Labor Day weekend

 For our Labor Day weekend we took off and headed for the Oregon Coast! Like everything we do, we had no idea where we were headed. The only thing we knew was that all campsites we found on the internet were FULL! We allowed the Lord to lead the way and prayed he would bring us to a campsite near the ocean.

 Like always, God delivered!! We ended up in an RV park in the heart of Tillamook, OR and only 5-10mins from the beach. We were thrilled. With soft grass all around we had no issues finding a good site for our tent. We set up and Dave started a warm fire while the boys played with our new neighbor's children. Finding kiddos for our kiddos to play with is always a plus in our book!

 The bugs were little to none while out in Tillamook, which surprised me because of the stink of the town. Hee!hee!
When I made a comment about the stench my friend said "Well, Cheese is made from Dairy, Dairy is made from Cows and cows POO!" HA!HA! I guess we did decided to stay in the Tillamook!!

 Coming from Yakima's 90 degree weather we were a little chilly, but welcomed pants and sweatshirts and it made the warmth of the fire that much more pleasant.

 By the way, Tillamook cheese is by far my favorite cheese and I was so excited to know that I could go to the factory and see my cheese. Each herd of cows I saw, I told the boys. . . "Look, those cows made the cheese you eat" I think they thought that was pretty cool!

 Cheese!!

 

ICE CREAM

 Tillamook not only excels in Cheese making, but also in ICE CREAM!! It was so yummy!

I love ice cream and I love cheese I was in Heaven!

 After a few hours sampling cheese and eating ice cream we headed for the beach! The weather warmed up nicely and we were able to hang out in shorts. It was a little hazy due to the forest fires in that area.

 The boys made the best of their time on the beach building sand castles and making sand angles.

 I forgot baby's sun hat to I improvised with an outfit and a hair tie resulting in a little pirate! :)

 TIP FOR THE DAY: A little baby powder rubbed all over hands and feet removes sand making it easy to put shoes back on after a day on the beach. 

 The hike out of the beach made up for the ice cream and cheese we ate earlier!

 Benn and I ran down to see the light house on Cape Meares and ran back up to the van, once again making up for all the ice cream.

  I love going on long drives with my family the talks that Dave and I have are rich and full, the giggles from the back seat are sweet and we love listening to Benn read to all of us. He has started to use emotions in his reading, giving each character a voice/tone. I look forward to the next long drive we take.  On our drive back to Yakima, we stopped at the Visita House off the Historic Oregon 30 route.

 Standing on the Balcony of the Vista House

It was refreshing to get up and out of town for a while and enjoy the outdoors!

Friends come to Yakima!

It is always a good time when great friends come to visit!! Our friends who are moving across country took time to visit us here in Yakima! We were all excited to have them in our home and oh boy did we have fun!! Dinner at Second Street Grill was a wonderful way to start our time together. Good food paired with a yummy local brews is always a fun way to spend time with friends. 

Breakfast time!

Caleb and Hunter had a love hate relationship. Hunter loved Caleb, but I am not sure Caleb appreciated Hunter's love.

The boys loading into the Van getting ready for a day at the wineries.

Amy and I have a lot of things in common, we both have boys, we laugh at each others goofy jokes, we love Young Lives, we clean obsessively, and we love wine.  So we went WINE TASTING :)

5 boys!!

Our first stop was Paradisos del Sol in a Zillah, WA. The wine host, or the one who pours our tastes, was friendly and answered ALL of my questions.  The sign to the right says: Cook food not wine, roll down your windows! Don't leave you wine if it is to hot for your mother or your dog.

 Wineries in the area, for the most part, are kid friendly. Paradisos del Sol had swings, a fun little yard with animals and building blocks.

Fred, our winery host, he also gave our boys a juice treat

This is how the pros taste wine, with a baby on the front

And a baby on the back

We also stopped by Two Mountain Winery, also in Zillah. This winery had a fun pirate play house for the kiddos, a tractor to ride and chalk to draw with. Who knew wine tasting could be so fun for the boys! 

Benn

 I gave Benn my camera at one point to entertain himself and these are a few of the pictures we found.

