Catalina Island

Back in June, we celebrated our 12th anniversary.  We were in Twin Lakes, so didn't really do anything to celebrate the day.  Fast forward to July, and with all our weekends at the beach and fishing season in full swing, we still hadn't got around to celebrating. 
Finally, we realized we really needed to get something planned!  Mark planned a quick get-a-way trip for us to Catalina Island for 4 days.  Diana was able to take the kids for us (huge thank you for that!!!), and we took off the last week in July. 

I have to say, the trip came at the perfect time for us.  We hadn't realized how exhausted we were, and spent our time just enjoying being together and relaxing.  The only thing we scheduled was a couples massage.  The rest of the time was spent eating, walking around town, hanging out on the beach, resting, and eating some more  :)

We are usually the tourists that have to do all the "stuff". Snorkeling, renting scooters, boats, bikes, jet skis, whatever. This time, we literally did nothing. And completely enjoyed every minute!

 This was our beautiful hotel.  We saw very few, if any new construction type buildings on the island.  It was mostly Spanish and some Victorian architecture.

 There were also very few normal sized cars on the island.  All the locals had their own golf carts - some of them tricked out, lol!

 26 weeks pregnant

I brought a couple books, and the "eye candy" you see here enertained Mark.  The harbor was filled with probably up to 100 boats, mostly yachts anchored up and coming and going.  That, and plans for his new boat  :)  Yes, just a week before we left on our trip, Mark put an offer on a boat moored in Newport Beach.  On our trip down, he drove up to see it while I went back to our hotel in San Diego to relax.  

Twin Lakes 2011

We started our 8 hour drive to Twin Lakes at 4am.  We were amazed at how well Willow did traveling for so long.....knowing her and how things often go  :)

Journey and Ava (4) loving the short ferry ride across the Columbia River.  Almost there!

Bill and Diana brought Luke along to play with Aspen.   They had a blast.  It is truly boy's paradise here.  Fishing, fires, catching bugs and crawdads, bike riding, fireworks (with the guys) and lots of freedom.

Aspen is really developing a love of fishing....and making his Dad very proud!  He has even learned to like fish tacos.  A true miracle indeed, lol!

The little girls - Zoe 19 months and Willow 21 months - learning to navigate the very steep spiral stairs in the house.  As long as they went one at a time, there were no major accidents.

We had a mix of weather.  Everything from rainy, to cloudy to sunny and warm.

Ryan and Zoe on the ski biscuit.  She was the only one brave enough to try!

After the boat ride, the kids did a little swimming.

 WOW, it's cold!  Not that that deterred them....

Mark and Willow on her first canoe ride.

Typical mornings - doing a little coloring or watching a show while waiting for breakfast.

Even I was able to do a little biking with everyone.  

Off to the candy store with two excited girls in tow... Almost a daily thing :)

Showing off her candy - a definite highlight for the kids of the trip  :)

 On the days that weren't so nice, the boys entertained themselves with making fires and lighting off fireworks.  Here Mark talked Aspen and Luke into dying their hair with the smoke bombs.  The guys just couldn't help themselves with the Indian reservation fireworks a 10 minute drive away.  There were A LOT of fireworks lit off during our stay!  Poor Willow either was super sensitive to the sound, or got some fire crackers thrown at her.  Either way, she really hated them by the end of the trip!

 We couldn't get the kids to try the ski biscuit, but they all loved this thing  :)
It was a blast watching them all have so much fun on it.

Aspen really loved going with the guys "hard core". 

Snuggling with my girls while watching the boys on the tube.

The boys haul on the last day.  They brought them all in by themselves.  Aspen would often take his fishing pole and cast off the docks in the afternoon.  He caught quite a few fish that way, and was so proud of himself  :)

It's a.......

BOY!!!!

A little bit of random...

Willow is our ever-present kitchen helper.  She was very curious about the salmon Mark was cutting up, and had no problem checking out its slimy skin.

The girls playing TOGETHER, nicely.  As I've said before, this is a work in progress, and I must document the times when they actually do!  :)

This Spring has also been the year of fires for Aspen.  He's always loved making fires, but this year he is old enough to be trusted with making his own in the backyard.  He has spent hours after school and on the weekends taking all our burnable recycling to the backyard and cleaning the forest behind the house of the brush.  He's also rediscovered his love of his tree house/fort Mark built for him in the woods AND of spray paint.  So far he hasn't ruined many clothes and there's just something about the freedom of fire and spray paint for a 7 year old boy  :)

I recently got my hair done and was ready for some change.  I think hair stylists always like it when you walk in and say you want something new, totally different, and don't care what they come up with  :)

Ballet

Spring 2011 was a busy one for me. On top of being in my first trimester (and really sick!) with baby #4, Aspen started soccer and we signed Journey up for a ballet class.

These new additions to our already busy family schedule definitely took some work for both Mark and I to coordinate. The ballet class was on Mondays at 12:45pm, right in the middle of nap time. Aspen's soccer practice was Monday nights (in the middle of our normal bedtime), and soccer games were on Thursday nights. We worked it out by having Mark come home while Willow napped for the ballet classes, Mark took Aspen to his practices, and we all went to his games. It sure made for some busy Monday's (also my normal cleaning day)!

