More arrival pictures (better late than never!)

Aunt Pam with her camera ready, while
Will and Seth greet Grandpadad and
David is running to join them

Huge hug for my Aunt Pam! Marcie is standing in front of her.
Gavin is holding Seth. My dad is on the left.

A couple more beach pictures I lightened up: 

Pam with Marcie, Seth, Will, Grace and David (left to right)

Left to right: Marcie, Seth, David, Will, Gracie and Gavin's leg and cereal bowl ;)

More arrival pictures I didn't have before:

Left to right: Marcia/Marmi holding Seth, Isaac, me holding Marcie and David

Seth pointing at the arriving airplane, Will's head, Isaac waving, and Marcie with me again

Jason holding Will, Gavin holding Gracie, and Seth with Marmi/Marcia again, plus me with Marcie and David. Isaac is between Marmi and me.

Ditto above

Random cute picture of the girls: Marcie in her princess dress (she wears it every day) and Gracie in her Michigan State Spartans cheerleading dress from Aunt Fay, which is why Grandpadad had to snap the photo. MSU is his alma mater - Mom's too. They met there, and Dad played football there on a full-ride scholarship. I'm so proud! The Spartans won the National Championship (in '65 and '66) during the time he played for them.

Fun, busy times with family

Aunt Pam leaves tomorrow. We'll miss her (and her help!) so much, but she might find international travel relaxing after her month with 2-and-a-half-year-old quintuplets. ;) Thank you sooooooooo much, Aunt Pam! We appreciate you DEEPLY and we love you tons and tons!

Aunt Pam with the boys

On the raft at the beach (we were on a small cove)
Left to right: Will, Gavin holding Marcie, a laughing Seth, Aunt Pam, David standing, Isaac mostly submerged by the ladder, and Papa swimming out to the raft.

Aunt Pam made a "woofing" David look like a doggie - before I told her that the marker she was using was permanent, not washable. It's washed off (mostly) by now. Thankfully it was a non-toxic kid's marker. ;) David looked adorable, especially in the girls' Dora sweatshirt, which for some reason he insisted on wearing that day.

Life has been hectic but super fun. We've really packed in the PNG-specific activities. My dad, the kids and I have forded a shallow river twice, crossed a three-log bridge twice, gone on a bit of a hike through the jungle, headed up the mountain on the rutted roads to local villages, visited a fabulous local coffee plantation owned by our friends (I used to do HIV and general health workshops there and at the plantation school), and made the crazy trip to Madang on the north coast and back. All these activities are in reverse order as I go back in my memory.

Looking at "parchment" coffee beans. That's my mom, my dad and me with our friend.
(Drink Colbran Coffeelands' coffee if you can find it! It's awesome!)

Shopping with my dear mother at the largest store near us (about 10 minutes away). Not bad, eh?
Way better selection than we had near us when I was growing up in Colombia!

Getting ice cream at the store with Grandpadad and Jason (Isaac's best friend and a surrogate member of our family)
From top left: Gracie, Seth, Will on second step, David and Marcie on first step.

Last night we had a SUPER FUN 4th of July celebration to which people of all nationalities were invited. My favorite was my English friend and her Scottish husband and their little boy who wore a USA sweatshirt. My mom friend especially really dressed like the American flag! What a good sport. :)

My dad's glow-sticks really helped make the celebration last night, as did some floating Chinese lanterns and a couple of flares. The quints and Isaac had a blast! Alas, no pictures.

I'll be back . . .

Gratefully,
Carrie

At the beach!

We're in Madang on the North Coast of PNG enjoying the sand and water with grandparents (both sets) and Aunt Pam. 

But first: the cockatoo and Crown Pigeons. Will, Marcie and David

David hiding in the roots of an ocean-side tree

Seth still loves to go off and do his own thing

Dads Jones and Peterson, Marmi, Gracie and me.

Dad Jones (Papa) has spent a LOT of time with the kids!

So has Aunt Pam - her energy is that of a  20-year-old!!! She's super silly and fun, just like she was when I was a kid.

