Eleventeen

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Eleventeen
Fifteen

Wait what was that??? Yes ELEVENTEEN. Didn't you know? Eleventeen is the new Fourteen. At least according to Haylie. I have explained to her that fourteen is the next number in line, like 3, 4, 5 - 13, 14, 15 but I think she prefers her own version, because every time I ask her to count - eleventeen it is!!

Vacation Part 6 - Heading Home

This is the final post about our vacation. I decided to break it out into these 6 parts because I know I'll never remember all the little stories that were important in each place we went - and I especially want to remember them for when I get around to scrapbooking our time (which probably won't be until next year since I seem to stay about a year behind lately). One part of the story I know I will never forget is the 4 HOURS that we spent at the US Border waiting to go home. It was unbelievable - the line was sooo long and backed up it took us 4 hours to go .7 miles. By the time we finally got across we were a little grumpy and hungry (we were at the border from about 12 -4 so we hadn't eaten lunch yet). We had to rush to get to Seattle so Micah and Raider could make their baseball game.

One of the highlights of Micah's trip was getting to check out SafeCo field at a Seattle Mariner's game. He and Raider had some guy time while I hung out with Sarah a little more. Luckily they made it to the game and only missed the 1st inning.

On Saturday we had the opportunity to stop in Portland and visit with the Marleau family, some friends of mine from work. We hung out at the Portland waterfront and found a really big fountain...

...which Haylie had a great time playing in.

The car ride home on Saturday was very long because Micah decided to drive all the way through. He was a trooper as he drove the entire trip, a total of over 2000 miles. We got in at 4 in the morning and we were all exhausted. Look at all these happy faces in the car on our way home though. What a fun time.

At the end of it all Micah and I decided that although we had a great vacation we are not doing anymore big road trips until the kids are older. We were thinking we probably could have had "almost" as much fun without driving 2000+ miles in a week. Especially considering Haylie's favorite parts of the trip were the park, the train ride and the pool - all of which we could have done at home :), and Raider's favorite part was the arcade! However, one thing we definitely could not have done at home was visting with all our friends - the Dillards and the Marleaus. Haylie still asks to go back to Jack's house!

My favorite part was just spending all day every day with my favorite people - can't beat that!!!

Please Pray

We need prayers right now for Micah's mom (Sharon) and our family. I wrote previously about Micah's mom's lung condition here, in a post I had titled "Prayer Works," so now we really need that prayer to work. Sharon's health continues to deteriorate as she awaits new lungs, and most recently she is back in the hospital due to a bad reaction to some medicine she is taking. It is so hard to watch someone you love deal with any kind of pain, but Sharon is such an amazing person that we just can't help but count our blessings that we have her in our life.

As I was sitting by her bed today, she wanted me to read something out of her devotional book from Friday which had really spoken to her. The book is a devotional and journal for every day of the year. As I flipped through the pages I couldn't help but notice the thorough journaling that filled every single page up until today. I started reading through some of the entries and saw that she is faithfully praying for each member of our family every single day. I read her prayers for when I was waiting to give birth to James, for my recovery, for our various travels and other things going on in our life. What a blessing to have someone who loves us so much that she faithfully spends time EVERY day talking / writing to God on our behalf.

In our Bible Study we are reading Proverbs and one verse stood out to me yesterday "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." Prov 3:7-8 Even in the midst of her pain and discomfort Sharon continues to Praise God and point everyone around her right back to Him. She has a healthy fear of the Lord and I pray this verse would be true that He will bring health to her body and nourishment to her bones!

Snake Update

The snake was spotted again tonight under the kitchen cabinet. Thankfully Micah was the one who opened it - I don't think I could have handled that!!! Unfortunately he noticed it just in time to see it slithering back into a crack in the wall. Hopefully it will come back soon - tomorrow we are going to the store to see if they have a snake trap!

Vacation part 5 - Victoria

OK last time we left off on vacation, Raider was very sick on the way to Vancouver. Thankfully after our first day in Vancouver Raider was feeling better , and no one else ended up sick. So we headed on to Victoria via ferry. We loved it because you drive your car onto the very large boat and then just walk upstairs where there is seating, restaurants, gift shops and even a little play structure for the kids.

