Going on vacation!

We're finally taking our first family vacation ever! So, we'll be offline for about a week. Tomorrow (6-17-08) we'll be driving down to Whidbey Island and taking the ferry accross to Port Townsend (pic below) and camping there for two days.

Then we are going down to the Dosewallips (sp?) river for two more day of camping and some river fishing. Hopefully we'll catch something this time.

Next it's back onto a ferry into Seattle and to a quick meeting with a photographer about a photo package that was given to us for pics of the baby. Then we're topping it all off with our neices' Mary and Gabby's Birthday Party! We should be back late Saturday night or maybe Sunday. I hope everyone else has a good week. Please pray for safe travels for us. Thanks.

Fishing Party

It was Gabriel's 5th birthday on Memorial Day and we had a fishing party for him. He was sooo excited and enjoyed every minute of it. Eventhough none of his friends were able to make it, he still says it was the best party ever. Due to rain the whole night before we had to have the party indoors in our apartment. I decorated the dining room w/ what decorations I had that could be used inside (the tiki torches and fire pits were a no-go) and set up the tent in the living room. We played a few fishing themed games and had camp-out snacks; pigs in a blanket, juices and teddy graham trail mix. The trail mix is the best snack ever, mini pretzels, teddy grahams, and yougurt covered raisens. Best part for us was it's peanut free! So, both Gabe and Cheaus got to have it. Oh, and we had cupcakes and ice cream, too.

All the boys had lots of fun and Gabe got a Leapster from Grandma & Papa (crystals parents) and he thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Even cooler than his gameboy (yay! cuz it's educational, too). We got him a new build a bear moose that he named Moe and he dressed it in camo shorts and an offroad jeep shirt. Moe's outfit is covered in the pic by our build a bear bday party accessories. It's very cute. And of course a party isn't a party until something gets broken, so Joshua took it upon himself to liven things up and shattered our sliding glass door with the magnet on the fishing pole for our fishing game. It was foolish of me to set it up right next to the door, which he pointed out. But, too late now. Thanks for looking at our blog. TTYL

Sorry for lack of posts

Hi all~It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here, so I haven't gotten around to posting in a while. Gabriel got pink eye and had to go to the doctor for a RX, but it cleared up really quick and he didn't have to miss out on too much. Joshua was scared he was going to get it, but he never did (neither did anyone else, praise God). He kept saying I don't want pink eyes, I like my blue ones. So, we had a quick lesson on what pink eye really was and that most likely his eyes will stay blue his whole life.
We did the Walk for Life and had a blast. I didn't reach my fundraising goal, but was able to raise a little to help out the Whatcom County Pregnancy Clinic. Of course I forgot my camera again, and never took out the cell to take any pictures. Zaccheaus was amazed by the playground w/ the bouncy castles. He thought it was this place off an episode of Blues Clue's called wacky wild world and couldn't get out of the stroller fast enough to go play.
We got to go down to Auburn last weekend and spend some time w/ Josh's brother Ben and his wife Trish. It was so nice out and 92 degrees. We went to the lake and the kids swam while Josh fished. He caught his first fish of the year and we were all too busy playing to notice. He let it go though, it wasn't that big. I did some shopping at the Super Mall and got some good deals. I got the older two new outfits for $10 each (just pants and a shirt) and got Zaccheaus an oshgosh train conductors hat. I'm saving it for his bday in July. It's going to be a train themed party. He loves trains.
Oh speaking of birthdays, Gabriel is turning the big 5 on Monday! We're having a little fishing party for him at the playground behind our place. He's really excited and can't wait to see all the little surprises we have in store for him. I will remember my camera for this one, so watch for pictures soon.
Other than all that we've just been busy w/ appointments, end of the school year stuff, etc. The boys finished another year of Awanas. Joshua finished his book the night of the awards ceremony, so they will both be starting new books next fall. They're getting so big so fast. Joshua will be going into the 2nd grade and Gabe is starting Kindergarten. I've already started collecting things for our curriculum next year (we home school). We're going to keep working through the summer though. We will still take a little time off when the baby comes, but we're a little behind this year w/ all the craziness of life, so we'll just keep plugging away at it. That's the beauty of home school. Less time constraints.
Enough of this novel I have going here. I hope you are all well. Take Care. ~Cry

Fishing

Thanks to my transfer cable being lost here is an update on the last two weeks of our fishing adventures...

We went to Lake Paden on opening day and it was packed. We had to hike up around the lake to find a good fishing spot and then realized that we forgot our net by the car and forgot to lock the car, so back I go to make sure everythings still there (i had left my keys/purse in the trunk, so it was possible for there to not even be a car waiting there for me...AHH!) Get the stuff everythings ok, cars still there start hiking back. But, wait where were we at? I knew it was past the bench, but couldn't find it. Couldn't hear Josh & the boys, so I just went back to the docks and waited. They couldn't leave w/o me since I had both sets of keys. But, now I was going to miss out on their first catch. Well...they didn't catch anything and about an hour later they come hiking back down the trail and we go out on the docks. We met a nice older man who showed us some of his tricks and even let Joshua reel in two fish.

The other two boys didn't catch anything, neither did Josh or I. For me it was enough to be outside on a sunny day and have no one fall into the lake. LOL. We had lots of fun and I even got to see an owl up in the trees while I was searching for my family. Met lots of nice people and even got a bit of a tan.

Last weekend we decided to go out to Silver Lake. I was raining when we left, but news reports said it would stop by the afternoon. So everyone bundled up and got all the gear together again. Tried out our new super duper lure, suggested by the man at Lake Paden. But, no fish for us again. Again we made the most of our day at the lake. Had a picnic lunch and made a fire in the bbq to keep us warm. We were there a good portion of the day, but I think we would do better in the warmer weather or with a boat. The fish were jumping like crazy, even saw one fish jump completely out of the water, but nothing was biting. Most of the people on the shore weren't catching anything. Someday we will figure this fishing thing out and we'll be set.

Here's Josh and the boys at Silver Lake. Didn't get many pics out there. My camera was getting rained on.

In other new...(LOL)...I have my next Dr appt on Friday and will schedule my glucose testing for gestational diabetes. Also on Friday, Josh and I are having a date night. Our church has started up a Friday night free babysitting service once a month. We might go see a movie, since we earned free passes at the grocery store. A whole night to ourselves for free, doesn't that sound great! Then on Saturday we have the Walk for Life (see previous post). And of course on Sunday it's Mothers Day. :-) Everythings winding down for the year. School, activities, Awanas and it's making me anxious for August to come. I'm a very impatient person and I can't wait for this little girl to come join us. TTYL- Crystal