Skylar

Josiah

After our time out in Zillah we took the back way to Imperial Gardens to buy fresh corn for dinner. We took the VERY scenic route, it was all for Amy though, I knew exactly where we were. I knew she would want pictures of all the fun crops. Okay, maybe I was a little lost. I think we all had fun though.

 A stop at Costco was next on our list. At one point a women asked me: "How many sets of twins do you have?" There are time where I really want to see a fun expression and say something like, "Two sets of twins and I just found out I am pregnant again!!" Just to see their face. But alas, No twins here, these were 5 long 9 month pregnancies. . . by TWO mommies.

At one point I had a lady roll her eyes at the amount of boys in the cart. Get over it lady, babies are blessings and, God willing, I am having more so watch out!

Once we arrived home the boys bolted out the door for a little pool time before dinner.

A big thanks to Matt, Skylar and Hunters daddy, who took the time while we were wine tasting to fix our broken swing set and mow the lawn! Thank you! Dave and I appreciate your help very much!

 We also had the privilege to share in the celebration of Hunter's first birthday!
Happy Birthday little man! It was a sweet time for me, one year ago I sat with Amy on the phone around 10pm counting her contractions as she breathed through them on the other end.

 Angle Food cake is a birthday tradition for our friends.  The boys loved it!

 We had a wonderful time with our dear friends an were sad to see them go. Even though we are across the country from them I know we will see them again, maybe by then we will have 7 boys between the both of our families. ;)

Sweet Birthday boy! 

Amy let me barrow her Ergobaby while she was here. I have decided they are awesome and I really want one!! If Anyone is selling one please let me know.

Caleb Joshua Abel

I can not believe how fast he is growing. Today Aug 31st Caleb played peek-a-boo all by himself, he covered his face and Mommy said "Where is Caleb" and he would pull the sheet down and laugh and laugh! We did this for about 20 mins and loved every moment. He now has 4 super cute teeth and his personality is coming out more each day! He is sleeping like a champ and wakes up in the best mood. He loves his brothers and searches them out when they are not in the same room. He is a joy! I love you baby Caleb!!

Kisses for mommy! 

On a totally other subject, I am wearing pants and socks today and I am THRILLED!!!! It has been in the high 90s for way to long here in Yakima and I am excited to actually feel cold. WAHOO!! Bring on the fuzzy pink socks and a cup of hot coffee! Thank you Lord for giving me joy in the little things!!

Week 4 DONE

This week flew by fast! The kids and I keep busy and have a lot of fun doing so. We have been swimming, played at a park, gone for walks and are always coming up with new games to play around the house when it gets too hot outside! Caleb is beginning to pull himself up onto or into things now and recently has discovered a new face while eating. I love it!

Do you see the top two teeth?

 Dave started playing soccer with the school. It is not a league, just a bunch of people who love soccer and want to run off some steam after a day of studying.

Benn and Josiah played on the playground while Daddy played

Benn in red, going up the tree

 On Saturday the school was invited out to a PNWU board members house for a BBQ. The kids played and climb trees while all the adults took a breather from studies.

Josiah up in the tree

Gilbert, Caleb, Benn, Coy and Josiah. These are a few of our new friends

We are having a really good time but are looking forward to it cooling off soon. I have not had to use the AC in our house yet, but always use it in the van. So on Saturday after the BBQ when the fan on the van went out, it got hot in the van. (Can not use AC unless the cooling fan works or the Van over heats) If you have followed our blog you will know that this AC thing has been an issue since the beginning of our road trip. It has always been a different element of the AC but alas, it always effects the AC. So part of our Sunday was spent with Daddy fixing the van. I am sooooo THANKFUL this happened on the weekend.

Prayer Request: This week Aug 27th-Sep 2nd Dave enters TEST week. This week Dave will have a total of 10 tests to prepare for and take. We are all ready and able, but only with the hands of God guiding our way. Pray that Dave will have wisdom and all the info will come to the fore front of his mind. He has been given a massive amount of info these last few weeks.  We are also praying that his study time is double and that he uses his time wisely. Thank you to all who pray for us! We feel it!