Depoe Bay

Some friends of ours took pity on us and not only offered us a night in their air-conditioned studio (a detached garage), but also offered us their beach house! They said we could stay longer but we opted to just go for one night. After enjoying a cool evening at their place followed by a yummy breakfast at one of our favorite Portland places the next morning, we called Grandma and told her we were kidnapping her and taking her to the beach with us. She surprised us by saying "Okay!".

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Depoe Bay is a little bit of a drive, but the one night away was wonderful. We enjoyed dinner and drinks at Rogue Brewery in Newport, walked around the Newport waterfront area, looked for whales in Depoe Bay, shopped the stores in Depoe Bay and enjoyed a beautiful walk along the rocky cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous there! During the end of our walk we saw a whale's blow hole spouting water right off shore. Amazing!
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Many thanks to our friends for their generosity. Not only did we use their beach house, but we borrowed coats for the kids, books and toys for the drive down... Thank you!!

the effects of fresh, cool ocean air on Meredith

Mt. Hood

Our first week in Portland was one filled with record temperatures. Leaving our comfortable Southern California where it's always 70 degrees and arriving when temperatures were well over 100 degrees in Portland was a shock to our systems. We kept cool the best we could by drinking lots of cool fluids, playing in the sprinklers and pool at Grandma's and all sleeping together in the basement bedroom (where it still was really warm, but much cooler than the 120 it must have been on the upstairs level of the house!). We thought heading to Mt. Hood for the day would provide some relief but it was still 95 up there. Yikes! However, we made the best of our day trip and enjoyed a hike in the cool woods and some play at an adventure park.

We weren't sure how Thomas would do on this trampoline, but he loves it during tumbling classes so we let him give it a try. He did great! It was tough for him to get much height in his jumps and though he tried very hard, his attempts to flip over fell flat (not literally!), but he had fun doing his best. Doesn't he look so much older all of a sudden??

W cousins

One of the much-anticipated gatherings during our Portland visit was the evening spent with the W family cousins and their grandma who drove down from Olympia, WA. What a fun evening this was with all seven kids together again -- from Jeffrey who turned 5 years old in May all the way down to baby Delaney (she's just 5 weeks and not pictured here). Our two had a great time! Our only regret is that they didn't get to all play together again during our visit. That would have been fun, but at least we got to see two of the W cousins once more!

We're off to Grandma's house!

Miss us? We've been in Portland for two weeks and have taken many, many photos of our fun times up there with family and friends. To break them down into manageable posts, I'm going to post-date them back to the actual dates...

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For this trip to Portland we flew JetBlue out of Long Beach, Calif. It was the first time the whole family had flown JetBlue and the first time Meredith had flown while sitting in the airplane seat (and not on our laps). She was tickled pink, of course, and loved having all the space to herself. She also enjoyed having complete control of her own buttons for the individual screens on each seat back. She never plugged in with headphones, but did love watching the different channels and seeing what everyone else was watching.
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Thomas has flown several times but never boarded the plane like we did this morning. It was really cool for him to see the whole plane that we would be flying in.

Del Mar horse racing

The Del Mar horse races are wildly popular. They begin in mid-July and run until September. We didn't make it to any last year, but this year we decided to take the family to one of their Sunday "Family Fun Days". We went today and had a great time!

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Honestly, we had no idea what to expect since neither of us had been to a horse race before. The Family Fun Day offerings were plenty and located in the "in field" which is the center of the race track. All activities are free and include everything kids love -- greeting "Seabiscuit" (horse from the film), bounce houses, rock climbing walls, temporary tattoos, games, craft projects, pony rides, etc. Our two did a few things, but the lines were long and the sun was hot during the late afternoon so we skipped most of them today.

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Watching the horses race was really neat. Neither of us did any betting (we were too busy trying to figure it all out!), but maybe next time we will. Today was just a day for taking it all in... The kids loved the free stuffed horses they received (Family Fun Day, remember?) at the gates, watching the horses race and riding the tram back through the parking lot.

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Thomas meets Lego Man

Eighteen months of Legoland and tonight Thomas finally meets the Lego Man. Sure, we could have seeked him out a year ago, but doesn't it just seem like several of these Lego people should be covering every inch of the park every day? Anyway, we zipped over after dinner to play a round of mini golf and as we were leaving the park we spotted Lego Man getting ready for his weekly 10th birthday celebration. Yes, every Saturday evening this summer they roll out a huge Lego Cake, do some birthday celebration stuff and let off fireworks promptly at 8:30pm which we can see from our house. Fun!

Meredith: on her stuffy nose

"My nose (is) not working anymore."

hermit crabs

these little red crabs are so beautiful!

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The kids are always excited to go places, even those we've been several hundred times. We haven't been to Sea Life Aquarium as much as some of the others, namely Legoland, but we've been a number of times and we were just there two weeks ago. Still, they were excited when I suggested we go again today to keep us indoors and out of the heat and sun.

