Mountain Man Month

August is supposed to be Mountain Man Month around here. That's what Chris told me at the end of July. What does that mean? Well, I'm not exactly sure except for the part where he wants to do outdoorsy stuff every single day...
Last week he got to go backpacking out in the Wallowa's for the second time. He went with a couple of guys from work and they were only able to go for 3 days. They climbed to the peak of  Eagle Cap; which apparently is the 13th highest peak in Oregon. Woot! Woot! They enjoyed beautiful mountain scenery and swims in the lakes. Here are some of his pics:

I love my rugged mountain man!!

From Thailand, with Love

My little sister spent the summer in Thailand this year, which was pretty cool for her. We decided it would be fun to surprise her at the airport with lots of people and handmade signs welcoming her home. Finally the big day arrived. We all loaded up and got to the airport in time to snag a great place to wait. Here is the welcoming committee (besides me).

So we waited and waited. The time for her plane to get in came and went. We thought maybe she missed it, so we waited for several other planes to arrive. She wasn't on any of them. So, then we really started to worry. The airlines couldn't tell us where she was. We had no idea. Then I got on Facebook...and wrote something about my lost sister. She just happened to be sitting in the Seoul airport and logged on to see that. Turns out, we were a day early to pick her up. Lame sauce. Now we had to go home and come back the next day. At least I was able to leave Neil home the second time.

She brought the kids adorable Thai pants and little purses for the girls. They loved them! Thanks Auntie Kee!

A couple of days later we had a fun fire at my parent's house. Neil loved building the fire. He is definitely his father's son. We enjoyed making some s'mores and setting the grass on fire. We really did. It was crazy cool to see the little ember fall and immediately ignite the dry grass below it. We all just watched for a minute before extinguishing it with a pre-filled bucket of water.  Good times with the fam!

Seaside

A few weeks ago we took advantage of a clear, warm day at the coast. We headed to Seaside to enjoy some family time. Since we like bikes, we thought it would be fun to rent a Surrey and ride around for an hour. What we didn't count on was the fact that none of our 3 kids would be able to reach the pedals...meaning Chris and I got in a really great workout!! It was pretty exhausting. We turned in the bike about 10 minutes early because we just couldn't go any further.

Now we were all sweaty, but we hit the main drag anyway. We got elephant ears, ice cream, and made a visit to a gigantic candy shop. Then we hit the sand to enjoy our loot.

We played in the sand for quite some time and enjoyed the sun. The sand actually burned our feet without flip flops on. It was great weather. Hot enough for swimsuits. Eventually, we moved down closer to the surf and ran through the water. Neil loved it! When he finally started turning blue, we had to pick him up kicking and screaming and carry him all the way back to the van. He really liked the water. Love, love summer days in Oregon!

Campout 2012

Well, we all survived. Our 4 night camping trip on the Oregon coast was a success. We all had lots of fun! We had gorgeous weather the first 4 days. Lots of sunshine and blue skies. The beach was perfect with super soft sand and not too much wind. It really was about as good as it gets on the Oregon coast!
On Wednesday we packed up and headed out. Our van was super loaded down! We had our bike rack hooked up, which really saved a lot of space. It did make the back end pretty heavy though. We actually scraped our driveway when we pulled out. That was the only mishap we had. After getting camp ready and eating a yummy pasta dinner, we headed for sunset on the beach.  The kids also had a great time exploring the surrounding trees for "secret hideouts".
All Neil wanted to do was run down the middle of the road. This continued the entire time. He would just run and run and run. We ended up putting him on time outs in his car seat. It was great! He would totally relax as soon as we got him strapped in. Poor kid would scream his head off while we corralled him, but would just sit happily once he got in the van. Whatever works. 

On Thursday we took it easy. The girls went out on the boat with both Grandpa's and Aunt Bree to catch crabs. We went on lots and lots of bike rides. Neil loved to be pulled around the campground in the trailer. We saw deer all over the place which was fun. We were able to get really close to this one here. They must be acclimated to people. She wasn't easily scared off. Of course we also spent time on the beach. It was funny to see Neil react to being barefoot in the sand. At first he refused to walk in it. It took quite some time for him to warm up to the idea. He would crawl around with his feet up in the air. Eventually, he decided that it wasn't so bad. Chris got his fill of making lots and lots of fires.

  

Friday was probably the nicest day that we had. We spent the day on the beach making sand castles and playing around with the freezing cold water. Chris and I, along with his uncle Troy got to go crabbing with my dad. It was beautiful out on the bay! We saw seals and plenty of crab. It was both Chris and Troy's first time crabbing, so it was pretty fun! Once you grab the rope, you have to pull without letting up in order to keep all the crabs in the ring. It is a bit of a workout. They even made me do it a couple of times. It was pretty heavy! We were able to pull up quite a few crabs, unfortunately, most of them were either female or too small to keep. We got 5 keepers in all. We brought them back to camp to boil up. It was a perfect day!

