August Catch-Up | Part One

We started off August with a fun visit with some of our cousins from Oregon. My cousin-in-law Alysun's parents work at Black Lake Bible Camp and she and her kids were there visiting for the week. We got to participate in some of the perks they get to enjoy while there - mini-golf and playing in the spacious gym!

Second Cousins (minus my youngest and Alysun's youngest!)

I was several holes down playing with Abby (the only kid to really take the game seriously!), when I spotted these two several holes back, deep in conversation.

We had lots of fun races on the cool carts in the gym. It vaguely reminded me of Mario Kart. :)

The following week we ended up going down to Oregon and saw these cousins (and others!), but that is for a separate post.

The day after our trip to Oregon, we enjoyed having my nephew Aiden over for the weekend. I'd been a bit worried about how it would work out with him sleeping here for the first time, but he did wonderfully! No problems at all and slept great in the kids' shared room.

We enjoyed a Gardner family picnic at our park next door with the purpose being a good-bye to my nephews Donny and Ted who returned to Montana a few days later.

Abby and my niece Hannah

Ben learning to bat with Uncle Dave.

My brother and dad.

Kevin and Stephen got home later that night, after dark, but we still took some family pictures anyway. Here are the brothers: Stephen, Don, and Ted.

I only make Abby lie down for a nap a few times a week now. Once she has her own room, I will probably require her to have rest time every day in her own bed, reading or quietly doing something. For now, though, I allow her to assist me in housework while the boys sleep. She is quite slow at everything (mostly because she spaces out and gets distracted so easily!), but she is an eager learner and has finally reached the level where she is a true help to me. In the picture below, she folded all of Kevin's clothes he brought back from the boat and put them back into his bag for him. So sweet!

The kids love to make-believe play together. More often than not, it revolves around boats. In the picture below, the kids took a "boat ride" (in the pink chair and rocking chair on the left) to an "island" where they had a "picnic." They even had a map to help them find the island. (The food had been packed up by the front door for the guys to take back on the boat, but they high-jacked it for their own use.) I love watching them creatively play like this. :)

When Jake was quite young (probably around a year old), he frequently would grab a certain book of Kevin's bookshelf in his study. It was a commentary on the book of Acts. Over and over I would put it back, but soon he would inevitably go find it on the shelf again and bring it out. It had been some time since he'd gotten it out, but one evening he did and he took to it to Stephen and asked him to read it. Stephen obliged and actually read about a half-page before Jake got bored with it. I think that was the first time anyone had read part of it to him. :)

But what I found extra interesting was my realization that Jake had been drawn to that book because his favorite color is green! We typically give Abby the pink plate (or whatever item), Ben the blue on and Jake the green one. He LOVES green, but I never really knew if it was just because we pushed that color on him or if he genuinely loved it on his own accord. Well, I think this confirms it as I'm pretty sure it was the color of that book that first drew him to it - and that was before he could talk and before we started giving him all the green items!

My nephews stopped in for a hearty send-off breakfast on their way up to the Seattle airport. I was sad to see them go. We had some very good times this summer and I couldn't be more pleased to see them maturing and growing in their faith. They have had a difficult situation they have been forced to grow up in, but there is always hope with God and I was reminded of that this summer.

August Trip to Oregon and August Part Two coming soon!