Hudson turns 7

Happy Birthday Hudson,

What an awesome kid you have grown into. An example of just how sweet you are is last night I asked you what you wanted for breakfast on your birthday. You said, "cinnamon rolls." Then you said, "no pancakes, or how about both?" When I said you needed to choose one or the other, you said, "which one will be easier for you?" What a love. The other thing this little exchange shows is how important food is to you. You are pretty much always hungry.

This has been such a fun year with you. You are huge. I know I will think I'm crazy when you are 14 and have grown a foot taller than me and I'm saying your so big now at 7, but seriously, you have grown up so much this year. (I'm probably going to look back at the previous paragraph where I talk about how much you like to eat now and laugh compared to what you consume as a teenager, but I'm just going to enjoy being naive right now.) You are this little, big, grade-school boy. You love legos, nerf guns, and playing with your friends.

Speaking of friends, you are quite the social little guy. You really like playing with friends, and get along so great with them. You are able to play with different kids at whatever level they are. If the kid is super physical, wrestling all the time, you are right there with them. If it is a different friend that wants to just play with legos or draw, you are up for that too.

I have loved so much watching you develop into this boy who loves to play outside and be just a total boy. You love playing with Colby, a neighbor boy, all the time. I feel a little like it is a story out of a book from the 1950's. (or maybe that is just the extent of my experience with your age of boys playing). You guys will take off, and do who knows what. I think mainly you entertained with making forts, exploring the magic of pocket knives, riding your bikes, and building lego creations in our attic. I do know if the amount of fun you have is proportional to how dirty you get, your having a great time.

School is going great. You love first grade, and I am loving watching you learn how to read. If you had your way, about 90% of school would be P.E. or recess. Your standard response to questions about school is, "I don't remember." It takes quite a bit of questioning to get much information out of you. The day before yesterday you built the base of a gingerbread house at school. That night I got an email that had a picture of yours, which went way beyond the four walls and a roof and had a porch on the front and back, along with an extended addition to the house. Mrs. Breyer wrote, "Hudson is TAG at building gingerbread houses." So cute.

You have been plotting out this year's birthday party for quite some time now. Your goal was to get a bowling pin. So a bowling party it was. Narrowing down the guest list was torture for you. You really wanted to invite just about every boy you have ever met. We did a bowling theme for the party, but for your actual birthday at home (your party was the Saturday before your birthday) the cake had to be camouflage with lots of army guys on it. You love setting up little battle scenes and arranging the army figures. Your cake reflected this obsession. You couldn't wait to stick the figures on it after I had done my best to frost a camo design. Because really, what says "Happy Birthday" better than miniature, plastic weapons?

Once you decide you are going to learn how to do something you stick with it. For the past few months you have spent a great deal of time practicing some sort of cartwheel/hand spring. It is pretty cute to watch you practice it over and over. Amazingly even though most of the time your doing it in our not huge house, you haven't hurt yourself badly or broken anything. Yet.

You continue to be amazingly sweet to baby Reagan. I am still just shocked at how much you just adore her and how great you are with her. You and Ainsley still have such a good relationship and play so well together. You and Camden are a little more complicated. You sometimes play amazingly well together, and sometimes (okay, a little more than sometimes) your main goal is to elicit a reaction from him. You know better than anyone how to get him upset, and his reactions are so interesting for you to watch you do it frequently. WE NEED TO WORK ON THIS BECAUSE SOME DAYS IT MAKES ME CRAZY!!! I"m pretty sure that some day when you and your siblings sit around and talk about me as a mom, you will say that I always said, "don't stir up trouble!" I think you get tired of hearing me say it. But if you would just stop stirring up trouble I wouldn't have to! I am praying that this is a year that you and Camden really enjoy each other.

