2 Camping Trips, 1 Week

The kids and I went with five other moms and 12 other kids camping at Moran State Park on Orcas Island at the beginning  of this week. It was a riot and we are already talking about doing it again next year!

Here we are unloading. Our campsite was up the hill behind the pavilion.

 This is Cascade Lake. Soooo serene.

 Taylor's on the left, I'm on the right. #REIbuddies

 Julie started the first night's fire like a boss.

 The kids were sure to huddle around and throw in sticks and give plenty of advice.

 This was central camp, where we gathered for shared meals and nighttime s'mores roasting and girl talk after the kids were asleep. I measure the success of my summer according to the number of s'mores I've consumed. This year, even though it's only officially the first week into summer, I've had approximately 80 s'mores. It goes without saying that I am not finished. I want s'more s'mores.

 We took the kids on a 2 mile round trip hike to see Cascade Falls.

 My kids were not excited and Sienna was crying before we even left. "I don't want to go on a hike!!!!!!" she yelled. Luckily, Taylor took her under her wing and distracted her with some storytelling.

 She was really happy by the end! Nice work, Taylor.

 Snacks and chatting at the top.

 Noah and Elliott getting their feet wet.

 Sienna was crying and calling for help when I took this picture.

Adam told me, "that hat is ridiculous." Fair enough. I will keep wearing it.

 We spent the afternoon at Cascade Lake. Look at that sky! We were expecting rain and clouds.

 Harper was toast by dinner.

 The evening of the second night, Sienna had a bad fall on the hill above our campsite and I was afraid I'd have to take her to the hospital that night or the next day because of a broken tail bone. She couldn't walk or sit so she went to bed early and laid in the tent all next morning as I packed up to go home. Luckily, she perked up on the ride home and was running and playing by the time we got on the ferry. She only has a tiny bruise on her bum, you'd never know she was hurt at all. While she was resting in the tent at bedtime, Noah and I took a walk to see the lake in all its glory. Gorgeous!

 Goodbye fellow moms and kids! See you next year!

Oh, but we are not finished camping yet! On Wednesday, I got back to Seattle around 3 pm, had to pick up another tent, went home, showered and dressed and had to go to a fireside to kick off Youth Conference. The next morning, Adam and I headed to Arlington, Washington, (north one hour) to a church-owned property called Cascade Park. We traded our toddlers for teens for the next three days.

Here we are setting up with our assigned family of seven teenagers.

 And here are our seven precious bundles of joy, minus the kid in the white head scarf who is loving the fact that he powned our family picture. Who is that?

 Samantha, Azalea, Cami, Sam.

 Emily and Adam.

 Robert and Hayden.

 I had so much maternal love just pouring out of me toward these kids, it was kind of crazy. I anticipated a lot of cell phone rule breaking and constant eye rolling....what I got instead was the best time ever. Some kids even said the words, "I don't even have a cell phone." and "I'm not on Facebook." My faith in humanity was restored!

Here's the group performing a hip hop dance we learned to Ariana Grande's song Problem. We felt really cool.

Here's the amphitheater before it filled up for testimony meeting, aka the night I realized how hard it is to be a teenager around here and how truly impressive these kids are.

 Ma and Pa selfie! Not the most romantic weekend without kids ever, but definitely the most spiritual. It was just what we needed, I think.

 Goodbye church camp. We really are done camping now....until next month!

Kids Say

Them: "It's a sowenger!"
Me: "What's a sowenger?"
Them: "It's nothing!!!!"
They use that word for everything.

When discussing why a police car was passing us with sirens and flashing lights I said maybe he was going to help someone who got in a crash or was hurt or needed help. Sienna said, "Or maybe someone was stuck in a tree."

I read them "Where do babies come from" a book with tasteful illustrations and story line about where babies really do come from. I was very interested to see where the conversation would take us. The kids wanted most to discuss umbilical cords. And then Sienna said very matter-of-factly, "I wish I had a penis."

A long time ago: Without my ever naming their private parts anything than the real names, Sienna came up with her own. In the backseat of the car one day I asked what she was giggling about and she yelled, "I have a fire engine and Noah has a possum!!!"

At the park last week Noah was riding his bike and came up to me and said, "I'm doing great. I'm doing great riding my bike fast." (He was going really slow.)

