Love never fails

Moon Rising

Emily's Hummingbird

Ryder and Emily

Crawling around Big Squawka

We are well into the first week of third session for campers. It's hard to believe we've made it this far and at the same time it feels like we've only just begun. Many of our interns will be leaving in two weeks and some will stay on until the end of September. It's been such a blessing to get to know such fantastic people from all over the states. We consider them to be a part of our family and are grateful for the way they have embraced both Maddie and Ryder will full hearts.

I find myself humming the tune of a favorite song inspired by a popular passage found in the book of Corinthians. Love does not fail. When my energetic daughter who has such fervor for life makes even the most active mother weary, love does not fail. As my son spends more nights crying due to teething and encounters more falls and bonks because he's learning how to walk, love does not fail. When my husband's demanding schedule requires more effort on my part to take care of the kids, love does not fail.

As a mom it's hard to not have someone come wrap their arms around you and give you a big hug and tell you "your doing a good job." I had a moment like that today when I just wanted my own mom to come give me a hug and tell me everything's going to be ok. It will. Love has never failed me yet nor will it ever fail in the future. I am surrounded by love that I receive from my children, husband, Malibu community and my sweet Savior.

Enjoy the pics of our recent fun adventures. We remain encouraged and grateful for the wonderful opportunity that we have been given to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by so many amazing friends.

Best,
Julie

Bathtime at Treehouse

Julie and Katie share a love for Blizzards and dancing

Maddie's friend Tavita Pritchard

Frisbee Golf Course

Chopper landing at Hamburger Point

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

~Turn! Turn! Turn! by, The Byrds

Wow! What a crazy week we have had. So much has happened that it's challenging to know where to even start. So, I will begin with the chopper...

Moments after I stepped out of the shower and picked up the hair dryer a thunderous noise rattled our house. The pilot of a chopper decided to make Hamburger Point his landing pad. I'm sure you can imagine our amazement considering this isn't an everyday experience. Matt greeted our visitor and toured him around the camp. Graham was an excellent sport and even promised rides to property staff.

Some of you may know that my favorite Aunt Kristi isn't really my aunt at all. Through a longstanding friendship with my mom since their ninth grade year back at Hillsboro Mid-High the Goemmel/Larsen clan has just considered themselves related. Matt and I feel the same way about our friends Morrie and Linda Pigott. The former Julie Cyr (Matt's youngest sister) married Tyler Pigott and got some really cool in-laws. They just happened to fly on up to stay at Malibu Lodge with our friends the Goff's for a brief trip. We shared a meal family style together and many laughs. We miss them already and are so thankful for time well spent.

As the Pigott's flew out we welcomed old friends Emily and Brandon. Emily Russell is Nick's younger sister and has been helping me out with the kiddos. Whew! She is amazing with Maddie and Ryder and I feel incredibly blessed to have such a kind and caring girl singing songs over my children, slathering them with SPF 50 and sharing her bed with Ciscoe our cat.

Brandon is an old friend of Matt's and we cherish every minute we get to spend with him. A man of many talents not the least of them an overwhelming capacity to love without limits. Matt and B have been playing catch-up and hopefully scheming up some cool double date ideas!

So, besides getting to hang-out with really cool friends we've also had a lot of fun adventures. Of course! I experienced my first 18 holes of frisbee golf out on the infamous Malibu Frisbee Golf Course which included wading chest deep into the inlet to retrieve my frisbee and hitting some outstanding puts despite my lacklustre attempt to stay at or under par for my long drives.

Our day off consisted of an early morning ski session with Cody Payne. Matt and I soaked in the excitement of being in pristine salt water and incredible mountain views. After the ski sess we ventured off to the Goff's for some slacklining, a round of chess some great food and an opportunity to sport some high school marching band outfits and instruments to celebrate friends. I still remember hearing Maddie exclaim with glee "Mommy, you look so beautiful!!"