You really like going to Kids Club at church. You are the one who reminds everyone to take their Bibles. You have become more quiet, so it is sometimes hard for us to know what you have going on in your head, but more and more we hear you pop up with something that totally shocks us that you are understanding or know about. This year you finally got to go with the big kids at VBS in the summer and they have more of a worship band, this was the first time you really got into music. You now have some songs you like and are interested in. We are really excited about this, because until then you never really wanted to sing much at all.

You played soccer this year, but you LOVE basketball. Daddy can't wait for this season to start because of how much he thinks your going to like it this year. You also are really liking tennis and have an amazing swing for a kid your age. So far in the team sports you have played you have good skills, but haven't developed a competitive drive. You are just out there having fun, which mom thinks is great, but dad is looking forward to lighting a little competitive fire under you.

Hudson, I just can't even begin to tell you how much I love you. Your just such a great kid. Thanks for bearing with me as I learn how to parent a boy. Your daddy and I just adore you so much. We can't wait to see what amazing things God has in store for you. Love you big boy.

P.S. As I was just uploading pictures I have to mention how excited you were that we gave you the Lego Police Headquarters. Delighted beyond belief.

We made it through 3!

Happy Birthday Camden!

May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of Heaven and earth."
Psalms 115:15

I am sighing a huge sigh of relief that we have made it to four. I have always argued that three is much harder than two, and four is a breath of fresh air. Three was for sure harder than two, so I'm hoping that four is easier. (the last few months have been, so I have high hopes!) I love you like crazy Camden, but there were days this past year I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Specifically most days in March, April, and May of 2010. Most of the days in that hard stage...well... you won. I was chewed up and eaten for lunch. You have an iron strong will, are pretty impulsive, and are crazy smart. I have learned that I have no business judging other parents because each kid is different and just when you think you have parenting figured out (as if) God humbles you in a new way.

I'm sure I talked about this in your letter last year, but it bears repeating. Your language skills are amazing. The sentences you compose are beyond complex for a child, and they are often quite funny. I wish I could think of one to quote right now... but nothing. So I will move on to vocabulary. You NEED TO KNOW what everything means. If you don't know a word it can't go un-investigated (not a word). Yesterday we spent a good five minutes trying to define "endure" to your satisfaction.

As a family we have been learning a Bible verse to go with each letter of the alphabet for Sunday School. One of them is "My son, give me your heart." This has been perplexing because you can't wrap your head around the idea of giving away your heart. It has also been fun because you don't just repeat things without considering them. The verse, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News" has brought up many conversations. We have had to explain over and over what the Good News is, but the part that you have really fixated on is "go into all the world." You asked, "but how can I go into the whole world, even farther than Sunriver?" (Where we went a few weeks ago and you were convinced that the three hours it took to drive there were about the same as if we had driven for three weeks and arrived on the other side of the world.) Your daddy and I have especially loved that if you can't remember a verse you just confidently default to your favorite of the verses, and you YELL, "Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it."

We have really seen God moving in your life this year. You have such amazing questions and observations. We went through a stage where you passionately expressed that you didn't want to die because you didn't want to go to Heaven. You didn't want to go to Heaven because you didn't know what it looked like. Despite my descriptions it just wasn't enough information for you. You are very literal and need to be able to understand something. Once you have a question no one should stand in your way of discovering the answer. If you hear a sound or see something and don't know what it is you must, right then, go and investigate. This may not sound like a big deal, but the thing is, sometimes that happens at inconvenient times.

A month before your third birthday you became a big brother. So this year you have learned how that works. You adore Reagan so much, even if you are a little wild with her sometimes. Despite the fact that she should be a little scared of you because you are not always clear on "gentle," she is absolutely enamored with you. You are so fun and exciting. You are her biggest source of entertainment.

You and Hudson have an interesting relationship. He knows how to push your buttons quicker than anyone can imagine. He does it skillfully and often very quietly. Your response is never quiet. The two of you have wild fun together when you both feel like it. You are so good for each other, and would stand up for each other in any situation. Hudson can wind you up, and Ainsley can calm you down. She is patient with you and can get on your level to play with you so well. You told us one night at dinner that your job is to help Ainsley pick a good boy to marry. A few weeks later, (happily you were willing to repeat it for a video camera) you said that you just want me to pick out the girl for you to marry when you grow up. I'm all for that honey!

