Another dream vacation- Part 1- Naming Ceremony and Camping

Wow! Where should I begin? I have so much to write about and so many pictures that I took that it is just plain overwhelming. Plus I am bad and I start getting into the picture edits and post while my kids are still awake and I know how annoying that is to them.

Anyway, I have been gone from July 1st through the 26th with 3 days at home here and there.

First trip was Canada on the Indian Reservation. This was my first reunion ever just to give you an idea how often these happen. We were glad to be there together as a family for a happy even and not a funeral which was the event that seemed to get us together.

We got Indian names given to the adults by their Grandma Allen and to our children by their grandma Charlotte.

It was such a neat experience to participate in this. The weekend was very well planned, and I didn't have any stress like I had anticipated. I am sure those who prepared for the reunion and who live them can say otherwise but I am very thankful for their work. We had a big dinner, karaoke, dance, and family pictures. We also stayed up really late playing games and enjoying our time together.

Here are our names:

Shane-Red Hawk with acute senses-Weel Wilt pia

Maddy-Blue Bell-(flower) Quik a ips

Dacian-Fox-Whyluc

Lavinia-Social Butterfly-Pill pal ah which chi ah

To say Lavinia was excited about being called a butterfly is an understatement. Everytime she sees one she says" "Here I am, mommy! I am a butterfly." and then she says her name in the native tongue.

We all came up under this tent thingy and were presented a frame with a picture of what our name is and then were told why the name was chosen for us and of course some nice things about us. I thought everyone got a really cool name and they were well thought out.

I will take a picture of our frames soon.  Again I am not too pleased with the pictures. It was so hot and always so bright and I just am not that good a photographer to take good pics in any lighting.

Inside that place covered by the blankets they were doing a  sweat lodge. 

Cool Zeke with D's glasses

Beatiful Ashley (SIL) and Alexis (niece) in their regalias. 

Aren't those costumes neat? 

My handsome, intelligent FOX. :)

Can't help myself. I got him to smile pretty. 

Getting his name, stick and frame from his grandma. 

My little butterfly. 

Shane's great grandma made all of those beautiful dresses. I love how the sisters have all different colored flowers. 

Everyone left on July 4th and my sister in law Ashley stayed in Canada with me and the kids for a few more days. We took advantage of the hot sun and went to the beach lots and had a great time.

Then we went to Walla Walla where Shane's brother lives and went camping for two nights. We love camping out there. Again, lots of fun except for my two very annoying kids at that time. They just were so whinny at that point. My kids don't do very well on trips especially if they are longer than just a few days.

Anyway, I am sure it will get easier and better as they are older.

Just because...

I miss my Dacian little. He really is huge now and I just miss that little boy so much sometimes. I need to look at pictures from time to time to remind myself that he was once that little. Don't you tend to forget their sweet faces once you get used to how they look now? 

I love this picture of his grandpa with him. I miss him so much and I am so sad Dacian doesn't get to know him. 

First food. I can't believe that round chubby face. 

Uncle Chris. I love this picture. 

Fun hat!

First Halloween!

Daddy's little buddy

First day at home. Medea, his first sister. :)

Then came Tommy all the way over form Romania to act as his pillow. This dog is golden seriously. He put up with a lot and loves my kids. And he doesn't shed. Gotta love that for an indoor dog. Hypoallergenic. Score!

The day I became an American! 

 Testing out the toy at Walmart

 My little Santa.

Blessing day. How cute is this boy? 

Love him with all my heart.

So this was random. I would love it if my friends started posting pics of their kids. I am sure not all of us were blogging necessarily when they were little so I didn't get to see pictures of your cute kids. Anyway, just an idea.

Fun weekend!

Time for a new post.
I've been feeling so blah lately that blogging just wasn't in the least bit appealing. Life is going on as usual and the sun of course doesn't show its face as much as I would want it to. I get depressed easily in the winter thought this winter has been the worst by far in terms of these yucky feelings.
 Does anyone out there go through that as well? This year has been worse. I start getting anxious and can't relax and I am driving my family mad. I feel horrible, worthless and also there is guilt related to so many things that I think I may explode some days. I wonder what in the world is so wrong with me since there is nothing that bad in my life to make me feel this way. Why can't I really enjoy life and my beautiful family? And back to guilty I feel and on and on I go that I was debating going to get medicated. I still might if I don't feel better by this summer.
But today was a good day and the whole weekend was good for that matter. So I will bask in the good things.
My spirits are up after going on a hike. A simple and free thing (except the gas to get there but the hike was close by) did wonders for me. Maybe I need to get off my butt and go out even in the rain.


Saturday I got to babysit my sweet nephew and niece and I had a lot of fun seeing my kids so happy as well. They got along so well. Dacian plays really well with Lily and Lavinia tried to tag along the whole time.
Zeke just wanted Lavi's attention but she got a little testy at times thinking he's there to get her toys. Silly girl.

 Dacian was reading to Lily. It was so cute. They stayed on that couch for 30 minutes.

 While Zeke was gone with Scott, Lily and Lavi had a whole picnic outside. Lavinia talks about Lily daily and always "calls" her on her cell. It's so cute. She adores her big girl cousin.

 And I caught her in the act of hugging Lily. So adorable.

 Dacian made menus for all of us. We all had "bacen", eggs, bread and carrots.

 Zeke poking Lavi. :) So funny.

Today on Memorial day my parents and the four of us went on a hike. We went to Cold Creek Park that is a huge forest full of many short and longer, easy and moderate hikes that are only 15 minutes away from our house. The forest was alive, the paths were well kept.  We saw squirrels, Dacian brought home some snails and the trip was super fun. We barbecued at the beginning of the hike because we were hungry. My awesome parents brought some yummy chicken and steak wrapped in bacon plus roasted mushrooms and little bell peppers. Delish!
The kids had so much fun running around. We had the backpack for Lavi and Dacian walked the whole time without a single complaint. We even got son later on in the day for a nice treat.
At the end of the hike close to the parking lot there was a log going over the river that was really low and I made it OK going over the river but not coming back. I was trying to hand over Lavi to Shane when I slipped and fell and got wet from my belly down. I was laughing along with everyone else.

Driving back we saw a cool house all the way up a big hill and Taylor our friend who came with us said that is a golf course and that the view up there is stunning. We went up there and I especially enjoyed the beautifully trimmed grass that was oh so soft on my bare feet.
The views were just spectacular. You could see Seattle, Puget Sound and Bellevue to Kirkland all at once. I think that might be the place to be on 4th of July and see everyone's fireworks.

 Making Lavinia a flower crown

 Voila! She loved it!

 View form the back. I made it a little big but I think it looks cute hanging longer in the back.

How lovely are forests? I have to give some credit to the rain for this. Haha!

Look at those little ferns growing right up on that tree!

Cool tree!

 This picture of me holding L was right before falling in the water. I could've just gotten my shoes wet but I pretty much slipped and fell flat on my belly. Such a Maddy thing to do.

My dad's camera is cool and does an easy peasy panoramic. All pics are taken with is point and shoot.

 Imagine having your wedding reception here. Awesome!

 This was the kids favorite place. Lavinia wanted to strip naked. I think she thinks sand means beach.

All in all I think being outdoors with my family is one of my favorite things in the world.

School will be out in a few more weeks and I can't wait until  the end of June so I can get some time off from work.