Beachy Beach...

We headed down to Cannon Beach over the weekend for our last hoorah of the summer. My sister Heather had been down there all week, so we bombarded and came down to play for the day. Nothing like a little swimming, getting a little sand in every nook and cranny, a run to Bruce's Candy Shop, and roasting s'mores on the beach, to say farewell to free weekends and no schedule.

The kids start school on Tuesday and I can honestly say I am excited to get on a schedule again, but am dreading having to get up in the mornings and having to become the homework police again.

Zach's First Camp Out...

What's a summer without a little camping right? Over the weekend, Grandpa took all the boy cousins and their dad's up to Mt. Hood. This was Zach's first time ever camping and he loved it! He raved about being able to sleep in a tent and talked long about the nature obstacle courses they imagined up in their heads and played on. The hike up to Ramona Falls was said to be about a 4 mile hike round trip, so when it actually turned out to be 7, I think they were all amazed the boys kept up and finished it out. I get a kick out of all their walking sticks. What's the point of those anyways? I have a feeling they were used as swords or ligthsavers of some type instead. They all had a great time and look forward to doing it all again. These are some of the pics the guys took with their phones of their weekend excursion. As always, Justin is representing in his gray BYU Soccer shirt. I swear he will be taking that shirt with him to his grave. Just for the record, I do buy him other shirts to wear...

Eagle Crest...

Last weekend Justin attended a Dental Conference up in Central Oregon with my brother Andy, at a fun little resort called Eagle Crest. The kids and I were able to tag along on this trip, as well as Mari and the cousins.

The weather was perfect! I wish I could say we did a lot of things, considering how much Central Oregon has to offer, but really everything we did involved the pool. Zach and Kate could spend the entire day in the pool. Kate is a little fish and by the end of the weekend started swimming back and forth between me and Justin.

Brian and Marnae and their kids live up in Redmond so we got to meet our newest cousin, Jace, Marnae's latest addition. He is so cute and just a sweet little guy. I can't believe I did not take any pics of him, so you will have to click on her blog to see him.

Brian's parents live in a community that has their own private pool, so we spent an afternoon over at their place and had the entire pool to ourselves. The only thing missing was the boat to ski and tube behind.

What a great little getaway. One to be taken again hopefully.

Thank Goodness for Our Phones...

As we drove off to the airport some couple of weeks ago to surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a little visit from us, I leaned over to Justin and asked, "You put the camera in my purse like you said you were going to do right?" Do I even need to explain the response I got? I hardly go anywhere without the camera, because if you know me, if it is worth taking a picture of, it is worth scrapbooking! His response?... "My phone is just as good!" Seriously? Needless to say this is our Droid documented summer vacay, and the uploads are tiny. I am thinking the phone is not the best for pictures. Until I get some pics sent from Gramdma(hint hint) these will have to do...

It was so fun to show Zach and Kate where we used to live. Ahh, good ol Colony! I don't miss it, but I do miss the memories and the friends we made, and the memories that were made in these apartments. I kept thinking about the races we used to make the kids do to the mailbox and back just to burn their energy. Ha! Going back to church in Valley Forge was like we were coming home, seriously, as if we never left. I loved seeing everyone there. We hit it right on testimony meeting, and I loved it because we got to hear from all our favorite people. It couldn't have been more perfect.



Everyone knows you gotta hit up Rita's when you go back east. It's that good!



The one summer we were in PA for the 4th it rained so hard that we didn't attempt to go see fireworks with Zach, who was only 2 at the time. But this year, we finally made it to the Lower Perkiomen Park Firewoks Display. We just happened upon some of our favorite friends, the Behunin's, Low's, Linn's, and Bro. Hope, and watched the fireworks with them and all their kids. So Fun!





These cupcakes were so YUMMY! What a great 4th of July.



We took Aunt Jayne down to Reading Terminal Market and walked to the Liberty Bell, even drove down Broad Street, past the dental school, pretty much gave her the grand tour of Philly. We just hope we didn't bore her to death. Justin got his cheese steak on!




We hit up Monkey Joe's, always a kid favorite and spent a day at "Pershey Hark", as Kate says. (Pics to come hopefully...Grandma hint hint)



We had a couple s'mores parties around the fire. Turns out ski poles are great roasting sticks!



