Family Camp

Every year when I return to Lake Retreat I am flooded by memories of good times. It's hard to believe that I have been going there since I was 7 years old!!! Some things have changed...others have not, but my favorite part still remains the same, the lake. This year was no exception. We (Micah & I) spent a beautiful 4 days up at family camp with my family & it was wonderful. Micah spent the morning in "class" where he learned to play "Duck, Duck, Goosse" & sing songs. This was the highlight for him. I enjoyed just relaxing with family...it was wonderful. Here are a few images from the week :-)

Micah & Ella enjoying the tire swing


Micah's face from inside the tire swing


Time in the lake






Uncle Jon takes Micah out on a boat...it's a miracle that he didn't fall in

Our "little" Surprise!!

Well this year we did a well coordianted surprise to fly Jonathan and Christina down to Boot Camp to volunteer. Jonathan was able to use Ryan's unused ticket & they were able to surprise Christina's two sisters. Her youngest sister was going to France on a summer team & her middle sister was volunteering with the middle age group in Munchkin Missions. The girls were very surprised and excited to see the two of them. After our week of volunteering we headed over to Disney World and had breakfast with Lilo & Stitch at one of the local hotels, which was difinatly a highlight for Micah.







Micah shows his favorite character, Lilo, his "coccer t-shirt"

Another Summer at the Lord's Boot Camp

Well Micah and I suffered through another 3 wks of sweating & getting devoured by mosquitos at the Lord's Boot Camp, Teen Missions base in FL. Unfortunatly this year Ryan was not able to join us, due to his recent job change. Micah and I had a great time volunteering with the Munchkin Missions. This year I had the opportunity to work exclusively with the "baby" Munchkins (ages 1-4 yrs). Micah had his work cut out for him, since the class was comprised of 5 GIRLS!!! He had a hard time adjusting to their desire to play house or have tea parties...but he was able to find the dinosours and cars in the toy box & was quite happy. One of the highlights of our trip was having the opportunity to see off 6 of "our kids" on various trips. We had 3 kids from Mariposa, 2 from Portland and one from our old church in Colorado all go on a team this summer. Micah became quite the fixure around boot camp this year. He stood out because he refused to ride in his stroller & ran EVERYWHERE around the property. The kids were impressed that inspite of the heat & humidity he always seemed happy to be running everywhere (although he usually was running to the pool...so he may have had some incentive :-)

The girls in Munchkin Missions


Everyday the girls would dance around to a CD called "Dora's Dance Party"


Micah quickly discovered that instead of dancing around he could dress up like a superhero instead




As part of the boot camp program the kids are judged upon how clean they keep their tent/eating site. If they are the messiest they have to kiss the pig...which Micah was quite facinated with.



Some of the kids we sent off....

Amanda (from Mariposa) to Greece




Jessica from Wyoming (formally from our church in Colorado) to Malawi


Eliudi from Mariposa to Madagascar

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

We celebrated Micah's 3rd birthday in "kiddy" style at Chuck E. Cheese's. We had a small family party there, where Micah, Ella & the big kids could enjoy eating pizza & playing games. We had lots of fun!!!

Micah's Birthday cupcakes, after getting squished in the trunk of the car.






Micah shows off his latest soccer jersey (he wore it for the next 3 days streight!)


Uncle Jon shows the kids how to have fun at Chuck E. Cheese's

Birthday/Christmas Present Trip

Well for our birthday's (my 31st & Micah's 3rd)& a delayed birthday present to Isaiah the three of us took a trip to Newport. We enjoyed the tide pools, aquarium & lighthouses that the area has to offer. It was a very relaxing two days sandwiched inbetwen a weekend of doing promotions for TMI & heading off to FL for boot camp.

Micah & Isaiah explore the tide pools






A morning at the aquarium-






Postcard perfect....

Life in the middle of nowhere

Well we are trying to get settled into living in the "middle of nowhere." It's hard when you once thought that Mariposa was rural. Life here in Northern CA is testing our resourcefulness & asking us if we can really fit in a movie, shoping at Costco, grocery shopping & dinner into a "quick drive" to the nearest town (an hour & a half to 2 hrs away depending on what roads are closed because of the fires). Some people have asked for photos of the house/family...so here they are:


This is our house in the trees. It's probably the closest thing we've had to the dense woods of the NW. Although we don't have any undergrowth we do have over 6 varieties of trees on the property (that I've counted so far), the smoky outdoors have made it difficult to explore long. We are living in a 3 bedroom 2 bath doublewide moblie home on 6 acres. The house is only 5 yrs old & is very nice inside (although the former tenents smoked...so you can't get rid of that :-(


Here's Micah enjoying the first corn of the season without store bought corn-on-the-cob holders :-)