Weekend at the Ocean

Last weekend Janice invited me, my two little ones, and our niece Laney to go with her back to Long Beach, WA to play and see a sand castle building contest they had going on.

We took my brothers tent trailer, that Janice and Matt had also borrowed just the week before.

But unlike the previous week, this time we decided to take Janice's van so we would have more room and the kids could watch movies to help pass the time. Unfortunately when we went to hook-up we discovered that the electrical at the hitch was not compatible. When we ran down to the auto parts store and 3 different RV parts stores with no luck, we had to accept that they just didn't make what we wanted. The nice guy at the third RV place took pity on us and told me what I was going to need to make one. So with parts in hand, Janice and I sat down with the color code chart and the wires and went for it.

Aaand....... Success! Oh yeah, we've got skills.

And our happy crew was ready to hit the road and eventually the beach.

7 1/2 hrs., and a whole lot of traffic latter, we hit town, dropped off and set up camp

AND THEN HIT THE BEACH!

That evening we decided to do it up right and build a fire where we roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows

The next morning we set out for a long day at the beach and messing around town-

but we did it in style!

SAND CASTLE BUILDING:

Down on the beach they had areas cordoned off for professional, intermediate, beginner, family, and children's teams to do their stuff.

The early stages

After seeing all the work in progress down on the beach, we headed into downtown for a look around. In the town square they had these sand sculptures that had been done by professionals.

Then on to the good stuff.

(The redheaded mermaid seems to have a little head/body proportion issue.)

(What would a trip to Long Beach be without a visit to Marsh's Museum and a little quality time with "Jake" the alligator man)

Then it was time to head back to the beach to see the final sculptures before the tide washed them away.

The tide was coming in fast and we just about missed getting back in time to get some pictures.

To end our day we climbed into the van and took a short drive down to Astoria, Oregon. Just so we could say we did.

Finally it was time to head home- but we weren't too happy about it :-)

Lake Palmer

Our week at Palmer Lake

This year our week started on Sunday July 4th, so after attended the little ward in the little town of Oroville, WA (where the visitors out-numbered the regulars), we came home and put our best "4th of July" faces on.

The week started out cooler than usual, but by the end of the week things had heated up.

Fortunately, a refreshing dip was only a "jump" away.

(I think that is Aunt Viv about to go flying courtesy of a few of the fellas.)

Joel and Seth tried their darnedest to get Uncle Dave's kite into the air, but the wind had a mind of its own and would come and go with no warning. A few times since we have been home, Seth has suddenly announced that when the wind comes back we are going to go fly the kite.

Because I have little ones, I tended to hang out with little ones, so as a consequence the little ones seemed to cross the lens of my camera the most often.

All through the week we had lots of game playing.

Darcey and Ellie made sure they were never left out!

The big beautiful deck was truly the domain of those not big enough to go jump in the lake. We had a big swimming pool, a tiny swimming pool, and a water play yard set up for them. They weren't very discreet about their swim attire either- I saw swim suits, pajamas, long pants, nothing but diapers, and even the occasional skirt pass through.

And then there were the truly fashionable!

The kids even had their own umbrella table and chairs which saw lots of use at every meal time.

Too soon the week was drawing to an end and I realized that I had failed, as usual, to get pictures of some of the things we spent the most time doing. Aunt Viv brought a bunch of fun beads for the kids to make endless quantities of necklaces and bracelets, and for the "big girls" to make some beautiful earrings with. And everyone, big and small, spent time coloring some giant pictures that we had fun displaying all over the fireplace and fridge.

Aunt Viv and Uncle Dave had to take off first

and then it was Lee and Tricia and families turn after a quick group photo, leaving Randy and Lisa and our family to wander around a now seemingly empty house before heading home the next morning.

I don't know if we will get the chance to return to Palmer in the future or not, but it has been such a fun place to come, play and see our family grow over the last few years.

Much love and thanks to Dennis and Laura. We miss you guys!

What's New

There is a sister in our ward who has a goat farm with about 75 animals on it. This weekend Joel went out there to help out because of some health problems she is having. After spending the morning out there he came home and said we all need to come back with him in the evening, because he thought the kids would love to see all the goats.

He was right, Seth thought he was in heaven!

There were lots of young ones, but there were two that were especially small and were allowed to run around outside the pens. It was a lot of fun to watch them run around and kick there heals and play together. Proof that babies are all the same regardless of their species.

She also had 2 very large working dogs on the farm that followed the kids around.

Ellie kept squealing between fascination and unsurity (ya, I'm making up my own words again), but did NOT want me to pick her up and take her away from the animals.

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SPEAKING OF ELLIE

Our girl is up and walking. She took her first independent steps a few weeks ago, but it wasn't until this last Thursday that she decided that walking was better than crawling.

Our Growing Boy Turns 3

Seth has been growing up so much and he loves doing anything his dad does.

The toy hammer just won't cut it anymore.

He has been watching Dad work on the mowers and thinks he needs to check it out too.

He is so cute, the other day he rode in a car attached to a shopping cart at the grocery store. When I went to get him out he insisted that he had to check the engine and became very disappointed when he realized there was no hood to look under.

HIS BIG DAY

Today he turned 3!

The weather was half decent and there was an especially low tide today in the early afternoon so we hit the beach.

It is amazing just how much stuff you need to be comfortable with little ones involved. Seth did a great job of pulling the load...

for a while :)

We set up camp and prepared to have fun.

(Janice gave him the little tent with a matching sleeping bag and chair)

We found tons of "baby" crabs

Then we rolled up our pants and waded out to see the real critters.

Unfortunately while we were out checking out the local wildlife, the tide started coming in fast and by the time we headed back in we ended up wading through water up to our back pockets!

So what else is a girl to do..., so of course we stripped down

and hid in Seth's nifty new tent while our pants dried.

Did I mention this is a little tent?

Eventually we returned to a fully clothed state and finished enjoying our afternoon on the beach.

Then we had to treat ourselves to some ice cream

Before coming home and having cake!

Seth was so excited to blow out his candles and did a masterful job of it.

Seth got a few more fun things, a game from Aunt Viv

And a dinosaur from us (he thought it was a little scary at first, but he watched Aunt Viv having such fun with it, he warmed up to it pretty quickly)

What a fun day we had, and what a blessing our "big" boy has been.