Today marks the first day of third session and we are looking forward to making new friends and our week out. Today I had the opportunity to teach a flash mob dance to some really excited work crew and summer staff and had a blast. Look forward to future pics of our moves...check us out Oprah! Matt drove the welcome ski boat and Maddie, Ryder, and Emily rode along too. After watching Hunter our skiier make his final lap Maddie turned to me and said "Mom, I would like to learn how to ski someday." Good times are being had by all.

Enjoy our pictures and feel free to send care packages!!

Julie

Shine On

Ryder in the boat

Flowers in bloom at Flag Point

More Sprinkler Fun!

Helping with the tent

Planting a Maddie tree

July has been a month of refreshing sunshine and fun times. Although the fourth of July was a bit anti-climatic as would be expected in Canada we have continued to celebrate the little things in life through fun adventures and new discoveries. Both of the children faced 104* fevers and spent time in the kitchen sink with otter pops to reduce the "stingy's" as Maddie called them. Neither Matt or I slept much for that week but we came through stronger than we went in and gained new perspective on what it means to have patient endurance in comforting our children. Our momentary trial pales in comparison to a mother who spends years reducing fever in a child with cancer. We are blessed and thankful for our children's health and God's sweet mercy on our little family.

Since then we have successfully had our first family camp-out at hole #6 on the Malibu Frisbee Golf Course. We started off the evening with a scoop of ice cream from the Totem Inn and then trekked on over to set up the tent and sleeping bags. Maddie and Ryder both loved it. We slept until the sun came up at 5:30 and then went back to sleep only to wake again at 7:30 when the kayak breakfast campers came walking by. You can imagine their surprise to see us all in our jammies waving good morning! They thought it was a hoot!!

After our fun morning we helped welcome our friends Morrie and Linda to Malibu Lodge and spent a wonderful afternoon with wonderful friends and shared a delicious meal together.

Maddie continues to meet new friends and enjoys watching Cinderella, playing at the pool and in the sand volleyball court. Ryder is climbing all over the place and really wants to walk...he's almost there!

If we could pull all of our friends and family into this fun adventure we are having we would in a heartbeat!! We wish Nana a "Happy Birthday" and send kisses to the arrival of Princess Audrey Joy and blessings to the entire Windham family. Looking forward to our time in the states around August 12th...

"Somewhere between the end and the point we began...Shine on."
~ Need to Breathe

Matt, Julie, Maddie, and Ryder

Do you have your Exit Buddy?

Maddie Goes Slacklining
Slacklining is a balance sport that uses nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points

Squirt: Whoa! That was so cool! Hey dad! Did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?
Crush: You so totally rock, Squirt! So gimme some fin.
Crush: Noggin'
Crush, Squirt: Dude!

Future Harbormaster?

Crush: Okay. Squirt here will now give you a rundown of proper exiting technique.
Squirt: Good afternoon. We're gonna have a great jump today. Okay, first crank a hard cutback as you hit the wall. There's a screaming bottom curve, so watch out. Remember: rip it, roll it, and punch it!

Painting with Queen Anne's Lace

Celebrating Canada Day on Mainstreet

Maddie and Terri on the Outer Dock

Maddie and Cody playing in Big Squawka

So, we have had some beautiful weather and great moments up here at Malibu. We said "goodbye" to dear friends and "hello" to new friends.
Maddie has loved the many new adventures we have gone on which includes traversing the Canadian wilderness in a Rhino and riding along in the speedboat to welcome the Princess which she thinks is so cool. She thinks mommy is pretty cool too when she jumps into the inlet or off the diving board and thinks her daddy is pretty cool when he rockclimbs.
Ryder loves playing motorboat in the swimming pool and splashing around with his big sister. He turns 1 year old next month and it's hard to believe that he is growing up so fast.
We continue to find fun new craft projects to get our hands on like making a hummingbird feeder, a tin can phone, or painting canvas with Queen Anne's Lace.
Although we are going to miss our favorite 4th of July traditions this year joining friends at the Tacoma Freedom Fair or Great Grandma's potato salad and Hillsboro's parade we hope to make the most of what we have here in this special place with our friends.
Let Freedom Ring!
The Cyr's