We started our month with a fun camping trip to Henry Cowell State Park. It is less than an hour away from where we live. In addition to our family, we enjoyed the company of another family who joined us, the VanDam's. They have four girls. Yes, Adam was the only boy there. Lucky for him he is used to playing with girls!
Tammy and Chuck VanDam
Sarah VanDam and Hannah
Mackenzie (L) and Adam (R) with Emma and Madeline VanDam
Jamie and Keira VanDam
We had a great two days! We enjoyed plenty of good food, visiting, playing games, a good long hike that included wading (or swimming for some) in a river, singing songs, roasting marshmallows and just enjoying the beauties of nature.
Derek and Chuck were the chief cooks
Laurel loved the hot dogs!
Adam was up first one morning and decided to put his new scout skills to work and built the morning fire
Derek and Katelyn on the hike
Laurel taking a break from the hike
most of our group inside the base of a very large sequoia tree
the trees we saw on the hike were sooooo tall!
our friend Emma threatening to eat a slug she found. Yuck!
Cathy during a rest
Keira and Jamie checking out the river. Turns out it was cool and refreshing!
This month was two family member's birthdays. Both of them have dark brown hair and brown eyes. Both of them are the 3rd child in their family. Both of them were born on the 30th of June. It is Derek and Mackenzie!
We were invited to our friend's home, the Sareddy's, for a swim and pizza party. That become the birthday dinner. We also enjoyed an ice cream cake that Mackenzie requested. Cathy made it from scratch (a much more complicated process than a regular cake!) It was frosted with whipped cream and was super yummy.
Derek and Mackenzie with their cake
The next day, their actual birthday, is when they opened cards and presents. Mackenzie wanted only one present and she was so excited when she opened her gift and discovered a brand new digital camera! See below.
It was so fun to watch her. She must have jumped up and down and exclaimed in joyous tones for a full five minutes. It is so fun to have Mackenzie in our family!
June has been a very sweet month! Our backyard garden and fruit trees were in full bloom. The blackberry bushes began to ripen first and we were able to collect a full bowl of them every day or two. It was so nice to have fresh berries in our oatmeal. Not long after, we began collecting apricots and plums. The apricots especially were delicious! In our garden we had plenty of lettuce, onions, green beans and zucchini to enjoy. Even with one plant of zucchini, it is growing like crazy and we've been trying all kinds of ways to use it--freezing it, blending in grated zucchini with spaghetti sauce and grilling it (definitely the best!). It has been a great blessing and sweet reward to have all these fruits and vegetables to harvest!
"For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvestis come."
Derek and I celebrated our 14th anniversary yesterday. Each anniversary has been a wonderful time to reflect on the years past and all that we've experienced and learned. We can see so many blessings for us over the years.
With a nursing baby, we couldn't plan a trip to celebrate this time, so we settled with a visit to the ring store. My ring has been lost for many years, as well as Derek's. I was so excited when Derek told me we should replace our rings this anniversary.
Our new rings are simple bands of white gold
This is my ring close up
After the ring store, we went to a nearby italian restaurant and enjoyed a nice evening of good food and visiting. We love to talk about how our lives are now and what dreams and ideas we have for the future. It is wonderful to be married to a kind and supportive husband!
One of our days with Aunt Cheryl we drove to Santa Cruz. We spent some afternoon time at the beach, and then we spent the evening at the Beach Boardwalk. It was our first time there, and we had a great time riding the rides and eating pizza. We forgot how cool it can get in the evening, and since we were all in summer attire, we had some shivering children (and adults!) by the end. It was a lot of fun though and we're glad Cheryl gave us a reason to do something new!
Laurel and Samantha eating watermelon
Katelyn in her sun hat
Aunt Cheryl
Laurel enjoying the sand
Jamie, Mackenzie and Adam had fun playing with the boogie boards
then they had fun playing in the sand
Hannah, before she joined the others in the water
Katelyn spent most of the time in a tent, so she wouldn't eat the sand
Cathy's sister, Cheryl, took some of her vacation time to come visit us. Our first day together was a trip to San Francisco. We realized we hadn't been up there in a while and it was fun to have a reason to go there again.
Our first stop was at the Aquarium of the Bay. We had a nice time there looking at all kinds of interesting sea and land animals that live in the bay area. Derek and some of the children touched and helped feed the bat rays.
Adam, Mackenzie, Jamie, Laurel
After we spent time at the Aquarium, we spent an hour or two at Pier 39 (which is where the Aquarium was). We ate lunch at a great seafood restaurant. There were large windows with great views of the bay and Alcatraz island. Afterwards, we watched some sea lions, a juggler show and Cheryl did some shopping. Adam, Mackenzie and Jamie enjoyed something new--a mirror maze. They thought it was pretty cool even though it took them a little while to figure out how to get back out.
