Good times at Black Butte Ranch

The boys and I had a mini vacation at Black Butte Ranch where we stayed with the Slater family for a few nights of their family vacation. We had a GREAT time!

Chris, Nate, Catie, Will at the first pool.
Slater family. Catie is an amazing little swimmer. I truly think that she is a mermaid.

The Yunkers were staying at their house at BB, so on Sunday evening they came over for a very tasty Korean dinner. mmm.. sookie ribs!!

It was HOT in Central Oregon. Notice where my boys are sitting in this picture? They thought that Asa was a really cool 'big' boy....and he was.

It was hard to keep kids out of this hot tub. We cooled it down with cold water and they swam every chance they got.

Scootin' to the playground and pool. Please note Catie's poppin' wheelie. New skill, and she was very proud. :) We also went on two really big bike rides. Nate had 2 big crashes, but amazingly enough, no scrapes to show for them.

Uncle Mark in front of the house which was right on the golf course.

On the second night, we stayed up extra late and went down to the golf greens with blankets/pillows/flashlights to watch the stars above. Very fun until the sprinklers started coming on around us.

Chris does a plunge into the water.

This trip did wonders for both boys' swimming skills, especially Nate.

Nate jumps!

Mama and her boys. You should see my sunburned back from being waist high in a pool for hours on end. ouch!

It was so hard to leave this fun. :(

Thank you so much, Mark, Claudine, Catie, and Will.

summer bliss

I'm thankful for lazy summer days...

where we can read books outside...
underneath the tree in our front yard..... ...together.

ice cream truck

Every evening they listen in the distance for the sound of the ice cream truck. Sometimes they will sit and wait, with quarters in hand, warming up as they wait for the little blue truck to turn down 23rd Avenue.
Last night it all went right and the boys finally got to buy themselves a treat, while 'You are My Sunshine' blared from the speaker.

Nate takes the lead!

It's funny how life works out some times.....

Lazy Bend on the Clackamas

Another awesome camping trip, this time at Lazy Bend Campground on the Clackamas River. We had never done a trip in this part of the Mt. Hood National Forest because, well....it's Clackamas. But boy were we wrong! It was a beautiful part of this state. We were all impressed with this beautiful, private campground.
This spot on the rocks was down a short trail from our campsite, and whoever was there before us kindly set up a little wading area adjacent to the raging river.

Bad dads enjoying a cigar after dinner. It's a rough life out camping.

Sunday morning. I love this photo because it really captures life around the campground on this trip. Bill playing shut-the-box, Maya the dog sleeping on the dusty ground, Amy snapping amazing photos, and 4 boys relentlessly poking at and messing around with fire.

Our chain gang working to build up the wall on our secondary pool that we built.
It was so funny to me that Nate was 2 feet away from a raging river that could have carried him downstream before he would know what happened, yet last weeekend he sobbed in fright over getting in up to his ankles at the beach. I asked him about why it was different, and he told me that he had 'never been rolled in the river.' Makes sense.

Liam, Chris, Aidan, and Nate. Thanks for the fun and impromptu camping trip, McMullens! You're great camping buddies.

Tiger's Birthday

Christopher woke up this morning and decided that today was Tiger's birthday.

He made him a crown to wear for the day.

He picked a plate of grass for tiger to eat. (he is allergic to cake)

He is now 6.

Of course, both boys wanted to bake him a cake, so we did just that. Oh Tiger, you are such a special friend to Christopher.

Party time!

Camping at Nehalem Bay

It was a great camping trip. The highlight for Chris and Nate? Being introduced to 'strike anywhere' matches. Heaven on earth for boys who love fire.

They were in complete awe over the ability to strike ANYWHERE with these matches and make fire. We went through about 400 matches.
All pyro jokes aside, both boys have really learned to respect fire. Dan no longer has to be the fire-maker....Chris and Nate were in charge of successfully and safely making all of our campfires. Rather impressive, if you ask me.
Christopher eating the perfectly roasted marshmallow.

Dan's always coming up with something new. This trip, it was an old-school-boy-scout baking box, made of foil and coals. The result? Golden cinnamon rolls at the campsite. mmmm

Frosting the breakfast goodies. Nate and mama at Oswald State Park. What a beautiful part of the Oregon coast!

Look at that sad face....Nate's ocean anxiety continues after last year's tumble through the surf that gave him an incredible scare. He kept thinking that he saw a tsunami out in the distance. Poor boy...laden with anxieties from the world around him.

We played tourist and stopped at a viewing spot on Hwy. 101.

This view is looking south towards Nehalem.

The beach was really windy in the afternoon, so we went to play at the beach on Nehalem Bay. Of course, a round of down-set-steal.

The late afternoon winds really picked up, so we had some family fun in the tent with a few rounds of Shut-the-box.

Family photo at my favorite spot on the Oregon Coast...Arch Cape.

Nate in a sand hole that Christopher dug. We were proud of Nate, as he did some 'working through' his fear of the ocean. Dan made a deal...he could earn his own box of strike anywhere matches for our next camping trip if he would go out into the water up to his ankles. After much contemplation, he did it. 250 matches will be all his!

Nate loses his first tooth!

Before.

After!
Yay! Nate's turn.

Seattle

Good times in Seattle!

The troops aboard the ferry to Bainbridge. Thanks, Cotters!

Trillium with the McMullens

We packed more into this 24 hour camping trip than any other.

Aidan, Chris, Nate and Liam testing the waters.
The Moores take their maiden voyage on the canoe that the McMullens brought. Very cool.

Looking back.

The view of Mt. Hood from the middle of the lake. Gorgeous!

Bill and the boys taking the canoe across the swamplands. ewww!

Nate and his buddy Liam chillin' on the hammock.

Trolls on big tree stumps!

Giraffe tree. Remember when we discovered this tree 2 years ago?

The highlight of the trip? Catching salamanders in the lake. The boys proudly caught 17 of the little fellows. So.stinkin.cute. with their orange bellies.

Nate guards the salamander pail as the others scoop em' up. The perfect camping trip.

7-11

A little treat on the way back from camping.

Did you know that on 7-11, you can get a free 7.11 oz slurpee from any 7-11.

How cool is that?

ig least

Nate's self-portrait.

"Ig least it's sunny outside!"

"Ig least daddy doesn't have to go to work tomorrow!"

"Ig least we have a pool for when it gets really hot!"

I decided that I needed to do a blog post on this topic before those funny, sweet words are a thing of the past.

Nate's use of 'ig least' when he should be saying 'at least' is one of my favorite things, and that is why I don't have the heart to correct him.

Is that bad? Probably.

But I am just going to go ahead and savor his incorrect use of the English language as long as I can. Ig least I will be able to remember it when I look back on this blog someday.