First Day!

It's back to school already! The summer seemed to fly by. I really don't know where all the time went. It seems like we just got out of school. It was a bit crazy trying to get everything ready just after camping, but we did it!

Neil was off to first grade. His teacher is Miss Wooten. I still can't believe that he's done with kindergarten. He is so much more grown up now.

Grace started third grade. She has Mrs. Prior. I think she's super ready! To me Grace always seems older than she is. Maybe it's her fall birthday. I know she is going to do great!

Claire was off to 6th grade in middle school! Yikes!! I'm soo not ready for this. I wish I could keep in her in the elementary school forever. She was a bit nervous, but also excited. I'm just really glad that she already knows a good group of girls there. 

I really missed them that first day. I ended up buying them each a pack of gum and making them a sign for when they got home. Thankfully they all had a great first day!

Camping trip

We set off on our last hurrah for the summer to Lake Del Valle. We camped for two nights and had a great time! Our site was pretty much perfect. It was huge, flat, shaded, and up on a ridge that overlooked more of the park.

That first night we made ourselves campfire pizza sandwiches. It was a big hit. Everyone got to make their own and cook it over the fire. We also had plenty of smore's. The kids performed "magic shows" for us in the dark with their glow sticks.

The next morning we made breakfast and then went for a hike before it got too hot. We only went about a mile and a half, but there was a bit of elevation. We had really great views of the lake. I'm sorry I didn't take many pictures.

After hiking, we headed back to camp for lunch. The kids rode bikes, we relaxed, played games, and then we headed down to the water to swim. The water was actually really nice. We all got in. There is a nice swimming area complete with lifeguards. 

After swimming, it was back to camp for dinner prep and hanging out. I had brought all of the kids's bikes with us hoping that Neil would be inspired to try to ride. We had taken off his training wheels a few weeks back and tried, but he didn't want anything to do with it. We ended up not putting the wheels back on and just brought the bike along... just in case. Sure enough on that second day he asked if he could go ride. I helped him get started, and he just did it! We were both pretty excited. I ended up running the camp loop probably 5 times as I ran alongside him. The only thing he needs a lot more practice with is braking. He hasn't quite figured that part out. But, it's a great start for sure!!

We made tinfoil dinners that night and cooked them in the coals. They turned out delicious and the yellow jackets thought so too. 

After dinner, the kids rode bikes a bunch since Neil could now ride. Unfortunately, Grace tried to avoid him and fell pretty bad on the pavement. She bruised up her hip and skinned her knees and elbow. Poor girl. She was a trooper though.

That night we went to the ranger talk about mammals. I always love going to those programs since I usually learn something new. This time I learned that it was the beginning of tarantula mating season, so there could be male spiders just out walking around. A few people there had seen one. I really didn't want to know about that. Yikes!

Back at camp it was more glow sticks, fire, and smores. We all went to bed pretty exhausted that night. 

The next day we made breakfast, packed up our site and then headed to the lake. First we watched the rangers feed a mouse to their pet snake. Then we headed to the swimming beach for one last swim. 

We all had a really great time. It was good to get home around lunch time and spend the rest of the day getting ready for school the next morning. Can't wait to camp again!

Last few days of summer

We are trying to pack in our fun before school starts next week. Since we've been home from our Oregon trip we've gone to Six Flags 3 times, gone to birthday parties,  chilled at the pool, started soccer for Neil and Grace, had playdates with friends, and slept in every single day. It has been glorious.

The dolphin show never gets old!

Watching the tiger show at Six Flags

Having big kids is the best! Sat here with my book and water. I got in for a bit too, but it was pretty perfect.

 Post soccer play time. Love these warm summer nights!

Birthday party fun!

Random dress up time. The girls were talking with accents when I discovered them like this.

Now we are packing up for a last hurrah camping trip. The kids are all excited ready for school on Monday!

Oregon Summer Vay-cay

July was a whirlwind. It came and went so fast! This post won't cover everything because I was pretty terrible about taking pictures. I decided to live in the moments instead of always pulling out the camera for photo ops.