Hannah was still at Girl's Camp, so she is missing in the picture.
Katleyn
Jamie looking through a telescope
After our time at the Pier, Derek, Adam, Mackenzie and Jamie got out their bikes and rode all the way across the north part of San Francisco to the base of the Golden Gate bridge. The rest of us drove over and met them there. Derek loved the ride, though he said it was super windy which slowed them down quite a bit. One of the bikes wasn't working well, and that also helped to slow them down. But all three children did such a great job and made it all the way without help. It was about 4 miles.
Mackenzie, Adam and Jamie after their bike ride
Once the bikers joined us, we walked over to the bridge to get a closer look. It was very windy up there!
Golden Gate Bridge
Derek, Mackenzie, Laurel, Samantha, Jamie and Adam
Adam
Laurel didn't like all the wind in her face and she was covering her head most of the time on the bridge
We love to have visitors. We get extra visiting time with family or friends, we enjoy more game playing, and the children get to ride the air mattress. What's that you say? Take a look below.
Some of our children are very excited about going camping. They just can't wait until our reserved date in early July, so they asked for a camp-out in the back yard.
The tent's all set up and ready to enjoy
Adam made a special sign to make it look like they were at real campgrounds
Here are the campers--Adam, Laurel, Mackenzie and Jamie
Last week was our final week of the school year. Our Co-Op had an afternoon swim and BBQ to celebrate. At home we had an evening of hearing the oldest children give reports that they had been working on.
Everyone is excited for summer! We bought a membership at the pool across the street, so we are looking forward to swimming more often. We are signing up for the summer reading program at our library, and making one day each week for inviting friends over to play (Friend Friday). We also hope to plan a camping trip or two.
Hannah is getting ready for Girl's Camp this week. It's her second year and she is super excited. She had such a good experience last year. In July, Adam will attend New Scout camp. It's two days long with one night camping with the dads.
With these and a number of other fun plans, it should be a great summer!
Katelyn has become very vocal lately. It has been a delight to hear her babble and try to communicate. Here she is talking away as she crawls towards Hannah. Wouldn't it be great if someone could translate her message?
Most of our children sing (some reluctantly) in the choir that practices during our homeschool Co-Op. Our group is called Scholars of Light (SOL). The choir has been performing monthly at a nursing home, but at the end of the school year there is a performance for family and friends.
Even Laurel participated with the "junior" choir and she was quite entertaining as you'll see below.
Here is one of the songs the big choir sang. You'll see Hannah, Mackenzie and Adam.
Here is Adam in his boy scout uniform. So far he is loving his new patrol. Right now he is a Quartermaster; he is assigned to bring treats or assign someone to bring them each week. He also attended his first Court of Honor and enjoyed that.
Mother's Day this year was simple. Not big dashing presents, or big banners and whatnot. Just simple loving cards. I know this is late, but I would like to share a poem I wrote a couple years ago in a card that I made for Mothers Day. I wouldn't change anything but some words.
MY MOM by Your Hannah Banana
My mom is charming. You are loving. Sometimes I am troubled, Pretty soon I'm better. Especially you teach me, Can I ever wander. If you are always by me? Although we may be parted, Love never will part us. Maybe you are busy, or tired. My love will lift us up. So, if you are depressed I will always be there for you.
Little ones make life so fun. Here are some of the latest of our littlest ones.
Laurel
Katelyn climbing onto the dollhouse--7 months
Samantha
Katelyn in Sunday dress
Laurel ready for church. She's finally letting us put pony tails in her hair. Today she actually left them in all through church. Yeah! Katelyn loves to smile
We attended Hannah's piano recital yesterday. There were almost 30 students of Hannah's piano teacher who were performing. Hannah didn't like that she had to wait until almost the end (no fun being nervous the whole time). She did a great job and you can see her perform the whole song below. She played Waterfall by Jon Schmidt.
All across California, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints performed service in their communities. In our area, Derek and Hannah were able to attend the service project of clearing out weeds and non-native plants in an open park space. They worked hard and had a good time.Hannah with some other girls working on removing a plant
Successful removal!
Below is a link of numerous news articles that ran about the state-wide service project. http://www.mormontimes.com/people_news/church_news/?id=14720&hStack=1
Tammy and Chuck VanDam
Sarah VanDam and Hannah
Mackenzie (L) and Adam (R) with Emma and Madeline VanDam
Jamie and Keira VanDam
Derek and Chuck were the chief cooks
Laurel loved the hot dogs!
Adam was up first one morning and decided to put his new scout skills to work and built the morning fire
Derek and Katelyn on the hike
Laurel taking a break from the hike
most of our group inside the base of a very large sequoia tree
the trees we saw on the hike were sooooo tall!
our friend Emma threatening to eat a slug she found. Yuck!
Cathy during a rest
Keira and Jamie checking out the river. Turns out it was cool and refreshing!
