Memorial Day Weekend

The Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, we took a day trip to Lake Wenachee. Will and Devon were camping over there and invited us for camp dinner.

First, a stop to get the boys' first fishing licenses. 

The drive on Hwy 2 was a slow crawl - so slow we didn't even register!

Beth was a mess eating her snacks.

Nate:  "Bethy, you're so embarassing!"

The beach at Lake Wenachee was beautiful and sunny, but SO WINDY.

Devon and Will with sweet Apollo.

John ventured to take the fishing boat out, but he nearly drowned. The waves were so huge that they were crashing over the sides of the boat.

Apollo just wants to be left alone!

The kids had a blast playing in the sand and building things.

James' creation:

Will and Jessie tried to talk themselves into taking the kayak in the water. One wave over the front of the boat, and they were done!

As we were packing up, some kite surfers hit the water. They were so much fun to watch!

Back at camp, all the kids played and did kid stuff while we got dinner ready.

Will's smoked chicken. Yum!

Nate wanted to choose his own stick to roast marshmallows. The picture makes the stick look great, but it was really much shorter and very flimsy! 

One of the best parts of the day was a secret that I can't share, but I'll always remember from this weekend!

;-)

I'm not pregnant. I should clarify.

On Monday - Memorial Day, we hosted a BBQ with about 30 of our closest friends.

Creepiest picture ever, thanks Zac!

And the little kids got to watch a movie upstairs.

The Cougar

A couple of weeks ago, a helicopter looked like it was circling our house for about an hour. When I looked up what it could be, I saw that they were looking for a cougar in the area.

I told the kids about the cougar (and that we'd be staying on the deck for the day!) and showed them pictures of what it would look like.

Nate had his own ideas:

Breaking out the Fishing Boat

First fishing-boat ride of the season at Lake Roesiger!

{ James drove the boat by himself the entire way back to the dock. }

{ Nate is just interested in fishing! }

{ And Beth wants to do whatever the big kids are doing. }

Women's Retreat 2015

After the Kangaroo Farm field trip, I quickly dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed out with some friends to our church's Women's Retreat. This was the first "away" retreat I was able to go to in years!

We stopped in Bellingham for dinner. It was beautiful and we wanted to find somewhere outside to eat. We walked street to street without any luck, then all of a sudden we turned the corner and ahhh.... there it was! Cute little restaurant with lots of outdoor seating!

The three of us stayed in a room together at the Cedar Springs Christian Camp in Sumas.

The grounds are stunningly beautiful at the camp - and even the food was delicious!

This year, they didn't have a "speaker" at retreat. Instead, 3 ladies shared their testimonies and stories of what God has done in their lives. In some ways, it was a lot more powerful than a regular speaker!

Saturday afternoon, a bunch of us went for a walks on the trails around camp. 

This was such a great retreat. Short and sweet!

I honestly didn't come home with an "ah-ha" moment or anything radically life changing, but it was SO good to sit and talk in-depth to different ladies all throughout the weekend. There are so many women that have life experience and wisdom way beyond me, I just wanted to soak it all up!

Outback Kangaroo Farm

James' class took a field trip to the Kangaroo Farm a few weeks ago.

{Nate is not shy to join in with the class just like he belongs there!}

We saw lemurs. There was even a baby lemur riding on the back of an adult as it bounced all over the place!

We got to pet a 100 year old tortoise.

There were several peacocks roaming the farm.

The kids fed kangaroos and wallabies. (I forget which is which.)

We walked around the inside some of the kangaroo areas. This cute little joey was such a little charmer. He was our favorite part of the farm!

The older kangaroos were not quite as cute as the joey. Ekk.  :-/

We fed goats.

And donkeys - this guy's teeth were HUGE.

Then we walked to the ostrich area. These were such large birds in real life. It was amazing!

Next, we went to see the llamas. 

The 2 llamas we were with were huge (that seems to be a theme here). It was very weird to stand right next to an animal that large. None of the kids were phased by its size though. 

The owner of the farm showed people how to kiss the llamas by holding a pellet in your mouth. 

Mrs. Benjamin helped Nate kiss the llama.
{I couldn't leave out any of these pictures. They make me laugh!}

James didn't want to hold the baby kangaroo, but Nate and Bethy did. It was SOO cute!

After the farm, we stopped for our first slurpies of the summer!

(But Nate did NOT want his picture taken. Probably still getting that llama taste out of his mouth!)