Isaac is also silly and fun, and he's great snorkeler!

Marmi also being silly and fun pretending with the kids that a wooden crocodile is biting them. The kids have so enjoyed this break from daily life! Gavin and I are pretty exhausted, and I bet some other adults are too. (Sorry Mom P, no pictures of you on Gavin's phone!!)

The Quint-Mobile

Marmi and Papa's sweet (borrowed) ride is stiff competition for the old blue truck Aunt Pam is driving around:

Actually, the quints just love to go anywhere in anything! Marcie and Will keep wanting to go on an airplane. Marcie raided David's drawers to find these airplane outfits that she then insisted she and Gracie needed to put on. Gracie was all for that idea, and they even posed together for me!

Just a cute picture of Papa and Marcie

Princess Marcie

Marcie is very much into "boo-tiful" dresses now. She loves my dresses and loves to tell me I look beautiful whenever I wear one. She runs up and asks us to look at how pretty she is in her outfit, or with her hairstyle or new ponytail holder, etc. Today she picked a long church dress from her closet, and when she put it on she said, "My not a baby. My a big girl." (patting her dress where her tummy is).

Just then Seth ran in, stopped suddenly in awe and delight, and approached Marcie slowly with a big grin on his face. "Oh, Marcie! You a princess!" he said, gently stroking the material of her dress.

Of course, she grabbed onto that concept right away and said, "My not a big girl, my a princess!"

She wore this dress to bed over her pajamas last Saturday. Thank you, Annika and Maya!
(These are her favorite pajamas right now, Len and Mickey.)

Christmas in June!

It's amazing what large suitcases can hold:

(Thanks in large part to the Blights, as well!)

Balance bike for David (actually they have to all share), thanks to Grandpadad.
David has had roseola, so he's really not been himself the past few days. Thank God, he's a  lot better now! It's not a serious illness, but he sure looked and acted miserable. He still has the rash. The others have just a touch of it.

Strollers for the girls to go with their new Starling dollies!

But really, who needs new toys when you've got a scuffed-up, dirty, old wooden store delivery box to play in? For a while, at least, Will was happy just with that. :) Once the toys came out, the store box was history. 

(Debbie, the kids asked to go to your house today, not Daycare! I need to stop using that top road!)

Grandma, Grandpadad and Aunt Pam have arrived!

(A lot happens when you don't update your blog for more than two weeks. We've been fine, just busy!)

It is so much FUN to have both sets of grandparents and Aunt Pam here now! It's also really nice to have someone share the work of dishes, clean-up, kid-watching and playing. :)

My folks arrived for a two-month visit, and the kids very obviously remembered them!

Seth running full-bore to Grandpadad. Will got to him first by breaking the rules and going through the "no entry" gate!

David is so happy his tongue is hanging out! Marcie was screaming hysterically with delight.
(Aunt Pam got these pics. Grandma got ecstatic hugs, too!)

Gracie "helped" Grandma unpack. Oops. We didn't notice where she was or what she was doing - with Marcie.

Grandma and the kids (minus Will, who came along later)

Seth and Aunt Pam (my favorite person in the whole wide world when I was a kid, and still in the top .00001%!)

Grandma playing farm and tractors with Seth.

Looking at pictures. Jason, Isaac's friend, was interested to see them too. :)

Aunt Pam is always ready and willing for an adventure. We ran an errand to Aunt Kelly's house using this fun old truck. It's pretty jolty in the back. Some of the kids rode up front with her instead. Marcie insisted on it every time. :)

Happy girls and grandparents on Sunday. The girls' outfits made me squeal, they are so cute!!
Thank you, Len, Mickey, CJ and JJ, Megan and Naomi and Aunt Katie for the beautiful/useful/delicious, thoughtful gifts! We are so touched by and thrilled with your selections. (And I'm sure I'm still missing someone!)

Grandpadad in one of the silly hats Aunt Pam brought the boys.
Gracie loved being on his lap. (He's still teaching online classes for NorthStar Academy, so he needs that computer.)

Grandpadad reading to the boys.