Camping Trip

This past weekend we went on a camping trip with Andy & Allison. It was our first tent camping adventure as a family and we are all so happy that it went well-we had a blast!

We spent Saturday hiking throughout the various trails. It was so peaceful to be away from everything and to just enjoy the beautiful scenery! The kids both had a great time while hiking through the mountains - there were wild turkeys running throughout the area - so the boys had a great time trying to "hunt" the turkeys with their spears they carved! Kenzie is a tree climber - so she was thrilled to find a couple good climbing trees! The national park we stayed in still had fire damage from a fire in 2003 that destroyed 70% of the 1000 acre park. It was sad to look around and see all the remaining damage, but even with the charred trees - it was still beautiful. I took a ton of pictures - but just posted a few so you can get an idea of the scenery.

In the evenings we cooked over the fire-pit and enjoyed looking at the stars. Sad to say - its not very often that we get to see so many stars in the sky so we really enjoyed the evenings!

As you will see from many of the pictures below - Jake and Andy both purchased knives for this trip (yes I know - very scary) - which they both liked to hold during every picture - I was very impressed that the first aid kit was not needed at all during the weekend!

All in all a great time! Can't wait to make this a summer tradition!

We rented a motor boat at one of the local lakes and Uncle Andy taught the kids how to steer the boat around the lake. The kids had such a great time!

Blake was very entertaining to watch - he carried his stick everywhere with him - and spun it around like a sword.

We stopped in Julian on the way home - such a cute town!



sleeping blondies on the way home - they were worn out!

Raising a Daughter

Lately it has really been hitting me how fast Mackenzie is growing up. She has shot up in height this past year and is now taller than my grandma. She is a young woman and no longer a little girl. I have to admit that I was not ready to hear that she is ready to shave her legs and already hear these words: "All my friends are doing it". YIKES! It makes me sad that she is growing up so quickly, but I'm also excited for the future. That being said, I am also very SCARED! With everything we continually see on tv as well as read in magazines, etc, I'm very nervous about her growing up in a world whose morals seem to be quickly dissolving. So instead of letting my fears get the best of me...I'm going to take action!! I am about half way through a book called "Your Girl, Raising a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World" by Vicki Courtney. So far I love it! The beginning of the book goes over statistics (which I'm sure are even scarier now since this book was published in 2004). The facts listed aren't very encouraging for mothers out there, but we can't bury our heads in the sand and pretend that the issues that society is pressing on our children are not real. She also compares our times (2001) with years past - and it makes me sad how much our society has changed and how much our kids are going to be faced with. I just wanted to recommend this book for all of the mothers out there! Vicki Courtney also has published a similar book entitled "Your Boy, Raising a Godly Son in an Ungodly World". This book is next on my list.

On a side note, something that did strike me is she mentions how Christians are often silent in the world, and don't always stand up for what we believe in because often we are too afraid of offending someone. Although I know that the talks I will have with Mackenzie and Blake over the upcoming years, will not be comfortable and much of what I will say is going to contradict what is being pushed at them by society....I'm not going to risk my family's well-being just to be "PC" or to not offend someone. I want to make sure that the values God gives us in the Bible are passed along to my children. It's not going to be an easy task, but the Bible says that I am not alone...

Proverbs 3:5-7
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

So check out her website for more of her books and information about her ministry. http://www.vickicourtney.com/ I know Jake & I are ahead of many of our friends in the "kid department", but it's never to early to begin preparing - even if your kids are little, trust me the "tween" years sneak up fast and now I feel like I'm having to prepare too quickly for the trials ahead in the upcoming years!

WOW!!!

Since Jake & I see our kids all the time, we sometimes don't notice how extreme their growth spurts are. Recently we've noticed that Mackenzie has really shot up in height - not only by her clothes, but she is also starting to look like a "tween" instead of a little girl - YIKES! Anyways I was just looking at old posts on our blog & was really shocked with how much she has grown since December! Such a difference!

Picture Above - June 2009

Picture Below - December 2008

Is this Why Cosmo is Fat?????

Mackenzie walked into the kitchen last night & discovered that Cosmo had rummaged through the recycling bin! The ice cream carton was completely stuck on his head, but I'm sure he was enjoying the rocky road & didn't mind at all!

Museum of Natural History

Yesterday we took our first official field trip this summer. In addition to the book reports, we hope to be able to take the kids on at least one educational field trip a week.

The day started off rough, first google gave us the wrong directions - so we ended up in China Town...then I put my foot up on the dash...and hear this ripping sound...yes my jeans ripped right across the butt! Not a very uplifting moment during the drive (I guess I need to step up my exercising routine!) Luckily I had a sweater in the car to tie around my waist!

Despite the rough beginnings - we had a great time. Blake had recently been to the museum with his class from school, so I was a little concerned that he would be bored. Thankfully he had such a great time and frequently gave Jacob & I the "tour" of the museum. Although his facts weren't always quite straight (he said a 20' high object was what the Indians used for a wheel barrow) - it was very cute to see him so interested in the history of CA!

Mackenzie brought a friend of hers from the neighborhood. They both had a fun time, although Mackenzie is getting to the stage of being "too cool" for museums. She did enjoy the Mammals of Africa section, since monkeys are her favorite animal. We spent about 2 hours leisurely exploring the museum. Today the kids are going to journal about their experience -so it will be interesting to see what they write :)

Pictures from the Butterfly Exhibit

Even though Jake is looking down in the picture above, notice the butterfly flying in front of his shirt. We had to really watch where we were walking, not only were the butterflies flying all around us, they were also "sunning" themselves on the ground.

ok, so over & over again we told Blake not to touch the butterflies, but even though he had some trouble following these directions...I still had to take a picture. I did notice that after this shot, the museum guide happened to follow us around quite a bit :)

Summer is Officially here!

I am so excited that summer is here. Our family has a lot of fun activities planned this summer & I can't wait to get started!

I was able to change my work schedule this summer so I'm now working from 6am - 12pm. Hooray! This will give me plenty of time to spend with the kids this summer.

This summer is going to be a little different than our normal summers...Jake & I have decided to have the kids complete several book reports and write journals about our summer activities throughout the summer. Our first stop, the Cerritos Library. The kids loved this library and I'm hoping that spending some time here over the summer will help add to their desires (or lack of ) to read. In addition to the kids reading their own books, I'm going to read several books over the summer to them as well. We are going to learn about Abraham Lincoln and CS Lewis. Once we finish the book on CS Lewis, we'll then read one of the books from the Lion Witch & the Wardrobe series. I forgot to take any pictures inside the library, but here are some outdoor pics.

All-Stars

Blake was selected for the All-Stars team again this year & although his team had a tough time in the tournaments - he still was able to have fun playing baseball. Majority of the kids on our team were 3rd & 4th graders, and many of the kids we played against were in 5th grade. Plus, some of the other teams may have taken baseball a little more seriously than our group of rug rats :) One of the other team parents said that he has his son hit 500 ball a day & stand on a curb for 5 minutes daily to master his balance. This conversation was happenning while the majority of our team was playing on the playground - filling their cleats w/ sand! I do have to say though - I'm very happy that Blake still acts like a kid - and isn't ready to take on the big leagues yet! Looking forward to baseball season again next year, but for now we get to enjoy some time off!!