Reunion

Many of you know that my family, along with 4 other families moved from Reno, NV in 1989 to join a larger Orthodox Church family here in Yakima. Our church now consists of approximately 80 families, with all 5 Reno families still included. The families include: The Humfelds, The McCoys, The Meals, The Sumerfields, and The Derricks. The parents of all 5 families are all still in Yakima, as well as most of their children, but some of their kids have moved away. This past week, one of the Meals' kids, a friend of all of ours, came back to visit Yakima from Alaska. He brought with him his wife, Kim, and their 10 month old baby, Jane. This was cause for a celebration! So, the 5 original families, their kids, and their kid's kids all got together for a picnic in the park. Of course, not everyone was able to attend, but we got quite a few of us.

Left to Right(which is actually youngest to oldest): Me (Humfeld), Chelsy Leslie (McCoy), Ben Meals, Jon McCoy, Amy Murray (Humfeld), Josh Meals, Sam McCoy, and John Humfeld.

Missing are the entire Derrick family who were out of town, all 3 Sumerfield children, and 1 Meals child.

Here we are with our spouses included (in no particular order): Chelsy Leslie, Matt Leslie, Ben Meals, Jon McCoy, Rachel McCoy, Nate Murray, Amy Murray, Kim Meals, Josh Meals, Me, Sam McCoy, John Humfeld, and Adrienne Humfeld

Our parents: Jean and Harold Sumerfield, Hans and Nona Humfeld, Jackie Calabreese (Mary Meals' mom who is here visiting as well), Mike and Mary Meals, and Tim and Jeneane McCoy

Missing are Paul and Terri Derrick

And here we are with all our little kiddos!

Kids from left to right: Macrina Humfeld, Juliana Murray, Mikayla Murray, Isaiah Murray, Damian Leslie, Caitlin Leslie, Bridget McCoy, Jane Meals, Jocelyn McCoy, and Genevieve McCoy

Olympic Peninsula

Hello from the West side!

We are currently enjoying the rain, wind, brisk, cool weather, oh yes, and each other's company! Really, it has been nice to get away and spend some time with the girls.

The trip over was nice and actually very relaxing. We drove to Seattle, took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island and drove up north to Port Townsend. The ferry ride broke up what could have been a long drive. The girls both slept on the way over to Seattle and they enjoyed walking around on the ferry before having to get back in the car for another hour long drive or so.

Our condo is really nice inside. It is the first one that we have been to (of Worldmark's) that is a townhouse and actually has 5 floors! Sounds huge for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, but it really isn't that big, there just isn't much on each floor. When you walk in, the main floor is just a landing and a laundry room. If you go downstairs, there is a huge master bedroom and bath with a balcony. Back to the main floor, if you go up one set of stairs, you have the main living room and kitchen as well as another balcony. Up one more set of stairs and you have a landing and a bathroom, up the final set of stairs and you have a little sitting area with a couch and then another large bedroom.

*Now mom, I know you are reading this and saying, "Are you watching the girls carefully on the stairs?" and "You aren't letting them go out on the balcony are you?" and "Can you hear the girls if they are crying in their room all the way upstairs when you are all the way downstairs?" etc. Let's just say that I promise you the girls are safe here. And let's also say that it is a good thing you aren't here, because anyone that knows you, knows that you would probably be having panic attacks by now! :-)

The girls take naps in their playpens which they cannot get out of which means they can't fall down the stairs. It is quiet up there since it is far enough away from our loud Yahtzee games. And yes, we have had to move a couch to block the stairs so that Jocelyn stays on the main living room floor when she is playing.

Anyway, yesterday we went to the Olympic Game Farm. This is a drive-through farm that has animals that were once trained to be in Disney movies. This was really cool, because as you drive through, you put your windows down and can feed the animals bread right from your window. You are not allowed to get out of your car and they strongly advise you to keep moving when you are around the Bison because they are a bit more aggressive and can damage your car. Oh, and don't feed the Zebras because they bite! So, am I supposed to trust the other animals? Sam laughed at me a bit, because I had my window up a lot! These animals were huge and could very easily climb into my car! Oh man, am I taking after my mom? The girls were able to get out at the end to enjoy a little petting zoo. Jenna was more excited about the hand sanitizer that was provided than the goats or bunnies though. Typical of her! Jocelyn liked being able to run free.

We then went on a short but sweet hike in the rain forest. I took Jocelyn in my backpack since she weighs less, but the downfall is, she crys more! :-) She was actually very overdue for a nap and the bouncing of my every step was not allowing her to fall asleep. Every time I stopped to enjoy the scenery (or more importantly, catch a breath) she would start up. I went back to the car after we reached the top of the waterfall to give her a bottle and Sam let Jenna get out of the pack and walk on her own. She really did great and even got her own walking stick!

