Saturday, August 8, 2015

Camping at Anthony Lakes

After having fun in Washington, Nicole's family and us headed for Anthony Lakes to camp for the weekend.  It was gorgeous up there.  We took the last two spots that were open and they weren't very close to each other.  We set up the main camp at the one you didn't have to hike to and just set up Aunt Nicole's tent in the other site.

Bailey was good at convincing people she has short legs and can't walk as fast as everyone else so she needs a ride.  Blake was the first to volunteer while walking back to camp after going to the lake.

Bentley didn't last very long in his chair before he realized he could play in the dirt.


Baliey with her rock collection.

Bentley waiting impatiently for some more food because he is a bottomless pit.

Blake, Ashlyn and Ryleigh were entertained all weekend climbing up and down this boulder right in our camp.

We took a short little hike one morning. 

Isn't this the perfect picture spot.  Too bad we were in the shadow.

Dad was the next one that got to give Bailey a ride.  Dad got tired of carrying her so...

Uncle Rick volunteered to take a turn.

Bentley fell asleep along the way.

Ryleigh found a hiking stick. 

We had cross a muddy marsh along this fun little bridge.

Chow time!

The girls also entertained themselves riding bikes all around the campground.

Hanging out by the fire one night.

We had lots of fun camping with them and can't wait until we do it again next year!

Extended Family Fun!

A couple weeks ago we had my parents and sister here for the weekend before we headed up to Washington for my dad's family reunion.  We had a ton of fun playing with cousins!

They enjoyed swimming in our pool

After church, Grandma and Grandpa wanted a picture with each set of grand kids.  Then we headed for Walla Walla to hang out at Aunt Nicole's until Grandpa's family reunion.  We took Uncle Travis's kids with us since they were coming until Tuesday.

Some how Bailey and Brynley convinced Uncle Rick to stop doing what he was doing on the iPad and turn on Tinkerbell for them to watch.  It was super cute!


All of the cousins, except Blake, had a slumber party each night in Ashlyn's room. 

Bailey roped Blake into playing a game with her.

Monday we headed over to Pendleton Aquatic Center. 

Bentley wasn't a fan of going down the slides.  He just liked that it was a duck.

Bailey loved them though

Grandpa and Bentley

Bentley loved this jumper.

Mom and Bentley enjoying the water

Ryleigh was really sad that she was too short to do the big slides with all of the big cousins.  But she had fun going down this slide over and over again in the kid area.

Grandma giving Bailey a ride.

Grandpa trying out a slide.

Blake

Ashlyn convinced me to try it out too.

Tuesday evening we headed up to Tri-Cities to my aunt's house for the start of the family reunion.
Ashlyn took Bentley to go swing.

Uncle Travis got in on the Duck, Duck, Goose game.

Bentley and Grandpa playing ball.

Wednesday everyone came to Walla Walla to visit my grandparents' graves and then we had lunch and played games at Pioneer Park.
The girl cousins

Grandpa, Ryleigh and Uncle Travis making paper airplanes for the contest.

Bailey tries hers out before the contest.

Ryleigh showing off her airplane.  They were sad Dad wasn't there to help them make their airplanes.

The paper airplane contest.  Uncle Travis won by a long shot.

Bentley didn't get to get in on the games.

The egg rolling game


My cousins that were able to come

We played life size Candyland

Our family

Water balloon toss.  Bailey helped out Grandpa and Ashlyn and Ryleigh helped out Aunt Nicole and Blake.  It took them awhile to get it down but they eventually got it.

At one point, all 3 of my children were crying and wanted mommy.

We had a great week hanging out with family.  But the fun didn't end there.


Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Oregon Coast Vacation

Last year we planned a trip to the Oregon Coast with our friends Morgan and Robert.  We were so excited when the day finally came to leave.  We rented a house in Yachats just north of Florence and south of Newport.  We got to town before we could check in so we stopped at the beach.  We were so surprised, there was no wind!  And it was like that for the first several days.



