Pemberton family vacation : Long Beach, WA

We spent a week in Long Beach, WA with Dave's family. I drove over with the kids on Thursday and met Dave in Olympia where we stayed with our friends from college.  Jess and I were roommates and played on the volleyball team at Central together and Dave and Dale met through us and became friends. We had not seen them in 4 years so it was fun to catch up and our kiddos had a blast.

 The crew; Wyatt, Gavin, Jax, Colbi, Sydney, Case and Colt.

 Jax was excited to see Bigfoot there. He has taken a big interest in Sasquatches this year and spends a lot of time reading books about them.

 On Friday we took all the kids to the Children's Museum since we didn't need to leave until later in the afternoon for the beach. This was a great activity for all the kids, all of them were entertained and they got to run around and explore.

Then we started the final leg of our trip to meet up at Long Beach with Dave's family.

Ready to swim. Really all these kids wanted to do was swim in the pool. Everyday it was about 58 degrees outside but they still wanted to swim in the outdoor pool. It was heated and had a nice hot tub but none of them seemed to mind the cold.

The beach was fun but so cold!

Jax and Case digging around in the sand.

Dave burying Colbi.

We went on a bike/rollerblade/walk one night with all the kiddos. Pretty comical. There are 9 kids ages 9,9,7,6,5,3,3,2 & 1

Memah and Popee had VBS with the kids every morning. This was a fun part of the trip, the kids still talk about it and Colt and Jax both still remember all 3 of their verses that they learned.

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We took a horseback ride on the beach and even got to gallop a bit on the horses. All the kids had so much fun. Colt and Jax even got to ride by themselves and loved it.

Memah and Case rode together.

Katie and Nora.

Colt.

Jax and his horse Amigo.

More beach. We spent 90% of our time at the beach or pool.

Colt got buried up to his neck one day.

Since Dave couldn't come Uncle Taylor stayed in our condo with us. He was such a HUGE help. He kept the kids entertained, patiently answered all their questions and read to them every night before bed.

We ended our trip with a hike at Cape Disappointment State Park. I wish we would have had more time because I could have spent an entire day hiking around here. So pretty and a nice change from the beach/pool.  We had such a nice time, we missed Dave a lot but the kids were troopers and we had fun.

Colt's 9th Birthday

Today Colt is 9! We celebrated in Long Beach, WA because we are on vacation here with Dave's family for the week.

 I do not have many pictures from his birthday but we started the morning with german pancakes and bacon then spent time in the pool and at the beach. We did a birthday dinner and instead of cake Colt chose ice cream sundaes for his birthday dessert. After dinner we went and rode go-carts and Colt got to drive on by himself which he told us was the best part of the vacation.

Colt is one of a kind. He reminds me so much of Dave it is a little freaky. He is responsible, sensitive, a huge animal lover, always takes care of me and wants to help me out (with Dave being gone so much this has been so wonderful) and for the most part is a pretty awesome big brother to all his siblings. He loves any sport he seems to play but really has a big heart for football right now. He is very mechanical and has no problem figuring out how things work or fixing things for me. He truly has the kindest heart and it is such a joy to see him grow and just get more and more fun every year. He had a great year in 2nd grade and grew so much academically as well as emotionally. I have noticed a big change in him this year (in a really wonderful way) and it has been fun to watch.

Jeremiah 29:11 -  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

  9 year stats

Weight: 83 lbs

Height: 56  inches 

Birthday Questions
How old are you? haha 9...that is a weird question.
What do you want for your birthday breakfast? german pancakes
What is your favorite color? bright orange
What is your favorite toy? sword
What is your favorite fruit? mangos
What is your favorite vegetable? carrots
What is your favorite movie? Rocky IV
What is your favorite animal? dog
What is your favorite book? Magic Treehouse books
Who is your best friend? Brackyn
What is your favorite sport? football
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play catch with a football
What do you sleep with at night? monkey and about 7 other stuffed animals
What is your favorite thing to eat? chili (this was his birthday dinner)
What do you want to be when you grow up? firefighter
What is your favorite thing to do with dad? play catch

 What is your favorite thing to do with mom?  snuggle

Hiking, Kayaking and Having Fun

We met Dave in Cle Elum for the weekend and enjoyed some much needed time away from everyday life. We rented a kayak and went to Lake Cooper and kayaked around the lake and swam. The water was so cold but it was gorgeous and hot so the kids did not seem to mind.

We also drove to North Bend one of the days and did some shopping at the Outlet mall and then went hiking at Rattlesnake Ledge. It was a great hike and perfect for our family (4 miles round trip). The boys all did great, we had to carry Colbi a lot and she ended up falling asleep for about 45 minutes in my arms.

Colt posing at the top of the ledge.

It was a fun weekend and a nice break from reality.