Wahoo, we have a W and other fun stuff!

We've had a busy weekend over here but I think, quite possibly, the most exciting news of all is Holly's little soccer team finally got a win! We finally scored our first goal and held on to win 1-0!!! Mia's team is doing great, we had another good game on Saturday and remain undefeated!
I handed my camera off to a couple professionals and they captured a ton of great shots for me. Thanks Betsy and Shona! Friday Holly had a field trip to the library and the fire station. The most exciting part of the whole trip, I think, is when the fire fighters got an aid call and had to leave with the sirens on!

Friday night we went to the football game. Alec has his "touchdown" moves perfected however, he didn't need to use them. The Lyncs are doing about as good as the Seahawks and the Huskies, or maybe a little better. Not a good year for football in the state of Washington! :PThe other great part of our weekend was we had a couple visitors! Ben and Betsy were up from Southern CA with the Ontario Chr. cross county team. Ben's a coach and Besty came to chaperon. The really fun part is Betsy was in our youth group almost 15 years ago when Eric an I lived in CA and through the magic of Facebook we were reconnected earlier this year. She let us know they were coming and we were so glad that were able to stay with us a couple days. Our kids had so much fun with them and wouldn't leave them alone! They were VERY tolerant of our crazy, wild kids!

Perfect fall day

After church this morning we decided to pack a lunch and take off for the mountains. We made it up to Chain Lakes, had our lunch and then took off on an awesome hike! Picture Lake and Mount Shuksan
No trip up to Baker is complete without a stop in Glacier for ice cream!

Hi girls!

We've been doing a lot of this on Saturdays. Both Holly and Mia are playing. Since the family photographer is a little tied up coaching and their dad is busy parenting the rest of our kids on the sideline there hasn't been many photos yet. So, either Grandpa has to fly out for a visit :) or we'll need to get the camera in someone elses hands one of these weekends. (Wendi? Shannon? Shona? Anyone!?!) And some of these crazy girls asked if these pictures were going to go on the blog...yup!

:)

I feel better now that I've completed Lauri's trip down memory lane. I'm sure Michelle appreciates it too! :)

Kinda like this...

Lauri? Is this the haircut you were talking about?
I found these in a box in the basement yesterday and they were to good to pass up!

Lucas

So after that terribly disappointing loss by the Seahawks yesterday we had to get Eric out of the house for some fresh air. We decided to go for a walk and feed the ducks. As we were getting ready to leave Lucas tells me he has a toy and a magazine along in his backpack "just in case, Mom." I tried to ask "just in case of what?" but he didn't really give me an answer and I still didn't know what was in the backpack. We hadn't gotten very far down the path and Lucas is trailing far behind and already looking through the catalog. He really didn't think it was a big deal. Then I hear what toy he brought since his backpack keeps saying "to infinity and beyond". Yup, Buzz Lighyear came along and he talked the whole way! Lucas, with his nose in the catalog, and Buzz pulled up the rear the whole time!

Maybe now I know why when he was saying the Lords Prayer the other night he prayed "lead us not into transportation" :)

A little side note here...The "magazine" that he had packed along was the #1 catalog at our house right now is Costume Express and the #1 page is Star Wars costumes. (I know mom..we're on our own this year!) :)

Delicious AND Nutritious

Last year, one of our favorite fall treats were making pretzel hugs. This year in an effort to be a little more health conscience I decided to switch up the recipe just a little bit.
Instead of pretzels, Hershey Hugs and Milk Chocolate M&M's this year we are using pretzels, Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (if you haven't tried them you MUST!!) and Dark Chocolate M&M's (this is the nutritious part, isn't dark chocolate supposed to be good for your heart!) :) Here's the complete recipe if you interested.

1 bag pretzels (waffle pretzels work the best)
1 pkg. M&Ms
1 pkg. Hershey Hugs or Kisses (if using Kisses they look better with a lighter colored chocolate)

Place pretzels on baking stone or sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving, either at room temperature (this takes SEVERAL hours) or in the refrigerator if you want to speed up the process.

Oh yeah, the Hawks are on today! If any of you are checking this blog :) please make every effort to win so the rest of our week is a little more enjoyable!

Hmmmm....

So, what do you think today was at school?

And Joey's really good question for the day.
"Does God live in a castle because He's a King?"

Exploring

These two pictures crack me up. The top one is Lucas, drowning out the mole that took over our front yard. (Do you think he saw someone else doing this?!?) And the next one is Joey at Grandma and Grandpas house looking for grasshoppers. He kept telling us to be very quiet and we could hear them hop. Needless to say the adults (mostly Michelle and I) kept getting shushed for not being quiet! :)

We hung out and G & G's on Sunday. The kids got to pick apples, a favorite yearly tradition. Now my dehydrator is going non-stop! We attempted a gigantic pile'o kids but throwing the boys on next with a Lily on top looked like it could spell disaster so decided to go with 2.

Our Day of Labor

The boys have been asking for something "fun " in their room for a while now. They wanted space and dogs and preferably some robots, too. Well, we've started on part of that....space, and when I get around to it, may add some dogs into space, then we have to find a way to add the robots, too. Thanks to Traci for some help on Monday, she not only had some great paints for us to borrow, also had a mobile that was "just sitting in a box in the attic", and best of all she took the boys for several hours so the girls could paint in peace! :) Thanks, Traci, it was so very helpful of you! :)

For the peanut gallery

The boys FINALLY got a hair cut...a MAJOR hair cut! They could have had some pretty sweet mullets but they didn't think it was as funny as I did. Tyler and Lucas were happy to see it go, but Joey wants his long hair back.

Can you hear it?

