Camping in the High Sierra's

So I know it's been ffooorreevvveerrrr since I posted, like over a year, but I'm not going to dwell on that or make myself feel badly, I'm just going to start with one activity we did that I don't want to forget and then try to post more as I can.

So in July/August we drove to California from Texas to go camping with my parents in the High Sierra's. My family has gone camping here every year since before I was born and it had been years since I'd gotten to go, so with Josh's month long break in August we decided to be adults and plan our own family vacation, look how mature we are. :)

It was literally the longest drive of my life. There were a few times I didn't think we'd make it out of the state of Texas. And literally like 20 minutes after we started out driving both of the kids informed us that they had to pee. Oh man, that's when I knew this was going to be a long trip. :)

But we made it and the kids were awesome! We seriously have the best, most easy going, most patient children. We all had our moments, but none so badly that I couldn't handle it. Sophie even threw up and managed to get it in the bag I stole from the hospital while I was there, a story for another time.

We finally got to my parents campsite just as it was getting dark and the kids, and us, couldn't have been happier! It was just like I remembered and smelled heavenly. It was soo good to be with my parents and to be in a place that I grew up looking forward to going every summer. We did some hiking, ate Pie in the Sky (this woman gets up at like 4am every morning and makes fresh pies that are to die for, literally. We have to get some every time we go and eat it by Rock Creek Lake), went fishing (which I love, it's genetic), saw a bear that Sophie was certain was going to eat us, Noah fell flat on his face like a million times (poor kid), and enjoyed the beautiful cool air after being in Texas for our first summer (people didn't lie, it is so, so hot and humid). It was exactly what we needed.

Here is my picture dump:

Thanks mom and dad!

Soph's Open House and First Day of Preschool

Sophie before her Preschool Open House in UT. She was pretty nervous and shy, I was a little surprised. I think with the move and everything that her little life has been turned upside. All of this change is hard for them to understand. For this first couple of weeks they kept asking to go home, aka WA. She clung to my legs and wouldn't talk to her teachers or anyone when we first got there. I wanted to get irritated with her, but I tried to see things from her perspective. I just kept encouraging her to go and play and to meet new friends. It took her awhile, but she finally relaxed and made a friend. :)

I love how Noah is creeping into the picture. That boy loves to pose. :)

They are so cute together. They really truly love each other and Noah gets so sad whenever Sophie leaves.

Me and my big girl. One more year til Kindergarten...cra cra.

Cheese!

Outside of her preschool. My little Washington mole children are having a hard time with the bright sun here. Tragic. They'll get to used to it. But for now most of our pictures look like this. :) haha

And these pictures of Soph before her first day of Preschool! She kind of did the same thing as the Open House, but her preschool is great and had a cute little scavenger hunt and dinosaur footprints leading to the door of the preschool to help the kids loosen up a little. The scavenger hunt helped the kids to find where the bathroom was, where the books were, where the toys were, etc. Noah even had fun and was pretty mad when we had to leave. They had the best toys!! I must find them somewhere for Christmas or something. 

He really couldn't get enough of these magnet building toys. 

Soph with the duck puzzle she did.

More Noah. :) He was so happy to be there. I hope to one day have a basement like this to make as a playroom just for them. That would be heaven. Some day....

Soph with her new friend Marissa. They get along so well! Since they are both pretty shy, I'm so glad that they became friends. I don't really know her mom, but I hope to get to know her better to do a playdate or something. They really are well matched. 

I know that Sophie is going to do well in this Preschool. I'm so grateful how everything has come together for us here. I was so nervous about finding her a preschool so late into the summer, but things have worked out just fine. She loves it now! But she is in the afternoon preschool class from 12:30-3 pm, and man are preschool days hard! She is still in the stage where she needs a nap most days, so she comes home after all that mental and physical work and is exhausted. By 4 pm she is in complete meltdown mode. I've learned to let her watch a show and have a snack for about 30 minutes, then I've been trying to take them to the playground or somewhere where she can't think about how tired she is. Then we come home and have dinner and then bed. With Josh getting off late though, like 6:30 and not home til 7, it's hard to do early dinner 3 days a week. And Noah's naps have gotten cut short on preschool days now too. I'm on a waiting list for the morning class, but that would mean having to make all new friends. Might be worth it though to have our days back. We'll see what happens. But so far this preschool has been great and I hope it will help me to teach her how to read. She wants to soo badly, and has some words memorized. This little girl has the BEST memory! She memorized her entire Merida book, she got one of the leap pad pens for her birthday from Gma and Gpa Dickinson that reads to her. This is not a little short book. It has big hard words and is long. You can turn to any page and she'll recite it to you, word for word perfectly. It's kind of incredible. I'll have to take a video and put it on here. Blows my mind. But now she just needs to connect the words she's saying to the text on the page. We've been working with her, not as much as I should with moving and all. She'll get there though, it'll just click one day and then the floodgates will open, I just know it. But this preschool is going to help her tremendously. They focus on phonetics and sounding out words so that the kids can read anything. 

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read all of that! This is going to become my journal so get ready for some writing. :) You lucky dogs you.

I mustache you a question, and other fun goings on

These two are so silly. :) 

The kids and I had a little picnic in WA a few days before we left. Sophie took this picture, not bad my dear. 

My pretty girl! 

My cute boy!

I don't know. But it's a rare picture of me with at least one of my children.

And this was from the Fourth but I forgot to add it to that post. I wanted to prove that I was in fact there. :)