Sunday, August 14, 2011

Katie is 4! Wow!

I can't believe our "Little Missy" is 4!! She is such a happy, funny little thing. It is so hard to believe that she was such a calm little baby because there is so much energy in this little girl. She was so funny about her birthday. She said she wanted me and David each to get her a present so she could be surprised and then she wanted us to take her to the store to buy a dress. Well, the night that David and I were going shopping for her she begged to come. I told her it wouldn't be a surprise and she said "I will close my eyes." Needless to say, we took her with us. Jacob had to come too because that guy is all about presents, and he wanted to get her something.
She had a blast shopping. I wish I had my camera that day. It was hilarious. I should have filmed it. She had picked out some clothes that I wasn't too fond of so we went to the dressing room to see if I liked them better on (by the way - neither Emma nor Joelle would want to shop for clothes for their birthday). She loved trying them on! She would come out and twirl for David and ask him what he thought. And she would walk all pretty back to the dressing room. It was so cute. There was this guy out waiting while his wife tried on clothes and he was cracking up. She is such a little ham. When all was said and done she had a shirt, 2 dresses, a super flashy purse, 2 necklaces and a toy (which was a barbie camera, phone and purse all in one package). We told her she didn't have enough money for all of that so believe it or not, she put back the toy (and the necklace Jake had picked out for her -which was good because then he picked out gum and candy for her when she wasn't looking so she did end up with a present that was a surprise :-).
We took her to Kung Fu Panda (Panda Express - no matter how many times we tell her the real name she still calls it Kung Fu Panda) for her birthday dinner. She, Jake and Ben live for that place. All she had was a plate of Orange chicken and soda and loved it! It was the topping on the cake when she opened her fortune cookie and the fortune said "you have a flare for the dramatics; you should consider acting as a career." David and I just laughed and laughed. It could not have been more perfect for her. She loves attention and is very good at getting it. I am a little worried about the fact that I have a 4 year old who chose clothes and purses over toys for her birthday..... She is a mystery to me, but I love her to pieces.






I love the faces she makes when she blows. I don't know why she can't blow with her eyes open? How does she even know where she is blowing?


She acted all surpriesed when she opened her presents. She is my little girl alright.
This cute little girl on the right is Emma's best friend Mikeala. All of my kids adore her. She had come over a little bit earlier that day and Katie had asked if she could come back for her party. I told her I would come pick her up in an hour and a half. When I came she had a present in her hand. She had made her Dad take her to get Katie a present. She said she is all about birthdays and couldn't show up without a gift. She is the sweetest funniest little girl. Katie was so excited to have one more surprise gift. The other sweet little girl and boy in the pics are the kids of some of our closest friends up here, the Hirschi's (sounds like Hershey). Joelle loves their name even though it isn't spelled the same she thinks it is so cool. Their daughter had taken the time to make Katie a very pretty bracelet. She was so sweet.
She loved her gift from Grandma and Grandpa Glemser. She still has the money in her flashy purse. She won't spend it because she likes that she has real money in her purse. She loves cards too so to get one in the mail just for her was a special treat. She actually bought herself a birthday card when we were shopping for her presents (I made her choose from the $.99 ones otherwise we would have been there for hours).Then finally she got to Nana and Papa's present. She has been waiting for this for months. They brought it with them when they came for Ben's baptism in April. It was hiding up in our closet under a blanket but at some point that blanket had shifted and you could see the birthday wrap. She noticed it one day and ever since she has asked a leat 3 times a week "when can I have my present?"
It did not dissapoint. She loves baby dolls and this one walks and talks and does all sorts of fun things. It met with all of Katies expectations of a baby doll. She even made a bed for it in a special spot in her room. Thank you Nana and Papa. She loves it!


These are just some cute pictures I threw in. I had a friend here the other day who braided her hair so cute (for some reason I can't find the one that showed the back). She will never let me braid it so I had to get some pictures. It looked so pretty. She makes the funniest faces.
She is super into kisses and blowing kisses. Especially at night when we are trying to go to bed she will come in a million times to blow me and David kisses and wish us good night and tell us "don't let the beg bugs bite" :-). Life would be boring without Katie and all her dramatics.


Saturday, August 13, 2011

Fort Stevens Campground


While Sarah was busy with Girls Camp (the week of June 20). I got the crazy idea to take all the kids on a camping trip. We loaded up the van and headed up the Oregon Cost to Fort Stevens. We enjoyed four great days of camping in the great North West.

The camping was great, but the mosquitoes were terrible. At first we tried to use a 'family friendly' bug spray, which of course had no affect. After getting eaten alive, we drove into town and picked up some Deep Woods Off packed full of deet. We practically went through the whole can of bug spray and still had mosquito bites.

Emma did a great job cooking the bacon for breakfast. I must be out of practice when it comes to camp cooking. I actually forgot quite a few basic supplies including salt, pepper, and ketchup for our hot dogs. Luckily there was a convenient and overpriced shop attached to the KOA campground next to ours which filled in the gaps.
Katie, of course, had to take her precious blanket everywhere with her.
'Fire Sticks' kept Jacob and Ben busy most of the time. It's amazing how playing with fire can entertain these two for hours upon end.

Joelle was glad to have Samson along with us on the trip. I did feel a little bad for the guy since he had to be on a lease pretty much the whole time.



A short drive down the road was the beach with the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale (1906). The kids really enjoyed getting to explore the wreckage and splash a little in the ocean.











Close by the Fort Stevens campground are the old Fort Stevens battlements. The kids loved getting to explore these old structures and seeing where the large guns were fired. We were able to take an underground tour of the command center which was very interesting, if not a little too long for some of the kids.

Fort Stevens was actually constructed during the Civil War and used up through World War II. It was interesting to learn about how the Civil War reached the West Coast of the United States.





We ended up visiting one of Fort Stevens battlements when they were commemorating the Japanese attack. They had a short presentation which ended with the firing of 3 rounds from a TOW HOWITZER. When the gun was fired, you could physically feel the concussion wave hit your body. Poor Samson totally freaked out and tried to run away.



I image this is how it would look if we let Joelle drive.




Our last day at Fort Stevens was spent at the beach. The day was absolutely beautiful and we ended up spending a few hours building sand castles and running from the ocean waves.

A fellow camper brought his horses to the beach for some exercise. Joelle absolutely loved this and was thoroughly thrilled when he offered to let her sit on one of his horses for a few seconds.