You are so funny, even when you don't mean to be. Last week you came to me and said, "Mom, I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news. The good news is most of the pee went in the toilet. The bad news is a little of the pee went in my underwear."

Grandma Arlene is so great to come every Wednesday to hang out with you and your siblings. You were a little sad about Ainsley and Hudson going back to school, so she started doing, "Grandma School" with you each week. You love it. You have your own little desk tag and she brings papers to do with you. You think it is the greatest think and look forward to it all week.

Camden, your amazing. I'm not sure anyone on the planet has ever elicited the range of emotions in me that you can. Sometimes from one extreme to another all within a period of 2 minutes. You are going to be fun to watch grow up. You have so much potential. We know that God will do special things with you if you chose to walk with him. Our greatest prayer is that you will chose to follow God all the days of your life.

We love you so much Camden. Happy 4th birthday.

***All the rights and responsibilities of being four are now bestowed upon you. Specifically, you can now go up on the top bunk in your bedroom, and now you must eat the crust on your bread.***

Reagan Joy's First Birthday

Dear Reagan,

A year ago tonight I cuddled you in a hospital bed astonished at how blessed I was that God gave me the baby girl I wanted to complete our family with. Tonight I am still just amazed at how blessed our whole family is by you Reagan.

As far as a first year, it is hard to imagine a baby doing it better. It is a good thing no baby in our family has to follow your example. You have slept very well, hardly been sick, are very social and sweet, meet every developmental milestone right on time, didn't spit-up constantly like your siblings, eat almost anything we give you, snuggle and love on us, and are just generally a ideal baby. We have so much fun with you. When I say "we, " I do mean all of us. Adore is not a strong enough word to describe how your siblings feel about you. Ainsley is so delighted to have a sister and loves taking care of you. Hudson has always been just enamored with you and is so sweet and attentive. Camden, while not always as safe as we would like around you, just loves you. He has been given the job of finding choking hazards which he takes quite seriously.

You have 5 little teeth, which you love to use. We do have to watch our toes and sometimes even our legs because you like to try out your teeth on us. Ainsley read the Series of Unfortunate Events books this year and there is a baby in the book named Sunny who bites everything. You are right there with her. What really cracks us up is when you try and bit the kitchen table in an effort to raise yourself higher so you can see what is going on up there. You bite tables, couches, books, toys and even the wall corner once. It is never out of being mad, just something your trying out right now. Cute as it is, we won't be sad when you move on to something else!

You crawl everywhere and pull up on everything. And while you do cruise around while holding onto furniture, you don't seem super close to walking yet. Your not at all interested in standing up on your own, so I think we have a few weeks before you find your legs. Crawling doesn't slow you down much, you get most places you want to go. You wave and clap, and I think are starting to say something close to "mama" intentionally.

A couple of weeks ago you had a sudden enlightenment. You discovered you could open cupboard doors and also at the same time quite being easily distracted away from things I didn't want you getting into. I learned you did in fact understand the word "no." When you would crawl over to the open dishwasher and I would move you away from it and say no you no longer would get distracted with something else. Now that makes you want the dishwasher even more and you run/crawl right back over. When I in a more stern voice tell you no you throw yourself back and cry. And so began the busy training period that will last for... well... years.

A month or so ago someone commented to me that you don't look like your siblings. I said, "I know, I look at her and can't believe that she is really mine." The lady commented back, "it is actually your other kids that you should be confused about if they are yours or not, she clearly belongs to you!" You may not look like your siblings, but just like what happens with them, people comment all the time about how cute you are. You are so fun to take places because when someone looks at you and comments about how cute you are, you grin and coo at them as if you totally understand what they are saying. You have your Daddy so tightly wrapped around your little finger it is amazing. Putting your hair up in two little pig tails is just about his favorite thing in the whole world.

