Our Birthday Boy is off to Camp

It's been two weeks since Christian's 12th birthday. We were on our road trip at the time and even though we could not light the candles due to the breeze up on the mountain, we still celebrated. On this past Saturday, we made it official. Christian and a couple of his friends went to a shooting range to practice their marksmanship skills. A big hit with 12 year old boys, I guess!

And now he is off to a week at Firwood camp. We dropped him off yesterday, under beautiful sunny skies, quite a welcome contrast from last year, when we dropped him off under a monsoon. Here he comes out of the lake after his swim test. Quite a nice looking young man, I should say!

Here is a sample of the fun he will have this week.

Have a great time at camp, my dear son!

Snow Level

Our intention was to hike up Mt Pilchuck, but upon stopping at the ranger station, we learned that the snow level was still quite low. Search and Rescue had been called out last week due to lost hikers that became disoriented by the snow and fog. We were in no mood to meet the S&R crew, so we followed one of the ranger's suggestions and hiked up to lake Twenty Two, not sure why the name?

The kids were thrilled to play in the snow. As for me? The more it melts, the more hiking possibilities we will have!

The Rest of the Story

After a great time at Mt St. Helens, we headed to Astoria, OR, in order to visit some sites that Lewis and Clark explored over 200 years ago.We had studied their journey and became quite acquainted with their beloved Newfoundlander, 'Seaman'. I would recommend the book Seaman, by Gail Langer Karwoski, to anyone who would like to introduce their children to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Like Nolan said, with a dog around, it just makes the story sound happier. Ethan even found a Seaman in the gift shop that he was able to take home.

As you can see, the boys got right into the atmosphere surrounding the fort. Nolan got a leather pouch that he sewed and where he now keeps his treasures. We continued to head South and stopped at Cannon Beach. We took in some breathtaking views and some good ol' Mo's clam chowder.

Our tent was pitched at Cape Lookout State park with the intention of staying there for two nights. We woke up the next morning with a constant misty rain and occasional stronger showers. After a unanimous vote, we decided to pack up and head home. Christian put it this way: " I don't mean to be a wimp, if it was our first night camping I would tough it out, but now, at the end of our trip, I'm ready to go home." Amen! It was good to get back to our own bed after 7 nights on the road!

In Route

From Leavenworth we went to Yakima and visited our friends, the DeVores. Not enough time to catch up on the last three years that have past since we saw them last, but it was great to see them again. The next morning we headed back west.

Next Stop

I thought it was amazing how Mt St Helens erupted and made a giant hole in the mountain. I saw dead trees that were blown away from the blast.

Nolan is picking up a giant rock that is light, because it's lava!

We are walking on ash and mud that came from St Helens.

(mud flow on the Toutle river)

We also explored a lava cave, here we are standing under "the meatball".

We stayed at a yurt, it was comfy and did not feel like camping, it felt like a really small home. By Ethan Buhler (a man of few words)! This was a truly unique educational experience and we are still in awe of the force of nature. Again, we saw first hand what a powerful and wonderful Creator we have!

Road Trip

We just got back from a 1300 mile road trip around our state and the coast of Oregon. It was fantastic! Amazing how diverse our state is!! I assigned each of the boys to write about a part of the trip. Christian got his done quickly before he headed out on a mission trip today. So here goes part one.

Our first stop on our road trip was Leavenworth, for me to camp with my Boy Scouts, and the rest of my family with the cub scouts. I was signed up to make breakfast for two other scouts, but the best thing we did was river rafting on the Wenatchee River, on class three rapids. Some of the names for the rapids we did sounded kind of intimidating, like Satan's Eyeball, and Drunkard's Drop, but my raft made it through all them without capsizing, or falling off. The only time I went in the water was when we were allowed to goof around on calm water. I was really nervous before we started, but at the end I wanted to do it again, it was more thrilling than a roller coaster! Christian

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Have You Had Your Daily Oatmeal?