The girls showing off their first seashell finds.


The house was right across the road from the beach.  

After we unloaded the cars and had some dinner, we walked down to the beach.
The kids were very brave running through the cold water.  They were soaked!



Bentley loved riding in his backpack

And check out this sunset!

The next morning we hiked around Cape Perpetua,


climbed around on the rocks and went inside the little visitors center.

Then we headed up to Newport and walked around by the bay.  The older kids took turns pushing or pulling the little kids around. 

Then it was off to Yaquina Head Lighthouse to check out the tide pools.

Devin trying his hardest to get Bailey to touch something


It took Morgan and Peyton a while but they finally convinced Ryleigh to touch some sea anemone


We were very disappointed that we only saw a few starfish.  They have a disease and like 70% of the population there had died because of it.  We weren't allowed to touch them either. 

We met up with Morgan's aunt and uncle for dinner at Chowder Bowl.  It was delicious!

The next morning the guys got up super early to head back to Newport to go deep sea fishing that we booked for them for Father's Day.  The rest of us hung out around the house then headed up to Newport to swim at Morgan's aunt and uncle's house.  The guys met up with us there and were excited to show off the rockfish and crab they had caught.  They each had a limit of 7 fish.  Devin was proud to announce he caught like 12 of their 21 limit.
This was the only picture the guys took, Tristin reeling in a fish.

That afternoon back at the house, the kids had fun with poppers

and Bentley wished he could have fun too.

Wednesday morning we headed south a few miles to the Heceta Head Lighthouse.


We got to go inside but couldn't go up because of the restoration project.

This is now a bed and breakfast but it was where one of the 3 lighthouse keeper lived.

After lunch we went on a georgeous little hike above Cape Perpetua.
You could see down the coastline for miles!


It was a great view!


On the way back to the house we decided to enjoy the sunshine at another beach, Neptune.  
This was the first time Bentley was actually in the sand.  He was ok if he didn't have to sit in it or touch it with his hands.

We saw way more star fish on the rocks at this beach than we did up in Newport at the tide pools.  And Morgan and I both found whole sand dollars.


The kids had fun playing in the sand.  Bailey was begging all day to just go play in the sand with her bucket.


Thursday we went back up to Newport to check out the aquarium.

We watched the seals and sea lions put on a little show at feeding time. 

As well as the sea otters.


We, along with the aquarium worker, finally convinced Bailey to touch a sea anemone.

Devin wanted me to take a picture of this fish.  This is the kind of fish they caught out on the boat.  He was really disappointed because they don't really swim around.  He said, "No wonder I caught so many.  They don't do anything!"


Friday we had a low key day and just went back to Neptune Beach to hang out for the afternoon.


Bailey's sand castle

Devin took a lot of turns going out to play in the waves with the kids

Bentley loved it for a little bit

Ryleigh and Peyton's sand city

That night we went to our beach and built a fire. 


The kids had their sparklers to try out 


Bentley loves the sand now! 

Saturday was the 4th of July so we headed to downtown Yachats to the silliest parade I have ever seen.



We flew kites that afternoon

Then headed that night, to the beach at the mouth of the Yachats River to watch the fireworks show.  We were entertained by all of the people around us shooting off their fireworks the whole time we were waiting for the show.  And they weren't little was.  It was pretty awesome!



We joked the whole day as to how good the show was going to be because they were walking around at the parade collecting money for the city fireworks.  We were pleasantly surprised.  It was a good 30 minute show they put on.




 After the kids were in bed each night, we entertained ourselves with several board games.


Bentley hung out in this little chair most of the time we were at the house.


We had such a great time the entire week.  The kids played together so well and there was very little complaining the whole week.  The best part was, not a drop of rain the whole week.  We left 100 degree temperatures at home and enjoyed 60 degree weather the whole week.  Thanks Morgan and Robert for an awesome trip!