Disneyland

Our trip to the magical world of Disney has been booked and I am so excited. I think it will be totally awesome to see all the kids running around and seeing all the Disney Charaters.

Mariner's Game

Today we took the girls to their first Mariners' game. It was awesome. Yes, the Mariners did loose their game, but only by one. We got to the stadium and the game was already in the 2nd inning. Robb ran to get some garlic fries and the girls and I found our seats. Their eyes became the size of saucers and they just stared out at the field. Our seats were in the 200 lever in the Terrace Club area. Good seats but I think no matter where we had been sitting the girls would have been in awe.

Olyvia couldn't stop asking questions. To keep things simple we referred to the teams by the colors they were wearing rather than their team name, although I did tell her that the white team were the Mariners and the blue team were the Twins. Her next concept to grasp was that while white players were out in the field we wanted them to catch the ball, but when the blue team was out in the field we didn't want them to catch the ball. Same with batting. She was actually pretty quick to catch on and within a few minutes was consuming fries slowly, one by one, and watching with wide eyes at every play. Ellie was equally intrigued, but seemed to be more so intrigued over the stadium and the set of stairs that were next to our seats. She traveled up and down them quite a few times. Olyvia tried it once and got tired of it, going back to her seat to munch her fries and watch the game. Robb and I took turns sitting next to the girls.

It was quite adorable how much Olyvia got into it and pretty soon you would hear her say things like "Yay! That was good, right mom? They hit it far." or "Hit it way high white team." Just too cute. She was clapping in all the right places always looking to us to make sure she was understanding what was going on and reacting correctly. At the end of the game when it was official that we had lost she said "Darn, the blue team won! Maybe we will have to come back and see the white team win a different time." I agree.

Camp Handy

When the alarm clock went off this morning I could have killed whoever had the idea that we should go on a hike and then I realized it had been my idea. Argh! So I rolled over and told Robb it was time to get up and get ready to go, went and jumped in the shower to let the hot water wake me up. When I got out of the shower I was feeling much more chipper and ready to go. I belive I was actually excited about the day.

I had gone in to wake up Olyvia before my shower telling her that we needed to get up and get ready. She asked if she could just have a few more minutes of sleep. I told her she could sleep while I showered but would then need to get up. Turned out she didn't even need that long and was up and ready to get dressed by the time I got out of the shower.

We were off on our most recent adventure at 7:40am. As we were driving to meet up with the rest of the family at Starbucks Robb and I were stunned over the fact that we were actually all packed up, kids dressed, us dressed and out the door before 8am on a weekend. It was amazing.

We met up with the family, got some coffee, rolls, and the like. Grandma asked us if we had brought long pants for Olyvia since she was in shorts. I said that I hadn't because the weather had been so nice (80s) the day before that I didn't think we would need them. Funny when I now think about it because I had thought to bring everything else. I had spare clothes for them both, rain coats, sweatshirts, extra shoes, and their blankets and babies. Pants though - nope! She insisted that we head over to Walmart and pick up a pair of sweats or something for her to have "just in case". It is a good thing we did.

Now on the road, the girls will not stop talking, asking a million questions a minute and not even waiting for answers. We finally had to turn on some music so that they would just listen to that for awhile and give our heads a rest and that didn't even work. They were so excited they could barely contain themselves. We were thinking that they would fall asleep on the ride up but that didn't happen.

After a call to the Quilcene Ranger station and determining that access to the trailhead via Palo Alto road was still possible we headed up the mountain. We followed the pavement for about 10 minutes before turning off onto the gravel road. The road was recently graveled in places but there were other places that had a steady washboard going that was slightly unnerving as it would send the truck's back end sliding out ever so slightly. Luckily we were going slow so it was never dangerous, but it sure got my stomach going a couple times especially since one side of the road was a ravine we could not see the bottom of. The girls thought it was great though. They especially liked when I unrolled my window and stuck my arm out to try and touch the trees as we passed them. Olyvia wanted to try but her arms were too short.

