Monday, January 16, 2012

Che Family Fun

Back in October, we took our second annual Che family vacation with my sisters and brothers in-laws. This time, we rented a house in Allyn, Washington located on the Kitsap Peninsula.. The house was perfect. Plenty of room for us all. Located right on the beach where we could go fishing and clamming.

 Starting off the vacation right!

Dao opted to go fishing.


He LOVES to fish!

 Umm.... It didn't even matter that it was the tiniest fish ever. It made him so happy to catch one. :)

 The weather was absolutely beautiful! We went for a walk, but the tide was high and the beach was super rocky. 

       Skippin' rocks. 

The pier.


  A dock.



 B and Kaylin contemplated becoming stowaways and living a dangerous life at sea. But they quickly decided it was a bad idea. 

   Dao found a rain boot and spent the next hour searching for it's mate. 

 Playing fetch. 

       Basking in the sun.

     Kaylin takes every opportunity to be "tall". (haha!)


 Emma found many cool looking rocks. (Notice in the background that Dan is recognizing how extremely tall Kaylin is.)

 He asked for a picture with his boot before we made him throw it in the trash. He tried to bet us all that he would find the mate before the weekend was up. He never found it.

  There is never a bad time to yo-yo. 

 "Guard dog", Chloe is watching Haley's back while she checks out dead things on the beach.

      A pretty park.

 Clamming!

Clams!

    Low tide.

  To say that she was covered in sand is an understatement.


       She found one!

   It was a family affair.



   A couple of worn out doggies. 

  We found Oysters too! Dao shucked his first Oyster ever. 

Then, he made Bryan shuck his first Oyster ever. 

 Haley and Emma had saved up money to get new ipod touchs, so we headed South to Portland to buy them and save money on taxes. This sign cracks me up!

 I can't go to Portland without going to VooDoo!


   Linh got the VooDoo man and he was filled with jelly!

      We brought some home too!

      I LOVE these trips, and hope we continue doing them for years to come!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Outdoor Ed With Kaylin

In mid June, Kaylin's class went to Outdoor Education camp at Camp Hamilton. We were scheduled to spend 2 nights and 3 days at Camp exploring the great outdoors. Then we found out that Haley's Renaissance faire was taking place while we were at camp. This was a huge event that Haley and the middle schoolers had been planning for months, so we set it up so that we could come home after 2 days.




Much was accomplished and explored during our short stay at camp. Kaylin rode in a Kayak for the first time.
 Kaylin and Bridget getting ready to Kayak. 

It had been raining for days before we arrived. But we were lucky and avoided the rain. The sun even peaked out a few times.


 Three years ago, I stayed with Haley during her Camp Hamilton time, and there were two things that I despised. The BIFFY's (Bathroom, In, Forest, For, You) and when they decide to teach you about animal skins and the different animals around here. The BIFFY's are basically a wood box with a hole in it and a toilet seat for you to sit on. They stink! Like, really, really stink! I'm talking gagging to the point of almost throwing up, stink! We would get excited to see Honey Buckets and never passed up an opportunity to use one.

 This is the skin of a small black bear. They also showed us dear skin, fox, beaver, and coyote. The fur would shed on us, and the hooves and noses were still on the animal. This is just not my thing at all, so I just sat far away and let the group have at it.


 Our cabin started with 2 adults and 12 kids. The first day one girl left to be with her bestie, and 2 sisters left because they wanted to go home. Kaylin was happy to have her good friend Bridget in the cabin with her.
We sat eight to a table with one adult and seven kids.

 One cabin group was assigned to be "stewards" and help get the meals ready. Here is Caleb demonstrating his steward duties.

 Meatless Lasagna, cold veggies, garlic bread, and milk for dinner. 

Lucas is smiling, but by the looks of his plate, he didn't enjoy the food very much. 

 At free time, most the boys played flyers up, while the girls waded in the water with their boots. Kaylin got water in her boot, so she and Bridget sat on the benches and did some good ol' fashioned hand games.

Cousins. :)

 Our daytime explorer group. We went on hikes and learned about the trees and bushes in the area.

 This climbing wall was over 40 feet. Kaylin wasn't scared though. She wanted to go for the top!

 Until, I had everyone give her a pull to "help her out" and it freaked her out so she wanted to get down.
I felt so bad! She did make it 1/3 of the way, though and that is quite an accomplishment. Sorry, Kaylin!
(Yes, I did apologize to her, and the group. Bad, Mama!)

My favorite part about outdoor ed is getting to have one on one time with her and watching her interact with her friends. 

Thanks for letting me come and share this special experience with you, Kaylin! And, a special thank you to Grandma for helping out with your sisters while we were gone!