Brisk Winter Walk

I decided to drag Nick and Oliver out of the house this morning for a short walk around the neighborhood. We did a lap down around through the park and back up the other side of the neighborhood. Burrrrr! Cold and icy out there!

Shoes...check! Dog....check! Leash....check! iPod boom box....check!! Guess we're gonna groove to some Michael Jackson while we walk!!

Stopping to adjust the volume.

Look closely....you will note that Nick has on fleece jammie pants. He has had the same thing on since Christmas Eve and did not finally get dressed until today (Sunday) We just added a few extra layers to keep him warm!!!!

Cuteness!!!!

Merry Christmas 2009

Hard to believe, Christmas has come and gone. We had a great, relaxing celebration at home. Got up too early, ate too much, stayed up too late.....standard holiday fun!!!

Creepy dog eyes! Can't figure out how to edit them out!

The girls added clothes, hats and snuggies as they opened them!!!

California Vaca ~ Day 1

August 29, 2009

First stop, Casa de Aragon in Lincoln, CA. Spent the first two nights at good friend Stephanie and Rob's house. Lots and lots of pool and sun time. Did a whole lot of NOTHIN'!!!!

The kids were in the pool from 9 am to 9 pm....literally!! Their poor fingers and toes were so raw!

Isabella, totally enamored by Nick's coolness!!

Emma, hanging out on the steps with baby G.

Saying Goodbye

August 28, 2009

We had just three days at home before we were heading out on our next adventure. And in those three days we had to say "goodbye" to our neighbor friends who were moving back to Alabama. Hannah and Maggie had become quite fond of Emma and Sara....well, it was a mutual fondness actually. Such little sweethearts....very sad to see them move away.

Makes me laugh thinking back to when I took this picture.....it was during the week that it was a million degrees in Portland and we had to pack to leave for CA the next morning (and the AC was not working right). Seeing the red, glowing cheeks on the kids reminds me of how miserable that was.....and who would have thought that we would be heading for cooler temps in CA!!!!!! I couldn't wait to get into the air conditioned car at 5am the next morning!!

Annual Frog Lake Camping Trip

August 24-26, 2009

We made our annual pilgramage to Frog Lake to kick off what would be an action packed month of summer fun!! We joined about 12 other families....basically took over the campground....and spent lots of time down at the lake kayaking, swimming, and just enjoying the sun. Too early still for frogs, but zillions of pollywogs.

Fell off the Blog Wagon....again!!

Between a whirlwind last month of summer and getting the kids back to school, I have really fallen out of sync with posting. I have lots of making up for lost time to do. I can't believe it's been TWO MONTHs since I have posted anything. LOTs more to follow......

4th of July in Manzanita ~ Day 3

Pancake Breakfast and Parade Day!!!!! Unfortunately the clouds rolled back in that night so we didn't really see much in the way of the big fire works show. We did our own little show down on the beach and called it a night!!!

Sara visited the face painting booth conveniently located right next door to the pancake breakfast!

All the kids, anxiously waiting for the parade to start and the candy to start flying!!

Post parade, with all their booty!!!

Why do boys liked to be buried in the sand?

I think it took a week to get all the sand out of Nick's cracks and crevices!!!!

Owen's turn.

4th of July in Manzanita ~ Day 2

We had a packed house again this year. It was the Pardy and Murphey family, Norma and Norm, and Cel's sister, Molly, her husband Dave and two of their three kids, and Cel's brother Jeff and his girlfriend. They had to set up a couple of tents in the back....thankfully we had decent weather.

Friday night was one of the nicest weather nights we had. We went down to the beach at sunset for a bonfire and smores. No clouds, no wind.....lots of fun!!!!!

Cel, me, Molly (and Emma being a goof!!)

Uncle Norm and Auntie Norma

All the guys......

And all the girls!! Yes, we were clearly outnumbered!!

My favorite photo from the whole trip....the kid pyramid!!!

Nick master's his bike!!!!!!

Nick was pretty resistant to getting back on his bike after a wipe out a couple of summers ago. The girls decided (amongst themselves) that they would get him back up on it so we could all go on a group ride. Within five minutes he was up and going!!! Pretty cool. So, we all climbed on our bikes and did a big ride up to the camp ground and around the trails there. Very fun....but you try and keep three adults and five kids in a single file line on the road....wow!!!

4th of July in Manzanita ~ Day 1

We finally took the kids on a hike up to the top of Neahkahnie Mountain. It is probably only a 2 mile hike, but well worth the trip. The weather was perfect so the view from the top was excellent!!

Just starting the hike....the girls have to stop and climb and swing in every other tree.

Nick brought a little note pad and was stopping to write notes about what he saw. So you can imagine how long it took to really get going between try climbing and note taking (Note dad in the top of the frame "patiently" waiting....you can almost see his toe tapping in the picture :-)

About 1/3 of the way up, looking down on to Manzanita beach.

About 3/4 of the way up....this photo does not really do it justice, but if you look REALLY close at the top third of the photo, almost dead center you can see Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach.

Taking a little break on the way up.

Will and Emma, at the top. Nick, just about there.

The view from the very top!!!!!

Piano Recital

We held a piano recital here at the house on June 29th. Here are some clips from the kids performances.

This is Emma....What you probably can't hear her saying is that she is playing Fur Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Sara played two songs. The first one is called Sandman's Lullaby by Michael Aaron.

The second one was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by J.S. Bach.

And the final performance was by Nick who played Test Pilot by F. von Flotow

Sara holding their piano teachers two month old baby boy....Tobet.

Emma with our little neighbor girls....Hanna (4) and Maggie (almost 2). They totally WORSHIP the "big" girls.

Sara and Hanna.

Momma got a new do!!!

My new, favorite place to hang out.....the front deck. Now, if only the sun would stick around long enough for us to enjoy it!!!

Camp Howard

On August 9th all three kids will be going to their first ever almonst one week long sleep-away camp. The camp is located in Corbett which is east of Portland, about an hour from home. At the end of June they held an open house for the families to come and visit to see what the camp is all about. What a gorgeous location. Looks like a ton of fun. In fact, I would like to spend a week there (just maybe a DIFFERENT week than the kids!! ;-)

We have strategically planned the week so that they will be there with cousins and friends. The Murphey kids will be there and the girls will have cousin Molly and some of her friends in one cabin. The girls also have their friend Pearl (in the open house photos with them) in their same cabin. Nick will be in a cabin with cousin Owen and some of Owen's friends.

Pearl, Sara, Emma, Nick....main entrance with the Camp Store in the background. Nick is already devising his plan as to how he will spend the $20 I have put on his camp account!!!

Listening to one of the camp counselors talk about the various arts and crafts activities they will do.
Taking a tour of the sleeping cabins. Ten kids per cabin, five cabins in a cluster broken down by age groups....8 to 10 yr old girls in one cluster, and boys in a separate cluster. 11 to 14 yr olds are on the other side of the camp.

Their 5-star accommodations!!

No doubt a lot of time will be spent here!!

My personal favorite part of the camp. This is the campfire setting and the photos don't really do it justice. Nick is standing on the fire pit. Behind me\the camera is "theater style" seating made from rows of logs partially buried in the ground. It is such a beautiful view with the river down below and Mt. Hood in the background.

For the most part they are very excited about going to camp. However, I am starting to get a few comments about not seeing us for FIVE nights (they leave on a Sunday, come home Friday). Once they get there they will be fine....or at least they had better be as I am not making the trek to pick them up!!!!! :-)