2012 Looking Back...

What a year 2012 has been. We started off with 2 surgeries within 1 month of each other and now we are ending it almost the same way. The first two surgeries were for me and I am healing a little bit more every day :) As for my mom we received some sad news a few weeks ago when mom discovered (after her first surgery) that she has cancer in her tongue. Fortunately they caught it early and it is treatable. We are truly blessed with lots of love and support.

This year has brought us a lot of surprises and firsts: Aaron surprised me and the kids in May with a trip to Disneyland!

Isabelle lost her first tooth!

After we got over the initial part of the year and it's bumps along the way, we were geared up for some summer fun! Unfortunately the weather was not cooperative. The kids had visions of camping with Nana and Papa all summer long but we only managed to go out on one trip to Leavenworth and one overnight to Monroe. But even though the kids haven't been able to sneak away with Nana and Papa we have been lucky to have my parents around for our Family Sunday dinners so they can spend time with us, and the kids, and the newest member of the family Grant! Now, from the looks of it, we will be able to enjoy their company for a bit longer before they take off again to travel and explore some more. In the mean time all 6 of us are packed into the house so we can help get mom through all of the treatments and get her back on her feet.

Before we knew it summer was over and we were back to school! The kids were excited to get the year started and so was I. Now that both Isabelle and Tyler are officially full day students this year it's been quite a change around here. Having the kids gone for 5 hours a day is nice and, needless to say, I somehow manage to fill the time :) It definitely makes me appreciate our weekends, and family time. I'm always so blown away with how much the children have grown up. They are both enrolled in Karate two days a week and are now members of Destination Imagination (an after school program). I was lucky enough to be picked to be a team manager for both their teams so I am able to spend more time with them. And then came an exciting new addition to the family.... Baby Grant Fox!

Now we prepare to move seamlessly into the new year. With our expanding family and ever growing changes we fully intend to live it up in 2013! We wish you all lots of love in the New Year!

This year we decided to make a Christmas card that will make you smile... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

When I met Aaron I was around 16 years old. His Grandmother had a 'cabin' on Camano Island that the whole family had been going to for many years. From what I remember it was green, charming, and filled with memories. I still love hearing Aaron retell stories from his childhood memories at the cabin. Unfortunately one year it burnt down. But thankfully the cabin, and the property, stayed in the family and was rebuilt by Aaron's Aunt and Uncle. How lucky we all are to be able to continue family memories by visiting this wonderful beach house.

Watching the children play on the beach and find no shortage of things to do, or rocks to toss into the Puget Sound, has been a joy.

Getting everyone together at the same time to visit has been tough, but when we get together we sure do have fun.

Aaron and I hope 5 maybe even 10 years from now we can take a similar picture with our kiddos (getting) full grown by this same boat/sign.

If you can believe it we were even graced by the presence of two grey whales (a mama and her baby,I think) that decided to swing by a few times. This is a picture of Tyler keeping his eye out, in case they came back by one more time.

All in all we have an amazing time, each time we go up there. We are so thankful we have time to spend with our family. Being right on the beach doesn't hurt either ;) Hopefully we will enjoy many more memories at 'The Cabin'.

Christmas Card (blog edition)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family!



We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lots of love,
The Germaine Family

Summer

Summer, it came and it went, way too fast.









We got out and had our fun in spite of the wacky weather.















We even got to spend some time with family.










Tyler lost his first tooth!




And we did get to play in the sun



























Then before we knew it, BACK TO SCHOOL!






Now it's time to settle in and start planning for fall. Hope you all had a wonderful and enjoyable summer.

ROAD TRIP!!!

So Tuesday afternoon rolled around (finally) and we took off for California. Believe it or not we (or I should say Aaron) drove all night and we made it all the way to San Clemente. The kids did so well on the long drive. Could it have been the promise of things to come? I have to think it helped a little.






Once we settled in, Aaron and I crashed. But we were up early to get a move on to Lego Land.
If you were to ask Tyler, the whole trip was about getting him to Lego Land. He was so excited to go and hasn't stopped talking about it since (he keeps saying he can't wait to go back). I have to admit it was quite fun, I only wish we had more time to spend there.













Once we finished with Lego Land we headed over to San Diego for a few days to spend some time with the family. We even got to spend an afternoon at Mission Beach. It was 75 and sunny, which makes you want to move to California in a heartbeat. *sigh*










Our next stop was Knott's Berry Farm and it was so much fun! They had a lot for the kids to do and they did it all! I was surprised how brave they are when it came to roller coasters, they were more than ready to hop on.









We also got to eat dinner with the whole family! It really was such a special treat.










After all that we headed out to Palm Springs to stay with Mom and Dad. We were very fortunate to take a trip on the Tram (thanks to mom and dad) and we couldn't have asked for better weather.










Indian Canyon was just as beautiful as it was when we went a few years ago. The kids had so much fun hiking through the palm trees looking for things on their scavenger hunt.












We spent one day the Dinosaur Museum.



Before we knew it, it was time to head home. We left Palm Springs and made it all the way to Medford Oregon at about 1:00am. We were exhausted so we got a room for the night. Since we were close we decided to stop at the Oregon Vortex of Mystery. It was a fun little place to visit.



Since we had some extra time (ok, we didn't have any extra time but we did it anyway)we stopped at the Redwood Forrest. (Well a small corner of it) It was truly beautiful and the kids were blown away with how big the trees were.






























All in all the trip (in my mind) was a huge success! We truly made the most out of this whole vacation. I don't think we stopped for the whole 12 days. Obviously we came home exhausted, but I can't wait to get on the road again!