike rides, read our books, played board games, lay in the hammock, barbecued yummy things, zip lined (thanks, Andrew & Melissa!), caught frogs, got whip around on a Sea Biscuit, played baseball and just enjoyed family and cousins :)

Abby is "teaching" Joy (the bear) how to write his ABC's :)

Ahhh... this is what I'm talking about...

Breakfast at Prattville - hot cocoa is soooo delicious :)

Really didn't plan for Abby's suit to match the umbrella...

The kids were all entertaining themselves in catching these teeny tiny frogs before dinner on the beach. I think the final count was something like 49 for the older cousins and 7 for Abby and Maddie. When it was "release time", after dinner, Andrew asked Daniel if he would be willing to have all the frogs dumped on him, if he got a dollar for it, and this is what followed:

Uncle Norman, thank you for letting us use your Sea Biscuit! We had such a fun time on it! Andrew and Melissa took their kids and my kids out one afternoon, and my kids were hooked :) Matthew and I took them out one more afternoon later in the week:

This sign means that they are "OK" :)

This was Matthew's special sign meaning, "Is that all you've got?!?"

We have 2 new real life skiers this year:

Isaac was skiing last year, but still needed help getting the skies on in the water. But this year, not only was he able to manage getting his own skies on, he was working hard at trying to get up on a single ski! I think if we had one more day, he would be up and skiing all around the lake on one :) Great job, Isaac!

Seth was up and at 'em after the first day :) He skis much like how he lives life -- to the fullest!!! After the first couple times getting up on his own, he was trying to cross the wake... and almost succeeded!!! Good for you, little buddy!!!

Abby tried skiing on her own too, but in her own words, "I skiied on my face!" She was so focused on not letting go of the rope, that even when her skis fell off, she was still holding on! Good try, baby! I'm proud of you for being so brave and trying to ski! We'll try again next year :) It was fun skiing on Daddy's feet, wasn't it?!? I will try to drive the boat "not so exciting" next year!!!

For a year that no one expect us and Mom & Dad were planning on going to Almanor, we had everyone there (except Kevan :( We missed you, Uncle Kevan!!! My kids said that if Uncle Kevan was there, Pizza Night would not have been vetoed!)! We even got to take our "traditional cousin picture" :)

ALL 13 PRESENT!!!

I am so blessed to have married into this great tradition :) I know that Isaac, Seth and Abby already LOVE this place and the whole camping experience. I am thankful that they will have great childhood memories of these amazing summers at Almanor!!!

Until next year...

Foot Message and Fried Tarantulas

Temple in Angkor

On the heels of Almanor, Matthew left for a missions trip to Cambodia this Wednesday night (well... officially Thursday, their plan took off at 1:50am).

After about a 24 travel day - including dodging a typhoon in Taiwan (their layover) - they arrived in Cambodia safe and sound.

For the last couple of days, they've been in Siem Reap. Yesterday, they toured some ancient temple in Ankor, snacked on some fried tarantulas and had a foot message.

Cambodian foot message -- yes, that IS a pool of hundreds of tiny fish!!!

Oh boy... my very "white" husband is having quite the cultural experience...