{We’ve been stuck indoors since last Friday, due to a local wildfire that has caused smoke filled skies and unhealthy to hazardous air quality, so I’m sorting through pictures today and trying to finish up a few posts that have been sitting in my drafts folder. Looking at these pictures has me wishing we could go back to the ocean (or anywhere with blue skies!), and praying that this doesn’t happen anytime soon!}
We began our 2014-2015 school year with a camping trip to a little seacoast town and ended up finishing our school year by heading back to Bandon-by-the-Sea! One of our favorite priests in our diocese was planning a Corpus Christi Mass & Procession at his parish and had asked Sean and our older boys to help so we quickly packed for the trip and left immediately after our End-of-School party!
Despite the crazy coastal winds, it was a beautiful day and it was such a joy to have the opportunity to attend a Corpus Christi procession this year. Here are the rest of the pictures from our weekend at the coast.
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| Morning Prayers with Dad while Mom makes Breakfast |
.: Coquille River Lighthouse :.
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| It was way too windy and sand kept getting in her eyes… Time to head back. In the meantime borrowing my sunglasses helped put a smile back on her face. |
.: Bike Rides :.
The coastal winds (35 mph gusts!) made it incredibly challenging (and we were just little sore the next day!) but our three oldest children and I rode our bikes (against the wind most of the way) the three miles back to our campsite. It was a great workout! 🙂
.: Campfire, Crock Pot Chicken, S’mores & Roasted Bananas :.
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| Quick and Easy Crock Pot Chicken (chicken tenderloins covered with BBQ sauce) cooked in the tent while we were out playing all day! Not AIP friendly for me, but the rest of the family enjoyed it along with the grilled veggies. |
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While the kids roasted marshmallows I stuffed a couple bananas with cocoa nibs and coconut.
They were, um, definitely not s’mores… 😉 |
.: Face Rock Creamery :.
.: At the Beach with Father :.
.: Another Campfire :.
.: One Last Visit to the Beach :.
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| After four days of camping at the coast… All camped out! |
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
What an awesome road trip!
2015-08-04 01:17:49
So awesome! I have dreams of rving with our family too. What a blessed time together creating (hopefully;) wonderful memories. I also love your AIP recipes and such. I have a son with allergies so I am learning to cook for him and I (since still bfing). Thanks for sharing. God Bless!
2015-08-04 01:33:43
How fun! And I loved living vicariously through your photos. Growing up we went to Bandon every year and my extended family is going again this next month (we're in Michigan now so we won't be there). But it was wonderful looking at your photos and remembering the area. It looks like you had so much fun!
2015-08-04 01:50:38
Oh what memories:) What does AIP stand for? Remember you sharing you were eliminating various foods, how's it going? Aussie to American question – when you are driving the rv where do the children sit in the rv?
2015-08-04 10:43:00
So beautiful. I love the warning signs, especially "sneaker waves", hehe.
2015-08-04 12:49:07
Hi Erin!
AIP is short for Auto-Immune Protocol. I've been on the diet (combined with making sure I get more sleep and keep my stress levels down, at least as much as possible) since this past March and it has made an incredible difference in my health. I blogged a little more about the diet and results at the beginning of June. (My weight has continued to drop about 1 pound each week, and my health in general is continuing to improve and I'm learning so much about what I need to do to keep myself healthy.)
Our RV is small for our family size, so we usually don't all ride in it while traveling. Every state has different laws, and technically, in our state, as long as all the seat belts are in use it's okay for additional people to be riding as well and we've gone on a couple short trips like that. However, we feel better having all our little ones buckled in their car seats while driving to our destinations, so whoever is riding in the RV sits in either the front passenger seat or at the table. The rest of the children take turns riding with me in our minivan. Between the RV and the minivan we have seat belts for everyone, plus a vehicle for getting around more easily once we arrive at our destination!
We've been having such a great time traveling and making such wonderful memories as a family!
2015-08-04 15:01:44
We did have fun! I'm glad you enjoyed seeing the pictures and sorry you won't be able to join your extended family this year. It's such a beautiful area!
2015-08-04 15:03:53
Jessica wonderful to hear you are having great results! have your rashes gone then? I'm assuming you have more energy too? thanks for explaining the rv ins and outs. think actually that is the same as here. Making memories is so important:)
2015-08-05 06:14:15
The skin rashes aren't completely gone, but almost! I'd say it's about 95-98% gone! All of my original rashes have gone away and the scars are fading (It's taken over a year for some of the breakouts to heal) but I do occasionally have new spots appear. Thankfully they have been small spots versus patches of rash, and they are usually caused by stress or lack of sleep. (I had a few new spots show up while I was dealing with all the recent computer issues – I was fighting off a panic attack when I thought I had lost 6-12 years worth of photos and my back up failed… I'm still working on recovering all the files. :/ I also had some new break outs on this last road trip, probably from a combination of eating a few things I shouldn't have and not getting enough sleep, but nothing too serious or painful.) As for energy, it comes and goes. I miss the extra "energy" that caffeine provided (I'm off all coffee, etc, and do still miss it) but if I remember to take my Vitamin B-6 in the afternoon that always helps give me an energy boost for the rest of the day. Before going on this diet I definitely wouldn't have had the energy to be able to do all the traveling we did this summer. It has been great!
2015-08-05 14:19:22