Site seeing after a fun night of camping.

Last weekend we went camping as a family. It was so enjoyable to be together in the outdoors relaxing and spending time with each other. We arrived and set up camp, then had tofu dogs roasted over a fire.

After dinner we roasted marshmallows and made some smores. Alia discovered that she likes lighting her marshmallow on fire and then blowing it out. Madelyn was so cautious around the fire that she couldn't get close enough to roast her marshmallow.
I realize there's some irony here - I get tofu dogs to be healthy and then we eat marshmallows and smores, hmmm...oh well roasted marshmallows are a necessity for camping in my opinion.

We had such a fun time at our campsite, unfortunately we didn't take time to take some pictures of the campsite.
We did get some pictures the next day though of our time visiting Deception Pass in WA.

The girls and me by the bridge at Deception pass.
This bridge connects Whidbey Island with the mainland.

Deception pass bridge.

We got to walk along the top of this bridge later. It's a looooong way down. I realized that while I don't have a fear of heights, my stress level rose drastically being on the top looking down with three young children wanting to look over the edge. Luckily no one tried climbing the short railing fence to get a better view.

Ashlie on the beach with her "stick family".

Alia and Madelyn had fun climbing on all the driftwood and driftwood structures some other people had built.

All tuckered out on the way home.

Aaron always does such a good job of taking pictures on our outings. Here is one he took that I really liked.

We also went to the Breazeale Interpretive Center at Padilla Bay that had information all about estuaries and the plant and animal life in an estuary. My girls now can tell you that an estuary is a place that has these three things:

1. Freshwater source such as a river flowing into it.
2. Semi-enclosed coastal water source.
3. Open access to the ocean.

This place had one aquarium with some sea creatures. (We were told that next year they will have a lot more aquariums). We got to see a pipe fish and an eel along with other sea animals. It was pretty neat. There was also an area about the local birds. One section had some bird sounds recorded that would play when you pushed a button. My girls liked hearing what a bald eagle sounded like. They are really fascinated with Bald Eagles lately. It was a fun and informative place to visit.

Little Farmers and Jr. Horsemanship

This last week Ashlie, Madelyn and Alia all learned about taking care of farm animals at their Little Farmers and Jr. Horsemanship classes. Ashlie's class was one day for one hour and was a "mom and me" class. Madelyn's was a couple hours a day for three days "Little Farmer" class. Alia's class was a two hour a day for two days Jr. Horsemanship class. During each of the lessons I would play at the park with the other two girls.

All of these classes were done at one of our favorite park's small "hands on" farm. This park also has tons of playground equipment and even a water "splash park". The park also has an indoor pool on the property which is where the girls took their swimming lessons.

Little Farmer Ashlie

Ashlie got to feed chickens and ducks. She got to learn about and pet the goats, cows, bunnies and horses. She also got to see the pigs and ducks.

After her class, Ashlie and I walked around the farm for awhile. Ashlie found this goat in one of the barns. For about 5 mins she gathered up bits of straw from the ground and piled it up for this goat to eat. The goat eventually just layed down and munched away at it. I think it appreciated the "lunch service".
All my girls loved this little lamb on the farm named Lizzy. They would look for her each day when they were at the farm.

Little Farmer Madelyn
Madelyn got to learn more in depth about each of the farm animals in her classes. She also got to make up a goats pen with fresh bedding. On her last day of class she got to learn about general horse grooming and then got to help groom and ride one of the horses.

Helping brush the horse named Summer.
Helping carry the saddle blanket
Riding the horse named Sabrina.

Alia's Jr. Horsemanship class taught them all about the basics of horse care and grooming. Alia had a lot of good questions for her teachers and had a really enjoyable time being with and riding the horses. After her class her teacher told us he thought she did really well and that he thought she did the best in the class.

Cleaning out the horses hoof. (This picture makes it look like she is in back of the hooves, but she really was to the side. )
Riding the stallion named Fire.
Alia's teacher told her that in order to pass the class she had to get the horse to ride in and out of these poles without touching them. Alia is proud to say she did it and passed the class.
Madelyn and Ashlie were very patient during Alia's class since we had to just watch for awhile so I could get some good pictures. Madelyn was occupying herself with something for a little while and then said "look mom I made my name out of bark". Sure enough there was her name...

Playing at the splash park after class one day.

This is about as much water action as Ashlie wanted - splashing in a puddle. She wasn't too keen on the idea of getting sprayed with cold water.

Oh what fun...

What do our girls do for fun when their mom is busy cleaning the house? Play in the bathtub with waterballoons of course!

Alia's baptism

Alia was recently baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

She was well prepared for this baptism day. At her baptism interview with the Bishop she recited her favorite Article of Faith - the 13th.

It was a wonderful day with a sweet spirit.

The Birthdays

Alia and Ashlie celebrated their birthdays recently. Alia's came first. She woke up the morning of her birthday to find that mom had deceorated her bed while she was sleeping. (Good thing my girls sleep really deep, because they didn't even wake up with all my noise and climbing on the bed.)

Ashlie woke up the next to find her bed all decorated for her birthday too.
For the birthday dinner, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Ashlie especially liked having the waiters and waitresses sing "Happy Birthday" to her and Alia. My girls love admiring all the fancy light fixtures that the restaurant had.