abby

Abby...that's all.

at the beach

We had a great week at the beach. Most days it was too stormy to go out, but a couple of times we got some sun breaks so we went as fast as we could.

These are some of the things we did at the beach during our mid-winter break.
At the park. Oddly we got all the kids in this one picture. It looks like it's about to rain but behind us the sun was shining.
Running from the waves. So much fun for kids and adults. Thank Heavens for rain boots. No wet feet for us.
Jacob and Noah chopping up the big kelp that floats in. Abby was shoveling the sand.
Working on the dam. See the big log? It's supposed to block the water. That's Haystack rock in the background.
Noah working on the dam. Pretty strong kid. I think he carried most of those rocks over there himself.
Grandpa walking by. Sydney and Jacob rolling in the log for the dam.
Abby loves to play in the sand. It's her favorite. I'm just glad she decided not to get soaking wet this time.
Headed back to the waves.
Loving the sand. See there was sun. I even see her shadow.
Jacob looking for sticks. Such a fun kid.

Abby and Dave made popcorn for the family while we watched a show. It was Disney's Oceans. The kids loved it. Saw so many cool marine animals.
Abby having her first beer at the Wet Dog Cafe. Don't worry it's a Cream Soda.
Trying on her hat. Always has a messy little face. At least she's cute.
Noah and some legos he built. He loves to build.
Jacob and his lego closed sign. He had fun building too.

It was a great week at the beach. The ride home not so fun. 3 of 4 kids got car sick. It was a barf a rama. But it all stopped once we got home.

Just keep swimming

Here in Washington the schools have a mid - winter break in the middle of February. I guess that's why they go to school until the end of June. Since this was our first mid-winter break we decided to head down to Cannon Beach since it has been about 4 months since we had last been there. It had been even longer for Dave. So we headed to the stormy Oregon Coast.

Now if you have ever been to the Oregon Coast you know how the weather is pretty unpredictable. You could have sun one minute and hail the next. Well as we made our way down for our week off, it was not the best trip. The usual 4 hour trip took us over 6. You'd have thought we were driving from Idaho still. We made it thru the rain and finally got everyone settled and in bed.

Then the power went out. At least we were all asleep and cozy in our beds. Surprisingly that was the only time the power went out. It was a crazy stormy week. There were a couple of times that the sun poked it's head out and we got to go down to the beach and over to the park, but otherwise, we spent a lot of time inside playing games and working on our handstands and cartwheels for gymnastics.

One day we decided to take the kids to the Astoria Aquatics center. Grandma came along with us so that she didn't have to sit around and watch Grandpa work. We had lots of fun playing in the water. So here are a few of our family having a little bit of fun indoors.

Above is me and the girls going down the lazy river. It turns out it wasn't turned on when we first got there. This made me happy because I thought it was taking a lot of work to be lazy.
Here we are in the hot tub. It was nice and warm. The other pool was too, but once I got in the hot tub there was no way I was going back into the freezing cold that would now be the other pool.
Us again. At least Sydney is smiling this time. Of course Jacob is now staring at Sydney. Who knows why.
Abby was riding on my back and I'm hugging a bouncy ball if you wonder what that is. We enjoyed the lazy river and the boys had fun going down the slide. Noah can really make a splash.
Dave is watering Abby in the hopes that she will grow. She's such a tiny thing. Actually I think she might fit into her size 3 pants now that she is almost 4.
We put Abby in the lazy river (it was turned on now) and had her swim from Dave to me. She didn't have to work as hard and she had a lot of fun.
She finally started going around by herself. When it was time to go she didn't want to. I think she was the last one out of the pool.
Our little fish Sydney. She loves the water. In her swim lessons last year she jumped 2 classes because she did so good.
That's the boys being crazy. I wondered if they were going to get into trouble by the lifeguards, but I think they only had to tell them not to climb over the walls once.
My little duckling and me. Such a fun day.

After we got changed and sort of dried off we went to get lunch and ended up at the Wet Dog Cafe. That was a perfect end to a fun, wet day.

pinewood derby

A few weeks ago it was the Pinewood Derby for our boys. They both worked really hard on their cars. We weren't really sure who would win.

Usually Noah goes for coolest car. Last year his car was a shark. The year before that it was a pterodactyl. I'm not even sure if that is how you spell it. Anyway they were cool. This year he decided he wanted to go for sleekness and speed.

This year was Jacob's first year doing the pinewood derby. He was very excited. He also wanted to go for speed. So we had two very sleek cars.

It was really hard to find a spot to put the weights on with the boys designs but they figured it out and had to add a few quarters at the end to make them even heavier.

I have added some pics from the night. I big thank you to my mom who actually brought her camera. These pictures are in no order whatsoever. I'm just happy they are on here. :)
This is Jacob accepting his award for most aerodynamic car. Noah's award was the green machine award. His car is very green. It's called the mamba. after the snake. Or something like that.
Here is Abby with her pack meeting friend Jane. They really enjoy each other. The funny thing is that Jane's family lived in the house we are in before we did. So Abby actually sleeps in the same spot in the same room that Jane did.

In this picture you can see Jacob watching the race. He is the one with his head in his hands. Also in the picture is Grandpa watching the scene and Dave as always on his phone. We sort of only paid attention when the boys cars were racing.
In this pic Noah is right in the middle watching the race. He's the one with the blue shirt on under his scout shirt.
The cars are getting lined up. Jacobs is the orange one at the very top. It has flames on the side. Noah's is the green one with yellow wheels. They were both pretty cool.
Here is Sydney trying to endure the pinewood derby. She has on Jacob's fishing hat. She has her own sense of style. We sure love her.
Here we are waiting for something to happen. Abby, Noah, Dave and Grandpa. It was a fun night.

Who won do you ask? Neither of our cars, but we did place 6th and 7th. Right next to each other. Whose car was faster? Jacob's was. We know this because when they raced each other Jacob's won which is what bumped him to 6th. I think they both did great!! Wonder what the boys will do for next year?

Where did I put my jeans?

I washed all the jeans in the beach house last night, since they were all dirty. I got in the shower and when I got out to get dressed I couldn't find my favorite jeans anywhere. I had already decided I was wearing them today which is why I washed them last night.

I went through every pair of jeans in the house. I looked under the bed. I checked in the bathroom. I looked in my bag which I know they weren't in there, but maybe right? I finally got dressed and decided to take Foster (the dog) on a walk to Tolovana Park. The kids had ridden their bikes there and I wanted to go see them play for a minute.

Guess what? I found my jeans. They were at the park. They were on my son. My 10 year old Noah was wearing my favorite jeans.

The scary thing is when did he get so big that he mistook my jeans for his? When did my baby get this way? On the other hand...does this mean his jeans will fit me? If this is the case my wardrobe just doubled. :)

Glad I found my jeans. Sad I have to wash them again because he is a boy and played like one while wearing them.