First field trip

Eli went on his first "daycare" field trip today... you can see pictures on the Perez's website: http://theperezprogenypipeline.blogspot.com

Rainbow at Rainbow Camp

(First year I think I have ever seen a rainbow at Rainbow Camp)

For those of you that don't know, Mike and I volunteer at a Camp called Rainbow Christian Camp every year the second week of July. I attended for 4-5 years as a camper and this was my seventh and Mike's fourth year as counselors/nurse. It is meaningful to us for many reasons...

1. We love to work with the kids
2. It is always spiritually refreshing
3. We love spending time with our friends who attend the camp.
4. It is where Mike and I first developed an interest in one another

Rainbow recap
(from the years Mike and Kari have gone together)

2004/Year 1 - Sparks began to fly (we tried to ignore them)
2005/Year 2 - Engaged
(This is Mike with my small group... they loved talking about our wedding and LOVED Mike!)

2006/Year 3 - Pregnant

2007/Year 4 - Baby Eli with us

2008/Year 5 - Yet to be determined?????
Any predictions... don't say pregnant!!

Here are some pictures from this year.
This is Mike's small group in the pool. All week Mike plays sports and runs around like a kid... needless to say he is exhausted now.
Eli fit right in. These are pictures at one of our staff meetings. Eli was very polite and listening very closely to Aaron (sitting to Eli's right)Everyone was so excited to see him and the campers loved having a baby there... he got a TON of attention!! And Mommy got lots of breaks while Eli received much love from everyone!
And there must have been something in the water, because Eli grew a whole head of hair while we were gone.
We don't have a picture of this, but one other thing that was really neat was that Mike was asked to speak at campfire one night. He shared some of his story about his Christian path and lessons he learned and what God has taught him. It was awesome and he did a GREAT job. I told him he seemed less nervous in front of 170 people then in front of 5.

Last... At camp they have lots of big kid toys like a climbing wall, a Cat Walk that is 50-60 feet high, a vertical jungle gym that is the same hight, a zip line, and now what they call the "V swing". The V Swing consists of two poles about 60 feet tall that each have a rope coming down and joined by a bar that two people can be clipped onto. Then the swing is pulled back on a pulley system and you are raised about 50 feet up in the air and then it is let go and you swing very very high. Mike and I did this together. These are not pictures of us but our friends Rachel and Daren. The picture does not do it justice as they are less than 1/2 way up when it was taken. It was pretty fun. I will admit the free fall feeling with the initial drop made me scream like a little girl.

BIG NEWS... we are on the move

For about a month Eli has been up on all fours trying to crawl... and today I think he figured it out. He officially just crossed the entire length of the living room without stopping. When gets to where the carpet meets the hardwood he stops and looks confused. I am not sure what he thinks it is but he is not about to cross it. We will have to try to get video soon (as if non of you have ever seen a baby crawl).