You can't leave PA without stuffing your face at the best Breakfast Buffet, Shady Maple, plus it was grandma's birthday, so she got to eat for FREE. And you most definitely can't leave without passing through Intercourse. Amish people watching never gets old.





After Daddy left we hit up Rita's again! We also did a bunch of other fun things not pictured like shop the Pottery Barn Outlet, swim in the hot tub, go see Cars 2, etc.



We even hit up our old stomping grounds, Spring Valley Y, to get relief from all the humidity! I saw some old friends and it made my heart happy to hear that my classes are missed.



What a great trip! We were sad to say good-bye. We love Grandma and Grandpa and wish we could have the best of both worlds, with them and Justin's work in the same state at least. It is a nice to have someone who lives on the east coast though, not gonna lie, to enjoy the perks of being so close to NYC and being able to re-live old memories without breaking to bank on hotel stay...just sayin.

Oh and the good news? If you want to view these pics bigger, you can just go to my facebook! Phone Pics + blogger = Bad Phone pics + facebook = Good

Kate's On Two Wheels...

It's true, Kate is riding a two wheeler! There are quite a few kids that live in our new neighborhood, and one of the favorite activities is to race on their bikes. They even have a "Finesh Line" chalked across the street. Yesterday, Kate had been riding our neigbor's balance bike all morning. When I came outside in the afternoon to check on them, she begged me to take off the training wheels on Zach's old bike. Honestly, I didn't want to, only because I was more afraid of her hitting the pavement. She is persistant though, and I obviously gave in, and now she's practically a pro! It literally took her one try with me holding on to the back and running along side of her. She kept pedalling faster and I was soon left in the dust.



This is footage I took of her right after she learned yesterday.

Oh Kate...

There are really only two ways we find you these days. One,is in your swimsuit,which once again we caught you fast asleep on the couch, and Two, is in your "Lillytard" aka "The White Dress". You are obsessed with these items and your world would not be complete without them. Your latest favorite thing to do is dance around the house to your "Primpess" music. We have recently unpacked some old toys, and you re-discovered your Disney Princess Portable CD player. You have been in heaven ever since, dancing around on every surface of Grandma's house.

T-ball...

Zach is playing T-ball for the first time. It's pretty cute watching a bunch of bobble heads running around bases. But let's just be honest, the game is played little too slow for Zach. In yesterday's game there was a little girl on the opposing team taking a few aims at the ball on the T before actually attempting to hit it off of the T, and Zach yelled, all the way from outfield, "Hurry Up!" Maybe not putting him in coach pitch was a mistake. I just wanted him to start easy, so he could learn the basics and wouldn't be afraid of a ball flying at his face.

Even though it is on the slow side, he does love being up to bat, and loves when the ball gets hit anywhere near his direction. I am impressed with him really. The first time he fielded a grounder, playing short stop, he immediately tagged the runner coming from first. It took everybody by surprise, including Justin and me. Way to go Zach!

Spring Soccer...

Because Fall soccer was not enough, we are into the spring soccer season full swing. Zach's team is called the Beagles, and he has a brand new coach...Justin! For as long as I can remember, even before we had Zach, Justin has always said that he wanted to coach his kid's soccer team. Well, he's getting his chance, and Zach is loving it! Zach loves it so much that he has decided that he is the assistant coach. I had to run practice last week because Justin was stuck at work and Zach was telling me what to do. It was a good thing though, because I don't know the first thing about how to run a soccer practice.

The Hunt 2011...

Easter was really fun this year. We were so glad the weather cooperated so we could have the Easter Egg Hunt outside. All the cousins were invited, the extended ones too! So naturally, when we all get together, it has to be documented with a picture. Here is the result. Don't they look excited? Well, Kate was, but not sure if it was more about the thrill of the hunt that was two minutes away, or her being able to dress up and "look pretty", as she told me, in her purple dress. She is developing quite the personality these days. Zach was a mad man gathering up everything in sight. Kate took her time and was so excited and had to show me every single egg she had found before plopping it into her basket. And so the sugar high came and has slowly been moving its way out.