Anyways, back to the ballet classes.... Journey LOVED it. It was so much fun to see her doing something she really loved and enjoyed. I'm not sure how much she learned in the 8 weeks as far as dance moves go, but she did jump right in and dance without any shyness or hint of self-consciousness.

I see a quiet confidence in her, not the kind of outward, obvious confidence you see in some, but I think it's a beautiful quality. I so hope it isn't squashed as she gets older and is faced with society and peer pressure.

Love Them

I am incredibly blessed to be "mom" to each of these kids. I love each of them so much. Lately there have been a lot of questions from them of who is my favorite. I tell them Aspen's my favorite big brother, Journey's my favorite big sister and Willow's my favorite baby girl. They're all my favorite!

There are many times when I feel overwhelmed with the day to day tasks of keeping the house cleaned, laundry done, and all the running around I have to do, along with loving on them and spending time on what I feel is most important. It seems like every quarter or so I need a self check up to realign priorities. How quickly they get off and sidetracked!

Aspen is 7. Seven now! Weird to say that I've been a mom for 7 years. It's gone so fast. Aspen is at a great age and stage right now. He's a great help and such a quick learner.

Right now, his responsibilities around the house are to unload the dishwasher, make his lunch every morning, do his homework (he looks through what he has for the week and decides how much he needs to do each day to get it done on time), clean his room, put his clean laundry away, and various vacuuming around the house. He is learning to sweep the garage (for extra money), and is currently working on cleaning out the pond. This is a BIG job, and one that will earn him $20 once he finally finishes! When we are at the beach house, he earns extra money by clearing out the brush in front of the house.

He has an incredibly soft heart when it comes to his sisters. Both Journey and Willow cry for him, "Bubba!....Bubba!!!..." when they get in trouble. He always comes to their rescue and pleads for me to not punish them. It's so sweet. Man, I remember as a firstborn, I was happy when I saw my sister and brothers get in trouble, and certainly didn't come to their rescue!

One other story about him, because it brought tears to my eyes, and I want to remember it....  The other night I was out and Mark was holding the fort down.  He called me saying Willow was refusing to eat, what should he do?  Put her to bed hungry?  I just told him to try to find something she would eat, and that she would eventually eat if she was hungry. 

Later that night, when I got home, he was telling me how much he loved our kids, and how helpful Aspen had been while I was gone.  Apparently, when Willow refused to eat, Aspen took Willow in his lap and hand fed her.  As long as she was on his lap, she would eat!  Not only that, after dinner the kids went downstairs to watch a movie.  When Mark went down to check on them, he found Aspen and Willow cuddled up in a sleeping bag together watching the movie. 
OMGosh.  I could just melt.  Or cry.  I love my boy.  I never imagined how awesome it would be to have an older brother.

Journey is 4, and has arrived at the age of transitioning out of naps. She listens to Bible tapes most days, unless we have something extra going on where we are out late or she is fighting sickness and needs extra sleep. She is very close with Aspen, but the relationship between her and Willow is rough most of the time.

It's something I've been praying a lot about. While Willow can be pretty tough to get along with right now, and always seems to be destroying her creations or trying to take what she's playing with, Journey could definitely react with more love and less screaming :)

Ah, Willow. At 22 months, she is our sunshine and our thunder cloud, depending on the day and moment you catch her. She is extremely stubborn and ornery and often screams and throws fits to try to get her way. She is a challenge!

But as challenging as she is, she is also so much fun and so dang cute (why do you think we were ready to have another one?). She has the sweetest smile, and is so charming when she wants to be. She says "hi" to everyone we come across, and is talking so much.

A few things she is saying right now:

"I want to help!" - she's my kitchen helper every night

"I want to go!" - she HATES to be left behind or left out of anything the older kids are doing
"Look! A cow (bird, etc.)" - she points out things she sees as we are driving

"I want more"
"Why?" - she started the why's a couple months ago.  Isn't that supposed to be a 2 year old thing???

She can now say Journey's name, and it is the cutest thing. She "talks" a ton, but mostly those sentences are started with something we can understand, then lapsed into her own language spoken at a mile a minute. Aspen and Journey have especially loved teaching her "potty talk". Nothing funnier than hearing a baby say "poop, pee, butt" or any other kind of potty talk words :)

One other thing I have to say about her is her connection with her Papa's. None of the kids have had such a special connection to their Papa's as she does. Both of them are her favorite, and she loves "talking" to them and basking in their attention.

Soccer!

Aspen and Journey have both recently started their first outside activities. Journey has just started ballet (pics to come), and Aspen Spring soccer. Up until now, he has refused to try any sport, but apparently he has now played enough soccer on the playground at school to be confident enough to give a real team sport a try :)

He enjoyed the first practice (on a Monday night), but by the time Thursday came (game night), he wasn't wanting to go. Marissa and I convinced him that games were way more fun than practice, and off we went. As soon as we got to school, he was excited and took off with his friends.

It was so much fun watching him play, and I was surprised to see that he wasn't half bad! :) Journey was a great cheerleader for her "bubba", and thank God, we weren't rained on. I'm just not ready to be the hard-core sports parent that toughs it out through a downpour!