Oranges

Sometimes its the little things that remind me how fun it is to be a kid. Brody discovered he could turn his orange into a smile. His brothers thought it was pretty clever and funny. 

Cross Country Exercises

On Wednesday at camp Brody joined us. It was great to see him after being away from him for 4 days. He loved camp and joined in on the cross country exercises.  He was showing all the runners how to do push ups. 

Ollie joined in too.

Darby was a little interested. 

Colt was a little shy about the whole thing. 

Hood Canal

I had thought about camping at Fort Flagler but was worried about camping all by myself with the 3 kids. (Brody was at Grammy & Fafa's). A friend of mine had an open invitation to visit her at their Beach house in Hansville. I took her up on the offer and took the kids there for Tuesday night. 

It was a quick trip but the kids still had fun.  

Our hostess was wonderful!   We hope to go again but for a longer stay.

 

Another friend came with her 3 kids so we had 8 kids total. 

This is a side view of all the kids (minus Darby)

Fort Flagler

Brad had his cross country camp at Fort Flagler. We went to visit him on Tuesday and Wednesday. I just love this place and could stay there for a very long time.  I didn't take a ton of pictures but was able to get a few. 

Exploring the bunkers (complete with bike helmets...they rode their bike and scooter to the bunker) 

Playing games in the big grassy field. 

Check out the amazing view behind them. 

Ollie wanted to check out the big gun.  He was always afraid the bad guys were going to shoot him.  We had to keep reminding him that there were no bad guys this was only a Fort built a really long time ago to protect against the bad guys. 

Sitting on the front porch

Just an adorable picture of Darby sitting on the front porch. 

Wa-Bam!

This is a true example of how much Darby wants to be like her brothers. The boys have been saying "wa, wa, wa, bam!" while riding in the car. I'm not sure where it came from. But Darby has it down now and loves to say it. 

Gunner's Birthday

We celebrated Gunner's 5th birthday. I was a little busy with all 4 kids so I didn't take too many pictures. The kids had fun playing in the bounce house, eating cake and collecting candy from the pinata. In this picture they are singing Happy Birthday and for some reason Colt wanted to sing it while facing away from everyone. 

The pinata came down with one hit, by Gunner.   It could be considered the worst pinata ever, or the best (if you are one of those people that cringe at the thought of a bat hitting someone). 

Monsters

Brody & Colt decided to make monster faces. I love their creativity. Then they tried to scare Ollie & Darby. 

Tasty Dot Markers

When you are #4 in the line up you get away with a lot more things. 

You can climb up on chairs, tables, slides, ladders etc and make it to the top before anyone notices. 

You can color on walls, doors and floors.

You can eat playdoh, and lots of it. 

You can also put dot markers in your mouth and suck on them for a long time.   

And still look cute while doing all of it.  

Darby tackles

One of the great things about vacation is watching Brad interact more with the kids. If he does this at home I'm usually busy doing one of many things around the house so I don't get to see it. I caught Darby running and tackling Brad. She loved it. 

I wish this picture was clear enough to see her expression. 

Last Track Meet

Colt had his last track meet of the season. It was another warm day and we brought the whole crew to watch Colt. 

He competed in the 200 m, the 50 m and the long jump (his favorite). 

One of the highlights was when Ollie got a chance to race in the 50 m.  It said on the program it was for 3 - 6 year olds.  I asked if Ollie could race even though he wasn't officially part of the track program.  He was so excited! And he loved his ribbon!

We celebrated with a trip to Yum-E Yogurt (Colt's choice). 

The 200 m.

Colt is in Lane 1.  He doesn't appear until most of the other kids are in view.

The long jump

He is dialed in this event.

The 50 m

Colt is on the right (Lane 1) and Ollie is on the left. (Lane 6)

Batman is in the middle.  :) 

Papa Bob's Birthday

While Brad was climbing a mountain, I took the boys to my parents for a couple of days. We had a garage sale and also celebrated Papa Bob's birthday. It's always fun to have a good excuse for cake and ice cream. Plus, the kids LOVE Papa Bob! 

Mt. Adams

A group from our church decided to train for and climb Mt. Adams this summer.  Brad wasn't able to make very many training hikes but did climb to the summit with the group.  His first day of hiking wasn't very good.  He developed blisters and had a pack that was too heavy.   He also was missing me.  (there were a lot of couples in this group)  I wanted to climb this too but figured being 6 months pregnant and trying to summit a mountain wouldn't be the best decision.

Mt. Adams

The Van with half of the hikers and gear.

The beginning of the hike

The tents where they camped overnight.

Night view from base camp with crescent moon.  Lovely!

The group at base camp

Brad climbing to the summit.

A look at Mt. St. Helens

At the Summit

 

The Group at the Summit

After they reached the summit they were able to glissade down which saved them a lot of time and energy.  It also was a lot of fun. 

Brad is in the middle of the picture at top. 

I was really bummed to have missed this but I know there will be a day when Brad and I can summit a mountain together.  I'm so thankful he was safe but also had a great experience.