Snapshots

First Day of School

                                                          First Day of School

                          Evening de-briefing, devotions, discussions

                   Tea Party with my mom and dad.   I want my kids engaged, not catered too. 
                  I'm glad to be a little more in-cognito here so that we can do things like this. 

San Francisco Exploratorium.  One of our Advisory Board members (from The Dalles) and his wife generously gifted us with a year membership to here.   We LOVE it here! 

Monterey Bay Aquarium which has always been one of my most favorite places!  Now we are members here too since it was only an additional $15 to have a membership once we paid for 6 of us to get in.  It's a 2 hour drive, but doable for us if we have no other obligations on a Saturday.

Mary is quite like Elijah was at that age, always running away from us. A common phrase for us the last couple of months is "Where's Mary?"!

                                                       Adventurous Hannah

                                                       Go-Getter Elijah

                                                    Keep-it-together David

                                                            Mother-Hen Ann

                                                                     BFF's



Some More...

Eating dinner (the dessert part!) in the private Dining Room at the ARC.

                                                                            Elijah

David

                                                                                 Ann

                                                                               Hannah

Mary

Mmmm... tasty cheesecake.

Daddy-O and his fearless sidekicks at the Giants vs. Padres baseball game.

Rub-a-dub-dub.

I am so glad to have these sliding glass doors during bathtime. 

I slide them shut when the girls are in there and then the bathroom and I stay dry!

Sister girls.

I have always wanted an eat-in kitchen.  We love it! 

We do breakfast and lunch here and dinner at the Dining Room table. 

Plus there is always space for projects, schoolwork, cooking, etc.  Mary loves to be up there looking out the window into the street.  We can tell when a dog or squirrel goes by because of her excited screaming.

P.S.

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." -Mark Twain

Better Late Than Never

Well, we finally found my chord to download the gobs of pictures on my camera. Not that I was in the biggest hurry, we've been adjusting and settling in like crazy, doesn't leave much time or desire for computing.  Even though it's been awhile, I'm starting at the beginning. 

We said a lot of goodbyes.  Church was packed, we should have a farewell every Sunday.  Below are  our dear friends.  The kids miss them and talk about them often, but they are forever friends, so we will see them again.  I'm holding out for some marraiges.

Paul and Mary were the last ones out of the house

One last photo on the front steps. 

The journey begins...

The children all took turns riding with Daddy in the big truck. 

They had a blast and we had a great, smooth trip down.  Uneventful was good!!

Hannah was the only one who cried when we left (well, besides my tears!).  She is still the one who keeps asking to go back home to The Dalles.  She conked out pretty quick and Ann took some photos of the sleeping beauty's.

David took some "professional" photos of us as requested by our Command.  Can you tell I had my pajama bottoms on?  LOL!  David kept snapping pictures, even when our photo shoot turned into a bickerment because someone kept making faces.

We have felt very warmly received here. 

And, a quote from the current book I'm reading (David and Elijah too),

"The  Magicians Nephew" by C.S. Lewis

"Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;

Strike the bell and bide the danger,

Or wonder till it drives you mad,

What would've followed if you had."