Sunday, August 28, 2011

Family Beach Trip 2012

It's how we always wrap up the summer~the annual beach trip to the Oregon Coast with the Slater/Cotter/Moore families all in one house. This year we were at a house in Lincoln Beach.
Lunch outside in the sunshine.
Feeding the seagulls. Such pesky birds, but it sure is fun to have them come right up and take the food out of your hand! Big seagull taking off with the bread from Aunt Susie. So exciting!
The view of the beach from our house. Kids could roam and play for hours.
Cousin art project. They all decorated t-shirts. One of these kids was not real pleased with his finished product, so he's hiding it. Can you guess who?
A classic Depoe Bay hot spot....Jordy's candy shop (since 1942). Each of the cousins got to choose 10 taffy pieces for their little bag. Decisions, decisions. Thanks, Uncle Mark!
Looking over the harbor at Depoe Bay. Exactly as I remember it from 35 years ago.
My dear brothers, Uncle Greg and Uncle Mark.
Dinnertime! We always eat well at the beach. Each family takes a dinner for one of the nights. Pork Tenderloin, Fish Tacos, and the grand finale....Sookie's ribs (Claudine's first go at the recipe on her own) and they were delicious!
Hot tub time! Always a crowd pleaser, even in this ghetto shed.
Chillin' on the deck with some cocktails. There was one more Moore along on the trip this year~Susan's boyfriend, Jared. He tolerated us well. We like having him there, too.
The Slaters.
Catie looks just like Claudine, Will looks just like Mark, huh?
The annual 'cousins on a log' photo.
Chris Catie, Will, Nate, Grace, Caroline, Ella.
These kids love each other so much.
Beach play! Nate bats the cycle with the ladder ball game. He was mighty proud of himself!
It wouldn't be a beach trip without a few rounds of Down-Set-Steal. We taught Jared the ropes and he was all over that game.
Beach bonfire the first night. Nothing like sticky marshmallows in the sand. mmm
Big excitement. Uncle Mark found a fish that washed ashore with no eyeballs. All the cousins came running to check it out. Back it went into the sea with a big fling into the air.

On Saturday G'ma and Uncle Greg drove over for the day, and as a family we decided we would spread G'pa's ashes into the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Mark, Susan, Greg, my mom and I went down the beach and set his remains free. He rode a big wave out, and we all said goodbye in our own way. It was as lovely as that type of event can be.
We had one final beach campfire that night. It helped us all feel like closure was set in motion on a sadness that defined this summer. We miss you, dad. We'll see you next year in the sand~or in the water~or in the breeze~wherever you may land around us.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

summertime happy hour

4:00::Monday afternoons::neighborhood friends::lots of freedom::everyone is happy!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Granddaddy and Nana visit from Florida!


Granddaddy and Nana came to visit. It was great to see them. The last time they were here the boys were 3 years old!
On Saturday, we went on a driving adventure. We headed East out of Portland, and our first stop was Joe's Donut Shop in Sandy, Oregon. A must-stop for anyone heading up to the mountain! Since we wouldn't all fit in my car, we borrowed a zipcar for the day. We had a Toyota Sienna named Shania. She was a great ride!
Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood was our second stop. What a beautiful day!
Down the mountain to Trillium Lake Campground where we showed Granddaddy and Nana where we love to camp.
We stopped for lunch in Hood River at the Full Sail Brewery, then loaded back into Shania for the final stretch home. We made one last stop at Multnomah Falls.
Nate and Granddaddy playing some catch in the backyard. What a great summer day! On Sunday we stayed home and G'ma came up from Salem with a big ol' salmon that we grilled for dinner. mmmm! Nate and Chris harvested some green beans from the garden for our meal.
A highlight of the day was the impromptu piano recital that we had for the grandparents. They were treated to some of the classics: Camptown Races, Honeybee, Deck The Halls, Old MacDonald, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Cuckoo!, and maybe 1-2 others. Gotta love the grandparent paparazzi on the couch.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Sentences

It's the best consequence for rotten behavior. Because they hate it so much.
Yep, we're talking old school sentence writing. Just like Bart Simpson or students in a one room school house in 1913.
Name your offense...we've got quite a collection!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Celebration of Life for Stu


We had a celebration of life gathering for my dad on Saturday at my mom's house. It was exactly how he would have wanted it, with about 100 of his favorite people in attendance. He would have loved it!
Jeff, Albie, and Ali (uncle and cousins) drove up from California. It was so great to see them!
Bouncy house for the kids. The big excitement of the day was 'Lady'...Ali's new 4 legged friend.
Lots of friends are starting to gather, look at photos, and connect!
More friends and family.
Diane and Kay hugging my mom. Very sweet picture!
More friends. Many of these people I had not seen or talked to in about 20 years. It was so much fun to reconnect.
Wolfe, Mom, Grover and Linda. They all go waaaaaaaay back!
Uh-oh! Time for some first aid. Nate got two yellow jacket stings. All of the cousins were very concerned.
Brian, Brian, Brian. Good ol' Brian Kroeker doing his childhood trick. This was just one of many that did had us laughing til we cried. Contrary to his mom's warnings, they never did stay that way!
Brian's sisters, Jill and Laurie. These Kroeker kids were our BFF's back in our early years. We all LOVED seeing them again!
Erika, Caroline, Roger, Mark and Brian.
Karen, Mom, and Uncle Marshall giving a shout-out to Stu.
On Sunday, some family got back together again and we had a birthday cake for cousin Albie. Can't believe that he's 23! Just yesterday we was a cute little baby. Where does the time go?
Slaters and Albadas.
I'm certain that Stu was watching down over the party and loved every minute of it.