Where DID September Go?

So what's been happening in the Korthuis household the rest of the month?  Bryan and I are having a hard time realizing it's the end of the month again--where did it go?  Sunday will be exactly a month since we left for California.  Seems like we just got back.

Brandon and I have started doing some preschool at home.  This is the only picture I have of him doing school right now since mostly I'm doing it with him.  Anyway, we do lots of active things because he learns better that way.  We put actions to our Bible Memory, jump and punch to spell his name, etc.  It's been quite fun so far, and he's an eager learner so that always helps.

Last week Wednesday we made applesauce.  Brandon LOVES making and eating applesauce and this year was actually quite a big help--not in the childish "I want to help" sense either.  He and Micah washed all the apples and Brandon did the straining for quite a few of the batches.  What's even better is he did it all with a smile. 

Micah designated himself and the getter of apples for washing in the sink.

Last year I tried mixing the sugar and spices in to each bowl individually and really ended up with a variety of flavorings.  So this year, I did it a little differently.

It worked fairly well too.  However, at one point the texture gave me a very distinct and vivid memory of squishing mango seeds out of mangoes to make mango sauce--just about made me gag!  I was thankful when the stirring part was over.

This week we went out to take pictures of the almost completed project that Bryan has been heading up.  The boys always love these excursions since they usually get to see an excavator or some other large equipment at work.  Such a thrill!

This is a huge cauldron that they needed to have a crane come in for to put in place.  It would have been fun for the boys to see, but for safety reasons I decided against it.

I joined a Bible Study last week with a couple friends, from a different church.  This church has a digital system so you get a buzzer for the child you leave in the nursery and if the attendants need you, they just send a signal and you buzz.  Anyway, I got buzzed out of Bible study this week for Micah.  I walked up to the door expecting him to be screaming his head off, but instead he was standing at the door just looking at the attendants.  I walked in and they told me he had to go potty.  I was a little astounded and said, "But he's not potty trained."  "He just said he needed to go potty."  We have been talking about it to him very purposely at home, and I guess it's time to pull out the little potty.

Brandon picked up his first fall cold this week.  Last night he coughed twice (and not since thankfully) and it sent my adrenaline sky rocketing through the roof.  We are really praying all the changes will keep him from the ER and hospital this year.

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to join our community in a 5K walk to raise money to build a well in Haiti.  Two seventh grade girls from our church have organized the entire thing.  It's so neat seeing kids with a passion to help change the world, using their own community to do it.

Well, that's a quick update on what's been happening around here.

Blessings on your Friday.

Days 9 and 10: On the Road Again...

4 very early in the AM we were packing the explorer for the trip home.  We were on the road by 4:20 am.  It added about an hour to the trip, but we decided to take Highway 99 up to Visalia to have breakfast with John and Alecia.  We ate in a very cute little Mom and Pop restaurant and enjoyed visiting for a while.  Then it was back on the road.

The very endless, slightly less boring (since we skipped a lot of the vine yards in the valley by taking 99) road.  I forgot to mentioned on our drive down we played a Cheryl invented game of "Name That Crime".  Every time we saw a vehicle sitting along side the road we would guess if it was a DUI, ran out of gas, or some other predicament.  We continued on the way home.  It's really quite interesting what you can hypothesize about vehicles parked along the side of a road.

And for just a minute, we all wondered what country we were in...

See the sign on the back?  It's an advertisement for a LOST DOG!  Really?!?  You're advertising for your lost dog on I-5? 

We arrived at Andrew and Cheryl's around midnight Saturday night, crashed for a couple hours, and Bryan, I and the kids were back on the road by 10 am Sunday morning, extremely eager to get home.  We made it home in a record time (for us) of 5 1/2 hours.

(You know one of the best parts of coming home?  For the first time since we've owned this house, it didn't stink after being closed up!  Thank you Lord for new carpet!!)

Okay that was really random.  Anyway, we were thankful to be home, we were thankful for a week of rest and relaxation, and we were thankful for so many answered prayers.

Thanks again, Dad and Mom, for a wonderful family vacation!

Blessings

Day 8: Celebration of God's Goodness

Friday, September 7 was our family, and Andrew and Cheryl's final day in California.  Dad and Mom were planning on staying another week but the rest of us had to get back to reality.

As I've gone through the pictures from Friday, I realized it was a day where God's goodness really shone through--from the beautiful sunrise, to his protection, to his blessing of more enjoyment in family, to his spectacular display at sunset.  We had prayed for a long time that this trip would be one where we would draw closer as a family but most importantly that he would be glorified in our time together.  Those prayers were answered in awesome ways.

