Rockaway beach; part 1 of 4

Of course there was muscle flexing



















































Part of our adventure to Washington included a trip to the Oregon coast. We drove out to Portland and met up with my Aunt Vicky, my Cousin Lindsay and her sweet baby Maya. We spent the afternoon shopping in Portland and checking out all the wierdos (lots of em in downtown Portland!). We got on the road and drove the hour and a half to the coast through some very beautiful land. All of which was lost on the children.



We arrived, got settled in and then promptly ran out the back door to the beach. The house we stayed in was awesome! Right on the beach, so easy with the kids and quite nice to boot. The house was stocked with kites so we put them to good use that first day. The kids loved it, the wind was up so it was quite easy to get one airborne. Even Lily could do it. Luke got right to digging and even dug up some combination of a turtle and a crab. It stayed the night in his bucket outside our back door. The poor little guy was quite relieved the next morning when we set him free.

Slip N Slide action at grandmas!

With cheeks like these. . .

























We didn't only work at grandmas though! On one particularly lovely evening after dinner we sat, put our feet up and watched the children frolic. They ran, raced and did tricks on the slip-n-slide. It was one of those evenings were time seems to slow as a way to let your enjoyment of the moment last longer. We topped the night off with roasting some smores in mom's chimniea.

The pond. A small glimpse into my childhood (without the financial payout).

Oh the memories. Every time I go home I cannot believe how much everything has grown. I still have VIVID memories of planting that lawn. My brothers and I all manned with rakes and my dad riding around on our three wheeler cracking the proverbial whip on us. That along with the building of the the home we lived in. Be careful what ideas and books you let John Peterson get wind of. He read some book about building your own home. . .and so we did. Talk about a man with a plan.



That same man also has a passion for fire, one that has yet to be tamed. A few weeks ago he was burning some dead bushes in my parents lower pond when the fire, well, it got a wee bit out of control. The fire department came, an ER visit ensued, and letters were sent to clean out the entire lower pond or else! Enter. . .a perfectly (and previously planned) vacation to Washington to visit grandma. Owen and Luke were enlisted in the cause and I by default as now I had to be there to crack the literal whip on my own children (kidding, but sometimes, I admit I do fantasize).



By the time it was over, we had made five (I think, the memory is already fading as a cooping mechanism) trips to the dump. We were quite a sight too. One trip to the dump my mother and I were particularly disgusted with some able bodied men. They're was five of them right next to us, me-great with child, my lovely mother-very able but still sixty-one years old, and my boys. We were unloading a huge load of obviously burned quite large debris but did they offer to help us? No, not even on the gigantic stumps that once had belonged to trees well over thirty feet high. For shame.



We worked hard and got-er done though. Owen worked so hard, I can't remember hearing a single complaint from that boy. Luke, bless him worked hard too; not as hard as older brother but definitely hard for his age. Lily did nothing. Except get in the way on multiple occasions. The boys were so excited to be working for money that they could hardly sleep at night. It's the most money that either of them have earned and it is still burning a hole in their pockets.

BTW, I'm still pregnant.

GET IN MY BELLY! Oh, your already there! Name is getting narrowed down, it's Jack or Wyatt. Baby boy is busy though. I would almost describe him as a tickler. When he is moving around it is almost always in a couple of different spots that I feel him in. He kicks me all day long and even helped me to eat two whole cantaloupes in a two day period last week.









Check out Lily, already stealing my thunder. A bit of useless information for you readers; this is Indian Beach, the same beach the teen/30-something heartthrob film Twilight was filmed at.





Luke at the camera. This is his view of me. I'm not sure what to think of that.





Chad took this last night unbeknownst to me, I found it on I-photo and was a little bit horrified. But, trying to preserve the sweet sweet memories of being elephant sized. FYI, I look super sad in the photo but I'm not. I was deep in thought over the dogs new obsession with chewing on my leather ottoman. Bad dog!

Can I get a Yee-haw!

This summer my sweet nieces came out for a visit. We spent the fourth of July at Rawhide. It was hot. 114 degrees to be exact. But no matter, we managed to wrangle us a good ole time. Owen rode a bull, we imprisoned the children, rode donkeys, ate turkey legs, petted sweaty farm animals, panned for gold, climbed rock walls, saw rope tricks, was booed by 325 people for attempting to save eight seats, ignored the booing of 325 people and enjoyed the show! Then saw a firework show to top the evening off.



Oh, was also chewed out by a total stranger for my ill-behaved children. Let me just state this; my children were in the wrong. Once their behavior was brought to my attention I immediately apologized and tried to remedy the situation. This was not satisfactory to this oh so pleasant woman. She was un-detoured and just wanted to let me have it. Okay, lady. We get it. You are a miserable person who likes others to feel as miserable as you are.



. . .mission failure. I will not let grumpy, hateful people such as yourself ruin my evening. Sorry, you're going to have to go it alone.



P.S. My super-smart husband put a bunch of water bottles on ice in the car to greet us on our arrival. Bless that man!