cousins. . . just a few!

July 2009- My kids are very lucky!!!! They have a ton of cousins their own age. Unfortunately none live near us . . . Yet! This summer My sister Lisa and her family came for a visit. She has a great hubby- Ossil, and 3 great kids- Andraya, Chrystine, and Ayden. It was just a week but It was a week full of fun local things.

Our timid little kids at OMSI

The kids put together a play were each person had a part in putting it on.

They advertised

Avery and Ayden made treats (of the plastic variety) and handed them out.

Hannah and Andy did the finely choreographed Heelly performance

Josh also had a very compelling part in the show

Chrystine was a natural DJ

The performance was sensational and a must see when it comes to your area!!!

Wilsonville's water park

Multnomah FallsSuch a beautiful day!

And of course the back yard trampoline
It was such a fun week! We sure miss them!!!

Salishan

July 2009- We love Oregon and all the adventures here! While adventuring we have come to realize that the Oregon coast is really underdeveloped for it being so stunning. We are used to So Cal where everything is very busy on the coast and there are resorts, super nice places or even just nice places to stay everywhere (which we liked). Our friends the Warnicks found this beautiful resortish place on the coast by Lincoln City. Salishan is just a beautiful place to relax and unwind. We met up with the Warnicks and with all of our kids (8 all together) and had a great time.

The kids had a lot of fun in the play area.

Later we met up with the friends and played mini golf ( I don't think the grey heads liked it much)

Hannah, Zach & Ainsley

We went on lots of walks which led us to. . .

. . . the beautiful coast

Salishan gets a big thumbs up!!!!!

Is running fun????

June 2009- Yes, at the Wilsonville fun run it was !!! It was a really big event, each kid took turns competing in there own age group and they all did great. Beautiful backdrop.

Josh did a great job!

Avery

Zach even had fun with all the extra things they had there to do.

Hannah

The champions!!!

Great job everyone!!!

Reptile Man. . . What?

June 2009-It is no secret that I can't stand snakes, so lucky me, the library had the Reptile man come and share with the kids all his snakes. Yeah, all these boxes are full of them and don't worry the boxes with the poisonous snakes have a red tag on the box. . . WHAT??????? Yeah, he had poisonous snakes in a room full of overly excited children, doesn't sound like a very well thought out plan.
And to make it even more fun he would dangle them over the kid's heads.
My kids loved every minute of it, it may be because they knew I didn't like it, not sure.

Zach wasn't so sure about it. Then, just to add to thee excitement, he brought out an alligator, and. . . Zach wasn't so sure about that either!

Hannah loved all the snakes and she really wanted to hold one so finally he chose her as one of the snake holders of a HUGE one.
At the end I got home with all of my kids intact and no adopted snakes, SUCCESS!

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!

Summer 2009- So, father's day comes but once a year and we love to celebrate it for sure!!!! But, I also don't like my children going to church looking homeless and sloppy!!! BUT in the spirit of father's day my heart must have melted or softened (not sure, it doesn't happen often) and I let Ben dress Zach for church in what ever he wanted and he chose laderhosen. Zach was thrilled by the news that he was going to wear this to church.


I guess it could be worse!

Festival of the kites

June 2009- I am a sucker for a festival and so to my thrill we went to the coast for a kite festival. It was the perfect day for anything to do with wind and the out doors.



These were huge kites.

They also have groups flying their kites together to music. It my sound cheesy but it was really amazing!

The kids made their own kites at a booth , which they loved! The finished products (No Josh, he was in San Diego)

Now to flying them, because after we get home who knows were those kites will end up. :D
A Great Day!