I know we have lots of training to do with you in the next few years, and that parenting gets more challenging all the time. But as a family we have so enjoyed this year with you Reagan. It is a cheesy movie line to quote, but truly you have completed our family. The addition of you has made your daddy and I love each other and each of your siblings even more than we did before. It is just amazing how love multiplies.

In the crazy, business of life I forget to thank God for you every day. But I should. None of us can imagine life without you. I want to savor ever second of your littleness and at the same time I am so excited to see you grow and find out what sort of person you are going to become.

You were a spectacular birthday girl. You loved your cake, and were so cute when you opened presents. You loved the toys and were just delighted with the whole experience.

My prayer today for you Reagan is that you would continue to be such a joy to the people around you that people can't help but look to God because of you.

Happy Birthday baby girl.

Fall

It has in fact been over a month since I have found time to post. So in the interest of catching my little blog up quickly, here is a glimpse of the last month in bullet points and pictures:

*We survived Camden's tonsillectomy. It was less than fun, putting it mildly. He actually did well, if it wasn't for a VERY BAD reaction to the steroid. Wouldn't you know, the steroid is what I thought was going to make this round so much easier because it was supposed to shrink the swelling in his nasal passages. It may have done that, but it had the side effect of making him crazy. If you have ever spent more than 2 minutes with Camden you know he is plenty active. Now imagine that times...oh... say 1,000. We are talking 2am the morning after surgery JUMPING on my bed, running around the room, literally (and I really mean literally- people use the word literally and don't mean it) bouncing off the walls. Crazy. He didn't sleep from 2am until 4 the next afternoon when finally my parents drove him around for hours to settle him down so he would sleep. This after going on two walks and a bike ride. Thedayafter having surgery. Seriously crazy. But we made it. Here he is with a get well cookie from the Carls. What I still find perplexing is that the steriod made him so nuts that he didn't really register pain. He never complained about his throat hurting. He ate anything. I had to be careful to not feed him things that could get stuck in the holes in his throat because that should have been self-regulating with pain making him only want soft foods. Didn't work that way. That was a long bullet point. I'll try to go faster....

~Soccer. 2 kids, 2 teams. Really fun. Don't have any idea how we will handle it when there are three playing and doing activities. Let alone 4. Please note there is an opposing player between Hudson and his teammate Lucas. He isn't fighting one of his own teammates for the ball. (not that we've never seen that before though) That was a much shorter bullet point.

~Trip to the pumpkin patch with Grandma and Grandad. Look at the size of these pumpkins!

We are finding it challenging to get all four of the kids to take a good picture at the same time.

My favorite part of the pumpkin patch was the kids with the map. The place we went to had tons and tons of activities (Bauman Farms-near Salem) and they had a map with everything on it. The kids all three studied that map and plotted out their course. This picture is when they are looking at the map after one activity to find there way to the next. Super cute.

~Field Trip to Astoria. Andrew has to do this one next time. It was a pretty long day. Ft. Clatsop (good, but not worth the trip to Astoria) and the Maritime Museum. (at one point Ainsley came up to me at the museum and said, "I just don't want to hear anything else about boats." that pretty much summed it up.) It was fun to go with her friends. She has great friends and the kids were amazing.

Deep Creek 4th graders. Cute bunch of kids.

~Halloween

I need you to know that Reagan puts this bucket on her head herself! She does it over and over and thinks it is the funniest thing ever. Somewhere in my blog archives there is a post about Camden putting a white (not Halloween) bucket on his head. What is it with these kids?

Here is the group of kids from our neighborhood that we went trick-or-treating with. Can you say mob-o-kids? We had a potluck first with the Katz family and then all took off together. The first house Camden went to when they got to him he asked the lady who answered the door, "how did you know we were here?"

