Oregon Coast Weekend: July 19th

We decided one weekend to be spontaneous and go to the Oregon Coast for the weekend.  We knew it was about our last chance to take a family vacation after spending all our summer shooting to Preston and Spokane for family events and having more coming up.  Don't get me wrong, we LOVED seeing so much family this summer, but we knew this was about our last chance to go take a vacation as our little family once summer school was over and working around my summer work schedule.

So, the weekend of July 19th through the 21st we headed West.  Our first stop was the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon.  Ellie loves animals - and so do we.  Here are a few of our better pictures.  

Starting out from the Durango after having a picnic of sandwiches in the car.

Ellie really liked the hippos.  It took some convincing to get her to move on to another animal rather than stay and watch them poke their heads out of the water repeatedly.

Ellie's other favorite animal of the day was the zebra.  Why?  No idea.  But she loved it.

I just thought these guys were gorgeous.

 Ellie and Daddy finding birds in the aviary.

We left the zoo and got to our destination at Beverly Beach State Park fairly late.  We set up our tent site, made dinner, and then headed down to the beach.  We were excited to show Ellie the ocean again after she LOVED the beach so much last summer.  It was pretty cool and dark by the time we got down there, but still always fun to see the ocean.  This is the little bridge/overpass that we hiked under from our campground over to the beach.  It was nice to have the water so close.

 We were all pretty tired, so after it got dark we headed back to camp.  It was a rough first night trying to get Ellie to sleep in a sleeping bag for the first time, and I think all 3 of us finally got to sleep some time after midnight, and I could tell I was pregnant and sleeping on the ground, but we woke up in the morning excited for another day at the ocean!

Spokane Trip: Riverfront Park July 10th

On Tuesday, July 10th, Julie, Charlie, the kids, and I met up with our Mom downtown at Riverfront Park in Spokane.  We took all the kids to the park and tried to get some cousin pictures.  We were going to let them play on the playground and giant slide there, but it was SO HOT that the playground equipment was way too hot for the kids to play on.  Instead, we walked around the park, rode the train that tours the park, and then took the kids on the carousel to top off our day.  Then, because we were downtown, we had to hit Auntie's Books (LOVE).  Then we took some hot, exhausted kids home for naps.  Here are some of the highlights from the day.

Trying to get all 4 kids to look at us so we could grab a picture on the City of Spokane blocks with the famous clock tower in the background.

 A picture of all the grandkids (minus those on the way) with Grandma Moon.

 The three of us sisters.  This picture makes me laugh.  Charlie had been in Juneau, AK and was dying of heat.  I am pregnant, and was dying of heat.  Julie came from Okinawa Japan and was cold more often than she was hot.

Charlie and her two kids, Kirsten and Nathan, waiting for the train to take us to the carousel.

Ellie enjoying her milk.  Julie and I were stuffing as many fluids down her as we could.

See what I mean?  She was excited about having her own big girl water bottle here.

And here.  Although this was also part enjoying the train ride.  She LOVED the train!

This is the train that takes people around the park.

All of us on the train minus Julie who was taking the picture.

My girl and I.

The train took us to the carousel where each of the kids took a ride or two.  Wyatt was excited and interested while sitting here on his stationary tiger until the carousel started - then he hated it.

 Similarly, Ellie was SUPER excited about her first ride on the giraffe that stayed still, until it got fully up to speed.  The Spokane carousel is one of the fastest carousels...  But after, she insisted she wanted to ride one of the horses that goes up and down, so we did.  And she liked the up and down until we also started going fast again.  And then she doubly hated it.

 Everyone who rode the carousel the second time.

After that, our parking meters were expiring, the two youngest kids were both WAY past naps, and we were all hot, so it was time to head back to AC.  We hit the book store and Julie and I took the two youngest ones home for naps.  But it certainly made for a fun morning!

Spokane Trip: July 8th BBQ

When my sisters were in town in July, we also had a barbecue for my Dad's side of the family to get together and visit.  We all gathered at Dad and Kerry's house and had a fun day visiting, eating, and watching Steve be a giant kid with all the younger ones.  Just from the people we stole pictures from we have several HUNDRED photos from this day, so here are just a few of the ones of our immediate family since I figure that's what most people who check this blog are interested in.

Dad, Kerry, my sister Julie, and I enjoying the shade.  It was HOT.  I spent most of my day in this part of the yard as a result.  Pregnant women and hot weather are not exactly friends.

Ellie and my nephew, Nate.  Ellie was playing "Goldilocks" enjoying sitting in all the kid chairs in turn, but couldn't sit still in any one for more than about 30 seconds.  It was WAY past nap time when everyone showed up and she got excited about playing.

