Arch Cape vacation

Will, Grace, Nate, Catie, Chris, Ella, Caroline---all of the cousins!

We just returned from our annual vacation at Arch Cape with my brother Mark, and his family, and my sister Susan, and her family. Throw in a grandma and grandpa, and you've got a full house...but we loved it! How do you share a fun week with 19 photos?

I'll attempt. Take a peek at our week.

On Tuesday evening we went down to the beach to make a bonfire and roast marshmallows. The tide was especially high that evening and after a while the waves were coming within a foot of our fire. It was so exciting to try to run and escape the sneaker waves! Chaos ensued.
The Slaters. This was Will's first time to go to the beach and he LOVED it! He ate so much sand and was as happy as a clam crawling around taking in the sights and sounds. This was our 4th year at the same beach house. We are definitely making some good memories for all to remember.

Everyone loved to play down-set-steal on the beach. We also took the boys bikes so they could ride. But their favorite thing to do was just to dig in the sand and get their feet in the waves with their cousins. We also saw a pod of whales swim by about 500 feet off shore....it was amazing!
Family picture at the beach. We really lucked out with the weather. We had sunshine everyday, while Portland and Seattle had their fair share of rain.

Oh, Will! Everyone just loved this little boy on this trip. He's such a trooper. Quite the sand monster! "No eat sand!" he heard about 243 times.
Will getting tossed. Such a fun picture!
Aunt Susie with the boys. She is always lots of fun and brought so many fun snacks!
A shot taken from the backyard of the beach house looking down to our hang-out spot. This year there was no trail down to the beach due to all of the rocks that washed ashore this past winter.
All the girls. Grace took her friend Allie. The kids did a great job of getting along and just loved being together from sun up to sun down.

Our motley crew---except for Will because he was napping.
On one of our morning walks we found this little bird struggling in the sand and tides that would wash over him. One minute he was just sitting there, and then suddenly there wasn't any movement from him. We had one of life's hardest lessons on the beach that morning.
Golf lessons! Dan bought Nate and Chris their own golf clubs to practice in the sand. Lessons first though, in the yard.
It wouldn't be a beach trip without a little bit of drama. (Susan, I am so glad that you took this picture....I love it!) We really wanted to go to our favorite area where the tide pools are amazing. However, this year the tide schedule was a bit different. We thought we would try to head out there during a time in the afternoon that looked o.k., but things got a bit dicey. The boys were scared and crying. Maybe they get it from their overly safe mother, but a rather large tide came in as Dan and the boys were attempting to cross and it freaked them out---freaked me out a bit, too! I called off the whole mission and we went and tossed rocks in the creek instead. The ocean always wins.
Sisters in green. No, we didn't plan it.

Chris and Nate doing some golf strokes on the beach. Nate was really good!
Ella, Carrie, and Grace doing some boogie boarding.
Remember the old hug picture by the fence that was used for our Christmas card 2 years ago? Here's a re-enactment. Same spot, bigger boys.
Aunt Susie and her awesome girls.
G'ma and G'pa enjoying watching the sunset and hanging out in the backyard. They came over for 2 nights and stayed in Cannon Beach. They got some good quality time in with all of their grand kids. We had a very relaxing vacation and can't wait to do it again next year. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

Portland's newest addition

How cute is this guy? I'm kind of a sap for most births, but this one really put a smile on my face this morning. This little elephant was born yesterday at the zoo, (no name, yet) and we can't wait to go and see him! Chris cut out his picture from the newspaper this morning, and has plans to hang it on his new bulletin board.

pulling weeds at Vernon

We spent our morning at Vernon Elementary volunteering with several other families to spruce up the grounds before the start of school. There was a lot of work to be done! We pulled weeds, raked, and cleared the paths through the gardens.
After our hard work, the boys were dragging and weren't up for the walk home. So they hitched a ride in the wheelbarrow.
It was all good until we would hit the sunny patches on the sidewalk. The sun is back today and very bright in their eyes!

ladybug walk

Dan had today off to start his vacation, so he decided to come along with us on a Ladybug Walk. These are walks that are offered thru Portland Parks and Rec. every Friday at various parks and natural settings around Portland for preschool age kids. For a mere $2.00, they get to borrow an official ladybug backpack, which is full of goodies such as magnifying glass, storage container, scooping spoon, brush, necklace, and other scientifically necessary equipment....as well as a well trained guide who leads them on the adventure in nature to discover all of the wonders to be found.
Two boys who are ready to explore at Whitaker Ponds. Our instructor had a nature name, so of course Chris and Nate wanted to have fancy names, too. Nate called himself 'HiberNate', (Chris actually came up with that one!...rather clever) and Chris was 'Pinecone'.
They found a tadpole in the pond and scooped him up for investigation. The only bummer of the outing was that Nate was going down the path near one of the ponds, and he over-stepped the swampy path, and filled one of his red boots with swamp water. Lucky he didn't fall all the way in! They really love going on these walks, and as you can imagine, are always right up front with the instructor completely engrossed with discovery.

new shoes and falling leaves

Back-to-school shoes and Fall leaves............it looks like Summer is coming to and end soon!
A very generous Auntie Leann bought Chris and Nate some great shoes for the school year, and they modeled them in the leaves that are starting to fall in our front yard. We've had a really great summer, but I have to admit, I'm a sucker for the Fall season.

steel-trap ears

Dan took the boys on a manventure this morning so that I could clean the house and get things organized around here.

