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!!!!! :-)

Westside Gymnastics Mini-Olympics

At the end of each school year the gym puts on the Mini-Olympics, where each class performs in each of the events. It is really a demonstration versus a competition. Since the girls have had a couple of meets and I've posted several photos of them doing their thing, this post is dedicated to our little man. He's had a very good year. So good, in fact, he has been recommended for the Boy's competitive team!! Go NICK!!!

This is my favorite, Nick on the rings. He has really gotten pretty strong over this past year!!

The floor routine. Not the best video I've ever taken, but you get the idea!!

And here is is his trampoline demo. He gets plenty of practice on our one at home!!

Trophy time!! Nick with Coach Stephanie.....who spoils him rotten!!!!

This speaks for itself.....trophy in one hand, candy in the other!

So as not to totally leave the girls out, yet ONE more trophy for them too.

Girlfriend in town!!!

My good friend Charise was in town from Sacramento on business early in the month of June. She was here for the whole week so we had a couple of opportunities to get together. One girl's only night out to dinner, then over for dinner with the fam the next night. Always fun to see each other and catch up! Last time she was up was when I graduated from college, so she had never met the kids....hard to believe!!!!

A beautiful summer night on the waterfront in downtown Portland ~ The Harborside

And the next evening on the front deck...enjoying a little tiki torch action!!

Uncle Norm's Birthday

Uncle Norm celebrated his 70-something birthday on June 2nd, so we joined in the family festivities at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse for a burger and a brew to help him celebrate. Fun way to spend a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon.

The whole crew....Birthday Boy in the Center.

One tired Emma, who had celebrated her birthday earlier that day.

Sara and cousin Molly Murphey

Will and cousin Celia (Norm's oldest daughter).

Blog Backlog

It is amazing how quickly time passes when summer shows up. Seems like the end of school came, the summer schedule changes weekly, and I quickly found myself out of my groove!! So I have lots to catch up on and will work on it over the next few days. So make sure you check back soon!!!