Fall Activities - Part II

First thing first! The most memorable thing in October was the family camp. We heard about this camp several years ago from our church friend. Then I got the email about the last camp of the year a couple of weeks ago. With the kids being at the age of exploring and Emily started the public school, I thought it would be an excellent way to strenghten our family bond. So I pursuaded David to go on this camp. And we were so glad we did! The scenary was beautiful! The activities were fun! The devotionals and testimonies were memorable! And we really enjoyed meeting many new friends. These first two pictures were grabbed from the owner of the camp.

 

This picture was on the way to the camp. We drove through a national forest. When we drove at night, we saw two deers running across the street. We almost bumped into the second one. The road was winding and steep. We had to drive 20 mph for the last 20 miles.

 

We each got a framed family picture when we left. What a thoughtful gesture!

 

Breakfast pancakes ... Andy ate a "Y"

 

The owner Terry was a great Christian. He and his son shared their testimonies at the camp. He was generous and sincere. He loved Emily and Andy.

 

Ringing the breakfast bell

 

Free play time

 

The singing sisters provided entertainment for two nights.

 

Emily visiting with new friends

 

I love how much effort Andy put in this Tug A War. Cute!

 

Lots of new friends. Emily and Andy loved every minute of it!

 

 

This gentleman is a missionary kid. Both he and his daughter took several trips to bring Christian literature to China. He played trumpet call for the meal and played it with piano during the worship.

 

We all shot the arrows and bows.

We also shot the guns. As you can tell from the picture, we got the first place in gun shooting. Thanks daddy for that.

The Dads had a competition of talking with mashmellows. Mommies had a competition of eating the cookies from the forehead and throwing the skillet.

 

The kids had a contest of drinking lemonade from baby bottles. Andy was the youngest; but he was ambitious to try his best to win.

 

We took a horse back riding. Both kids did great. We all enjoyed riding the horses on the trails in the steep mountain. Emily said she liked it more than riding the horses at the beach.

 

During the free time, we hiked and played. Emily's shoes were stuck in the mud at the lake.

 

The only things we didn't do were the zip line and the scavenger hunt. David and Andy were playing Ping Pong and we missed the zip line. Andy determined to make it up next time.

Enjoying the good food

 

It happened that one of the volunteers at the camp was engaged that weekend. We all witnessed the joy of the new couple.

Then it came trunk or treat and trick or treat ... three times: one at our neighborhood; one at church; and one on Halloween. So much fun for the kids.

 

We set up a trunk with Angry bird games. The reason we picked this was because one of our neighbors let us borrow their angry bird boxes and printouts so we didn't have to spend much time on it. With those decorations, I put up a block house to let the kids to hit the green pigs. I drew angry birds on the bean bags. The kids had fun tossing the bean bags.

Woody and "Woody": who is cuter?

 

Andy's class had a pumpkin patch field trip. We were there a few minute early. It was perfect for two of us.

 

Andy fed every animal there. He walked from one end to the other end, feeding each one along the way. He even fed the metal rooster next to the tree. Silly boy!

 

 

He loved the hayride. We took it twice that day.

 

Our friendSpeak readers had a baby boy in the hospital where Andy was born. We went to see the baby. Andy got to see where he was born and the station where the nurse cleaned him.

Emily drew a picture of the new mommy and baby and nurse. Andy showed it to our friends. Emily loves drawing and she is really good at it. She also can play some familiar piano music by ears.

 

The weekend before Emily's birthday, we decided to deliver some blankets to the homeless people because the cold weather would come soon. We had a full trunk of blankets. When we got there, the blankets were gone in seconds. Over twenty homeless people ran to our car and grabbed the blankets. Some had more than one; many others didn't have any. The crowd and the speed of the homeless people scared Emily. We learned a lesson to hand out the items instead of letting them to grab themselves. Now the weather really got cold. Hopefully those blankets were in good use.

 

Emily lost her first tooth! She was sooo excited! She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy "Dear Toothfairy, I love God, Daddy and Mommy. I'm so happy! Hope to see you soon!" And she attached a quarter to her letter. Next morning she got a certificate and a letter with two dollars from the "tooth fairy" (Mommy and Daddy didn't talk so each put one dollar under Emily's pillow) for her first tooth.

Emily's school had a crazy hair day. This is what she came up with ... At the teacher's conference, her teacher said she is very creative. She always comes up solutions that no one would think of. She thinks outside of the box.

 

Here is Andy's school picture. He does so well in school. I'm very proud of the amazing little boy he is becoming!