When they got back, Chris and I were outside and he said to me, "Mommy, when we were in the car a guy kept coming over to daddy's lane!"

"Oh, that's crazy!" I said. "Were you scared?"

Chris replied very matter-of-factly, "No, but that man was a dumb-ass!"

lovely.

working for a living

We started the day with the intention of going to OMSI, but once we saw that our next door neighbors were having a big yard sale, the plan quickly changed. Both Chris and Nate love yard sales, so they headed over to do some browsing. They have also dreamed of having a lemonade stand, and today seemed like the perfect day to sell cold drinks. However, sticky lemonade didn't sound like much fun to me, so we agreed that bottled water at .50 cents would be perfect. And it was.
We quickly set up shop by taking out the table, making signs, and putting some warm water bottles on ice in the cooler. We found the only shady spot in the yard, and we were in business! Our first customers. They learned how many quarters it took rather quickly.
Two bottles sold, so two boys dig into the icy cooler. We had to re-stock several times because they were selling like crazy! Their earnings for today were around the $13.00! (part of which were the generous tips that they received from some very nice people!)
Our neighbor Rhett and his mom Autumn from across the street came over to hang out and try to sell some toys, too. It was fun having lots of help! Rhett sang one great tune as he strummed his guitar. Nate was a real salesman with his pitch that he gave to all of the garage sale customers.."get some refreshing and ice cold water here.....only .50 cents!"(yelled with the same intonation as a man selling peanuts at the circus) Chris managed the money. Both boys decided to spend a bit of their earnings at the garage sale. Nate bought a pewter baseball glove/ball frame for $1.00, and Chris bought two paddles and racquetballs for a total of $1.50. They can't wait to start it all again tomorrow.
All good businesses know the value of giving back to their community, so we did a little bit of charity work in the late afternoon as we delivered some very cold waters to our neighbor Chris who is doing a whole house construction remodel...he was most appreciative for a cold drink in these scorching temperatures!

the pound

The boys have been curious about 'the pound', so this morning we went on adventure to the Humane Society so they could see it first hand. It was a great learning experience.
Portland's Humane Society is a very nice, clean facility. The only thing bad about it is that there are so many cute animals that need homes! Chris and Nate especially enjoyed looking at all of the cats...we made the loop around the cages probably about 8 times.
The dogs were really fun too, but a bit noisier with their barking. It was fun to read all of the cute names. Maybe someday we will find the pet of our dreams on a visit!

camping again....this time Trillium Lake

Yes, we went again. This camping thing is so much fun! This weekend we had our first 2-nighter at Trillium Lake near Mt. Hood. It was a great campground with so much to do. The boys had their bikes, which were fun to cruise around on. We also explored the trails, and played in the water. A highlight for Chris and Nate was that they got to stand in the front seat with their hands on the dashboard and drive a very slow 5 m.p.h. around the campground to go and buy wood. (daddy's idea!) They thought that was so cool. We camped by ourselves, but the Mistkawi Family came up on Saturday for a visit and to have dinner. It was fun to have guests!
The gratuitous 'boys poking at the fire' picture.
Breakfast time! Sausage, eggs, and orange juice. Everything tastes better when camping. If you look closely in the background, you can see how close we were to the lake. We even had our own little sandy beach.
Sunday morning we took a hike around the whole lake....the trail was 2 miles long. The boys made it without one bit of help. Yes, they were dragging by the end, but they really enjoyed the adventure of it.

Our favorite crazy tree with a big curve. Nate called it the giraffe tree. (his favorite) I wonder how many photos have been taken with people sitting in this very spot.
Dinner time! This picture just cracks me up how Chris looks like a crazed man going after that grilled corn. (double click on the picture to see it better)
Wading in the water at our little section of Trillium. The water was actually rather warm. No motor boats are allowed, only canoes and rafts.

David and Patricia were giving us grief about how we have gotten sooo into camping in just a few short trips. They were teasing me saying that when Dan and I are in our retirement years, we will probably end up being camp hosts and living in our R.V. for the summer with a driftwood plaque out front with our names blazed into it. Well, the next morning on a bike ride Christopher spotted this sign at the hosts spot #38..............I can just see us now! If this is where our path leads us in retirement, I promise to save the best spots for family and friends, and give you a good deal on bundles of wood.

Seattle

Cheers! The boys and I spent the past few days up in Seattle at the cousins house. It was a great getaway, and everyone had so much fun. Aunt Susie made some very tasty meals. The first night we had fresh grilled salmon, Grace's special basil potatoes, a Hermiston watermelon,and a big ol' salad. It was delicious.
Playing in the backyard after dinner. These cousins just can't get enough of each other. Both mornings the first thing out of Nate's mouth was "where's Ella?"
A real highlight of our time in Seattle was that the boys got to ride in Aunt Susie's big Suburban car! It was a real thrill to be in the waaaaaay back.
Susan's next door neighbor kids have new guinea pig pets, and every evening at about 6:00 they bring them out front to be shared with all of the neighborhood kids. The crowd goes wild for these little critters...Chris and Nate both hold them and listened to them squeak. No---we will not be getting guinea pigs anytime soon. :)
Thanks Grace, Ella, Caroline, and Susan. You were the hostesses with the mostesses.