Persian Dancing on Roller Blades

Andrew and Matthew live on their blades. They love to play hockey and dance while wearing them (quite the combo, huh?) :) Here's a special clip of some Persian dancing done the other night at our house...(I'm not sure if Matthew will love that this is up - he's a bit camera shy these days!)

Hanging with Nana Dee

While Papa is off fishing and Baba is at work, the boys and I went over to Nana Dee's for fun in the sprinkler, yummy food and more cookies!

This is what you get when you play in the sprinkler on a freshly mowed lawn. :)

We call this one "ribs". My goodness. I swear I feed him.

I asked the boys how many of their friends have grandmas that play football with them. I got a resounding "ZERO" answer from them. Yeah...we're pretty lucky...young, healthy, playful grandparents are so much fun! (My phone takes awful action shots, but I still had to post proof of this super cool grandma and the fun the boys were having with her!)

We got quite a show from the crows - back and forth over the house all night - trying to figure out where to roost for the night...

...the garden and gorgeous flowers are always so peaceful to be amongst. These coneflowers are called Mistical Amber Mist. Such happy flowers!

While we were having dinner, this picture came to us via email...Papa fishing in Canada...he caught two of the biggest fish of the day!

Just Another Magic Monday

Our first day back together was low key - lots of video games, some snuggles, meals together, a project and a family dinner...

The boys made homemade 'lava lamps'...pretty fascinating project!

NanaDee brought requested cookies over for the kiddos...

Baba taught Andrew how to build a camp fire...

Sharing cookies after dinner...

Lucy herded her flock all over the backyard...

Andrew admiring the fire he built...

A little pre-bedtime hockey...

So glad these monkeys are back home, safe and sound!

The Boys are Back

Here's what our last childless day together as newlyweds looked like:

Early morning gym class (taught by Mike, attended by Kathy)...

Cool treats...

A stop at one of Oregon's many beautiful view points (Willamette Falls)...

Home to play with our new toy - love this thing - it vaccuums for us! (Purchased with wedding gift cards...thanks, guys!)

And the best part of the day...these sweet faces are home after 10 days away. <3

Reflections

Our boys are apart from us for 10 days. Being newlyweds and all, we are really enjoying our down time together - lots of lunch dates, visiting with friends and family and even some time for sunset walks down to the river. Our river is so gorgeous...we are so blessed...

Come on, Summertime!

Familiar events signal the start of summer - not the supposed summer break that begins when school's out (but it's still 64 degrees every day and raining most times), but the true start of summer vacation - sprinklers, cold drinks, shorts and tank tops and water parks...

A 'cool' project on a lazy day at home...

(ice cubes sprinkled with salt and doused with food coloring)

Cone flowers blooming in NanaDee's garden...

The last of the baseball games for Andrew...

...while the little one got to go to a Timbers game with Baba and Uncle Paul and Dan...

(I was told that Matthew was super focused on the game here, hence the deer in the headlights look)

Pretty sunsets over our house...

East Moreland's Fourth of July parade...

...complete with a bunch of hotties...

(firefighers to the right, cops to the left, my darling husband in the middle!)

We learned that blading vs. biking in the parade is a lot more fun!

(you should see the bruises and scratches to prove it!)

...and finally, our first visit to the spray park...

...with super tired kids (from a late night of fireworks) to boot...

Yeay, summertime! So much fun already...and to think...it's only July 5th! :)

Honeymoon

My darling groom booked this gorgeous home for us to spend a relaxing, peaceful weekend together at the Oregon Coast. This house was called "Seascape" - located just outside of Pacific City, next to Camp Winema. The house was on a cliff - from most places in the house, you could only see ocean - it felt as if we were on a cruise ship (without the seasickness!) The whole backside of the house was windows - even down to the huge window in the master bathroom (with a soaking tub! Have you ever soaked in a hot tub with the ocean breeze cooling the air? Heaven.)

We spent a good amount of time in this room, just resting and reading.

View from the driveway...

Comfortable couches, books and coffee...

I had to make it a little more homey...as I was picking these flowers from the front yard, a sweet little bunny scampered up the yard - it was just larger than a squirrel, dark brown with a bright white tail.

The drive into town starts out on a windy, gravel road...the scenery was unreal. Simply gorgeous.

Foxgloves and Queen Anne's Lace was blooming all over the sides of the roads for much of our drive...(my sweetie stopped to pick these for me on the drive back home)...

 

Camp Winema (just up the road from Seascape) looks amazing...like a little kid's summer paradise.

On Saturday, we took a long drive down 101 - we made it all the way down to Newport, stopping at bookstores, coffee stands and farmer's markets...it was a rainy day, perfect for a drive and some quiet time together...

We stopped on the way back up for lunch at The Inn at Spanish Head...our view was incredible...

...and I found the one and only public restroom I've ever been in that I didn't want to leave as quickly as possible...(this is a view from the stall!)...

We ended the night by getting a pizza to bake at home and renting a couple of movies...

We had to check out at 11 on Sunday. After some morning reading and showers, we packed up and headed into Pacific City to do some exploring. The weather was beautiful today, so we stopped to walk on the beach (for the first time all weekend!) This beach was stunning...I wish we'd had more time to spend walking and relaxing here...

I actually considered horseback riding on the beach before we headed home - but before I could make up my mind, there was quite a commotion. Rescue trucks, sheriffs and the fire department were roaring down the beach - lights and sirens going strong - someone had been bucked off of their horse and rolled over...ouch.

Someone left their boots behind...not cool enough to take home, but cool enough for a picture...

(I spent a fair amount of time taking pictures on this trip - thanks for being patient with me, sweetie!)

The drive home was very pleasant - we chatted some, spent some quiet time enjoying the ride and even stopped for some elk jerky (for him, not me - I was content with my marionberry scone from Grateful Bread!)

Two more things worth mentioning for memory's sake - when we were settling into the house, checking things out, a bald eagle flew right by our windows - it was breathtaking to see the size of that bird, and up so close to where we were standing! I'm pretty sure they'd nested in the trees just to the side of the house. We never did see them again.

Also, we both got a pair of new jeans at the Levi's outlet in Lincoln City - and 2 pairs of new sneakers for the boys at the Nike outlet. The jeans were a splurge for us, but we both LOVE our new blues! The boys' sneakers were a heck of a deal - 2 cool pairs of shoes for $30!?! Tell me where else you could manage that! AND - they're bonafide Nikes!

We're both still tired from the crazy wedding week, but I'm glad to have had that time to make some new memories together. Now, we're back to our 'real life' - there's a lot of laundry, weeding and thank you card writing to be done. That's okay, though - that's what we signed up for, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Life is good!