Oregon Coast

I am failing miserably with the blog this summer. I'm not even going to attempt to record the day-to-day activities around here, but I can't overlook the fun vacation we just took. We got back a week ago from a week long trip with my parents to Cannon Beach/Arch Cape on the Oregon Coast. It was so much fun. I took like a million pics and posted slightly less than that so don't feel obligated to make it through this post!

The Oregon coast is really far away...like 14ish hours by car. We divided the trip there into two days. Our first stop was Baker City, Oregon. Luke and Seth rode with my parents the whole way and according to them were great. Ian was a trooper. I've driven to both Boise and Hells Canyon before for river trips, but I must say that is such an ugly drive. No offense but I would not want to make Mountain Home my home. The place we stayed in Baker City was actually pretty nice. We swam that night and again the next morning. In fact, here we are so bright and early we had to wait while they finished cleaning the pool before we could get in.



After eating the biggest breakfast ever we headed off for day 2 of driving. We had the mini van and the back of my parents truck packed.



Day 2 of driving offered a bit more scenery. Ian developed quite a case of the runs which made for lots of stops for a while. I changed his diaper twice in like 180 degree weather in a little armpit called Arlington, OR (no offense anyone), but we eventually made it. The boys got in with us the last hour or so of driving and it was a big fest of whining, fighting, crying, and urgent calls for the bathroom, but we eventually arrived.



This is the view from the window of our modern beach house in Arch Cape. It was such a cute old house (but nicely redone) and right on the beach...awesome. Right outside was a deck and a hot tub and then you head down to the beach.

The weather in Oregon is cool which I loved. We had some nice, sunny days too but the foggy overcast ones were great.

That is castle rock in the distance. Shortly after this picture Luke and Seth were caught by a sneaker wave which Luke outran and Seth did not. It took him down to his knees and then washed up over his head. He came up sputtering and soaking wet and that was his introduction to the ocean. We'd been gone 10 minutes and he was already back at the house naked getting hosed off. In fact, he was constantly stripping down to his nothings on this trip. It took some coaxing to get him close to the ocean again.

We discovered there were two ways to get down to the beach. You could go a few houses down to the stairs or you could use the rope at our place to descend our own very steep path. Luke especially loved doing this. It was like rappelling.

When the tide was out there was tons of hard sand for riding bikes on. Jer and Luke went on several long bike rides to see starfish and other critters that were out when the tide is low. Jer also took his road bike out for some rides along the coast road. I had fun running on the beach in the cool weather so there was something for everyone.

Seth did lots of beach exploring by foot but his training wheels made biking a no go. He had to settle for looking at Luke's pictures of the bike expeditions.

My parents stayed home for an afternoon of relaxation while we took the kids to Oswald West State Park for some hiking. It was a nice easy trail through the forest that ended up on a big surfing beach.

The boys thought this bridge was pretty awesome.

After lunch and ice cream cones in Manzanita they all sacked out on the way back.

The hot tub was a huge hit, and we all enjoyed it. Luke treated it like a pool, and we had to keep making him get out and cool off when it looked like his head might explode.

My parents were great as usual, and we all loved spending time with them. We explored our beach thoroughly in both directions. This was a day we walked to the north to Hug's Point where there are lots of big rocks and caves exposed at low tide. We saw two dead seals on the beach on different days. Luke asked if we were ever going to see any living sea animals.

Checking out the anemones.

This picture doesn't do it justice but Cannon Beach is a really pretty little town with the most amazing flowers everywhere. It kind of reminds me of beachy Park City (the old downtown area).

An evening on the beach with the stomp rocket and kites.

Waiting for the fire to be ready for cooking hot dogs and making smores.

A trip to the windiest beach on earth in Cannon Beach. The kids, Jer, and grandpa had great fun burying each other.

The view from our deck on a nice sunny day. We all spent a lot of time out there reading and relaxing while the kids played in the yard and hot tub.

On our last day Jer and I got up early and went to Ecola State Park for a long trail run. It was great. It was the only day it rained and it was cool and slippery. In fact I found myself slipping off the trail and heading down a steep ravine at one point. It was Jer's chance to leave me hanging, but he gave me a hand up. Near the top it got ridiculously muddy, and we were in the middle of this thick forest with all the trees shrouded in fog. It was a little creepy (reminded me of something out of Twilight) but pretty neat. On the way home Jer and I stopped and bought bagles which were way too expensive and turned out to have mold on them. Needless to say we went in and got a refund and then found this bakery with amazing bread and cookies. If you go for a long run you can eat bread and cookies for breakfast, right? We all went back to the park later in the day to picnic and explore.

A few attempts at group shots with Haystack Rock in the background.

Ian never looks or smiles for pictures but really he is the happiest baby ever. We put his crib in the closet (it was big) in our room, and he slept like a champ the entire trip. The boys had two sets of bunks in their room so they both top bunked it for a week. We all had such a great time together and were sad to see it end so soon. Jer and I loaded the kids up at 3:30 am and hit the road the last day. We drove the whole thing in one shot, and they were actually really good. We stopped at McDonald's twice in one day which should be a crime but there weren't a lot of options. Seth got carsick and threw up in the restroom. But other than that we made it! It was a little hard to return to the routine of work for Jer and piles of laundry for me, but we're back in the swing of things now. First big road trip with three kids: check.