  

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 On Saturday the weather was noticeably different. It was still dry, but the clouds had come in and it was cooler. We had plans to all jump in the ocean, so we waited until 2pm and all put our swim suits on anyway. We all went in! At least I went in to my knees...that counts right? Chris and the girls went all the way out, and said they had a blast. That water was freezing. So cold, that it made the bones in my feet hurt just to stand in it. Oh well, they seemed to have fun. We also buried all the kids in the sand. Besides having sand in all places, they really liked doing that. Nothing a warm shower wouldn't fix.

Chris and I went on a fun bike ride that day with his brother Calvin and his fiancé Jill. We rode up to the small town of Manzanita. It was pretty quaint and had all sorts of shops and bakeries. It was fun to walk around. It reminded me a lot of the seaside towns in Ireland.

It started to rain on us while we slept on Saturday night. It was so fun to hear the rain hitting our tarp through the night knowing that we were perfectly dry. I'm glad we were prepared for rain. Unfortunately, the rain continued the next day, so we woke up and had a pancake breakfast and then took down camp to head home. We of course stopped in Tillamook on the way back for some ice cream. It was a little hectic because Chris's brother and his wife delivered preterm twins late Saturday night, so everyone wanted to get back and go visit them in the hospital.
Considering everything, we all had a really good time camping! I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully next time Neil will be a little more cooperative.

Fireworks

The 4th of July is probably my favorite of all holidays. It is supposed to be nice weather and it's perfect for family gatherings of BBQ, games, and fireworks. This year, we had a really great 4th.


Since Chris and I both had the whole day off, we lounged around in the morning which was really nice. At lunchtime we tried out our new bike rack on the van and drove to Dawson Creek Park for a family bike ride/duck feeding. It was pretty hot outside, but we had fun. The kids really loved the ducks and we even stopped for a bit under a tunnel and let them dip their toes in the water. Afterwards, we hit up Sonic for some tasty lunch.

In the evening we went to my Brother in laws house for a BBQ dinner. There was tons of food, and everyone had a good time relaxing. The kids were super anxious for the fireworks to start. Unfortunately, in Oregon it doesn't start getting dark til pretty late (after 9). We let them start out with some sparklers first. Neil actually got the hang of it. He would hold it out with a straight arm and not move at all. It was cute. I think we confused him though about fireworks being a hands on sport. Once we transitioned to the other fireworks he wanted to participate. (ie he wanted to hold/light/be right next to them) Obviously, this wasn't going to work. So after chasing him and holding his wriggling body, eventually he and I ended up in the van to watch the remainder. We still had a good time, and we were even able to see some of the illegal ones that were lit off around us. Hopefully by next year he will figure out the observation thing.

A' picking we will go

A couple of days ago we took advantage of a dry and mild summer day to go enjoy the outdoors and pick berries. We are so lucky to live so close to many many fields of juicy berries. We found one that had huge, sweet raspberries. It was great fun to pick and eat, and let the kids run around. After filling our bowls we headed home with our treasure.

We had so many raspberries! I really wanted to make them into jam, but I had never canned before. Last year I made freezer jam with strawberries....but no one really liked it. So I decided to try the real thing...and...it turned out AMAZING! I'm so glad that I finally bit the bullet and gave it a go. It really wasn't that hard in the end. We are all happy with the results. Tasty jam. Now I think we need to go back out for some strawberries and blackberries to make more. 

We had leftover berries, so we have made raspberry turnovers and raspberry pancakes in the last couple days. I think I am on berry overload at this point. Maybe by the time the other berries are ripe, I will be ready for more! What a fun family activity this has been!

Two

Alright, so I know that Neil isn't officially 2 until the 10th....but we celebrated a bit early. Next week we are going camping, so we decided to do a combo family party for him and Claire yesterday.

Neil is getting to be so big now. He loves to run through the house and play with his cars. He is also pretty into cartoons now. It's hard to believe that we are leaving the baby stage. He is learning new things all the time. He says all gone, bye bye, copper, yucky, vroom, and several other new words. I am happy that he enjoys nursery time at church, and he can play independently at the park. He entertains himself on the slide for a long time. Just within the last week we have been able to take him to restaurants again. It had been a nightmare, but he is finally doing better. He's still in the crib, but that's more because it's easier for me and also not necessary to move him. As much as I love having girly girls, I am so grateful for my sweet baby boy. He is so fun and full of energy. His smile is the greatest. I am trying to cherish this time when he will still give me cuddles and kisses.

For his party, we had all the fam over for pizza, cake and ice cream. It was good. Claire and Neil got so many great presents. Neil got a train set for his new train table, along with lots of great cars and trucks. Claire was excited for her Brave barbie, lots of new books, and wall art for her to decorate. They both got some clothes that they were less than excited about, but that are very cute!