Baking with the Girls

Emma hard at work on a kitchen counter.

Somebody had a birthday in our family and the girls made them a birthday cake ALL by themselves (almost). I had the privilege to clean the kitchen afterwards.



Jo working hard at the stove.

They did lots of mixing.



Yes they are sitting on the counter. They can climb anything.

They took turns mixing.

And the best part of making a cake?

Licking the bowl after.

The cake turned out very well. However, I have no picture of it since it disappeared as soon it was ready to be tasted. Nothing lasts in this family when it comes to food.

Cape Cod in September

We took our last camping trip of the season. We couldn't wait to go back to Cape Cod and enjoy its beaches and bike trails.

The kids enjoyed chasing crabs all over the beach.

We were blessed with beautiful weather and headed for the beach right a way.

Boys relaxing.
The next day we took a little trip up the coast to see the famous Coast Guard Beach (voted one of 10 most beatiful beaches in the USA) to see what the big fuss was about.

We were not able to park there but ended up driving a little bit up the coast and then went on about a mile long walk on the beach.

Sending greetings over the pond to our families in Europe.



Life on the beach.

The posing for a group picture.

Say chease

Ok, hurry up mom



Getting wet was not part of the deal mom!!!!



This is the kids way of trying to stay dry.



Enjoying life.

Pictures from the dunes on the beach.



Ninja Fil.

Sam has perfected his jumping abilities over the years.

It was another beautiful day on the Cape.

The kids picked up tons of seashells and rocks to take home.

We even did some geocaching on the Cape but it was all done while we were biking so no pictures. We officially haul 6 bikes everywhere we go. Jo made her first biking trip with us riding a bike all by herself. She did 4 miles without any complaing (I am sure the promise of ice cream at the end of the trip helped a little).
We are sad to say good bye to summer but we are looking forward to what God has in store for is in the fall :)

Geocache

Our family has a new hobby. If you do not know what Geocaching is go to this website.

Last Friday we became proud owners of a outdoor GPS and our lives will never be the same. After three soccer games on Saturday morning we headed for the woods with the kids looking for geocaches with our GPS. The kids got a big kick out of it and we spent almost 5 hours walking around cutting our way through bushes, crawling through tunnels and visiting places we didn't even know existed on these trails.

Our first geocache ever.

On our first day we found two geocaches and one three part one. We have to come back to one since we needed a flashlight and didn't have one on us. We were in the general area of another one only to turn around since both Emma and I got attacked by bees. Oh the life in the woods.

The kids trying to find out which way to go. I am not sure they agree on our strategy. And Nate will always be reaching for the starts.

The next day after church we headed out again this time really crawling through the woods looking everywhere. We found a whole bunch and have two that we need to go back to finish since they were multi part ones and we ran out of time.

The girls found one in the haunted woods. Jo wasn't happy she couldn't reach it.

 I believe we found a new family favorite activity and we cannot wait to look for geocaches everywhere our travels takes us. I believe we will never travel the same way again.

So we let her put it back after we signed the log book.

Any of you out there geocaching?

Last three weeks in pictures

Baseball game with new friends from AL.

What a crazy last three weeks it has been for the Steiger Clan. It was filled with tons of activities and all of them outside. I am looking forward to a slower pace.

 The kids had a blast during a Nature Camp which our church hosted at a local park. However, the real stars was group from Covenant Presbyterian Church of Birmingham Alabama who ran the show.

 They all learned how to handle snakes (not that it was on my list of things to teach them).

Sam handling a snake.



Jo going down a slip and slide.



Exploring nature around us (with microscopes)

The kids had a hard time saying good bye to the mission team from AL.

 After another week of Wilderness Camp we sent the boys up north for a week long camp in the mountains. The girls kept us busy on their own. We headed up north as well for some good old camping and amusement park fun.

Fil and the girls getting wet on a ride.



This doesn't look like it but it is a very fast ride.

 We picked up the boys over the weekend and they join us by Saco river for some tubing fun (and camping in the rain).

The kids going down the river (backwards).

It is good to have all the kids home again.



Sam and Fil going on a ride at Attitash.

I am looking forward to some down time and staying home and watching some Olympics.