Our journey started the weekend of July 4th. We drove to Oregon to spend time with our families. It was really crazy that first week because there were tons of people around. We ended up doing several big group activities including a trip to the lake, a bbq on the 4th, and a big July birthday party on my Mom's birthday.

I've decided that I really hate sparklers. They are just so dangerous.

Neil was super pleased with all of his Minecraft loot.

The piñata was a hit!  :)

Later that first week we drove to the Tillamook Forestry Center. It's such a fun place to explore for a couple of hours. We listened to a Ranger talk about birds of prey, watched the video about the big forest fires, and hiked out back along the Wilson River. It was a slightly misty day, but not cold. It was so nice to breathe in the clean forest air. Afterwards we made the trek to the cheese factory for the obligatory grilled cheese sandwich followed by ice cream.

The kids and I had the chance to go trout fishing with Grandpa, Lincoln, and David. It was a pretty slow day for fish, but we did manage to get one in the boat. There were a couple of other bites. The kids all had the best time playing with the worms. They each had a handful of them and gave them names and made up all kind of games with them. It was a perfect day on the water!

Since I knew that we'd be around for the month of July, I signed the kids up for the free bowling program. We took advantage of that a few times. Neil really got into it this time. In the past he found bowling to be very boring. By the end of our vacation he was excited to go. 

We even had some fun at the batting cages. 

Of course on July 11 we had to hit up 7-11 for some tasty slurpees. We may or may not have gone to more than one.

Unfortunately, Chris was only able to be with us for that first week. The rest of the time we were hanging out with my mom and sisters. My dad left too for a family reunion in Minnesota. So, it was ladies' night all the time. (poor Jeff, Kee's hubby, he was stuck with a lot of estrogen)

Celebrating Neil's birthday at Red Robin

Claire had been saving all of her money for the last two years to buy an i-pod touch. She finally reached her goal! Yay! and Yikes!

We met up with friends at the park. Fun times at 53rd.

A true ladies' night at Papa Hydens in Portland. Delicious dessert and gab fest for four hours!!

Lots of cousin time!

An experiment with curls. 

We braved the beach on random weekday. We had been waiting for a nice day. Most of July was unusually mild this year. We were really hoping for a few hot days. Oh well. We had fun at Oceanside anyway. We hiked through the tunnel, played in the water, and played bocce ball in the sand.

Since we were so close, we had to stop for some ice cream! 

We hit up the library and fed the ducks.

We had fun at the family "camp out". The kids all got plenty dirty and all ran around like crazy until dark with glow sticks and a nice fire. 

We even broke out the marshmallow guns for a nice little fight in the yard.

Finally the weather started to warm up so we spent a bunch of time outside in the pool. This big pool was a hit!

Once my dad returned from his trip, we made a couple of more trips to Hagg Lake for some tubing. I really love being out there. It is one of my happy places. Just being out on the water is so relaxing to me. This time Neil was brave enough to ride the tube. He loved it!

More bowling took place.

We walked down to the fields near my parent's house where we found blackberries, apples, and pears to pick.

The kids had a blast spending the night in this camper in the back yard with Aunt Kee and Uncle Jeff.

On our last weekend, we headed to the Fair. It was fun to get a big ice cream cone, elephant ear, and walk around to see the animals. 

On our very last day Chris was back. He had come to help us make the drive home. We went to Hagg Lake one more time to see if his brother's boat that he built would float. It was a fun experiment. The boat did float, but wasn't very stable. He flipped it a couple of times. Time for some readjustments. The kids had a great time swimming off shore. It really was a perfect day out on the water!

The rest of our trip was spent hanging out with our family and friends. We were able to see a few of our friends which was really nice. Everyone was on their own vacations, so it was hard to line up our schedules. The kids did a bunch of crafts with Grandma Phillips, had a few sleepovers with aunts and uncles, and swam a lot! We saw a bunch of movies and played many games. I really enjoyed hanging out with my mom and sisters. I'm not sure how long it will be until we have another summer quite like it. 

Now we are home, and it's good to be back. Time to settle in and get things ready for the new school year. Grace and Neil have already started soccer practice. And so it begins....