Santa Cruz Vacation

Right after Kacia's birthday, our family escaped to Santa Cruz for a great family vacation. We enjoyed beautiful weather, the waves, sand, shells, the boardwalk and simply a lot of time together!

This was one of Rylin's favorites, the mini drop zone...

Lincoln's favorite...

Lincoln's LEAST favorite...

Kacia's fav

We enjoyed a great bike ride along the coast, and even stopped to watch a group of dolphins

It doesn't get much better than a bonfire at the beach, listening to the waves...

The famous Mystery Spot, which is still a mystery even after visiting

A marine discovery center the kids and I visited while Kevin enjoyed golfing

Then I attempted to take them bowling, which was interesting...

All in all, a great time was had by everyone! So thankful we were able to escape school and work for a week together!

Eight.

Eight. That is how old my daughter now is. Eight. That is how many years I have been blessed to answer to the name mom. Eight. Where did it go?

Well, Kacia had a super fun, (& possibly a little hectic,) puppy-themed party with her girlfriends from both school and church on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. We did some face-painting, made doggy bags for their take-home treats of puppy-chow and chocolate covered scooby snacks, made dog-tag necklaces, ate watermelon in the shape of dog bones, enjoyed pretzels and chips from dog bowls, etc. (my list goes on)! As you can see, I may have gotten a little carried away with the theme... but that is nothing new :)

All in all, Kacia had a dog-gone good time, and we enjoyed celebrating with a house full of wonderful girls God has placed in her life.

On Sunday, her actual birthday, we went to Starbucks for her favorite breakfast sandwich before church, then to a movie in the afternoon, and finished with a family party at our house celebrating both Kacia and her cousin Lili.

Eight. Eight wonderful, incredible years full of loving an amazing, creative, kind, compassionate, silly & fabulous daughter! I am truly blessed!

School is in session

The girls just completed their 1st entire week of school. They got a taste of it the week before-going only Thursday and Friday. Kacia has entered the 3rd grade, which amazes me! And my Rylin finally got to start kindergarten! She has desperately wanted to go since her 5th birthday last November. Getting 2 lunches made, 2 kids dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed, and correct things in their backpacks has made our mornings a little more hectic, but hey, after that- it's just Lincoln and I for 6 hours. Day one, he asked by 10 o'clock if it was time to go get them, but he's adjusting quickly and I'm loving the one-on-one time!

Summer fun

So the kids and I visited the city aquatic center atleast twice a week during the summer months, sometimes more. It works really well for the ages of all my kids; Kacia has the pool to jump and do somersaults in and what not, Lincoln has the large play structure to explore, and Rylin could juggle between the two. With summer heat, water is practically a necessity, and this has been a great tool to get us out of the house and off the couch.

We also discovered this summer, that our kids can camp! This is huge to us, because this has not been something I have wanted to attempt if sleep was going to be an issue. But they all did great in the tent. In fact, if you ask Lincoln what his favorite part was, he'll say sleeping in his sleeping bag in the tent. We first spent a great and relaxing weekend with friends. We enjoyed the lake, fishing, and getting dirtier than I thought possible. Then we went back the next weekend with Kevin's extended family. I failed to charge the battery in my camera, but here is one picture of Linc doing his 2nd favorite thing- s'mores. I think I may see a tent trailer in our future....

Roadtrip!

So with the assistance of my fabulous niece, the kids and I went on a roadtrip up north to see the family. It was a great week spent with people we love so much!

We made a stop in Oregon to see my precious friend Suzy and her boys!

This is me and my 3 kids conquering a hotel experience just the 4 of us. You should have seen us on our venture to the ice machine, I'm sure we were quite entertaining!

Reid loves to wave hi to the camera. Oh this boy is simply too cute!

S'mores at the Crabtrees after rootbeer floats? Why not, it's vacation right!

Me and my WA siblings at beautiful Alki

As you can see, we had fabulous weather!

Aquarium souvenirs...

It was so fun to share a day on Lake Meridian with my kids, a place so full of memories for me, 4th of July's, sunny Sunday afternoons with friends, etc. Plus, it was quite funny to see that Rylin was up for tubing before her typically fearless sister.

Mt. Rainier still takes my breath away! Nothing against Shasta, but this mountain seems to just fill the sky.

We went to a fun & interesting park, and we turned this stage into an entertaining game of charades and song performances, etc.

There's so much I loved about our trip and so much that is not captured in these pictures. I was a little skeptical about taking my kids (who typically hate car rides) on such a long trip without Kevin. But I'm so thankful he encouraged me to go, and that Allie was willing to come and be the one in the car passing snacks back and forth, helping on bathroom stops and so much more, and that all the family made time to simply hang out with us! We love you!