Noah was making shooting sounds with his mouth and shooting motions with his fingers. Sienna said, "Wow, you sure are great with the arrows! I love princess arrows. They're the best."

After Sienna wrote her name and showed it to Noah and me very proudly, I said, "Sienna, you're so smart."
She added, "...and awesome."

Sienna: "I don't like spegasaurus." She meant asparagus.

Noah: "I like this corn hot dog."
Sienna: "It's not a corn hot dog, it's corn on the cob!"

Sienna: "I drew a picture of myself, Mom! I have braids."
Noah: "I don't have braids."
Sienna: "No, Noah, you don't have braids. You're too strong to have braids."

Happenings

 Apart from celebrating all the birthdays of May (we finally celebrated Adam's! in June! ha...), there have been some frustrations. Let's get those out of the way... While I was at the gym one day several weeks ago, someone smashed my driver side window in. Isn't this just lovely?!

That cost $200 to fix. A couple weeks after that, I got a speeding ticket for going 37 MPH in a 20 MPH school zone. That sucker was $353!!!! There was much weeping after that. The kids kept saying, "Mom, don't cry! Kids cry, not moms!" The officer was nice and didn't charge me for not having a current insurance card in the car (even though the insurance was current) and for not having a Washington driver's license yet. OOPS. Felt like a moron.

Sienna won 1st place in her class in an art competition which means her piece will be on display in the hallway of the school for a year. Isn't that cool? I seriously was so proud of her and grateful for her teachers for teaching her about art. Because I do not do that at home. Yay for preschool art teachers!!! Hers is that blue one with the white dandelions blowing in the wind.

I babysat for my cousin, Carrie, recently. It was fun to spend time with her hooligans. We made it through the day with only a few minor issues involving wet pants, one pee, the other river water. Not bad, not bad.

 It's been really sunny and beautiful here lately. Therefore we have gone to the beach. And we have looooooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeedddddd it!!!!!!!!!

 Noah doesn't take a nap anymore unless it's randomly in the car. Quiet time now goes like this: the kids watch TV for an hour or so, then get sick of it, then bug me and I tell them in an unkind voice to go ransack the house and find what they need before coming to see me again OR ELSE.

 Sienna is riding a bike without training wheels! It's so fun to see her loving it finally. It's taken a looooong time for her to embrace it, which is puzzling because she usually relishes all physical challenges. Now that she is good at it, she asks to bike constantly. Morning, noon and night she asks, "Can I go ride my bike? Can I go ride my bike? Can I go ride my bike?" Her daddy is one proud dude.

 My hair is long enough to sport a top knot. This is a huge feat for me! My hair is its own entity now. It needs its own zip code. It's taking over my life. How do people with long hair do it? It is a major time-consuming maintenance and upkeep project. But I am not deterred, I am still going. Grow, grow, grow, grow!

 I went to a book reading of one of my favorite authors, Molly Wizenberg. She was a delight. The venue was a delight, too. It's called Book Larder and it's an adorable little book store for cook books only. I could spend days in there. They host cooking classes, too. I can't wait to take advantage of that!

 Hi Molly! I'm Martha. #geekout

 Oh, just the kids and me. #weareahappyfamily

 We went camping! At Cape Disappointment again. It was beautiful!!!

 It was extremely windy the first day, but the next day was lovely and calm and we were able to play on the beach without being too chilly.

 And that's it! Love my crazies!

Noah turns 3!

 Nobers turned three! He appeared shirtless, ready to open presents first thing in the morning. Since we've had some warmer days and nights, he can't stand to wear clothes. He takes after his daddy because he is a human heater and there's no turning him down without AC or going buck. And we definitely do not have AC.

 We went whole hog with the super-hero stuff, plus some more train stuff. Little boy all the way.

 I wanted to try my hand at a simple dinosaur cake, and here was the result.

 Adam had a lot of fun with the scary mouth and blood-red eye. I had a lot of fun with the whole thing in general. It's not much, but I felt like it went well considering it actually looks like the picture I was using online. Minus the M&Ms which I forgot to buy for the spots and toenails. Blue toenails are apropos, though, because that's the exact color Noah currently has on his own toes. Soooo...

 He was excited and/or didn't care.

Happy Birthday little happy guy! Although you are already showing major signs of being a terrible three year old, I know it'll pass and you'll be back to happy-go-lucky Nobers by next birthday.