The silence....it's almost deafening! The boys and I walked to school today, I signed them in, we found their coat hooks and that was it, they were off. All these other moms had their kids hanging out with them as they looked around the room but I couldn't find even one of them to give me a hug and they barely had time to say good-bye. Each time we've gone to school this week they kept asking when I would leave them there. Well, boys, today was your day. (And yes, Mother, I realize they do need haircuts) :)So you're probably wondering what I'm doing with my whole 3 hours alone. Actually, I made dinner and then went running. I still can't believe that's what I decided to do but I did. I think after my brother called me to tell me someone from his office was going to call and harass me every 20 minutes I thought I wouldn't stay around to find out if he was kidding. Thanks, Dave! Now, I better go bake some cookies so they all know how much I missed them today...

2 down, 3 to go

The girls had a great 1st day back to school, getting to know their new teachers and classes and being with their friends again! Here's to tomorrow.... :)

Big kids need birthday parties, too

Janelle is turning 30 (so she's finally in the same decade as most of us at least!) :) and is one of the worlds greatest and most faithful Mariner fans. All she wanted was to go to a game with some of her friends.

A couple of little ones snuck along. We never heard a peep out of them. We had a GREAT time hanging out, chatting, eating, and I do think some of us watched the game (they did lose but that wasn't what mattered) a little bit. Happy Birthday, Janelle! And thanks guys for a great night.

One Hundred and Fourty Six

That's how many hours I have until I will be home ALONE!

Not that I'm counting down or anything, I just thought you'd all like to know that's when PRESCHOOL STARTS!

Back in the swing of things

We're slowly getting back to "normal" life at home. The neighborhood is definitely a little louder again. One evening, after witnessing some disastrous behavior from our kids, one of our neighbors labeled our kids as "vacation brats." I would have to say I agreed with her! It's been HOT the last few days. Kinda like Michigan hot but definitely not Arkansas HOT! :) So yesterday we headed to the bay for a little cooling off. It was a great night with a threat of thunderstorms looming in the distance but it never came and we enjoyed a great night collecting rocks, playing football, playing with one of our very favorite babies and roasting marshmallows.

Home Sweet Home!

38 days ago we started this great summer adventure together and tonight we've come full circle (all 7,000+ miles)!!! A few days ago after leaving Rehoboth we visited the Grand Canyon. It's an amazing site to behold to say the least! The boys loved the condors and weren't as impressed with "the big hole".

We then headed into Utah to Bryce Canyon. What an awesome spot. This was our favorite National Park this trip. We hiked into the canyon one day and it was amazing to see the size of the Hoodoo's from down below...WOW!
The last 2 days brought LOTS and LOTS of driving but we made it home this afternoon. We did a group shot in the back of the Suburban today but I'm noticing that Alexa is missing...so sorry, Alexa, not sure where you were hiding out. Alexa, Adrianna and Emmalee thanks for the sign that we were warmly greeted home by! Everyone loved it. We've missed you all and can't wait to see everyone soon. And the picture of Mia with the bead....that's the last bead of the trip. We kept track of hours driving in the car. It was the last one of 119!!! Oh, yeah...we're glad to be home.Thanks for stickin' with us this summer. It's been so much fun. We've made many memories along the way and saw so many amazing sites and had a great time hanging out with so much family and friends. And to our dear Flat Friends....thanks for joining us on this journey. You traveled well and we were honored to have you along!

Rehoboth, New Mexico

After a couple of good days of driving we arrived in Gallup, New Mexico yesterday afternoon...more specifically, Rehoboth. There we found our dear friends, Ron and Colleen. We've been enjoying just relaxing and seeing some of the major changes going on here. One of the major changes since I was last here was the addition of a beautiful new sports complex including a turf soccer field (where we found Flat Jude hanging out). We also took Flat Libby and Flat Emma over to the Rehoboth sign at the entrance. They had been here before with us a few years ago. The kids have loved just hanging out of the playground and trying to spot lizards wherever we go. There's just something about this place that makes you slow down. Amy, you should have been along for the ride. I don't think you'd recognize half of it!

On the road home

We spent a few days in Nashville this week and had a great time with Aunt Chris, Uncle Joe and crew. We arrived to our campground Tuesday evening with Grandma and Grandpa so we had to wait until Wednesday to head over to their house. It was very loud as we set up and the boys were busy looking for the source. It was the sound of more cicada's than I'd ever heard at one time, it was pretty unbelievable (Holly decided that Sam wanted to taste one). We headed to Chris' house in the morning and once we were there the kids had a ball exploring all the new things. Especially the tree house and the pool (Mia found it cool that she and Ellie had the same colored tube to float around in). They really couldn't get enough of it so we spent a fair amount of time in it. Eric came in Wednesday night so we left their house for the airport and picked him up, all went well and we were so thankful because we drove to the campground in a major thunder and lightning storm. Thursday morning started out with a trip to the Opryland Hotel (this is where Lauri and Emily decided they had enough camping and spent a night at the hotel being pampered, and also where Libby found a horse to hang out with, also Lucas wanted to pose with Dylan in the car just because!). Then it was back to Chris' house for more time playing with the cousins. By the way, Dave, tell Butch that Matilda says "hi"! :) In the morning we had to pack up and say good by to everyone, including Grandpa and Grandma. Thanks, everyone, for a great time! We had so much fun spending so much time with all of you!!!

Now we're off on the last leg of our journey. We're sorry we couldn't meet up with the Rozeboom gang in Arkansas. We enjoyed our short stay in your wonderful state although the temps were a little hot and humid for us! We're hanging in Texas tonight with our sites set on New Mexico tomorrow. Thanks for continuing to check in on us this summer. It's been a great journey, a long one, but a great one so far!!