We certainly have. Not to long ago, when you asked Ethan what he wanted for breakfast, he would tell you "eatmol". He has grown, learned to pronounce the word and lost his two front teeth, but his favorite breakfast food is still oatmeal. His brothers are not to far behind, Nolan can woof down 3 bowls in the morning. I grew tired of filling those flimsy little plastic bags at the bulk food section, we are buying 50# bags now. When my mom saw this huge bag in our basement she thought it was some kind of garden fertilizer. Well, it sure could pass as a "boy fertilizer"!

Scenic Route

This is what we saw today on the side of the road as we left our house in route to Taekwondo. Deer are a common sighting around here, but in Spring we get an extra treat when the little fawns follow their moms around the neighborhood. Even my "boyish boys" uhed and ohed!

Double Snap Kick

Time for Taekwondo testing! This time all three boys tested for their next belt level. Ethan had his first test and he did awesome, he his now a yellow belt. After watching his brothers for the past 3 years, it was almost second nature for him. Nolan already looks and kicks like a black belt, he too has watched his brother for a while. Christian now is a level 3, 1st degree belt (yes, there are many more levels yet).

If I could have half of their flexibility !!

Another board for kindling

Our Scouts

Yesterday was the "crossover" at our cub scouts meeting. Ethan is now a Wolf, Nolan is a Webelo and Christian is our newest boyscout, he just joined a couple weeks ago. I know I'm biased, but don't they look handsome in their uniforms?

All I Want For My Birthday . . .

. . . is to lose my two front teeth

Yep! Ethan lost two teeth on his 7th birthday. They were knocked a little loose last week on a monkey bar incident, but were still hanging in there. As we were having dinner; fajitas, as requested by the birthday boy; we had just mentioned how at any time Ethan would lose those teeth, they were just hanging by a thread. Nolan pipes up all excited " the tooth, the tooth, it fell." The reason Nolan was all worked up is that Ethan was about to take a bite of his tortilla, with his tooth lying on it, completely camouflaged! We had some good laughs! It not take long for the other tooth to follow.

I just love bedheads!

A new gift has to tried out right away.

It's great to be seven!

Happy Birthday My Son

You are a delight, a real blessing and a gift from God to our family. We love you all the way to Pluto and back, and all way to Pluto and back again, and . . . on it goes, never ending! (It's an inside joke).

Now that Ethan is turning seven, he wanted a tree house sleepover with no adults around. He is a big boy after all! This restricted his guest list quite a bit due to the size of the tree house, but he was still able to have his two best friends over, Noah and Jack. His brother Nolan had a space in the tree house too, as an older guy to count on in case of trouble!

The party started with a serious, soaking water gun fight!

After they changed in to some dry clothes, had dinner and cake, they just crashed in their sleeping bags!

Yeah right! You can't fool us! That smile and that thumb in the mouth gives you guys away, you are a long ways from falling asleep! The next morning, after sleeping in to 6:30am, with their batteries recharged, they were ready for more.

Later that afternoon, as I peeked in the room, Ethan was asleep on the floor with Legos all around him. Birthday parties are hard work!

Lunch is Served

I'm just so excited with my first harvest of our little garden! All the greens in this salad came from our backyard. I have never been a gardener, much less a lover of gardening, but I have to say that this is fun (and healthy).

Clothes Line

OK, it isn't a line, it's a deck rail, but during the summer it becomes a clothes line for all of our towels and swimsuits. I'm just delighted to have all of this color and haphazard trunks thrown on it. I LOVE SUMMER! I love the sun, the heat and I even love a yard with with water guns left all over the it! Yes, it was hard to focus on schoolwork. At the same time it was a good incentive to concentrate and be efficient on our work in order to be able to take it . . .

. . . OUTSIDE!!

This was also a week where we were able to visit with our cousins and be amazed at how much the little ones have grown. One can really tell how time passes when you see the milestones these little ones accomplished while we were gone. The boys were amazed that Levi was walking already. The last time we saw he wasn't even crawling! I think that was the first time they realized how much time we really were gone!

Good think he is still young enough for some good cuddling and a bottle! Adrianna has also grown so much and is now sitting all by herself. The boys not only enjoyed playing with her but also with all of those "cool" baby toys, there is certainly not one of those left in our house.

And Nolan summoned it up pretty well.

"Her eyes are such sharp blue!" I agree!