Mega Mega Post

So I'm having a hard time keeping up with the blog so far this summer. June and the first of July kind of went by in a blur of business as usual around here plus swimming lessons, t ball, family and neighborhood get togethers, frenzied work on my masters, running, and a few short vacations. Not to mention I'm trying to keep up with So You Think You Can Dance and the Tour de France (don't even talk to me about what happened yesterday). I record the shows on the DVR and watch them late at night with lots of fast forwarding...but still...there's only so much time. I have been a loyal fan of the tour since 2004 so I guess I'll keep watching despite my disappointment, and I find the dance show so entertaining if you can just get past how feminine some of the guys are! Anyway...I digress...I hate it when my blog becomes nothing more than a travel log of we went here and did this but with that said that's what I'm about to do.

So here goes:
In June we headed to the mountains for the annual Burbank camping trip. Cindy puts lots of work into this trip, and it was lots of fun. Since this is total car camping this year we borrowed a pop up tent trailer my parents have and used it. The kids thought it was great, and it was definitely more comfy than all of us in the tent. Ian had a terrible first night...as in Jer and I both took shifts with him out in the truck to keep him from waking up the entire campground. I'm not sure what was going on there other than he wasn't a huge fan of the port-a-crib, and he had a huge canker in his mouth. After that his sleeping improved, and he motored around the campground taking lots of spills on the uneven ground, getting into everything he shouldn't, becoming totally filthy, and being his usual happy self.




The boys had fun four wheeling with their dad, grandpa, TJ, and Jer's uncle. (We only see Jer's uncle Rod and his wife Sherry once a year and that is always fun. They are so cute with the kids and let them maul their poor dog Oz to death.) Jer and I even went out on a ride...quite a ride actually...it always is with Grandpa Boyd in the lead.


We took a little side excursion to Minnetonka Cave. It was fun although I'm pretty sure our tour guide pointed out every single pebble in the place. The kids were great despite the fact that we lacked the jackets mentioned in the sign and the tour was about 90 minutes long. Since we didn't have the baby backpack with us, Ian stayed back at camp with grandma.

Tucker and Ian...aren't they cute? We made quite a few trips around the campground with these guys while the bigger kids lapped us with their bikes. We only had one major crash heading downhill where the road turned and K'Lee didn't, but she got back on.

We hardly saw the big kids in camp because they were in their "secret hideout" which consisted of some big, downed trees. They spent hours over there doing something including quite a lengthy bug catching session with Jer.

There's the whole gang.

We always head to Bear Lake for the Fourth of July. This year we stuck around for the weekend and did the Freedom Run on Saturday and then headed up Monday. Actually after a trip to the Instacare on Sunday with Seth for what turned out to be strep I took Luke and Ian up on Monday. Jer spent the day hanging out with Seth, and I came back down and got him after he was feeling better and no longer contagious. The poor kid has been struggling...strep, some sort of allergic reaction going on with his face, and now eczema. Yikes! He now must be rubbed down with this steroid cream and Vaseline twice a day. Really? I hate even applying sunscreeen. Oh well, I'm hoping it brings some relief. He has been a bit miserable. Jer came up for the day on Wednesday, and we had a fun time with my family. Thanks to my Aunt Tamra and Uncle Elden who are always so generous with the condo.

We spent most of our first day at the beach. I went out in the boat with Kim's husband Shea, my cousins Brian and Troy, and then Luke, Samantha, and Reagan. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked because I learned to waterski behind this same boat at Luke's age but after we had all had a chance to tube the boat broke down. As in it would not start again. We were stranded. You would think other boats would come by...but no. Instead, we had two oars and all the guys took turns rowing a motor boat to shore for over an hour an a half. I in turn tried to entertain three small children (they were actually really good). We ended up on the shores of a Boy Scout Camp where we called for help. Note to self: Bring cell phone next time. It was quite the adventure and with the exception of the sunburn most of the adults received there was no harm done. We were really lucky to have Brian and Troy and their muscles along!

The kids had lots of fun playing in the pools which have little waterslides now. Seth liked going off the diving board in his life jacket as long as I was there to catch him too.

Luke, Samantha, and Reagan enjoying the tube.

It has been a fun couple of weeks, and I can't believe how fast the summer is going. I should be finished up the actual work on my master's project plus my other summer semester stuff by the end of July so that's a huge relief. I was about to throw in the towel a month ago because this part has been so hectic but now I'm almost done. Come Spring 2012 I'll have my degree...yes it's taking me that long. That's all I can handle. My house has been really suffering from my busyness. It's okay to let your house go in the summer, right? I'll just keep telling myself that.

Mega Post

June has been totally crazy so far, but we're having fun. We're about to head off on new adventure so before I get too behind I thought I'd put up a catch up post. I'm finally posting about Luke's birthday, and I also tried to include some pictures of my kid's grandparents. They are so lucky to have such awesome grandparents that are very involved in their lives, and I really need to document it better! I should also do a whole post about Jer and how awesome he is in honor of Father's Day, but this is as good as it's going to get!


