First Day of School 2013

Noah and Toby were excited about the first day of school.  Miles wasn't too happy about it.

His eyes are saying, "I'll miss you."

Toby is in first grade.  Noah is in fifth.

Love the bright backpacks!

He's so much more confident this year.   I'm really proud of him.

This guy is so responsible and mature.  He taught Toby how to make his own lunch this morning.

It won't be long before Noah is in Geary's class!

And what did Miles and I do while everyone was at school?  Well, we packed our day full of distracting activities.  We went to the awesome Fort Vancouver library and played with friends for a few hours.  We had cupcakes at The Sweetest Thing.  We ate a picnic lunch in the park.  We visited the library and the Farmer's Market and the Thrift.  And then we came home and collapsed after having so much fun.  It's going to be a good year!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation Part 10 :: House Updates

This is the last post in our Summer Vacation series.  I think you'll agree that we did a lot and had a fantastic summer.   In the middle of all the trips and events and furniture makeovers we also did a bunch of work on our house.

I'm going to give a little sneak peek of what's going on and then give each space its own post later on.  

Over the summer we worked on...

The laundry room.

We finally finished the "master" bedroom.  I can't wait to show you pictures of this room.  It's so peaceful and cozy.  

The little pocket bathroom is almost done.  So close!

And the dining room now looks like this.  No table.  But there is a plan!

Thanks for following along with this recap of our summer vacation.  I'll be back tomorrow with the annual first day of school pictures and then I'll jump right in to sharing what we've been doing all over the house!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation part 9 :: Framehart Campout

Do you know the Frames?  They are an awesome family.  We really like spending time with them.  In fact, one time Noah said, "When we're with the Frames we should call our whole group the Frameharts.  Or...the Lames."    That right there is typical Framehart humor.

I have been grieving since November because that's when the Frames moved away.  But!  That's also when Becky and I decided that our families would definitely go camping together this summer.

The Linharts are not very experienced campers.  The Frames are experts.  So we borrowed a tent from some other good friends.  And the Frames set up an amazing camping experience for all of us.

Here's our campsite.  Our tent is on the right.  It could have held both the smaller tents inside.  It was awesome.

Miles liked it so much he did a little camping dance.

And he wanted to show you the tent. 

You can open it up!

And go inside!

We brought a bunch of glow necklaces for the kids.  The first night I peeked inside the tent to check on sleeping Miles.  This is what I saw.

And this is what I saw with the flash.   Silly boy.  With badly chapped lips.  They're better now.

Geary was our main dishwasher.  I was his main helper.   The Frames set up a pretty cool camp kitchen.

We mostly just hung out.  We played games.  We talked.   Becky brought her guitar and we sang together.  The boys got along famously.  It was blissful.

Noah and the Frame boys are all around the same age.  But they're pretty good at letting the littles play with them.   I love how the Frameharts feel like one big family.   I think that's kind of rare.

We camped near Mount St. Helens and took a day trip to Johnston Ridge Observatory.  Ranger Hannah told us all about the total devastation caused by the eruption in 1980.  She was a very exciting story teller.

Mount St. Helens.

I told Jonathan, "Look like you're about to erupt."  So he held his breath until his face turned red.

We didn't know it until we got there but we were in Sasquatch Country!  When we passed this sign all of read, "Buried a Frame."  It wasn't until we stopped at this little tourist trap that we realized it was advertising a buried A-frame building.

This big foot statue is made of concrete and ash.

There was a little theater showing movies about the volcano.

And here's the A-frame which is buried in ash and mud.  I think the No Smoking sign is a little ironic.

And here's a cute family picture.  Just kidding, that's not really me.

We loved camping with the Frames.  I think we'll need to make it an annual tradition.  Thank you, Frames, for being such awesome camp guides.  We can't wait for next Framehart reunion!