Early in the morning I headed out to get pictures of the beach at sunrise.  What fun!

The number of surfers that came out that early was incredible.

The entrance/exit from the beach to the house, straight past the "25" and down the street a block and a half.

The four story house we stayed in.

View from the house to the ocean.

Mom and I decided to go do some souvenir shopping that morning while Andrew and Cheryl headed up to see another friend and Dad and Bryan stayed back with the kids.  We never did figure out what happened, really, but somehow Micah fell on his forehead and got a nice size cut.  Micah has hit his head many, many times, but has never broken open like this.  I'm beginning to be more and more thankful for and adept at using butterfly band aids!

Pretty sure he had a bit of a concussion.

After lunch and nap time we headed out to the beach again one last time.  This time the kite surfers were out and they are FUN to watch.  I'd love to try it some day!

For supper Dad treated us to Ruby's.  It's a fun little hamburger joint out on the edge of the Seal Beach pier. 

Yes!  I promised myself only one milkshake during the vacation.  I finally got one at Ruby's and Micah drank half of it!!  Good thing I love that boy an awful, awful lot!

The sunset was spectacular! 

 

The evening held the playing of "Power Grid" (the one and only time of the trip surprisingly), reading, packing, and generally hanging out. 

With that, our time in California had come to an end, but the memories will be vivid for a long, long time.

Day 7: Slow Down Day

After such a busy day on Wednesday, the boys were ready for a slower day at the house on Thursday (September 6).  There were also things that others wanted to do but not all of us, so we split up for the day.

First thing in the morning, though, we all headed out to see Grandma in her apartment.  She was thrilled.

After visiting for a while, Dad and Bryan headed south to see the USS Midway in San Diego, Andrew and Cheryl dropped Mom, Brandon, Micah and I back at the house and then headed out to spend the day with their friends. 

At the house, we enjoyed a slower day--coloring, watching movies, reading, taking a very long and much needed nap, and generally not doing a whole lot (aside from laundry).  In the evening the boys and I took a walk to the beach, but that was all we saw of the beach that day as well.

It was a good kind of different day.

Day 6 (Part 2): Disneyland

Disneyland held more F-A-S-T rides and Brandon rode them all with dad, Andrew, Cheryl and I.  The faster the better!

First time not having someone sit next to him for a roller coaster of this size.  He did very well!

 

 

Then we caught up with Bryan, mom, and Micah and we all went to ride "It's a Small World Afterall". 

 

 

After that we had snack and then broke up again.  Bryan, the boys and I went to ride the merry-go-round and tea cups and everyone else went to ride another roller coaster.  After riding the merry-go-round Micah started stomping his foot, jumping up and down and saying "den, den, den".  We couldn't figure it out first but then realized he was trying to say "again".  So we rode it again.

 

 

Me: Hey Brandon, see if you can pull that sword out of there.
Micah: Pfft
Brandon: Mom, it's stuck, I can't pull it out!
Me: chuckle

So we went and rode the tea cups as a family.  Bryan and Brandon had a blast seeing how fast they could make us spin.

Micah couldn't quite keep up... ;)

 

Splash Mountain was Brandon's favorite ride of the whole day and it was all because of this sheer drop!  We rode it three times he (well we all) enjoyed it so much.

Supper time:

Finally hit his wall.

After supper dad, Brandon, Andrew, Cheryl and I headed back to ride Splash Mountain one last time (that turned into twice) and then tried to find our way around the nightly parade to find mom, Bryan and Micah.  The plan was to drop Brandon off and he would go home with them and dad, Andrew, Cheryl and I would go back and ride the biggest roller coast and maybe a few more before closing time.

Well, we got to the roller coaster and they had closed it three minutes earlier.  We were so frustrated--we had literally run across both parks to get there in time and just barely missed it.  So we decided to head back to Carsland to ride the McQueen race ride and it turned out to be the best ride in the whole park--so well done.

Leaky radiator fountain--get it?

 

We slowly made our way out of the park then, with a 9pm deadline to catch the last shuttle bus to the car.  But first we stopped in a souvenir shop and all I can say, Cheryl, is we captured the required "cheesy" shot.  ;)

 

 

We got on the bus at 8:50 and headed home.  We were still wet, our feet hurt, and our bodies were exhausted but it had been a spectacularly fun day!

 

Blessings