The weekend before Luke's birthday Jer and the big boys headed up to celebrate an early birthday with a little fishing in the rain. They fished at a friend's place from a boat and struck out, but they caught some big ones at grandma and grandpa's house.


The kids each caught a big one. Seth didn't want to touch his. When you ask Luke about the fish he caught he underexaggerates its size which is kind of funny.


They also took the four wheeler and the Razor for a ride. The boys ended the day with a trip to Big J's and came home totally exhausted and happy. Luke also got some fun presents and had a great early birthday before grandpa headed to New Zealand on his big hunting adventure.

We kept the boys' birthdays pretty small and simple this year, but I think they had fun. During the day we played at the park and had a friend over to play and go for ice cream. That night Grandma Carolyn, Grandpa Steve, and Grandma Cid enjoyed birthday dinner at Cafe Rio with us. That was followed up by presents including some awesome explorer stuff.

We gave Luke a new bike. He couldn't wait to try it out so he headed out in the rain. He has been in need of a bigger bike for quite a while. Seth felt like it was his birthday too because we put the training wheels back on the yellow bike, and he inherited it. They both had fun riding around in the rain.

Just a cute one of Ian and Grandpa Steve.

Blowing out candles on the ice cream cake.

Luke loves animals and wanted to go to the zoo, so the next day we headed down with TJ and Amy and thier kids. We had a great day complete with tiger paw cupcakes with cousins.

The only low spot of the day was when Luke got lost. Yep, he didn't follow us to the elephants and when I went back for him about one minute later he had run off in the other direction looking for us. Jer, TJ, and I looked for a good 6 or 7 minutes, and I was starting to get quite nervous. We had been laughing all day about all the weirdos there but that wasn't quite so funny once Luke was gone! Finally this guy saw my panicked face and asked me if I was looking for a little lost boy. He had seen him by the monkeys but didn't want to scare him by approaching him (he had a lot of tattoos). I ran down there and found him with a mom and her kids. She had approached him because he was starting to cry. He told her his phone number and had her call us so that was great, but it was our home phone number! After my heart rate returned to normal we finished off a great day and had a good chance to talk about safety with the kids. Yikes!

My mom is the ultimate grandma. My boys love her to death. She is such a big help to me right now as I'm working on my project for my master's degree. She has made it possible for me to do it by helping out about once a week. My kids love every minute they get to spend with her and are always stoked for a trip to grandma's house. She's the best. Thanks mom!

My parents have this new totally awesome nature trail behind their house. Once you get in there it's like being in a jungle. There goes the whole gang on a Sunday afternoon. My mom would like Bert to play in traffic most days, but my kids sure do love him.

The trip is not complete without playing king of the mountain on the gravel pile. Thanks Jer for being the best dad and husband. He works so hard for us everyday, and we all love him so much.

We headed up to Deer Cliff Inn for Grandma Cid's birthday and had a great time. We attempted to get a picture of the grandkids and this is the best we could do. I feel bad I didn't even get a picture of Cid.

Boyd finally shaved that crazy mustache off after bagging his trophies and now Ian likes him a lot more!

I'm not sure exactly what to say about this picture. The kids came out of grandpa's shed sporting these, and it seemed like a picture worthy moment.

Luke

Our summer started off great last week but took a definite turn for the worse this week with a little visit from the stomach flu. It has hit Luke the hardest. As I type he is making his 5th trip to the bathroom since he has been trying to go to bed. The pukes started on Monday, and the fun just keeps on coming for him. He has lost weight after keeping nothing down and having bad stomach pain for days. I feel bad for him. We woke up to Seth puking everywhere this morning, but his case seems to be much milder. I'm just hoping the rest of us can somehow escape without getting sick.

Now on a brighter note: Luke celebrated his 6th birthday last week. It's bittersweet to see the kid who first made you a mom growing up so fast. He's a great kid, and I'm so proud of him. We had a great birthday week, and I'll post about that once we all get over this mess! I thought I'd just quickly throw up (no pun intended) a few baby pics of Luke. It's fun (for me) to take a stroll down memory lane and look at how far he's come.

At age 6, Luke:

• Loves his family. He is such a fun, loving kid, and he lets all of us know how much we mean to him.
• Loves to play outside--riding bikes (his new bike will be featured in the next post), jumping on the tramp, playing basketball or just about any other sport.
• Loves goldfish crackers. They're still his favorite after all of these years.
• Loves playing with friends. Luke is quite social and has a fun personality. He kills me with his sarcasm and sometimes quite advanced sense of humor.
• Loves to learn about animals and knows lots of random facts.
• Loves learning and has become a great little reader, speller, and writer. His handwriting is probably neater than mine when he tries.
• Loves to tease. Seth is usually the recipient of this. Although they fight they also spend hours playing together and are great friends.

Awww... love this kid. He really doesn't change too much from year to year now. He just gets a little taller and a little skinnier. I'll upload those new 6-year-old pics when I'm not so tired. Here's to hoping Luke can start enjoying his summer vacation soon!