pine flats birthday camping

we went camping with the porterfields and some other friends for zoe's birthday, and since adam and zoe share a birthday, we brought a cake for him too:)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

giving some pointers

lyla and the birthday girl

i love pine flats. the hotsprings and river run together, so there are so many fun places to play

he's the sweetest little guy

our campsite

the kids made bow and arrows...

oh my goodness... 

on a hike to the top to see where the hot springs come out

tats!

getting ready for the piñata.
thanks porterfield family! we had a really fun weekend!

the main street mile

all ready for the ice cream, uh, i mean the race! haha

sophi and zoe ran with us 

getting ready...

success!

eli's red cheeks, he worked hard!!!

cool kids

they are actually using the sunglasses we bought!...usually glasses are used for decoraiting the floor of my car.

The doctor

lyla had a swollen finger today for no apparent reason, so we took a trip to the fantastical dr. jambora.  the reason i'm blogging about this?  she wasn't scared. she didn't cry. she didn't scream.  she DID speak, even before being spoken to. she DID make casual conversation with the nurse and doctor.  she allowed the exam and followed all instructions with a calmness i've never seen. 

for those of you that know little lyla, she is shy.  many people who've known her her whole life have only recently heard her speak in more than a whisper.  

all this to say...she is growing up.  i love her new confidence.  now the others get to know the lyla we know at home. 

around the house

whenever we visit my brothers the kiddos really don’t want to leave the house.   there are outbursts of “i don’t wanna’ go!” every time we announce a departure.  they always have fun once we get to our destination, but they are happy to just hang out at home.  so we oblige them sometimes…

feeding scoobs…

and "camp" fires are always fun…

old friends

we were able to visit with some old friends while we were down.  lemore now has an almost-one-year-old, thomas.  he was as sweet as could be…until he started pushing me away.  i'm cracking up here because his little hand is pushing my head away.

lyla and thomas… 

we also got to see travis.  he and i grew up together.  he’s one of those people in life that you don’t remember ever not knowing.  as along as i can remember our moms were best friends and they were always like part of the family.  he no longer lives in SD so we haven’t seen each other in a long time, about 8 years.  it was REALLY good to see him and catch up on life. 

lyla was smitten with travis.  she pulled out all the stops and showed him all her stunts. “do you want to see how high i can jump?” and “watch this” and “do you want to see how strong/fast/tall i am?”  it was pretty cute. 

beach time

lyla and hailey had fun building a “castle with a mote”… 

lyla is smiling here, but only because we brought a fleece sweatshirt and three other blankets.  it was a bit overcast and once she gets cold, there is no stopping the crying.  so yay for smiles and blankets!

eli spent the entire time in the water.  he LOVES the water. when he ran out of people in our family that wanted to swim, he began making friends with whoever was around him. 

love.the.beach.

fort MacArthur

we visited and toured fort MacArthur last week.  it’s in a beautiful setting along the cliffs of the ocean.  it was interesting to see and hear the forts history.  it’s been the set for many movies but never saw any wartime action, besides being a deterrent to the enemy.

the communication room…

going down into the tunnels…

the tour guide told ghost stories before heading down…hailey didn’t like that very much:(

eli wanted his picture taken with every piece of ammo…

visiting the kitchen…