At Jim and Polly Carl's house.

Here is everyone in their costumes. Ainsley is a Barlow cheerleader, Hudson is Darth Vader, Camden is a football player, and Reagan is a dog. And yes, Hudson's pumpkin does have two plastic bats coming out of it. And no, I don't know why.

Reagan is a good sport about all the places she gets drug around to. When I think of the life Ainsley experienced (like specific nap and meal times) compared to Reagan it is astounding how well Reagan rolls with the punches. Halloween made very little sense to her. And as you see in this picture, she let us know a couple of times!

There is no shortage of candy at our house. My favorite part of Halloween is when they get home and sort it all out and the trading (manipulating) begins. It is hilarious. The kids were excited to give out candy when we got home to a few kids. Another cute Camden moment was when the first group showed up and our kids were passing out candy he yelled at the kids, "Hey, what is your names?" Because really, if your going to show up at our house and take our candy, shouldn't you introduce yourself?

~Yeah! All caught up!

The calm before the storm?

Can you see how big a smile he has in this picture? We are going to remember that for the next few days.

Because it might be the last big smile we see for a little bit. Tomorrow morning we take Camden in to get his tonsils and adenoids out. You might remember back a little over a year ago when Ainsley and Hudson both got theirs out the same day. That wasn't exactly the greatest 10 days or so that our family has ever experienced. But, thanks to some giant tonsils we get to do it all over again tomorrow morning with #3. No- we are not doing Reagan at the same time. Fool me once... not that she is old enough anyway, we will save that fun for another day.

Anyway- Camden is actually SUPER excited about getting them out. I'm feeling guilty about how he doesn't know what is coming, but not guilty enough to tell him. He is just excited about ICE CREAM AND TOYS! His siblings have been coached to not be buzz kills, so instead they are just talking up the treat part. They are happy because they know it will mean more treats and movies for them, so they are all for it.

Anyway- the fun Camden had today was he finally go to do soccer. It has been killing him to go to soccer games and practices and not get to participate, so I found a little tots class that he can go to. He had so much fun. Every once in awhile he would turn around and yell to me, "Mom, this is really fun!" It was so cute. He ran so hard and was totally focused on soccer the whole time. Once he does something, he does it 110%, so it was awesome. What a cutie.

No one was going to get a ball in his goal!

Reagan was the water girl. Say a prayer for Camden that his surgery and recovery go well!

The end to the troubled tooth and double the tooth fairy.

I mentioned in my previous post that Hudson was probably getting his tooth pulled. Indeed, that is what happened. Here is the background.

When Hudson was 18 months old we were having dinner at our neighbors house. Nothing strange happened, no collisions, I fed him dinner and there was nothing wrong in his mouth. When we got home as I was changing him into his pajamas I was shocked to notice that his front left tooth had a huge chip! To make a long story short, we had it capped which was a horrendous experience. They gave him (remember 18 months old) some liquid something to drink that was supposed to make him calm and sleepy. Instead it made him a screaming lunatic for 3 hours. The dentist words were, "he will make a really bad drunk." Nice. Anyway, they went ahead and strapped him down on the board thing (hands down my worst parenting experience ever) and capped the tooth. Ever since any little bonk to the mouth is really painful for that tooth. The dentist thought it would last hopefully until he was 3 or 4 and the fall out. Well, here we are at 6 and amazingly we still had the tooth. Until the night before first grade.

Camden and Hudson were out on the jumpy and had a collision that left Hudson with his tooth bleeding and hanging down half way. It was quite a look, and totally impacted his speech. Nice way to send your child off to first day for the first day of first grade.

You can sort of see how it is hanging down in this picture. Fortunately we got him into the dentist (I had to tutor, so daddy took him) that afternoon and he did get it pulled. Unfortunately the big tooth is not very far down so the roots were still there (and he is going to have a hole for awhile) and the extraction required 2 shots. He was amazing and didn't even cry, sweet boy.

