Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Kindergarten!

Mesha started Kindergarten today!

She has been waiting for this day and was very excited to go.  I, on the other hand, am having panic attacks.  I'm not ready to send my baby girl off into the world.  But ready or not, off to school she goes.

I already miss her and Griffin has asked several times where she is.  Hopefully she isn't missing us quite as much.  I sure love this big girl of mine.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Handsome

Sterling:-"Griffin, how old are you?"

Griffin- "Handsome."

True.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Vacation Part 3: Oregon

We had a our first ever Rodney and Linda Schvaneveldt family reunion.  We rented a big house in Bandon, Oregon for the occasion.  It was completely crazy and so much fun.

At Kara's house we had a sister pow wow that got crashed by all the kids.

In Coos Bay we went to a lake with a big sand dune.  I almost died walking up the thing.  I guess I need to exercise more.
Wouldn't be the beach without digging a hole.
Ten bucks if you can tell me what this is. OK I'll tell you.  It's Griffin hiding from the wind under his towel.  Silly boy.
Me and my big little girl.

Down in Bandon we went to Face Rock.  We had to venture through a little sea cave to get to this spot.  Mesha LOVED it.
Fun with cousins and Uncle Chad.
A sea star!
The sea cave entrance.

The famous Face Rock.

We took family pictures at the lighthouse.
The whole group, all 25 of us (and counting...).
The Smith division.
The original 9.
Grandma, Grandpa, and all the grandchildren.
The grandsons.
The granddaughters.
When you got to pee, you got to pee.

Geo caching.

Uncle Matt took the kids out on his boat for a ride.


We did a lot of crabbing.  I under dressed Anya one evening so her Daddy stepped up to help her out.
Everyone out on the crabbing docks.

While the men went golfing on my Ggrandpa's course the women and children hit up a couple fun spots.

We saw sea lions.
Walked around the botanical gardens.
We took a hike to some WWII bunkers.  Griffin liked the Griffin-door, "Griffindor!"

We had a bonfire on the beach.


During the reunion we celebrated Anya's first birthday!


My big one year old.




We went to the Wild Game Park.  It is like a zoo but smaller and more up close to the animals.
Mesha is wearing the sweatshirt I got in Bandon when I was about her age.
Petting a baby bobcat.  It loved our stroller.

This makes me smile.

One more beach day.  I got to bury Sterling but didn't get any pictures of it.

Mesha is a crab expert now.  She can tell you which ones are girls and which are boys.
My purple sisters.
This is what happens when you miss a critical nap.

I can't describe fully what a great time we had.  As much as we like our adventures on the east coast it is hard to be so far from family for such long stretches.  I am so blessed to have such a great family, both blood and in law.  Thank you for everyone who put us up, helps us out, and let us borrow your stuff!  Thank you to those who came to Spokane specifically for us, I'm touched.  Thank you to my mom and dad for such a fun reunion, my kids (and myself) are still talking about it.  I love my family!!