The Longest McKelvey Blog EVER

Hello family!!! It has been a crazy long time since blogging....and well we've been busy. So to save time I just labeled each photo and some thing short about each one. Hope you enjoy.

Kai, on September 26 th at approx. 5:30pm flew off a zip line at a local park and landed on his wrist, breaking it in both bones at the wrist. So he is in a full arm cast for 5 weeks. And yes it is his writing hand.

On September 24, just two days earlier, he got off the school bus to then be bitten by a dog that had gotten out of some ones yard. This was the result and the doctor could not stitch the mess back together, so we butterfly taped it and put him on an antibiotic for 10 days. Much more crying happened with this incident than with the broken wrist.
This was the other hand.

This was the a picture of Valerie playing in the condo we visited the second week of September with Micah and Becky on our last little vacation.

We went to visit the Newport sea lions and went on a nice walk to enjoy the very nice weather we had.

Sahaan does get into the pool everyone....see! Of course the pool had to be heated to at least 82 degrees if not warmer. The kids loved swimming with their dad and uncle Micah, giving us wives a nice quite hour and a half to make dinner.
Well kind of, Valerie was kind of upset, but eventually calmed down and we all ate a delicious dinner.

This was on the docks on our walk into the little bay area of Newport.

Me and Sadiyah

Becky thought this would be a fun picture and she was right. We had the perfect lighting for a shadow picture. So from far left to right is: Sahaan, Sadiyah, Kolbie, Micah, Kai, me & Becky with Valerie pouched in.

Uncle Micah thought it would be fun to bury the kids in the sand dunes, after visiting the lighthouse. They thought it was funny and made for quite the mess.

This was Kai on his first day of school in his new class with Ms. Webb. We took our mini vacation the second week of school, but didn't miss much work.

I also took the boys for the day and took them to the zoo. We had a blast and all the kids were very good.

Sahaan and I had a little getaway ourselves for our anniversary, and mom and dad watched the kids while one of our friends babysat Abbie at the house.

I thought this was a pretty cool picture....walking on water. :)

On our family trip earlier in the summer, we decided to go crabbing. This is us setting up the crab cage and getting the kids prepared for picking up crab.

As well as a crab, we caught a starfish!!! The kids were very excited.

Us hanging out at the beach, watching the kids play in the sand.

My friend Becca and I got to go for one night by ourselves, with no kids, before the rest of my family arrived. We really were blessed by our husbands taking over with the kids and we were able to fellowship, shop and scrapbook.

Micah and Becky also took a trip to the beach with just Valerie and stopped by Portland to see everyone. So we went to the park across the street from Stacey and Ray's house.

Stacey and Ray stayed at the beach in Seaside for a couple of weeks and the kids and I went to join them for one night. It was a tight squeeze into the trailer, but we made it work. After all we used to all share the tent and be like sardines, so it was like bringing back old times.

Martay and Robert were cleaning off the pokers for us....hence the fiery red poker.

Sadiyah got a cool surprise and I invited her sister along with us for the trip. This is Amiyah. She is 1 1/2 yrs older than Kai, so I think she just turned 8 this summer.
She is a doll, and all of us helped her to enjoy swimming for the first time.

The beach was beautiful and the kids had a blast playing in the soft sand.

Here are all 6 of them, doing what they do best.

I also took the two little ones to Jamison Park in the Pearl District in downtown Portland. It is a one block water park in the heart of downtown. It is great for little kids and really allows you to enjoy a nice clean area to cool off and have a picnic.

We also tried to have "camping" in the backyard. We put up the tent, made smores and let the kids and neighborhood kids sleep in the tent. However, Kolbie only made it 30 minutes into the night before we had to pull her out. She was diving off her mattress onto all the other kids, particularly Sadiyah and running around. Not tent etiquette.

Because of the crazy 100 degree plus weather for so long, we had a lot of swim days, both at the beach and at the kids other grandparents house. It was super fun, and Abbie swam as well, and LOVES it. Kai also learned how to swim this summer, even in the six foot area. We still stay very close by, because he tuckers quickly and we don't want him to be stranded. But he can do it. One summer wouldn't put his face in, next summer, swimming across the pool - head under and all.

This is Kolbie and me cooling off.

The kids and I took a little trip to the beach and we had alot of fun together. Again, it was so gorgeous, the Lord really blessed us with some awesome weather this year.

Sadiyah hanging out at the beach.

Kolbie creating her masterpiece in the sand.

This is a Japanese Spider crab painting on the wall at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Sadiyah had never been to the aquarium, and she loved it.

The kiddos in a tunnel under water, peering through.

Sahaan holding Kolbie up as the kids were petting sharks and sting rays. They loved it and could have stayed at that tank forever.

This is Kai with the very active octopus.

We started the summer off with berry picking and were able to get over 12 cups of strawberries in about 20 minutes. Kolbie turned into the little facilitator by the end of it.

I think this shark swallowed my family! :)

Abbie got spayed at the beginning of the summer. The kids took really good care of her and she was back to herself in no time. I kind of liked having her sedated for a day or two, but it wouldn't last for long. Oh yah, she weighed in at 75 lbs. at only 8 months old.

This is Kai and Ms. Mash his kindergarten teacher. He was sad to see her go, but very happy to have gotten to babysit her hamster, Alex, for the summer. We visit her once a week to say hi.

Kolbie wishes she was in school too, but the teachers, office staff and other volunteers welcome her and I to help out whenever we can. She loves helping the other kids read and likes helping the teacher sort papers.

Well this should catch us all up to date, from the ending of school, through the summer and up to current. I hope you all enjoyed and I can't wait to hear what you were all up to this summer.

Love,
Steph & Fam.