Good-bye backpacking, Hello family camping

Aaron and I used to backpack.  Nothing hard core, the most was a backpacking trip for 3 days on our honeymoon.  But then we went to graduate school. And had kids.  We have definitely done some tent camping in the meantime, squeezing our growing family into our 3 person backpacking tent and cooking oatmeal and boiling hot dogs on a backpacking stove.

This year we decided to accept the reality of our season of life. 

As we prepared for our first camping trip of this summer we fully embraced camping as a family of five:  We bought a coleman stove.  We purchased camp chairs for each person in the family. We borrowed a HUGE tent from our neighbors.  We even packed the portable crib.  Everyone had a pillow and extra blankets and a suitcase of clothes and toys.  And we loaded all of this into, yes, you guessed it, our MINI VAN.

We were going to camp in comfort.  Say good-bye to backpacking and minimalist car camping, we brought out the big guns.

It took us 3 days to pack. Maybe 2 hours to load the car. 6 hours to drive to the coast. Another couple of hours to pitch a huge tent and set up camp.  We did it.

Day 2 it poured rain.  It is the Pacific Northwest, we should have been more prepared.  The borrowed tent was collecting gallons of rain. Aaron feared it would collapse on us and our children in the middle of the night.  So, we abandoned the comforts of a large tent for the confined space of the van. Yes, we all slept in the van and I confess we slept quite comfortably.  But then we got up and had to pack everything back up into our mini van.  That was no small feat especially since everything was now muddy and wet, including the 3 children. 

So after 2-3 hours of packing the van, 6 hours of driving back home, an entire evening of unpacking the camping gear, and 8 loads of laundry later everything was put away...and we started planning the next camping trip...which included the purchase of our very own 8 person tent with a rain fly.

Our friends, Aime and Ash (and their super dog Seamus) get major props for participating in this inaugural camping trip and for being totally awesome to camp with.

More than art...

One thing that is important to our little church is being involved in the community.  So many people have been burned by the church or by other Christians and will never step into a church building.  Our hope is to take a bit of church and Jesus to them.  That is why we do service projects once a month and why Aaron worked for over a year to paint an intersection.  Plus, we just really love our neighbors and love to get people together!

On June 7, we finally got to paint the intersection.  It was such an amazing day!  The weather was flawless, lots of people came out and met one another, there was good music.  I just love the way a shared project brings people together.  I am also really proud of my husband.  He and another guy did a lot of leg work to see this project to completion.  They visited city council, rallied neighbors, knocked on countless doors, obtained permits, on and on.  Aaron's heart for this community never ceases to inspire me.

Here are just a few of the photos from that day taken by another talented neighbor - Nolan.

I love the colors.  You can see the mural from several blocks away.

Emily was the artist who drew the mural on the pavement, mixed colors, and was generally just awesome.

Two handsome guys I had to include!

This project brought people together who would normally never cross paths.

Willow was the 12 yr old who designed the mural.

We ran out of paint before we were able to finish the painting, so stay tuned for the final project!!

Happy 1st Birthday

Wow. Has it really been one year? It feels like yesterday he was born, but it also feels like Silas has always been here.  I love the way that he has completed our family.

What a difference one year makes in a baby!  He has grown and changed so much.  We got to have a few little celebrations the past few days, including one in CO with extended family.  Silas Wisdom, you continue to be such a joy to us.  We all love you so much.