Reaching the trailhead at 9:30, unloading the vehicles and getting onto the trailhead at 9:45. The weather was overcast and cloudy, but not really that cold and not raining. About 30 minutes into our hike we could tell that it had started to rain a little, but because we were under the trees it kept us sheltered from the brunt of the wettness. At 1 mile in we passed over the first footbridge. The girls did much better on this foot bridge then they had on the others since they figured they had done these before. I believe Olyvia even said "No problem, I got it." Once on the other side they went right down to the river and Ellie put her hand in the water. This worked as an awesome distraction as just prior to the bridge she had broken down crying because she wanted to be carried like cousin Leilah and I had told her no, that she was a big girl and could make it on her own. Grandma of course buckeled under the preassure eventually and did carry her some of the way up the river.

The area was beautiful and the river wonderful. I was able to take some great pictures with mom's camera as I didn't have any film in mine. Dad said it reminded him of the old days only instead of going slow because I was complaining, I was going slow because I was taking pictures. We both agreed that this was a much better option :)

Another 1.4 miles past the footbridge and we came to a stop. As I had read and been told, the footbridge was out having split in two from excessive force from the river on a rotting log. There was a rope that was strung between the two pieces to help people across, but it was decided that this would be to dangerous to traverse with the kids and instead we decided to find a dry spot under the trees to have our lunch, as the rain had started to come down quite a bit harder at this point.

After an awesome lunch we packed up. We happened to have two garbage sacks between the all of us and we used them to cover the girls up so that they wouldn't get quite as wet as their raincoats that we brought were still in the truck. I won't mention who was supposed to grab those because we don't want to put blame on anyone. Grandma then grabbed Ellie and everyone headed down the mountain, Robb, Olyvia and I bringing up the read. Olyvia kept walking slower and slower because she was uncomfotable, wet and did not want the plastic bag on her anymore. I tried to explain to her that without the plastic bag she would get fully drenched as her father and I were but she didn't want to hear any of it. It was starting to stress me out so I decided to continue down the river and let Robb decide how he wanted to handle it. I believe that it ended up with her still wearing the plastic bag only he just carried her the last mile or so.

I eventually caught up with grandma and we took turns carrying Ellie down the mountain. Once we had the trailhead in sight we made her walk on her own. We got to the truck, stripped the girls and got them in their dry clothes and in the truck with the heater running to warm them up. Robb, papa and Olyvia were not far behind and once they got there we were able to load up, drop Grandma and papa off at their car and head down the mountain.

The hike was awesome even though the rain did put a damper on it on the way down causing us to just want to get out of there and not look at the scenery as much as we had on the way up. We did get to see some deer which was wonderful and the girls thought it was great. There were no accidents other then a minor slippage in the river and some wet feet by Kristin and Darrel. We would really like to do this hike again after they replace the footbridge and we can hike all the way up to Camp Handy.

Our next hike is about a month out. Either Lake Ozette or Mount Elinore on the 28th of September or 5th of October so stay tuned for reports from that.

Our New Nanny!

We found someone. The girls are excited and I am excited. Yay for not having to interview any more people that aren't right for the job. It is crazy to me that people still smoke, but child care providers? I mean really. How do I explain to my children that smoking is bad and unhealthy and then they watch their babysitter do it all the time. Not going to happen. So, between the multiple smokers that were a definite NO, to the really timid and quiet girls that my two would walk all over, to the one girl who actually was flirting with Robb during our interview, I am happy to say we have found someone WONDERFUL! So you may be asking "Who is she?" Her name is Samantha Murdoch. She is 20 years old and although lives here now, spent some of her growing up years on the Oregon Coast. She loves children and seems to be very good with them. Family is very important to her. She is taking evening classes towards her degree from Olympic College. Her references were all amazing and the girls fell in love with her instantly when they met her. She attends New Life and seems very strong in her faith.