Ellie playing by the pool.  It was cold, fresh hose water, so we didn't put her in, but she enjoyed getting plenty wet from the sidelines.

So did Steve.  He ended up more wet than any of the kids I think between all the water fights he had with all of the different kids.  But, all the kids loved it - including the big kid in this picture.

Taking a break to help Ellie look at the fish over in the pond.  She hasn't tried to fall in - yet - but she's still not allowed over there on her own.

Julie and I enjoying another shady spot on the back porch and watching the kids play.

Daddy and his girl.  Man I love how much these two love each other.

This was about the last photo Ellie was in for the day.  Why?  Because everyone was shouting and clapping to get all the kids to look at once, and Ellie is not a fan whenever that happens - especially hours after nap.  She had a total meltdown and napped for the rest of the barbecue.  But, we did get a cute picture of all the youngest second cousins that were at the barbecue.  Kirsten, Wyatt, Nathan, Angelia, Ellie, Hayden, and Javan (ages 8 to 1)

 The other main group shot - the one older second cousin and all of us cousins (minus spouses etc) who came to the barbecue.  

And of course one of the four of us girls lined up oldest to youngest.

Lastly, Steve and I enjoying our Sunday food after he changed so he could tell the kids he was finally all done getting wet.

Yup, it was a lot of fun to see family and to watch all the younger second cousins play together where they pretty much fill the range of ages to play together.  It was a great day and a great reason to see lots of family and enjoy good food together.

4th of July

I know, I know... It's September and I'm writing about the 4th of July.  I told you I was way behind!  I'm trying to get back on track, but between work, being pregnant, having a two year old to keep track of, daily chores, and never being home, blogging has taken a back seat as of late.

Anyway, We had a really fun 4th of July.  Steve had the day off of summer school and the gym was closed, so we had the whole day to relax and have fun.  We just enjoyed the first half of the day being lazy at home and barbecued.  Ellie loves having her nails painted, so we festively painted her nails red and blue with silver sparkles.  The girl loves sparkles.  Later in the day we took Ellie to a park so she could feed birds and enjoy her FAVORITE activity on the planet - throwing rocks into the river.

We came back home to barbecue for dinner and Ellie and I played in the yard for a while.

Later, we headed down to the river walkway in Pasco to watch the fireworks on the river.  This is the barge full of firepower.

Our family hanging out enjoying the time together and Ellie trying to take pictures using the tripod afterward.

The fireworks didn't even start till 10, so Ellie was exhausted, and with her dislike of loud noises we were afraid of how things would go, but it's amazing how much you can sell something to a toddler.  She was not impressed at first, but we kept excitedly pointing out the different colors we saw since Ellie loves labeling colors, letters, objects, or ANYTHING, and how there were "Sparkles!"  Yes, we applied her love of fingernail polish to get through fireworks, but hey, it worked!  After a while, we weren't selling anything anymore and she was calling out colors at the top of her lungs and yelling "See that? Sparkles!"  It was SUPER cute.  Not sure all the people around us agreed, but too bad.

After that, we heard about sparkles, fireworks, and colors for days as well as hearing a lot of the phrase "See that?" (A Steve phrase).  Pretty much made this my favorite 4th of July ever, to get to spend the day with Steve and Ellie and see her amazement at fireworks.  Parenting certainly has it's days when I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Spokane Trip: July 7th BBQ

Ok, so admittedly I have gotten to the point where we are so far behind on the summer blog posts that it is daunting just to try and begin to catch up, but as I want to keep a record, here goes nothing!

The week of July 7th through the 13th my sister Charlie and her two children were visiting in Spokane while my brother in law got things finalized to move with the Coast Guard from Alaska to Michigan.  We don't get to see her and her family much, so everyone met up in Spokane to spend the week there.  The first thing we did was have a family barbecue on my Mom's side Saturday evening.  Here are the highlight pictures from the gathering.

This is my sister Charlie with her two children, Kirsten and Nathan, and our Grandfather.

My two nephews Wyatt and Nathan.

The four of us sisters.  Awesome that we all accidentally dressed in black and white.  And don't judge how I look, I was trying not to melt...

My sister, Jennifer, her son, Wyatt, and Wyatt's dad, Dan.

My Mom and her Father.

This picture is funny to me because if you look closely Ellie is sucking on her tongue (a tired indicator for her) even while she plays.  The girl was BEAT.

All of the cousins that were there for the barbecue.  Pretty good considering we were only missing two.

It was great to see so much of the family for the first time in a while, despite the heat.  Hopefully we can see them more often than once every few years!