My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

Seven Days at the Beach (Day Three)

Didn't do a whole lot of shooting on Day Three (because that was the day we had our family photos taken) but here's what I did manage to get...

Playing cards.

Getting ready to go surfing. (He wore my wetsuit even though it was big on him.)

And no, we didn't realize our wetsuits were on backwards until we were already in them on our final day of surfing.

And then the kiddos played with sidewalk chalk.

The chalk set even came with 3-D glasses.

And then my friend Tanya showed up to take our family photos.

And then, after we were done with photos, the kids hopped into the hot tub with Tanya's daughters. (Coley was feeling horrifically outnumbered.)

Not quite sure what the face is all about but it's kind of sweet and somber at the same time.

I know what that face is all about though.

It's about her brand-new puppy.

And while I was working on dinner (Ok, I was actually mixing a vodka and sprite with a bit of cranberry juice and a slice of lime.) I saw this little face peaking through the window.

And while I was busy mixing drinks, Josh Downs was busy barbecuing steak, corn on the cob and baked potatoes.

And then Tanya and her little clan of girls packed up to head home.

Shortly before they left though, Coley said, "You guys should stay the night because I've actually began to take quite a liking to your girls."

Quite a liking?

Apparently, someone's been watching too much Little House on the Prairie because I don't think anyone in the 21st century says 'quite a liking.'

That said, I hope he never quits using the expression because I happen to think it's the sweetest thing ever.

And then us sleepyheads called it a night.

Seven Days at the Beach (Day Two)

Annie was the first one up on Day Two so she and I went for a walk around Seabrook in our pajamas.

And when we got back, the kids read.

And played games.

And then we got dressed and went to breakfast.

Courtney Lee and I had Cornflake crusted french toast and it was delicious. (So delicious that everyone else wanted a bite.)

And then Annie and I took Shelby for a walk while Cole & Courtney rode their bikes around Seabrook.

Annie's the animal-lover in the house.

And then we went grocery shopping and rented three wetsuits so Josh, Ross and I could all try surfing for the first time.

The rain couldn't even stop us die-hard surfers. (Please ignore the fact that us first-timers put our wetsuits on backwards.)

That's me. (I never managed to get up.)

That's Annie in the background with my backpack over her head, trying to stay dry.

And when the kids could stand the rain no more (and I could stand their complaining about the rain no more) I took them home to make cookies while Ross and Josh continued surfing.

I'm slightly neurotic about germs and cleanliness and since my kids know this about me, they knew that any licking of the fingers would have led to their termination from dough preparation.

So they kept rubbing their forearms in the sugar that had spilled on the counter and licking their forearms instead. (They're clever little twerps.)

And when it wasn't their turn to stir the dough, they punched each other.

And wrestled with each other.

And had spoon-fights.

And huffed the chocolate chip bag.

And fought over who was going to huff the chocolate chip bag next.

And welcomed their dad who had just returned from surfing.

And then they ate dough. (The best part of cookie making in my opinion.)

Hey, your wet-suit is on backwards Josh Downs.

And then they got in the hot tub while their cookies baked.

And then Cole and Annie ate cookies, straight out of the oven. (Courtney Lee of course, wanted to save hers until right before bedtime because she loves having something to look forward to.)

And then this one begged for more cookies. (Would can resist a face like that?)

And then Josh Downs read Annie a story while he barbacued Bratwurst (Yuck.)

And then we watched Little House on the Prairie while we ate dinner. (Josh bought me season one last Christmas.)

And in this episode, Laura and her dog, Jack got bit by a raccoon who was suspected of having rabies. (Nothing beats the suspenseful, tear-jerking, wholesomeness of Little House.)

And then we called it a night.

Seven Days at the Beach (Day One)

We hopped in the car late last Saturday morning on our way to Seabrook, Washington. (Near Pacific Beach.) 

Amongst our many stops (We have children.) was a restroom break in Albany at Allann Bros. Coffee where the girls found thousands and thousands of these...

Apparently, that's what it looks like when you hold a black & yellow caterpillar for the first time.