The best part of the story though is how our family bounces between complete over-parenting/helicopter-ness and neglect. You see I went to bed and forgot to put $ under Hudson's pillow. Our rule (funny how these things evolve) is you get one gold dollar for a tooth, but if the tooth is pulled or falls out at school (both things that happened with Ainsley, that is how it happened) you get two. Andrew went to bed, and I was already asleep. Before falling asleep it occurs to him, being the awesome dad he is, that I didn't put any money under Hudson's pillow. So he gets up and finds my stash of gold dollars that I keep just for teeth and puts two under his pillow. He then gets up and goes to basketball before I am even awake. I wake up and as I'm walking in to get Hudson remember about the money so run back in and get two dollars and slip them under his pillow. I wake up Hudson and leave his room. I'm in the bathroom with Ainsley and Hudson comes running in saying, "I got four coins!!!" Ainsley starts flipping out, we have broken the rules! I say, "No he didn't, he is tricking you." But then he holds up his four dollars. I figure out what happened and start laughing saying, "the tooth fairy visited twice!" Ainsley thinks I should take the extra two away because this is of course not fair, I'm laughing at how we either forget to leave money, or both do it. But there is no way I'm taking money away from the kid who endured his first day of school with a nightmare tooth and then got it pulled and was so awesome about it. My kids know the truth about the tooth fairy. (have you ever read this story?) So now we have a new rule at our house, you get one dollar for the tooth, one more if it is pulled or lost at school, and an extra dollar for each shot that it takes to get the tooth out. By the time we are on Reagan who knows how many "rules" there will be in this family!

Here is our now tooth-less boy.

First and Fourth

Is "first and fourth" a football phrase? Sort of sounds like it. Anyway- for us it is this school year. And it is a blessed thing. This is one of my "off" years. Two kids in full day school, two kids in no school. That means no driving anyone anywhere- the big kids ride the bus to and from, the littles stay home with me. Next year will be pre-school for Camden and I'm dreading it. I hate half day school when it involves pick ups and drop offs. Yuck. Anyway- so I'm going to enjoy ever last day this year. Here is the first day run-down. As always, it seems, there is a pretty good story.

Our big first grader. I managed to talk him into this shirt rather than the one he wanted to wear. It also was a Nike t-shirt, but it said, "Don't Cry... I'll go easy on you second half." Nice. Not really a good first impression shirt. I didn't buy it. I don't buy any of his t-shirts in fact.

So my great first day story. When I saw Hudson's teacher I just had to giggle. You see, she is new to his school so I have never met her before. Last year Hudson did meet her. She came and read a story to the kids who were going to be in her class. I peppered Hudson with multiple questions to try and get any sort of information out of him about his teacher, and he had next to nothing to report. One thing I asked what she looked like. His response was, "ummm... I don't know, just like Mrs. Manzella I guess." Okay, Mrs. Manzella was his Kindergarten teacher. Brown hair, very cute, here she is: (if your reading this Amy I hope it is okay I just posted your picture)

Now... if only I had a picture of his teacher this year it would make this story so much better. But remember, according to Hudson she looks just like Mrs. Manzella. So I was pretty surprised to see that Hudson's teacher doesn't quite look just like Mrs. Manzella, see, she is Asian. Keen observational skills Hudson. When I talked to Andrew's mom this afternoon she said hopefully Hudson won't ever have to identify someone involved in a crime. No kidding.

Here is Ainsley in her classroom. She was so excited. She had never met her teacher before, he also is new to the school. This morning as she was eating breakfast she was pretty wound. Suddenly she went off on a tangent where she was convinced her teacher was blind. What??? She thought it would be cool if there was a guide dog in her class. Some days you just don't even know what to say back. Anyway, we met Mr. Moss and he was very nice, and also not blind. Good news.

