Uncle Tricky's Visit

We love it when Uncle Tricky comes to visit, especially when he brings Rosie.

First Day of School

Scott and Emma started their first day at Entheos Academy today! They are thrilled to be attending the same school as their cousins as well as going to the same school with each other again (it's been a couple of years).  Entheos Academy is a small charter school that promotes expeditionary learning and offers unique experiences that students don't typically experience going to a traditional public school.  Scott and Emma will be involved in a lot of outdoor excursions as well as participating in fun out-of-class and after school activities, such as swimming and Lego Club.  They are both excited and are looking forward to fun days ahead.

Scott is a ninth grader this year and Emma is a sixth grader.

Sushi got a makeover today, just for the occasion.  

(Lizzy's doing, by-the-way)

Family Camp 2012

The six of us went on a 13 hour road trip to Oregon during the first week in August to spend time with my aunts, my sister, and their families.  We divided the long drive in half by staying a night at a Best Western Inn in Boise, Idaho, which was very nice after a long car ride with the kids.  We had a large family suite this time, with four beds and a crib.  We enjoyed swimming in the hotel's indoor pool and watching the Olympics.

I ended up catching a cold while we stayed in Boise, so I was feeling rather poorly by the time we reached my aunts' house in Wilsonville.  It was so darling seeing all of the little children together!  Binny, Lizzy, David, and Eric looked so adorable playing together in the family room.  Binny had lots of neat toys to play with, and Lizzy took a fancy to them right away.  She and Binny had a sword fight with pirate swords in Binny's large toy boat.

We enjoyed many fun family activities while we were in Oregon.  We played some soccer in the backyard with the little ones chasing after balls.  We did some shopping at our usual fun places:  the Lego Store and Powell's book store.  Lizzy, Binny, and Eric enjoyed riding the little Merry-Go-Round inside the mall.  The weather was unusually hot for Oregon, so we took advantage of that by having some water-play.  Aunt Laurie filled a little wading pool with water and placed it outside on the deck.  The kids had a great time splashing and playing with water toys.  We, of course, went to Cannon Beach as well.  We love going to Cannon Beach!  We had a very enjoyable day window shopping at all of the cute little tourist shops before we headed down to the water.  Scott and Lizzy liked playing in the sand the most, Emma went hunting for seashells, and David thoroughly enjoyed crawling into the ocean-- he LOVED the water!  Binny and Eric had a wonderful time playing on the beach, too.  Binny threw a big fit when we had to leave.  He spread out his arms toward the waves and shouted, "No!" as Laurie pulled against his baby harness.  At the end of our stay in Oregon, we went to a nearby park and enjoyed some more water-play.  Lizzy and Binny had lots of fun playing in the water fountains together.  David thought getting wet again was great!

I love capturing these moments with photos.  Here are my favorites: