Homemade Art

We've got a ton of hallway walls upstairs, and very little hanging on them.  Today we decided to do a Pinterest hack, and make some of our own art.  This was a super simple, super fun activity.  

Canvases from Hobby Lobby, blue painters tape and regular craft paint.  The kids loved it and are excited to hang their own masterpieces on the walls.

New Annual Family Beach Trip - Neskowin Beach

Peas in a pod

 One of many full body burials

 My son, the big breasted mermaid

 No one really wanted to know what was keeping her hot tub "hot"

 Grandpa and Hannah trying to figure out a selfie on a flip phone

Waterloo Park

For several years now Brian and I have been looking for a good place to go to the river.  No one with any concern for their own health actually swims in the Willamette, so we were on the search for a good clean river with easy access for the kids and a nice park to spend the day in.  

Thanks to an Albany community page on Facebook, we found just the place - Waterloo County Park, just outside of Lebanon.  Just our luck, we managed to go on a day when the forecast of 90+ degrees didn't quite live up to its prediction, and it was overcast and not warm enough (for me anyway) to spend too much time in the water.  Regardless, everyone had a great time, and we plan to go back with warmer weather.

Beach Day

To finish up our Independence Day weekend, we headed for the coast.  We don't get there nearly as often as we want.  After having a super yummy lunch at a new-to-us restaurant in Newport, we spent the afternoon at Agate Beach.  Once again we lucked out with amazing weather and warm water.  The kids were in it all day!

 Brian teaching Jake how to body surf.  He quickly became obsessed with it.

 Cue the Baywatch music...

 I kept going back and forth between being worried to death that he was going to get sucked under, and feeling teary that my first born has gotten so big.  

When we got there, this was our view of the lighthouse.  By late afternoon a fog quickly rolled in and...

this was the view we said goodbye to.

Independence Day

 Our Independence Day tradition seems to be that we have no hard and fast tradition, other than that we never seem to get our fireworks bought til about 4 hours before we light them, and we always do something with family, whether that be the 5 of us or parts of our extended family.  This year we started our day off with a family breakfast out, followed by a movie, and finishing up with fireworks at G&G's.

This year marked a rite of passage for my eldest, who lit off every firework by himself with no direct adult supervision.  He took the responsibility very seriously.

 Leah immediately became friends with the neighbors granddaughter.

 We were all so pooped from the rest of the days activity that we unanimously agreed to start fireworks at 8:15, and by 9:00 we were on the road for home.  It was still light out...

These people are my tribe.  It never gets old being able to just pop up the road to hang with Grandma and Grandpa. Someday Grandpa will smile for a picture.

Spring 2014

This spring I got the chance to go on several of Austin's field trips, first up to a Knights baseball game on the OSU campus.  Luckily there were also several activity booths outside the stadium, because this kid and his homey lasted about 15 minutes watching the game.

 Austin and one of his school besties, Robbie

Next up, a field trip to the fire station.  This time Austin and I spent the day with our good friends the Stearns.  Lori was one of the first friends I made after moving to Albany, and she just happens to have 2 boys my boys ages, and they  have all become good friends.  Austin and Luke were pretty much inseparable all day. 

This face!

 The end of spring also wrapped up Jake's first season of flag football.  He made so much progress, by the end of the season he had become the go-to quarterback, in one game throwing a pass his coach called "the best youth pass he'd ever seen".   The kids got football fever!