Birthday Weekend

 

 This year Scott made a pile of chocolate filled with creme for my birthday cake!  It looks terrible but was one of the best tasting cakes he has made.  He made good use of the chocolate he bought off of Amazon.  We also made homemade ice cream again which is always a birthday tradition but this year we went a little over board and got a full gallon of cream.  We ended up with 4 gallons of ice cream!  It was great to have a farm nearby this year where we could buy cream fresh from the cow. 

This was the chocolate he ordered off of Amazon.  That's 11 pounds of solid chocolate!

 

 For my birthday we drove to Port Angeles to enjoy the Hurricane Ridge trail in Olympic National Park.  It was a mile and a half paved trail to the top of Hurricane Hill.  It was the perfect first mountain hike for the kids.  There were some steep switch backs that wore us all out. 

 It was 70 degrees at the bottom of the mountain but it got down to 45 degrees at the top.  We drove up 5,000 feet and climbed 1,000 feet.


  An hour and a half later and we made it to the top!

 She was so proud that she made it to the top.  This was the seat she chose to relax and enjoy the view.

 
Avery chose this seat.

 After the hike we went to The Olympic Game Farm.  This farm has a fascinating history tied closely with Walt Disney and numerous nature films.  The farm was used to film nature movies for Disney and the animals that lived on the farm were in those films.  The animals that are currently at the farm are offspring of past Disney stars or retired stars.  We drove through several acres of farmland feeding the animals wheat bread.  We loved this tour and hope to do it again soon.  The llamas were my favorite.  They had so much personality and were very eager to get a piece of bread.  The one in this picture followed us through most of the park.

 This zebra was awesome!

 This Kodiak bear actually waves to you for a piece of bread. 

 The buffalo were huge and very intimidating. 

I loved sitting in the car and looking out at the plains and the mountains and picturing what it must have been like when the buffalo roamed free.

Fall Pictures 2014 - Vashon WA

 Alia age 5 1/2 years

 Avery 8 years

Feeling Settled and finally moved in!

We are finally moved in!  After painting and carpeting every surface we were finally ready to unpack boxes that came a week after we moved in.  Trying to downsize once again was a challenge but we were happy to live smaller and have less this time around.  Besides, it feels like a mansion after living in an rv for 10 months!  The move to Vashon Island has been a blessing.  We really like it here and finally feel like we are home.  We really fit in here and are all thriving. 

The backyard is like a park and is connected to the Land Trust so there are miles of woods behind our house.  We thought we would bushwhack a trail out to the road the other night and actually got lost!  This little path has so many hidden trinkets and the kids love trying to find them and move them.


We haven't tried the fire pit out yet, but are looking forward to in the next few weeks.

This path leads to a pond that has Koi in it! 

We frequently see deer in our neighborhood.  They roam all over the island.  This is looking out the front door.

Enjoying a break in the hammock.


The living room


The kitchen


The dining room/creative art space. 


See those doors in the dining room?  Those lead to a very small storage area with a short ceiling.  Instead of leaving it as a storage area, the kids really wanted it to be a secret hiding spot so we turned it into the playroom.  Only catch is you can't stand up!


The playroom!


Alia's room- we let them pick their paint colors.

We added the tree on her wall that she wanted!


Avery's room


Our room


My office

Alia helped paint the basement- literally all of it.  Herself, me, the floors....it was quite comical!

I told Avery to find something to play with while we were painting the rooms.  He found bags and scissors and went to work creating a super hero.  I love his creativity!


We have so many trails to hike on the island!

Right now there are wild blackberries everywhere.  Alia always says, "Can we go for a walk?  I am hungry."

Scott loves his daily commute by ferry, bus and bike.  It's a longer commute than he had in Atlanta but half of it is on a ferry and is a nice, relaxing time for him.

Avery arranged his first playdate by phone!  It ended up that the little boy he invited over also had a 5 year old sister so she came to play too! 

We received our first package in the mail from the Vannatta family!  Amanda found a lego rv set and sent it out.  We had lots of fun putting it together and playing with it.  It's a great reminder of how far we have come from last year.  We were thankful for the time we had together last year, but is was one of our most challenging times yet.  It's hard to go day to day not knowing what the future holds and wondering when and where we will end up.  We are very surprised that it was a year to the day that he lost one job and was given the next.  He really loves working for Alaska Airlines and is happy for the change.  We are so very thankful of where God placed us and we are looking forward to this next season in our lives.

First Day of Kindergarten and Second Grade

Today was Avery and Alia's first day at Chautauqua Elementary School.  It was a great day for both kids.  Avery was happy he didn't have homework and could play when he got home.  He said he didn't like that all of the kids were coughing and sneezing.  His favorite part was recess.  He was the tallest in his class and he said everyone kept asking him to retrieve the bar for the zip line that kept getting stuck in the middle.  He likes to be in charge and a leader.  Alia loved singing songs and meeting new friends.  She gave me a big hug when she saw me at the end of the day.  She said she missed me too much.  She only has 1/2 day kindergarten so we get to spend the mornings together.    

 

This picture makes me laugh.  I asked them to show me how they really feel about starting school.  Alia said, "whoo!"  and Avery scowled and said, "I hate school!"  This should be an interesting year.

 All set for kindergarten!

 All set for 2nd grade!

 We were greeted at the front door with banjo music.  It was an awesome start to the morning.  I already love this school!