When we got to Victoria it was cold and raining outside, of course. We seemed to have a little rain cloud following us everwhere we went! We had planned to go see the famous Butchart Gardens but when we arrived there, the kids had fallen asleep and it was miserable outside. So we opted not to get out - we did a little loop in the car and snapped a quick photo of part of the gardens.

We checked into our hotel which we were excited to see also had a pretty nice view of the town and the ocean from the balcony.

We had no idea what we were going to do since the weather wasn't cooperating, but Micah and I decided we weren't going to let it ruin our time there so we strapped on our jackets, bought some ponchos to put over the strollers and headed out for a walk around town in the rain. It was actually a fun time all together, getting wet. :) The town was adorable and my favorite part was the hanging flower pots that were everywhere, lining the streets on every lamppost and all along the restaurants.

Later that evening we came back and swam in the hotel pool before bed. James really liked playing in the water and as usual Haylie and Raider loved swimming too. Overall we had a great time in Victoria and had to prepare for heading back home...

We Interrupt This Broadcast for a Special Message - Snake on the Loose

I have two more vacation posts left but before I finish I had to post about our breaking news snake situation...

Background: Raider has a snake. It was Auntie Bekah's snake, but when she went into the Coast Guard someone thought it would be a good idea for Raider to take the snake. I have never loved the idea of keeping reptiles or rodents as pets. But enough about that... One day I was putting something in Raider's room when I noticed the snake stretched all the way up the side of his cage pushing on the lid and trying to get out of a tiny hole in the top. Little did the snake know, Raider had left the entire other side of the cage open and had the snake stretched himself up the opposite side of the cage he would have been home free. Well, that sufficiently freaked me out - I covered the top of the cage and quickly demanded that the snake be taken to the nearest pet store and left for some other family to "enjoy." Of course nothing ever happened; Micah brushed it off as no big deal, despite my insistence that one day we would wake up and find that snake in James' crib!

Well this morning, when we came downstairs, Micah opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink, and there, perched on top of the garbage bag box was THE SNAKE!!! Yes, the snake not only got out of his cage, and left Raider's room, but he also went ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STAIRS and into the kitchen!!!! Unbelievable (is there any need to say I told you so?)!!

I ran to get my camera immediately while Micah went to get the snake. As I was returning, the snake started to crawl under the dishwasher. Micah grabbed his tail and began to pull, in a tug of war with the snake...until the snake found Micah's weak point! The snake pooped and Micah immediately dropped him (Micah has an odd fear of bodily fluids). The snake slithered under the dishwasher and by the time Micah got the dishwasher off, the snake was already gone into a hole in the wall. Now we have a dishwasher in the middle of our kitchen, a dead mouse where the dishwasher was, and a snake in the walls!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Anyone know how to get a snake out of a wall?

Vacation Part 4 - Vancouver

On Tuesday we said goodbye to the Dillard Family and headed up to Vancouver, Canada. Unfortunately Raider had come down sick the night before (he actually threw up all over Sarah's bathroom and Micah had to clean it up the next morning - SO gross - Micah wanted me to take a picture but I refused to even look). So it took us approximately 5 HOURS to travel the 130 miles from Seattle to Vancouver. We had to stop about every 30 minutes, between Raider getting sick and Haylie needing to use the potty. We arrived in Vancouver that evening and it had started raining. So, while Raider slept, the rest of us walked all around the downtown and stopped for some dinner. We really loved walking around town and enjoying the atmosphere.

The next day we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. Haylie absolutely loved looking at the fishies. Raider made mention of Nemo and from then on Haylie was running around the whole place in search of Nemo.

While at the museum we saw Hurley from the TV show Lost. I tried to get Raider to take a picture of him but he wouldn't so I had to settle for this one of Raider in front of him. I think he knew I was taking a picture because he turned around when I took it. You can see Raider was quite embarrassed. If you can't tell, Hurley is the guy with the orange backpack in the background. (Raider's shirt even says Hurley - funny)

After the aquarium we walked around beautiful Stanley Park. We went on the train throughout the park - all through the trees, streams etc. This was one of our favorite things from our vacation.

We really liked our hotel in Vancouver, especially the huge window (which took up almost one wall of the room) that overlooked the downtown area. We wished we could stay longer but we only had two nights and then we were headed off to Victoria.