And apparently, that's what it looks like when a black & yellow catepillar poops on you for the first time.

The girls both decided to keep one. 

And much to my surprise, Annie started singing Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa to her caterpillar. (I don't have a clue where she even heard that song since I've only heard it twice myself; once while I was cutting a rug at my Aunts birthday party and again, just a few seconds ago when I went to search for it on Youtube.)

Annie named her caterpillar Billy and Courtney named hers Lazarus because shortly after placing her caterpillar in captivity, she thought he had died...but, after quite a few tears,  he miraculously came back to life.

Wondering where the boys were? (They drove up in Ross's car.)

It was getting late by the time we neared our destination so I ran into a close-by grocery store to pick up a few things that we needed for the evening and Josh ran into the nearest Papa Murphy's to get take-n-bake pizzas.

That's Courtney Lee "assisting" me into the truck.

And then, after 10+ hours of being on the road, we pulled into the swanky little beach town of Seabrook, Washington, looking like the Beverly Hillbilly's in our pick-up truck, pulling an old trailer full of bikes, garbage bags full of board games and clothes and our BBQ. Turns out, they're so fancy in Seabrook that you don't have to bring your own bikes because they rent out beach cruisers for free, you don't have to bring your own games because the house is already stocked full of them and you don't have to bring your old charcoal BBQ either because they have  a fancy gas grill already hooked up to the house. (Through some bartering and kindness, we got to stay in this house for free.)

And then us fancy-folk ate take-n-bake pizza and strawberries and danced in the living room for awhile before calling it a night.

That one recently turned into a dancing fool.

Every now and then I can get Cole & Courtney dancing too.

Most of the time though, they just shake their heads in embarrassment.

Lots more to come.

Shindand

That's the newest member of our family.

His name is Shindand (pronounced Shin-dad) but sometimes, Annie mistakenly calls him Shin-guard.

More beach photos coming.

First-Ever

Had our first-ever family photos session yesterday, courtesy of my good friend, Tanya. (Thanks Tanya.)

We're at the beach relaxing for the entire week though (and blogging doesn't count as relaxing) so it'll probably be next week before I share the rest.

Hope your week is great.

Bird Hunting

A couple weeks back, Annie set out to catch and tame a wild bird. Sadly though, her bird hunting expedition did not end in success...

The Rest

Were you starting to think I had forgotten to post our third and final day?

Strawberries (as you may have already guessed.)

Aunt Lee Lee took the kids to the store for candy. Annie got Skittles and Courtney got Gobstoppers but Coley opted for this ball instead. (And when he game to proudly show me his new acquisition, he told me to pull back the elastic and let loose - well I did and it snapped him right in the wide-open-eyeballs so Coley took a two hour nap with a cold compress on his head.)

Mind you, this was shortly after Coley took a baseball to the eye while playing catch with his dad.

This one is a bike riding fool.

This one probably won't be out of training wheels until she's 15.

And then it was dinner. (Didn't shoot much on day three.)

 

Josh and my sister (who is a phenomenal cook) made carne asada tacos.

Courtney Lee was going inside to get a cup of water so I asked her to grab one for Annie too. Then Cole asked Courtney, "Will you get me one too?", to which I replied, "She can't carry three cups of water by herself." That's when Cole started complaining and wound up carrying three cups of water himself.

And then we stopped by Becky's restaurant to get my sister a slice of chocolate cream pie because she had to stay at the cabin with her dog (who hates fireworks) while we went out on the lake.

That may be my favorite shot ever. (Although Josh Downs laughs every time I say that because apparently, I overuse the word favorite.)

That kid always has his nose in a book.

No fireworks shots for me. (Every year I tell myself I"m going to experiment like crazy to get some good fireworks shots but every year, it just sounds like more fun to relax and enjoy the show.)

4th of July Part II

Sunday morning, Josh & Coley got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing while us girls slept in. When they got back, we hung out around camp and ate breakfast.

I was working on some Bible study stuff and Cole opened my Bible and started reading the book of Job. When he got to the part that says, "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?", Cole said, "Hey Mom, you should read this part because it's really good." (Exactly what I needed to hear - God's funny like that.)

