Backpacking Trip

In mid-August, Elvin took some of the kids on a backpacking trip.  It consisted of a hike along a creek in the Gifford Pinchot Forest.  The weather was great and the scenery was beautiful.

Elvin went with three other dads from our church and between all the families, had nine kids in tow!

We stopped at various times along the way to wade in the water, which the kids love doing.

Gabe found a tree that has a plant growing out of it, with long thick roots enveloping the tree.  Of course, he tried to climb it.

After we set up camp about a mile and a half in, we ditched our packs and explored some more.

The water was very clear and we found a deep pool to fish out of.

Elvin caught a couple of tiny little trout in them.

Meanwhile, Gabe went off wading in the knee high water.

Soon it was dinner time.  Dehydrated mashed potatoes were on the menu.

Being on the mountain makes everything taste better.  Karina is our kid that mosquitos love to bite.  So she kept on a mosquito net but lifted it up to take bites of the mashed potato.  The kids also had beef jerky and cup-o-noodles.

For dessert, we built a fire (which kept the mosquitos away) and had s'mores.

The kids had lots of fun.  They collected a ton of ferns and moss and built a huge pile of them.

We spent only one night out there and then hiked back out the next day.  Everyone had lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Eliana!

Eliana's birthday was in July and now she's eleven years old!  She wanted an ice cream cake for her cake and here it is!

Blow!

She got several presents.  One was a little stuffed animal that Karina bought for her.  The kids have their own money that they get from allowances or that they save from Christmases or other birthdays.  And now they buy presents for each other.  (It is heartwarming and a relief as parents to see them being kind and generous to each other.)

Eliana also asked for and got a (knock-off) Fitbit.  She likes being able to tell the time and also see how many steps she has taken at the end of the day.

Another gift she wanted was a knife to whittle wood with.  So we got her a knife from Opinel and also several lectures about knife safety.  And she then spent several hours on the porch whittling sticks.

And the last thing she wanted was a new nightstand which she picked out.  And she also enjoyed putting it together herself.  The only part she needed help on was screwing some screws super tightly.  Otherwise, she did it all by herself.

Instead of having a birthday party, she opted to have a smaller shindig with just a couple of friends.  She wanted to go to a fancy restaurant and picked one called Hammond, which serves really good waffles and pizza as well.  And that's what they had!

She also went to a salon to get a pedicure done.  What a treat!

And then the girls went to Cold Stones to eat dessert and open presents. 

We hope you had a good birthday, Eliana!

Schools’ done!

In an attempt to catch up on events that have happened in the past several months...

Back in June, we realized that summer was creeping up on us when the artichokes started to come in. Besides the strawberries, they are one of the first summer things we can harvest!

Xiao Yu completed his time at pre-school, St. Andrew's.  His two teachers were wonderful and marvelous.  This year he made tons of progress on his letters and numbers, thanks to the teachers' dillegent work with him.  Xiao Yu will be attending kindergarten at our public school this fall.

Gabe graduated from his kindergarten class.  He really enjoyed going to class every week, because his little friends were in the same class.  There was a full on graduation ceremony and he tolerated wearing the cap (much to our surprise.)

There was a little reception afterwards with lots of treats.

Outside the church that holds his kindergarten, there are these stairs.  Gabe went down these handrails every time he was picked up from school.  So here is the last time he'll be sliding down these!

Eliana's class finished out their school year with a presentation for the parents.  All the parents were invited to see various projects that the students had created.  Eliana and a friend of hers were the MCs for the presentation and did a wonderful job explaining to the parents what was going on.  She is quite a good public speaker.

The kids also participated in Awanas again this year, and that drew to a close.  Each kid went on stage to receive their certificate.  This was Gabe's first year doing Awanas.  Because he usually refuses to talk to strangers, he has always before refused to participate.  But on a bring-a-friend night, Karina brought Gabe as her "friend".  The teacher was super nice to him and he ended up liking the experience and joined the group for the rest of the year.  One of the main purposes of Awana is for kids to learn more about the Bible, and to memorize Bible verses.  Gabriel is very good at memorizing, but he wasn't willing to recite the verses at club.  So, we videoed him each week reciting his verses, and emailed them in.  A bit of a compromise, but this was a major milestone for him, attending every week.

Here is Karina with her certificate.  Also she got a plaque for memorizing so many Bible verses.

Eliana got a trophy for memorizing Bible verses as well.

And that started our summer!

Haircut!

Karina has been growing out her hair for basically her whole life.  With the exception of trimming off a couple of inches now and then, she has never had it cut and it was down quite a bit past her waist.

As a result, it tangled easily and needed to be braided every morning.

She then decided she wanted it cut.  Also she wanted to donate her hair to an organization that made wigs for kids who needed to wear them because of medical reasons.  So a couple months ago, she got it chopped off!

It is now nice and short, and much easier to maintain!  

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

This year, Gabe turned 7!  We can't believe it either.  Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai were in town and they brought Elvin's aunt and uncle, who happened to be visiting the U.S. from Brazil.  So on Gabe's birthday we celebrated together.

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, Gabe instead wanted brownies.

And then it was time to open presents.

Eliana has started buying presents for her siblings using her own money.  This year she bought a book called "Jokes for 7 year olds."  It was a big hit and Gabe has memorized every joke in it.

His favorite joke is:  Why should you NOT sharpen a broken pencil?

Answer: Because it's pointless!

Gabe is still into stuffed animals and now sleeps every night with this stuffed animal platypus that Karina bought him.

He has outgrown his bike and so off to Walmart we went to purchase a new one.  He chose this green one.

Karina made it clear which one she would want if it were her birthday...

Here is Gabe taking it out for a spin...

Gabe also had a party with his friends.  Karina helped make the cupcakes.  You may notice in the picture brown smudges on Gabes face. This is because he found cocoa powder on the counter and smeared it all over.

Gabe wanted a soccer themed party.  So we did it at an elementary school and set up a soccer field for him to play at.

We served Gatorade in keeping with the sports theme.

And the kids beat up a soccer ball shaped piñata.

After several whacks, the candy spilled out.  Then the kids descended on the piñata like a pack of wolves to tear it apart by hand.

Gabe blew out the candles on his green and blue icing covered cupcakes.

Here are the friends he invited.

And here are the friends he invited acting silly and crazy!

Congrats, Gabe, on another birthday!!!