Our private pool (sort of)

One of the days on our vacation, we were supposed to hang out with my friend Lonni and her boys while Derek worked in Spokane. Unfortunately, one of her kids got sick during the night and we weren't able to get together. At first, this was going to be a problem, because we didn't think we could check into our next hotel until the afternoon. However, the hotel let us check in at 9:30am, which means we had the whole day to spend by the pool. So we ran over to Walmart, got some water toys, and set up camp in the pool area. We were the only ones there all day (until the later afternoon) which was very helpful since I was keeping track of all three kids by myself. It is so nice that Symantha and Hailey are swimming now, although there is still a whole lot of "Mom, watch this!" or "Catch me, Mom!" going on. I managed to keep them all alive, and we had a blast.

Symantha was particularly helpful with Addison, as she often is.

Jumping in is always a huge hit.

Over and over again.

A tale of two rides... and a bunch of others

We spent a great day at Silverwood Theme Park while on our vacation. The weather was great, the lines weren't long and a we rented a perfect double stroller with canopy to give little legs a break now and then. We pretty much closed the park down, with hardly any meltdowns all day.

The water park was definitely more difficult than the ride side, because Addison still doesn't do much in the water, while the girls want to do it all. Plus, there were lots more people there because of the heat. I have no pictures of that part because of the craziness, but we did the lazy river, the wave pool and some slides. Cooled us off nicely.

Addison wasn't so sure about the rides at first, so she sat the first one out. About 30 seconds into it, she wanted on, of course. She didn't make that mistake again!

So, we started doing all the various little kid rides. Fun, fun.

But the big girls thought they were ready for more excitement.

I love roller coasters and wanted to go on some of the bigger ones. Symantha was a little nervous about the idea, but Hailey was all for it. We watched one of the bigger wooden roller coasters for a bit and Hailey was ready. Hailey said she would ride it and let Symantha know if she would like it. Hailey was so excited, but I knew she had no idea what she was getting herself into. The coaster went slowly up the big hill, as all roller coasters do at the beginning. Then we hit the top and the very steep and very fast part. Her face showed sheer panic and shock for the first few seconds, and I was a little worried! But soon she started screaming along with everyone else, and then she yells to me, "SYMANTHA WILL NOT LIKE THIS!!" I was cracking up, and Hailey continued to scream and giggle. At the end, she said it was "totally awesome" and she wanted to do it again. That is my adventurous one.

Unfortunately I have no picture of Hailey and I going on the roller coaster, because it was kind of hidden in trees. 

 

After assuring Symantha she would not like that, Symantha really wanted to do her own adventurous ride. We came to the "Panic Plunge" and watched some people get dropped from a very high tower.

This was always one of my scariest rides, but Symantha thought she could do it. Derek agreed to take her on it, thinking she would be ok because it is a pretty quick drop.  They cheerfully hopped on (Symantha is on Derek's left), and according to Derek, loved the whole ride up.

He told her to look at his eyes when they hit the top, and then the big drop hit.

It was all over in a second, but as the ride released them I heard a very loud wailing begin.

Symantha was not quite as brave as she thought. I didn't want to take a picture of her full on crying, since she has become a little sensitive to that, but I snuck this one.

 And Derek admitted he had forgotten how intense it was. 

Hope we haven't scarred her in some way!

 Later, when she could get a little perspective on the whole thing and look at the pictures, she felt a little more proud for doing it. 

After this one, we headed back over to the flying elephants. 

Later, while having dinner at the park, Symantha lost another tooth (which she is trying to show here)...

And although it was around 9pm, Addi was still smiling... or pretending to be sad for fun. I asked her to show me a sad face, and this was what she did.

It was a great day.

Our eight-year-old girl

Nine years ago, we were at a point where we were wondering if we would ever have children. We had been trying for 9 months with no success and were starting to have tests run and doctor appointments. I remember the awful unknown feeling, wondering if I would ever know what it would be like to be pregnant and have a child of our own. I had prayed and prayed, and finally came to the point where I was accepting that my plans may not be God's plans. Right when the doctor's reports were not looking good, I found out I was pregnant. How amazingly blessed we felt! I know that many others have been through so many more struggles with infertility or miscarriages, and that I only had a little taste of that. But I have to say that nothing in my life has built my faith more, because I absolutely had no control and I was able to see how God was in complete control. That is true, whether he had blessed us with children or not. The work he did in me during that time was invaluable, and I am so thankful for the lessons I learned and the comfort and peace that I know only he could have provided.

That being said, how grateful I am that he blessed us with our first little girl! I can't believe Symantha is 8. I say that with every age, and she seems to be growing up faster and faster.

First birthday

Second birthday

Third birthday

Fourth birthday

Fifth birthday

Sixth birthday

Seventh birthday

Eighth birthday

Symantha at 8

Animated

Bright eyes

Cheerful and easily excited

Sometimes too loud

Scheming, always making a plan or having big, crazy ideas

Creative

Dramatic - Super highs and super lows

Very talkative

Lost in books

Loves Jesus and wants other to also

Good vocabulary

Social butterfly, social planner - always wants to get together with or call friends

Active, loves to go

Deep thinker, questions many things

Caretaker - awesome with Addison and loves little kids

Can be stubborn, argumentative (like her Daddy)

Sensitive, gets her feelings hurt easily by friends. Wants to be friends with everyone

Makes her Daddy and Mommy very proud

Spoiled by Aunt Karen

We were able to visit my aunt while we were in Spokane, and she planned a whirlwind day of fun for us. The girls had been missing Aunt Karen and it was great to do all these fun things with her.

First stop, McDonalds. Then on to the mayor's office. Who was out of the office, but the girls still got to sit in her desk.

Then, on to Riverfront park. Took a relaxing little train ride and had some snowcones.

Of course we had to do the carousel, and reach for the rings. Hailey couldn't reach and didn't even try, but Symantha did.

Then, slide down the red wagon. It was pretty hot at this point.

We were going to go in the gondolas but they were registering at 100 degrees inside, and it did not sound so fun. So instead we hit the fountain area.

Then on to our personal tour of a very cool fire station by the nicest fireman ever. He took us all over the station, gave the girls candy from their personal stash, and even put on all his gear for them.

Addison just looked at this picture and said, "See, I got scared." She liked him much more before he put the noisy, scary mask on. But the big girls loved the whole thing.

After all this excitement, Aunt Karen took us to a book store for our last stop and let each of the girls pick out a book.

Thanks for a great day, Aunt Karen!

We love you.

Feeling a little overwhelmed

Just got back from vacation on Saturday, and we had such a great time. I have hundreds of pictures that I love and I am sitting here staring at them, feeling completely overwhelmed. Plus, we had Symantha's birthday party today, so I have added another 150 pictures that I love. I seriously love taking pictures and love looking at them and love editing them and love blogging about them and love thinking of one day scrapbooking them.... there is a lot of love here. However, I do NOT love feeling overwhelmed by them. So I am just going to post a few of my favorites for now, and leave it at that. There will be more to come, when I am more ambitious and not overwhelmed, and it is not VBS week and I am not celebrating birthdays. I will also then stop writing run-on sentences. But for now, this is it.

Hope your summer is overwhelming you, as well!