And then we went horseback riding.

I got stuck in the back on a good old horse named Jake.

I didn't get many pictures though because I had to focus all my attention on keeping the mosquitos off of me. 

They really loved Josh's legs (I don't blame them.) so he spent the entire ride swatting them with his hat.

That's the guy who owns the place (and raised eight kids there.)

And then we went hiking and had lunch.

Cooling down with some water.

Annie took that one.

When we got back to camp, we played Bacci. (At least I think that's what it's called.)

You're so hot Josh Downs (but I'm really glad you hardly ever cross you legs like that.)

My sister thinks she's got mad Bocci skills.

I've got some mad Bocci skills myself though.

And then we let the kids go to get icecream by themselves. (Mind you, we could see the icecream shop from our camp.)

Rainbow sherbert on a waffle cone for Courtney Lee, rainbow sherbert in a cup for Annie, (She only recently started liking ice cream but she still doesn't like cones.) and mocha icecream on a waffle cone for Coley.

Indian Pale Ale in a cold bottle for Josh Downs.

And I warned my sister that her tush would be blogged if she interfered with my picture-taking, but she didn't heed my warning.

That's Annie's 'Can I pleeeeease have some strawberries?' face.

Coley took that one.

Annie took that one.

And that one.

And that one.

And that one too.

 And then we ate grilled peaches. (Delicious.)

Just strawberries for this girl though.

4th of July Part I

I'm not sure if it's just because we're creatures of habit or if it's because we really love traditions but we've spent the 4th of July up at Union Creek for the last four years now (and will be back again next year.)

Here's day one of this years trip...

My sister and her dog, Tucker joined us.

My sister even told my husband the embarrassing story of me back in college asking some guys from India how they celebrated the 4th of July in their country.

Horrifically embarrassing but sadly true. (Have I mentioned that I have a long history of buckling under social pressure?)

As you may have imagined, we don't play regular checkers; we play Oregon State University checkers. (We've also got O.S.U. Monopoly.)

Still laughing from dumping leaves on her dad's head. (I posted those shots yesterday.)

Bean dip, beer and a book.

And I'm a stickler about no pop in the house but while we're up at Union Creek, the kids are always allowed to have one soda a day and I let them pick the time. Therefore, Coley can usually be seen sucking his down with breakfast each morning while Courtney Lee holds out in anticipation for hers until its almost bedtime.

Guesstures.

I think the word was 'monkey.'

That is a pretty nice 'camera-face' for my sister (who can't maintain her 'camera-face' for long.)

Told you.

Annie, your daddy looks really hot in that t-shirt.

We made the best watermelon drink ever. (Just blend watermelon, strawberries, fresh lemons, mint and 1/4 cup of sugar.)

And my sister made some sort of crazy-good butter for the corn too (though Coley might argue with the 'crazy-good' part.)

Josh Downs let Cole start the fire for the first time ever.

He let him chop firewood while wearing flip-flops too.

Which caused my sister to do this.

I'm wondering if it's even possible to look less enthusiastic than this bunch?

Back-scratching.

Actually, I missed the shot of Cole scratching Josh's back and then complained at Josh because he always quits doing whatever he's doing once he sees my camera. As I went to sit down, I heard Josh say, "Quick, come back Cole, my back is itching again!" (And I know his back wasn't itching again, but I played along for the sake of getting the shot.)

Smores.

Ummm, there's marshmallow on your nose Courtney Lee.

That's a double-decker-roaster you see there. 

This one doesn't do smores and she doesn't do roasted marshmallows either; she just likes em' straight out of the bag.

 

She even made up a song & dance to demonstrate her love of marshmallows.

And here's some shots from the last few years...2008, more from 2008, 2009, more from 2009, 2010, more from 2010.

Hoping to get some more posted tomorrow. (And hope your 4th was great!)

They're coming...

Lots of pictures to sort through from our 4th of July weekend (but not enough time right to do so right now) but these ones made me laugh...

Seemed like such a sweet little moment until I realized what she was up to.

More to come.