A-Camping We Will Go...

High ho the dairy-oh, a-camping we will go.

The girls are both finally at the age where tent camping sounded like it could actually be fun. I did a bit of research and found Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, and it seemed to have all the requirements we had as a family...1. BIG trees - per Aubrey 2. running water and showers- per mommy 3. hiking trails- per daddy. We also had been talking with Uncle Gibby about visiting his house and the aquarium in Monterrey, so considering the campgrounds were less than an hour away, we decided this would be the perfect destination.

Aubrey wanted to do a project one day after we got home, so I printed out some "school journal paper" for her, and she journaled about out trip. I'll let her do most of the blogging for our trip...I'll translate (I made her phonetically spell the pages of her journal and I just helped her with the cover), and I'll add a few details and pictures. :)

I'd like you to notice Juliet on Justin's shoulders. I think I heard "hold you me" a million times while we were on the trip. Poor girl was all stuffed up and had a bit of a cold...not to mention the lack of sleeping schedule. Aubrey didn't like the yellow on yellow paper for her hair, so apparently she went for pink. :) Oh, and notice the tent in front...ours is slightly larger than that, thank goodness!

Page 1: "First we drived to our campsite, and we had fun."

I love the perspective in this picture. Look how far up front we look. :)

 Page 2: "Then we setted our campsite up."

 Things Aubrey pointed out to me in this picture: She gave herself some brown hair at the top of her head because some kids in her class said she had some brown hair up top. She's also carrying the red chair toward the fire pit (on the right side). You can see the grill from the fire pit is folded back. Love this girl's attention to detail...the zipper, the rainbow frame. :)

Here are some real pictures of our campsite action:

Page 3: "Now we went on a hike, and we had lots of fun, and we had a good time."

 She said she made the trees with no tops because we couldn't see the tops! I also love what looks like poison oak next to the trail. She was quite concerned about the poison oak.

Some other pictures of our hike:

Those are certainly some GIANT redwoods! I love the picture of Aubrey looking up. And this is Juliet inside of a burnt out tree. You could fit like 10 of her in there! 

The next picture was the reality of our "hikes"...a kid that needs to hike up her pants, and both girls riding on our shoulders. :) They really did enjoy camping, but I'm not sure they are quite at the hiking phase yet.

Page 4: "Now we went with Gibby (Uncle Jacob) to the aquarium."

 This really was the highlight of both girls' trip! They LOVE their Uncle Jacob (Gibby) and were so excited to see him. I love the tank with sea horses.

Here are some pictures of the aquarium (I am so upset with myself because I didn't get a single picture of the girls with their uncle :((( ):

This is in the little kid area where the kids can go back in a secret tunnel only they can fit in.

 Their very own psychedelic jelly fish made from their images:

  Mermaids lounging:

After the aquarium, we got to visit Jacob's job which is right on Cannery Row! We also went to his little house which is one block from Dennis the Menace park (we went there before the aquarium). From his house, we took a little stroll to the beach...a couple blocks away. I don't think his house could be in a more prime location in Monterrey. To say the girls were exhausted at the end of the day would be an understatement! A good kind of exhausted.

  Page 5: "Now we are going to ride the train."

  I like the little engineer in the very front of the train. :) Also, Aubrey noted that there are other passengers riding the train with us in this picture, just like in real life.

 Roaring Camp was literally a five minute drive from our campsite. After we packed it all up on the last day, we headed over for a little steam engine ride up into the giant redwoods. We were also hoping to pan for gold, but because it was a weekday, that was closed. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! We at lunch on the train and got ice cream at the snack shack afterwards. The perfect ending to a great vacation.

 At the pit stop up in the redwoods:

 The exhaustion finally caught up to her:

I'll leave you with some tree climbing/jumping shots we took while Justin was packing up camp. We were all getting to that whiny/over it point, so we had to get out of the way!

 So thankful to have these girls! Thankful that we are the ones who get raise them and help to make their future memories!

The Big D- Feb. 2012

Aubrey was the only one left with a valid annual pass for Disneyland, so we bought the so-cal 2 day passes, and used Aubrey's pass one last time. I think this was Juliet's first trip to Disneyland where she was old enough to understand where we were and what we were doing. We had a blast! Some of the highlights:

~We met up with two of nearest and dearest friend-families...Julie's crew and Carrie's crew (both need to blog again!)

~We celebrated Reagan's 4th birthday with a Bibbity-Boppity-Boutique Spa Day for her and Aubrey!

~Justin took Juliet to see the characters while the big girls were getting all princessed-out.

~Splash mountain with all the tall enough cousins (while the littlest cousin took a much needed nap).

~Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is always a favorite.

A glimpse at all the fun:

Jesus Loves Me

Any guesses on which one will be the class clown?

Daddy's Girls

Justin made dinner reservations for our local Chick-fil-a's daddy/daughter date night tonight. The girls changed into some spring-y dresses for their date night. They were excited to be on a special date with their daddy.

They had a sweet (no flame) candle lit dinner with flowers and hand-written seating cards. They got a special Chick-fil-a cow stuffed animal and enjoyed a chocolate fountain.

But the icing on the cake was the horse drawn Cinderella carriage ride! They felt like real princesses!

(Sorry about the terrible cell phone pictures. Justin wanted the little point and shoot camera, but we couldn't find it.)

What I Needed

Have you ever been looking for your sunglasses everywhere...I mean, where in the world could you have put them? They must be somewhere! Only to realize 10 minutes later that they're still securely sitting atop your head?

Sometimes I feel like that's a great illustration of the Christian walk. God is always with us...ready to protect us, to help us see, but we often are frantically searching EVERYWHERE else, instead of looking right were He is.

My sunglasses had been lost for a while.

I mean, I knew I needed God. I wanted to live my life for Him. I was looking everywhere trying to find Him, but I wasn't finding what I was looking for because really I needed to be looking in a mirror.  The Holy Spirit lives in me, and I needed to be listening to his prompting. He was telling me what I needed. Who I needed. Him.

²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:26

I knew I needed to spend more time in God's word. I knew I needed to find a community of believers where I could learn, and feel accepted, and not worry about keeping up with this, that, or the other thing. And yet, time and again, I would talk myself out of it. "I have limited time because I work, and I help in Aubrey's classroom, and I have MyGym with Juliet, and I have to get clothes ready/chores done so we all survive my work days....there's no way I can keep up with the homework of a Bible study, I don't know enough about the Bible, I don't really fit in with that group of people, etc, etc".

Satan was attacking!

But the Holy Spirit was louder. "You need to figure SOMETHING out. You NEED God. You need My Word! I WILL MAKE IT WORK!"

And He did. I started going to a Community Bible Study out in Shafter. It just so happens to be on the one free day I have each week. It has childcare, and it's been such a blessing. I have mainly older ladies in my core group (I'm talking 60+ yrs old). And I love them. I love their wisdom, their compassion, their hospitality. I love the younger ladies too, but there's just something about old people that I love. I love studying the word of God! I've learned so much! It just so happens that what we were studying goes along with the series we were studying at church. It also corresponds with 6th grade ancient history. And the puzzle pieces are starting to fit...to make sense. (I've always said I'm a "baby Christian" because I didn't grow up studying the Bible so I lack background). God speaks to me through the Holy Spirit and His Word EVERY SINGLE WEEK. He knew just what I needed, all I needed to do was look in the obvious spot, His word.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

If you are feeling like there is something missing in your life...like you need something, get plugged into a Bible study with a community of believers. You won't regret it!