As 2010 comes to a close, it is time to think back about the year and remember the fun things that happened and the changes that were made.
Our first big change as a family happened right at the start of the year. After about 12 years of attending Calvary Chapel Corvallis, we made the change to Lebanon Calvary Chapel. Not only has it saved us a lot of gas money from driving all the way to Corvallis every week, but we have grown spiritually in ways that probably would not have happened had we continued going to Calvary Corvallis. I was able to help a little with some construction projects on the church property and we also ran the BBQ ministry during the summer. Brooke has just taken over managing the nursery schedule for church as well. We miss our old friends over in Corvallis, but have made many new ones here in Lebanon that we can actually see more often than just briefly on Sunday morning. It has been about 1 year since we made the switch, but it seems like we have been attending in Lebanon forever.
Our family vacation this year was a week long trip in to Washington around the 4th of July. We started with a day at Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument and the camped for 2 nights and 3 days in Rainier NP. We had never been to either of those places and they were definitely worth the trip. It was a little early in the year to hike all the trails I wanted to in Mt Rainier NP because of snow. But I was able to see a lot of the park and really enjoyed it. Emma and Riah completed a workbook and became Junior Rangers while we were there. From there we went on to the Seattle area and spent 4 nights at a rented townhouse. We went to the zoo and the Pacific Science center. Saw the Space Needle and went to another National Park that is in downtown Seattle. It was the Klondike Goldrush Museum, and the girls got to become junior rangers in that park also. On July 2nd, we went to Geowoodstock VIII. It is a big geocaching event that brings geocachers from all over the world together for a day of fun. We watched the 4th of July fireworks with some friends that live in the area in Bellevue, WA. We were going to watch them in Seattle, but the weather was not good so we went back to our townhouse and watched the Bellevue fireworks instead. After all that, we headed home and back to the normal everyday routine.
Later in the summer, Emma, Riah and I made a trip to Paisley to see mom. We only spent a weekend there and headed home. But we decided to take a whole day to drive home and went via Crater Lake NP. We wished we had more time to spend there, but it was better than the last time we were here. We went to Crater Lake for a day during a family vacation 2 years ago but the day we picked had bad weather and we could not see the lake because of the fog. This trip had nice weather and we saw a lot of beautiful scenery.
Riah turned 6 last February but always seems to act a lot older than that. Emma turned 9 in June and is looking forward to being double digits this coming year. Leah had her first birthday in July and has become quite the climber and entertainer in our home. Sarah, the tornado. What more needs to be said. She turned 3 in October and is definitely still Sarah!
We are homeschooling our kids once again. Emma loves to read and learn about history. She reads at a level several years ahead of her age. Emma used to have problems with math and did not like it, but suddenly this year, she is figuring it out quickly and likes it. Riah likes to do school in general and is just starting to figure out reading. She quite often takes forever to do her school work, but that is just how Riah does things. As I described in a recent post that you can read here. Brookes' biggest challenge with the homeschooling is what to do with the other 2 little ones while she is working with the big ones. Sarah wants to start doing school, but is still a little young yet. She might start next year. Leah just wants to climb on everything and is a constant distraction. Thankfully she still takes some long naps so that is when a lot of school work gets done, at least the parts Brooke needs to help them with.
The year was quite busy, but there just does not seem like we did a lot of exciting memorable stuff. I am sure I will think of some other stuff once I actually publish this post. Oh well, if I do, it will give me something else to blog about I guess.
So now we are getting ready for 2011. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for us this year.
Our first big change as a family happened right at the start of the year. After about 12 years of attending Calvary Chapel Corvallis, we made the change to Lebanon Calvary Chapel. Not only has it saved us a lot of gas money from driving all the way to Corvallis every week, but we have grown spiritually in ways that probably would not have happened had we continued going to Calvary Corvallis. I was able to help a little with some construction projects on the church property and we also ran the BBQ ministry during the summer. Brooke has just taken over managing the nursery schedule for church as well. We miss our old friends over in Corvallis, but have made many new ones here in Lebanon that we can actually see more often than just briefly on Sunday morning. It has been about 1 year since we made the switch, but it seems like we have been attending in Lebanon forever.
Our family vacation this year was a week long trip in to Washington around the 4th of July. We started with a day at Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument and the camped for 2 nights and 3 days in Rainier NP. We had never been to either of those places and they were definitely worth the trip. It was a little early in the year to hike all the trails I wanted to in Mt Rainier NP because of snow. But I was able to see a lot of the park and really enjoyed it. Emma and Riah completed a workbook and became Junior Rangers while we were there. From there we went on to the Seattle area and spent 4 nights at a rented townhouse. We went to the zoo and the Pacific Science center. Saw the Space Needle and went to another National Park that is in downtown Seattle. It was the Klondike Goldrush Museum, and the girls got to become junior rangers in that park also. On July 2nd, we went to Geowoodstock VIII. It is a big geocaching event that brings geocachers from all over the world together for a day of fun. We watched the 4th of July fireworks with some friends that live in the area in Bellevue, WA. We were going to watch them in Seattle, but the weather was not good so we went back to our townhouse and watched the Bellevue fireworks instead. After all that, we headed home and back to the normal everyday routine.
Later in the summer, Emma, Riah and I made a trip to Paisley to see mom. We only spent a weekend there and headed home. But we decided to take a whole day to drive home and went via Crater Lake NP. We wished we had more time to spend there, but it was better than the last time we were here. We went to Crater Lake for a day during a family vacation 2 years ago but the day we picked had bad weather and we could not see the lake because of the fog. This trip had nice weather and we saw a lot of beautiful scenery.
Riah turned 6 last February but always seems to act a lot older than that. Emma turned 9 in June and is looking forward to being double digits this coming year. Leah had her first birthday in July and has become quite the climber and entertainer in our home. Sarah, the tornado. What more needs to be said. She turned 3 in October and is definitely still Sarah!
We are homeschooling our kids once again. Emma loves to read and learn about history. She reads at a level several years ahead of her age. Emma used to have problems with math and did not like it, but suddenly this year, she is figuring it out quickly and likes it. Riah likes to do school in general and is just starting to figure out reading. She quite often takes forever to do her school work, but that is just how Riah does things. As I described in a recent post that you can read here. Brookes' biggest challenge with the homeschooling is what to do with the other 2 little ones while she is working with the big ones. Sarah wants to start doing school, but is still a little young yet. She might start next year. Leah just wants to climb on everything and is a constant distraction. Thankfully she still takes some long naps so that is when a lot of school work gets done, at least the parts Brooke needs to help them with.
The year was quite busy, but there just does not seem like we did a lot of exciting memorable stuff. I am sure I will think of some other stuff once I actually publish this post. Oh well, if I do, it will give me something else to blog about I guess.
So now we are getting ready for 2011. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for us this year.
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