Sabrina's 8th Bday Japanese Tea Party/Sleepover

On the way to Mt. St. Helens

Nate was severely disappointed that we did not get to go down IN to the volcano. Then when I told him we had to go back to Portland to catch our flight which was in 3 hours, he ran around telling people that the volcano was coming in 3 minutes. Crazy boy.

On the way to Mount St. Helens

Dave's sister Elizabeth, and friend Dawn who went to Mozambique with us.

Washington State

On the way to Mount St. Helens, we stopped off to watch people fishing for Coho Salmon - Nate wanted to get right in and fish too! Found a blackberry bush on the way out, so we all enjoyed a little snack!

Dinner at Rowena & Leong's beautiful home overlooking Portland

Rowena & I both had bdays within a few days of each other. This was a chocolate hazelnut torte from Papa Hadyn's - WOW was it ever yummy!

Portland Pics

We went to Portland to attend the Maranatha Volunteers convention, the group we went to Mozambique through. As a bonus, we got to see some good college friends of ours and kids got to play together. We met at Jamison Park where the kids played in a cool water fountain. Then we had lunch at Via Delizzia, mostly for their awesome gelato - it was our 2nd time there.

Rumi & Jesse Burns & Maxwell

Esther & I got our nails down while Dave took the kids to the hotel pool.

On our way to Portland

Ran into our neighbor from Trout Run, Denise, who works for Continental Airlines at BWI.

Mt. Ranier

Nate starts preschool

Nate started preschool 3x/week in the mornings. He sobbed on the way about how much he was going to miss me, but once he got there and saw all the cool toys and new boys, he barely said goodbye to us!

Mozambique Trip Reunion

About 1/2 of the Mozambique trip group made it out to our place on Labor Day for a reunion/cook-out.

Cesar & Shirley Tejeda
Kenny & Sam
Gabby & Dawn

Lunch at Collette's

Collette invited us over to their home near Hagerstown for the boys to play (see how they love each other). Of course she prepared a fabulous lunch for us which I thoroughly enjoyed, and we got to catch up a bit.

Since she started preschool, Daddy has always stayed home to make Sabrina a pancake breakfast on her first day of school and to see her off. Nate is sad to see his Sissy go, but he'll start preschool next week.

Nate insisted on carrying Sissy's pink backpack for her. Smile for the camera!

Sabrina's first day of 2nd grade

Saying goodbye to Daddy, and off she goes!

By the time the Cruz family was ready to go home, it was well after midnight, and the kids were having such a good time together that they ended up staying for a sleepover. On Sunday, we hung out at the pool for a little bit before they headed home.