Coast Trip '13

Yesterday morning after Kaiya's swim class we packed up the Pilot and headed over the mountains for our annual winter weekend to the coast.  We returned to Lincoln City, this time staying at the Westshore Oceanfront Hotel.  It's one of the last ones that still have a wood burning fireplace, kitchenette, on the water AND can have pets. And less than one hundred dollars a night! Jason and Tyson enjoy building fires together, it's fun to watch them "get it done".

We arrived in the afternoon and checked in, unpacked a little then headed out for a walk on the beach.  It was windy! Elena was in the wrap and it took her some time to get used to breathing such a strong wind.  Jada did crazy circles and the rest of us hunted for the legendary glass floats that are left on the beach during the winter months.

Papa ccoked up some sloppy joes for dinner, we played memory and settled into bed.  Kaiya had a bit of a rough day, she did go all day with no nap and played hard on the beach so she was tired and ready for bed by the end of the day. We are looking forward to kite-flying, walking the beach and playing at the big wooden park...we'll see what we can accomplish in this winter weather.  We are thankful for this time together as a family, that's for sure!

2nd Annual Boys Trip

When: July 23rd-25th
Where:  Gone Creek Campground
Who:  Jason and Tyson
What:  Boy's Trip
Why:  Because it's fun, adventurous, and now... it's tradition!

Tyson and I (daddy) went on our 2nd annual Boy's trip this summer.  Last year, we camped at Detroit lake.  This year Tyson wanted to camp near Mt. Hood, so we stayed at Gone Creek campground.  It's one of the 3 or 4 campgrounds surrounding Timothy Lake in the Mt. Hood Wilderness area.  The weather was beautiful.  Mornings started out a little chilling, but it warmed up fast.  It was clear and warm to hot all day.  And it slowly cooled down at night.  The camp spot was great.  We had a nice view of the lake.  And we were literally steps away from our prime fishing spot.  We had an awesome time.  We fished A Lot.  Tyson loves to fish.

I love this annual trip.  I get excited planning it and spending time with my boy.  I think he likes it a lot too.  I think we will have some epic adventures as he gets older.   Next year I think we may rent one of those Fire Watch towers that the National Parks rent out.  I've heard they are awesome.

Here's a few memories from this years boy trip, along with some photos:

- Sunsets - Tyson watched the sun set for the first time on this trip.  It took 5 years to see his first sunset?  Shame on me.  Anyway he loved it.  Both nights.  Lot of good discussion about where it goes.

-  Bats - The first night we were sitting around the campfire and Tyson noticed that bats were flying overhead.  He loved watching them fly by and occasionally dive bomb near us.  I kinda thought it was cool too.

- Fires - We built lots of fires.  One every night and morning.  Tyson loved helping build them.  I let him light it one night too.  Pretty soon, he'll be able to get a fire going while I work on dinner.   Also, every time we were able to get a good flame going with a new log he'd say, "that's what we're talking about".  Cracked me up.  He also enjoyed finding little twigs around our site and throwing them into the fire.

- Chipmunks - As always, the chipmunks were out in force.  I forgot to put our food in the trunk before one of our fishing excursions.  When we returned, we found evidence of those furry thieves.  They ruined our trail mix and lunch sandwiches.  Later on, Tyson would "hunt" those little thieves.  He would chase them around the campground.  I kinda think the chipmunks liked it.

- Fish -  As I said earlier, Tyson loved fishing.  We spent many hours fishing on this trip.  Luckily our spot was only steps from our campsite.  We caught 3 on Tuesday morning, 2 in the afternoon, and a couple more the next morning.  We caught 7 total.

- Building a Fort/Shelter - One of the things I wanted to teach Tyson was how to build a lean-to shelter.  We had a blast doing this.  We collected a lot of downed branches (and daddy chopped down a few, as well.  Hey, I was caught up in the moment.).  We both agreed that this was our favorite moment during the trip.   Second was fishing, of course.  :)  That shelter was pretty cool.

- Sleeping In - Tyson slept in till 7:45 on the last morning.  I guess all that sun, fishing and playing finally wore him out.

Our tent and our view

 Photo taken within a couple minutes of arriving

 Boys Trip!!  Yeah!!

 Tyson's first sunset

 First catch!

 The boy loves to fish.

 Hunting chipmunks with a bug net

 FISH!  I started gutting before I remembered to capture the moment.  

 It's hard taking a photo of yourself riding a bike.

 The Fort/Shelter

 Hangin' in the fort

 Taking a break after building the lean-to shelter/fort

 Tyson was excited when I suggested soaking our feet in the lake.

 Sometimes boys just need to take their shirts off.

 Another catch.

 7:45 am. July 25th 2012

 Gettin' dirty

The view

Kaiya on tasting M&M's..

"When I put a brown one in my mouth I taste chocolate!"
" My mouth tastes brown!"

Father's Day

I should have Jason write about this...seeing as it has to do with him..but a quick recall of Father's Day this year..

This was definitely his favorite gift of the two he received (and the other one was even a tool!).  Whenever he puts it on the kids happily oblige, racing their cars around his back and up and down his legs.

Thanks Babes for all that you do..You are a great father - creative, patient, and a good teacher. Your love for them is so very evident to them and to others. Thank you for working hard to provide for their physical needs, and then coming home to take care of their emotional and spiritual as well. I'm thankful to know you as their Papa/Dad/Daddy and to see how being a father has blessed you.  I love you lots and lots..

Good friends...

A good friendship that we hope will continue to grow for a lifetime...

















And I had to make another since the first was soooo cute...

The thing I really don't get, though, is why every where we go, do people think they're twins? I mean really...they don't look anything alike..right?

Fat and Beautiful.

24 weeks

Last week I was installing our new blinds in the kitchen.  The fam was sitting at the table, watching, eating, and asking questions...the conversation went something like this...

Tyson:  Mama, you look kind of fat. Don't you think Daddy should be doing that work?
Me: Fat? Did you mean to say that I look beautiful and strong?
Tyson: Daddy..does Mommy look fat or beautiful?
Jason (while reading. And doesn't even look up): She looks a little bit of both right now.
Me: (Eyebrow raised and very clearly glaring at Jason and Tyson)

Boys.  After taking this picture Jason did finish installing the blinds. And since then Tyson has taken to giving me hugs, patting my belly and saying.."Mama, today you look beautiful and your belly looks strong."

That boy sure knows how to make me smile.

Two Wheelin'!

He left a boy...

And came back a little bigger..

Tyson wanted to share about how much fun he is having riding his two wheeler bike. At first the challenge was learning how to pedal as he already had the balance down.  He started off on training wheels and while at the park overcame the frustration of having to balance and pedal at the same time. Once he figured out how to make his legs turn he took off..going over the bases in the baseball diamond gleefully.  They were pretty big jumps for his first few minutes of no training wheels!  He loved it.  We try to go out as often as we can. He rides for a long time, up hill, down hills, and he's even gotten really good at avoiding the unpredictable riding of his little sister!