Today, Jenna went down to the dock with daddy to do some crabbing while I stayed with Jocelyn during her nap. They just came back with a crab that we are going to cook up for lunch. Hopefully they get some more that we can bring home for later!

The four of us

At Marymere Falls

Jenna is the master hiker

Lake Cresent had beautiful water!

I am feeding a Yak some bread. Could it be any farther in my car?

The calm Zebras (that might bite!)

Look at how smeared the window is from the Bison. You can even see how many there are all around our car by looking through the side rear-view mirror.

Jenna at the petting zoo

Jocelyn at the petting zoo

Jocelyn going down the slide with a big smile, still sporting her mohawk!

Now that's a hamburger!

And Sam is loving it!

Jocelyn is kinda crabby at lunch

So is Genevieve

The ferry ride over

Jenna was a little apprehensive at first to get too close to the side but then she decided that she could do it by herself.

Oh, how sweet! Mommy with her girls!

5 loads of laundry?

That's what you have to do when your 2 year old projectile vomits all over you...over and over again! And it came from nowhere! She was fine one minute and not the next. And of all days, it was the ONE day that I gave her grape juice earlier in the day. Nice visual huh?
It happened in a 2 hour period of time, she slept all night and woke up in the best mood with an abundance of energy!
Luckily we didn't have to cancel my mom's birthday party because she got over it so quickly. Now that we plan on leaving for vacation to the Olympic Peninsula tomorrow, we will probably all get it in the morning!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We celebrated my moms birthday today with a Salmon dinner at our house. The salmon was from Sam's fishing trip...it was delicious!

All of the kids trying to help Yia Yia open her gifts

Auntie Amy (Nini) with Jocelyn

Jocelyn going nigh-night with Uncle Nate

Genevieve (wearing her special party dress that Nini got her) is giving YiaYia her gift

The family playing the playstation after lunch

Well, we got our camera fixed and didn't have to buy a new one! Nice job Sam!

Am I a terrible parent by trying to get Jenna to watch TV, cartoons, movies, or anything for any amount of time, just to have a little bit of time to myself? Unfortunately for me, she has had absolutely no interest in sitting still in front of the TV. Well, that has now back-fired. She has found a movie that she likes and currently is obsessed with. She could sit and watch it 24-7 if I would let her. Now I am stuck trying to get her to look at books or play with toys.

Jocelyn had her 1 year appointment yesterday (at 13 months) and is growing like a weed. She is 97% for height, but has slimmed down to 75% for weight. She currently eats ANYTHING! And by "anything," I mean that literally. And I don't mean that she just puts things in her mouth, no, she EATS them. For example, I was driving down the road the other day. I happened to look back and saw her with a mouth full of her cardboard book. Chunks were missing and are nowhere to be found. Oh, and then there was the time that Jenna was drawing with sidewalk chalk on the driveway. Yep, Jocelyn had a mouth full of chalk...multiple times. Oh yes, she also enjoys ash from the fireplace. Who is watching that child???

Here is my big 15 week old puppy

Genevieve holding her DVD cover, sitting in "her spot."

Genevieve vs. Jocelyn

I had the girls pictures taken in the same dress with the same background on their 1 year birthday. See any resemblance? Just in case you couldn't tell a difference, Jenna is the top picture and Jocelyn is the the bottom one.

Long time, no type

Well, to say that I have been busy lately would be an understatement. Sam left me for a week last week (or as Jenna would say, "he went to see the fishies.") He went on a company fishing trip in Northern Canada. I am glad he went though because he brought back lots of fish for us! He caught Salmon, Halibut, and Lingcod. I am excited to start cooking it up. He caught the largest King Salmon of their group of 22 people weighing in at 41 pounds! For that, he received a $200 cash prize. What he didn't know is that I had already spent more than that earlier in the week when I backed into a rock retaining wall and damaged the back bumper. Oops!

I highly sympathize for single moms now! What a lot of work taking care of 2 girls is (and lets not forget the hyper 14 week old puppy) as well as working part time. Luckily, I have a very loving and helpful family that came at my every beck and call!

Jenna ran in her first track meet...Oh, did I say run? Let me rephrase that...I had to drag Jenna down the track to force her to cross the finish line after she fell to the ground, kicked her feet, and yelled, "I don't wanna run!" Yeah, slightly embarressing! We won't do that again until next year when she is 3! All of her cousins were doing it, so I thought she might enjoy it. Nope!

Now that daddy is home, things should begin to get back to normal. Unfortunately, we haven't done any camera shopping, so there are no new pictures to add. That reminds me though...does anyone have a certain type of camera that they absolutely love and would recommend? We have been happy with our Canon Powershot, but we are also open to suggestions. Thanks!