The kids have been reading all year long in order to earn their Silverwood tickets. They have been so excited and then the day was was finally here. We measured each kid to see how much they had grown since last year. There were a couple of rides on this list that they hadn't been tall enough for last summer. Elijah was ecstatic to find out that this was the year he would be able to ride the Corkscrew and Grace was excited to be able to ride Thunder Canyon. This year we were going to join the Kipps at the amusement park and the kids could barely contain their excitement. There was singing and laughing all the way to the park.

First ride up, the Corkscrew of course. If you look closely at the first car you'll see Ryan and Ella Kipp and right behind them is Jason and Elijah.

They survived and of course Elijah wants to ride again!

Next is Thunder Canyon. Ryan was the awesome parent who took the kiddos down this one.

They are soaked clear through! But, it was definitely worth it!

I still can't believe that Grace braved the Panic Plunge. She got in line with Ryan, Laura, and Ella. I fully expected that she would bail at the last minute, but she didn't. She got in her seat, buckled up and off she went.

So, so, so high!

The first thing she said to me when she got off the ride was "NEVER AGAIN! But at least I can say I did it!" Yes she can - brave girl!

The log ride is must at every visit! Unfortunately for the riders, there was a guy camped out at the sprayer pumping in quarters each time the logs came by. He must have gone through a roll of quarters, but he definitely succeeded in getting everyone as wet at they could on this ride!

Then, it was time for Boulder Beach. It really wasn't the warmest day, as you can see everyone is wearing pants. But, that wasn't going to stop the kids from playing at the water park. Thank Ryan and Dad for taking the kids on all the slides!

Yes they are freezing!

Time for a warmer activity. This was another ride that the kids haven't been tall enough to ride in the past. So, it was definitely awesome getting to ride it this year!

Now this is the kind of cold I can handle! Ice Cream at the end of an awesome trip to Silverwood is a must. You can't leave without getting some!

New beginnings and new adventures

As everyone knows we moved to Spokane Valley back in 2008 when Jason found out that he could work remotely from home. We were excited to move back into the area, closer to family, and away from the busy traffic. We originally wanted to move to Coeur d’Alene, however, his job didn’t want him to leave the state. So, we settled in Spokane Valley. We have really enjoyed living in the Valley, getting to know some amazing friends and neighbors. We had a great neighborhood and a fabulous church family.

We have been homeschooling our children for two years now, which has been amazing. Elijah learned to read quickly and was reading chapter books by the time he was out of Kindergarten and has actually finished his 2^nd grade math book during this last year in 1^st grade. Grace, too, excelled at reading and was enjoying reading and writing in school and out. She loved being able to learn about a subject and create presentations to share what she learned. Grace was so creative this year and being home allowed her to explore learning in a variety of ways. Homeschooling has given us the opportunity and flexibility to move faster when needed and slower when needed. Both kids participated in a homeschool PE program offered by our local YMCA. They both really enjoyed this interaction with other homeschoolers and their coaches. Part way through this year we began talking about returning to school. Though schooling the kids has been rewarding and beneficial for kids we began thinking that it may be time to go back into traditional schooling. The kids, had a say as well, and agreed that they might be ready as well. The original plan had been to homeschool thru fifth grade, so I would just be stopping a year shy of that goal with Grace and three years for Elijah.

A few years back, Jason’s company was bought out by a Canadian company. This company had offices throughout the United States and because of that this was no longer a Washington state company. A new policy was created allowing for employees working remotely to have more options on where they would like to live. In the fall of last year, as we were discussing possibilities for our family’s future and our children’s education we began to discuss moving to Idaho. We wanted our children to go to a private school. Jason had gone to North Idaho Christian School in Hayden, ID – just north of Coeur d’Alene. We decided to visit the school and see if it would be a good possibility for Grace and Elijah. Jason also began to research the financial ramifications of moving, including Idaho state income taxes, property taxes, prices of homes, etc. We learned that it would actually be affordable to live in Idaho and send our children to a private Christian school. We loved the school and began to pray over whether we should pursue moving. In the meantime, we found a school in Post falls, Id, Genesis Preparatory Academy, that we also liked if we decided not to make the move. This school would have been a 20-minute drive one way each day.

After praying over the decisions we had before us, we decided to put our home up for sale in November of last year. We began to look at housing options in the Coeur d’Alene and Hayden area. We found a housing development in the Landings that we loved the look of. The builder was Viking, whom had built our Spokane home. It was a large neighborhood with parks, sidewalks, and close to the school. They were still developing the neighborhood and so we were able to walk through the model home and talk with the resident realtor there. They had 17 lots left and we were really hoping to sell our house in time to secure one of those lots. We decided to attempt to sell the house until registration for the Post Falls school began in March. We had the house up for sale for three months and didn’t have a lot of interest. We had some families come through and all had great things to say about the house, but no real interest. When March came around and it was registration time for the Post Falls school we decided that maybe the Lord was telling us to stay. So, we took our house off the market and registered the kids at Genesis Preparatory Academy.

One month later I received a call from our realtor, it was a Monday. She said that she had talked to the realtor of a family who had looked at the house while it was up for sale. They wanted to know if we would still consider selling it. We talked and prayed about it and returned with a yes, we would entertain an offer. We did negotiate a little bit but accepted an offer that following Wednesday. We immediately began the house search again. Of course we checked in with the Viking development that we had wanted to build in back in November, but unfortunately all their lots were sold. We went out looking on Thursday with our Idaho realtor but didn’t find anything that would work. We came home feeling the pressure of needing to find something quick and feeling discouraged. Praying about it that night we felt the Lord tell us not to get discouraged, our house was out there. We looked into other Viking home developments and found one that was just beginning to be developed in Hayden, called Gianna Estates. We decided to go and check it out that Friday. We remembered the model home we had walked through in the Landings and decided to check out the possibility of building that home in this development. The prices were a bit higher than we were hoping so we decided to walk through the model home, which was still open, one more time to make sure this was the house we really wanted. Once at the home we learned that the model home was actually available to buy. We walked through the house and then promptly called our realtor to come meet us there. He came and after some discussion we decided to just buy the model home. We were able to get our offer in the next morning and it was accepted on Monday.

The Lord worked everything out so smoothly. We were able to close on both homes the same day and move straight into a home rather than an apartment while we waited to build. Now we are comfortably settling here in Coeur d’Alene, in the original development that we wanted to live in, and the kids will be going to North Idaho Christian School (NICS) in the fall. Our life group helped us move as well as some amazing men from the church and the moving went smoothly.