Camping Trip August 2012

I am a little behind. I am going to try and catch up before our new baby is born in about 5 weeks. Last summer was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed being in our new house and being in the great northwest. We loved the mild weather. It cools down quite a bit at night here and it didn't do that back in Tennessee. We took a family camping trip to the beach. It was a lot of fun. We had really nice weather. The kids loved the ocean, although it was a little too cold for swimming. The kids (minus Shirley) did wade in the water. Shirley broke his foot a couple of weeks before the trip and had a cast. It was not fun trying to keep it clean camping, and keeping the sand out while on the beach. My Grandma joined us and it was so nice having her with us. Everyone really enjoyed riding the go carts. It was fun. There is also nothing like waking up and sitting in front of a campfire. It was really cute when Shirley shared his peach with James. I also love the picture of the three oldest holding hands in the ocean.

Christmas Vacation!

It was so nice being close enough to family to visit for Christmas. We first visited Mike's parents. It was a long drive as it took a while getting over the pass. The kids did great, though. We were happy to find they had a good amount of snow, so the kids played for hours in it (not something we have really had much of since living in New York 6 years ago). James kept bugging me until I finally bundled him up and let him outside, too. He didn't like it too much because he kept falling in the uneven snow and it was cold.

We made Cinnamon ornaments this year. Shirley has never been able to cut out and decorate sugar cookies before (since he is allergic to flour and if he breathes in flour his asthma kicks in)so he really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, but the house smelled very strongly of cinnamon for a couple of days. I love the smell of cinnamon but it was a little overpowering. I didn't get pictures of them afterwards decorated with frosting. Next time I will use fabric paint instead of frosting. Will be less messy and dry faster.

We celebrated Christmas early at their house before leaving for my Grandma's house. The kids of course loved opening their presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

Two days before Christmas we drove to my Grandma's house. They had some snow still, so the kids again enjoyed playing in the snow. James fared a little better in the snow there. He didn't fall so much.

We have the tradition of the kids opening Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. Here they are:

Christmas day was a lot of fun. The kids opened their presents from us and Santa in the morning. Then after a family dinner with extended family opened the rest. It really was so nice being with family. Great memories for me and my kids.