Gardens

This was Arianah's breakfast this morning. She picked all the red strawberries :)

The melon patch is now officially out of control!

And the rest of the garden is doing great.

Jalama Beach

Almost every year, we reserve a group campsite at Jalama Beach. That alone is a feat. It usually takes hours of calling to get through on the reservation phone line. But it's worth it. We love this place! It is so beautiful.

Someone has to watch the little guys while everyone else sets up the campsite.

We spend a lot of time at the beach. The water is really cold, but that doesn't seem to stop the kids. And, when Daddy gives boogie boarding and surfing lessons, that is extra special.

There is also an estuary that the kids love to play in. The water is a little warmer there. They found a raft and enjoyed playing on that.

This is more Arianah's style of water play. She really didn't like the beach or the estuary.

Of course, eating is an all-important activity. That's what camping is all about. After all, where else can you eat cereal and milk out of the box?

Maybe a wrestling match with Daddy.

Checking out the wildlife. Now, this first picture is of everyone inspecting a dead, half decayed turtle. Yuck! I will spare you the pictures they took of it.

Arianah likes most animals, even if it's a black beetle or a friendly squirrel.

The camp fire is popular, even if the beach wind gets smoke in everyone's eyes. Praise & worship, smores and roasting hot dogs are all important at the campfire. Jim outlined the base of the firepit with lights so we wouldn't be tripping over everyone's feet.

All activities pale in comparison to a baptism! My brother got baptized while we were camping. How awesome is that? Jim gathered all the kids to make sure they all understood what God's word says about baptism. Then, Jim, Taco and Grammy went out into the water while Taco went under. After that, we layed hands on him to ask for the Holy Spirit to fill him up.

And, while we relax at the campsite, there is plenty of time for just hanging out with family and friends.

Kittens!

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. We came home with friends and hung out for the afternoon. We realized, that we couldn't find Neferkiti anywhere. Knowing that she was due to have babies anytime, we figured she had gone off somewhere comfy to have them. We looked high and low all over the house and couldn't find those kittens. We were beginning to worry that she had gone outside to have them!

In the middle of the night, Jessikah woke up to the sound of meowing. She followed it and found Neferkiti and her babies underneath Rebekah's dresser. She found a great place to hide them. There was so much junk in front of the dresser that we never would have found them without the meowing. So, the girls admired the kittens for a while and then went back to bed.

The next morning, they got to show everyone the new additions. All the other kids were thrilled, of course.

Neferkiti had five babies. One looks very much like her and the other four are mostly white with spots.

Later that night, Rebekah found one kitten alone and cold. She warmed it up and fed it with a dropper. We tried to get it to latch on to Mommy, but it wouldn't. And it never seemed to be part of the kitty pile. Rebekah spent the next two nights waking up every hour to feed the kitty. That kitten was oriiginally named DroolFace, because it was always drooling. As Rebekah continued to nurse it for the next two days, she renamed it Catrina Rosalynn. She bonded with the kitten, so she was understandably sad when she found little Catrina had died. We buried her in the back yard.

Today, after spending the day at the beach, we came home and found the kittens weren't under Rebekah's dresser. Hmmmm. Neferkiti must have moved them, but we couldn't figure out where she had moved them. And she was hanging out downstairs so much, that we were starting to wonder if she had lost them. But, we did find her new hiding spot. It is under another dresser in the big girls' room. So, the four kittens are safe and sound.