We are very excited to have her as part of our family and look forward to getting to know her more over the months and who knows, maybe years. :)

Life Decisions

I have a lot of interaction with high school and college students. Having lead the youth minstry program at our church for over 6 years, I developed relationships with many of them and feel like I am a more well rounded person because of it. What it has brought to my attention is that these young adults are faced with many difficult decisions as they embarq upon graduation from high school and the following years. As high school students they are often asked the question of what they are going to do with their life. What a HUGE question. I am almost 30 years old and I am still asking myself that question. Do we ever really know the answer? And if we do think we know the answer, are we just kidding ourselves thinking that we can fully determine where our life will lead?

And so these young adults embarq upon the adventure of either going to a university, a local community college or just working. Are any of these decisions the right decision? or the wrong decision? I don't think so. I think that for each and every person there is a different decision and it is one that only they can make. For most, this will be the first time where they truely have to make their own decision about something and suffer all consequences (good or bad) of that decision.

Even if they decide, yes I will go to college right out of high school and get a degree is paper mache, it doesn't mean that the rest of their life will be spent on paper mache. I hate to inform those of you that think what you do know is definitely what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life because . . . it's not. Life has this wonderful way of playing jokes on us and just when we think we have it all figured out something else comes along.

Most recently my husband and I have been met with a crossroad. Just when we were getting set into how life is, we are met with a decision that could possibly change things drastically, throwing us in an opposite direction. We have to make the decision if we want to be business owners. To own a business is a tricky thing. It isn't as simple of a question as many may think. A lot of complicated stress can come along with owning a business. We need to decide if the stress and the fact that the business isn't something we both enjoy, are worth the benefits. So here I am, like I said earlier almost 30, and I am faced with the same questions I faced as a high school student, "What am I going to do with my life? What do I want to be when I grow up?"

It doesn't matter that I have already graduated from college. That I own a home. That I am married. That I have two children. The question is still a HUGE question. It never gets smaller. It stil seems to overwhelm me.

There are two things that I know I must do to be able to answer this question and be content with whatever our decision is.

1. Pray. I need to rely on God to help me make the decision and not try to make the decision all on my own. Not only do I need to pray for the guidance and strength but I also need to spend some time waiting for Hisanswer. I need to watch where He is leading me.

and

2. I need to change the question. Instead of asking myself what I am going to do with my life, I need to ask what am I going to do right now. I need to not think that the decision I make now will forever determine my future because I do not know what my future holds.

So here I am, turning my life over to God and trying to figure out in what direction my next step will take me.

My beautiful girls.

Mischievous Ellie Claire

My youngest daughter again showed her mischievous side. Ever since she could make a facial expression she has been more sneaky than her sister but this was seen in full hysterical light yesterday while we are all having lunch here at the house. Wednesdays are my days to spend with the girls, go to doctors' appointments, and the like. Each of the girls had a doctor's appointment today and they went relatively well. It was confirmed that they are both growing like weeds and really show no sign of stopping. :)

We got home after the appointments and stopping to pick up pictures at Costco and I got to making lunch for us. I madea delicious Cabbage salad - YUM! Anyway, as I was trying to convince the girls to finish their lunch and quit playing while they were eating, I had to step away for a minute to use the bathroom. When I came back into the kitchen Ellie had one of the dinning room table chairs in the kitchen and was using it to stand up to the counter and pretend she was making stuff. Cute, but I asked her to please take the chair back to the table and finish eating her lunch. She quickly listened and began dragging the chair back to the table. Once she rounded the island/bar the chair started to make a sound along the floor. Once she got it pulled all the way to the door (having passed the table) she pushed it forward all the way to the bar again and pulled it backwards to get it to make the noise again. While doing this she was laughing to herself ever so quietly. Again, once she got to the door, she pushed the chair forward to the island and then pulled it back again. I asked her if she was doing that on purpose (even though I already knew the answer) and she just laughed. Then as she was on another trip with the chair away from the island towards the door, the chair made a different noise that she thought was even funnier and she started laughing hysterically. So now, she would pull it towards the door for one sound and push it towards the island for another sound, all the while giggeling loudly. By this point her sister had joined in on the laughing and admitedly I could barely contain my laughter as the whole situation was quite hilarious.

I finally had to go and take the chair from her to get her to stop pushing and pulling the chair across the wood floor and get her to sit up to the table and finish her lunch.