Anyway- we are off and running with the school year. Camden made it through the day without them, we went to OMSI this morning so he would have something fun to do, Reagan went along for the ride nicely. Ainsley and Hudson are both home now and had great days. Well, actually Hudson is not home currently. He is with Andrew at the dentist, he had a collison last night and is now probably getting his front tooth pulled. But that is a whole other story...

Where to begin????

This seems like a good picture to start out a summer post with.

I'm going to blame my lack of any post whatsoever in the last month on my sister. Yep, it is my little sisters fault. Never mind that she actually asked me to post so she would have something to read, brought my darling niece and nephew all the way from Minnesota to Oregon so I would have funny little stories about my children's interactions with them, and went with us to do all sorts of fun things that we probably wouldn't have made the time to do had she not been here, it is really all her fault. She just took up too much of my time so I didn't have time to upload any pictures. Now that she is safely home in Minnesota, *insert weeping and gnashing of teeth* I will take the time to upload a few pictures and tell you what we have been doing. (I should just change the date on the post and pretend I did this in mid-july. I'm sure no one is reading blogs right now anyway- so if you are just tuning in, on a rainy day in October, pretend I posted this a week after my previous post rather than a month, thank you.)

So jumping back one month- we went to Andrew's 20th high school reunion. Of all the people in his class I definitely married the right one! :)

The next day we took off with my parents and my sisters family and went to the Carl's beach house in Rockaway. It was so much fun, except of course for the stupid Oregon weather. We loved going Kayaking on the lake behind the house. We had a great time.

How cute is Eleison?

Grandpa withe Reagan- catching the 12 minutes of blue sky we saw.

Kayaking

We took a train ride on a steam train from Rockaway to Garabaldi. It was very fun!

Next up was Milton-Freewater. If I ever figure out how I will upload movies from our trip. Uncle Bob took the kids out on a swather which might have been the highlight of their time!

Our kids had so much fun with Zech and Eleison. Camden almost daily still tells me, "I miss my bwest friend Ehwason." They played so cute together. The only bad thing is how not fun it is when it is time for them to leave.

Honestly could some very smart person please improve transportation technology so there is a way to bring my extended family here for dinner tonight, have it cost about $3 to get them here, and return them home to their own beds tonight. That would be great, thanks. It certainly would be more useful than an ipad.Grandma and Reagan in the alfalfa field.

Oh and here is a little public service message. If your kids swim in grandma and grandpa's pool day after day there is a very good chance that *all* of them will end up with swimmers ear. Plan accordingly.

After a trip down the gorge, we unloaded at home for two days then packed back up and went back to the beach again. On the way we stopped in McMinnville and went to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.

Then it was on to the beach. We went to the beach once the end of July and once the middle of August and didn't really see the sun at all. It was 95 degrees in Portland at the time and we were happy if it hit 65 at the beach. Between the weather and how much I don't like sand I may never go back to the beach again. Although I certainly have never gone to the Oregon coast for the actual beach part, it is all about the company! We spent our second beach trip in Lincoln City with Andrews parents for the first couple of days.

Grandma and Grandad took us to the aquarium in Newport. It was so fun- the kids loved all the animals. I didn't get a picture of it, but when we were in the shark tunnel there is a glass on the floor that you can see underneath and of course Camden's response was to lay down on the floor to see in. It was very cute.

For our last little beach fun the Strandbergs came to join us. Our kids are in heaven when they are around. What amazing teenagers to put up with the punishment our kids put them through.

We went on the Drift Creek Falls hike when we were in Lincoln City. This is such a great hike. The bridge is a suspension bridge and no picture of it can do it justice. You hike down to a beautiful waterfall. We did this hike two years ago (funny how two years ago I was doing a similar "catch up on everything" post) and Camden did not enjoy being held the whole time, in fact he screamed the whole time. I'm happy to say that this time went much better.

Okay. You are officially all caught up. I could have posted about 3,247 more summer pictures, but blogger was freaking out on me with just these. And really, if your still reading this I'm amazed. Hope your summer is as fun as ours!