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One area we haven't explored much at Sea Life are the small tidepools at the very end of the tour. Today we took our time and I was surprised to see how much Thomas enjoyed the tidepools. He's always curious about them and touches the animals, but today he stayed with the hermit crabs for a really long time. He picked them up, encouraged the critters to come out of their shells and then moved on to the next one, over and over again. It was fun to watch.

her first haircut

Earlier today the kids were cutting yarn for a craft project at the kitchen table. They each had their own pair of scissors and string of yarn and had been working on this for 10 minutes when I heard Thomas say, "I'll cut that for you Meredith so you can see better." Yes, I turned around to see both kids' scissors up near her head. He had already snipped off some and she was in the process of doing the same. Fortunately this was about all that was cut and it isn't noticeable, unlike my neighbor's two boys who needed to go get a salon haircut after their fun with scissors a few weeks ago! I've bagged her precious locks and included a note about what happened to save in her stuff. I'm sure this will be funny for them both years from now.

super readers

Thomas has loved reading books for as long as we can remember, but it hasn't been that way with Meredith. However, over the last year she's really started to love them, too. The local library was one of the first buildings she readily recognized and every time we drove by she'd say "book!". It's nice to see her enjoy reading now just as much as Thomas. This summer she participated in the library's summer reading program and today she earned her t-shirt. Thomas hasn't earned his yet and I'm afraid this summer may be the first in his four years that he doesn't get one. We go to the library about twice a week but he isn't interested in giving a book report. He did do one this morning so maybe this will change? We'll see if he earns his t-shirt this summer afterall!

wii

We've been wanting a wii for the past year, finally purchased one in February and this morning (yes, this morning!) the kids and I set it up. Not sure why it took so long but now it's up and running. They wanted to help and try it out so I've got them bowling this morning. Thomas gets it and is doing great. Meredith doesn't have the hold, swing and release movement down just yet. They loved it when I set up their mii characters. Thomas is on frame 6 and already has 2 strikes, 2 spares and is over 100. The kid is a natural.

Imperial Beach (IB)

Whew. It's been a busy weekend for our family. Friday evening we joined friends for Carlsbad's Concert in the Park (a different Jazz concert every Friday evening all summer long) It was great to finally catch one of these this summer and we all had such a good time that we're hoping to make it to a couple more before the summer ends. It's certainly where we'll be again this Friday evening!

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Saturday we spent the morning in Irvine so I could participate in my first Mud Run event. M and the kids hung out at the park while I ran through mud pits, climbed over obstacles, waded through a lagoon... all very fun stuff! They caught sight of me once during the race. I'm pretty sure the kids had no idea what to make of this event! The family doesn't always go with me to the running races I do since they usually start so early. It was especially nice to have them with me for this one!

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Saturday late afternoon I took the kids to a birthday party for one of Thomas' preschool classmates. Finlay's party was at the local Gymnastics Facility where the kids take tumbling so it was great fun for them. Meredith did a little bit, but it was really for the bigger kids at the party. Thomas had a really great time and was all smiles during the entire party. Afterwards he asked me when he gets to go back to preschool. We're moving him to a different preschool beginning mid-August so his last day at the preschool he has been attending was at the end of June. I didn't realize he'd missed seeing some of those preschool friends.

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Today we were in Imperial Beach for the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition. We got there a bit too early to see the completed entrants, but a day at the beach is always a good time. We walked the pier and beach, enjoyed cold treats at the street fair and looked at Mexico just 5 miles to the south. So close, yet a world away!

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a favorite ~ cool treats thanks to M&Ms (yum!)

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Mexico in the distance ~ early sandcastle competition

her first braids

As I was getting ready this morning for my 10K Mud Run and putting my hair in braids, I noticed Meredith watching me with great interest. I asked her if she'd like her hair like mine and she said she would. These are her first braids! After about 25 minutes she removed them, but they were oh, so cute! during that time.

good dog

Greta adores life in California. She gets to spend nearly all day, every day outdoors. All morning she's been outside watching the hummingbirds fly around the yard and doing her best to stay away from the kids as they hose down and clean up their ride-on toys. She follows me around, too, as I move from indoors to outdoors doing things around the house. And this afternoon I've found her resting on her new dog bed in the shade. Greta's a great dog and I love that she gets to spend so much time outdoors in the sunshine (and shade during the afternoon warm sun!) that she loves.
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[Note: I bought this new dog bed earlier this week. Greta has been on it numerous times, both when it was inside the house and outside today. Bela, of course, has not been seen on it yet. I'm not holding my breath on that one either.]

tumbling w/friends

Meredith & pal Felicity

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Tumbling classes have been our first experience with both kids participating simultaneously in an activity, but with their own peers. Thomas needs a little encouragement to join his class but Meredith jumps right in with hers. Both have friends in the classes with them, making tumbling just that much more fun. I love that they are both enjoying tumbling and taking classes at the same time is certainly convenient, but I find myself running back and forth all over the gym because I want to watch both kids practice their skills. Fortunately Meredith has three other little friends (and their mamas) in her class so I can zip off to watch Thomas cross the balance beam, swing on the rings, do a headstand against the wall, etc.

Thomas & pal Bailey

our avocado tree

Nothing says California more than an avocado tree. The kids and I planted this little guy in one of our super-large pots this afternoon (thanks again, previous tenant!). With each cup of water they gave him, the kids said "Hi, avocado tree. I hope you grow lots of avocado for me to eat!" Yes, me too!

outdoor living

Last weekend we finally got around to getting a patio set. We knew we'd use it if we had one, but neither of us expected to be using it as much as we have this week. We really should have gotten one last August when we purchased our home! I don't think the "novelty" will wear off either. It's simply an extension of our living space and with perfect weather year round, well... that's where you're likely to find us if you come knocking on our door.

SuperKids

Faster than a sleeping dog, more powerful together than apart, and able to leap short shrubs in a single bound... This morning they are on a mission to find someone in need and help them. They've been upstairs and they've been downstairs. They've been in the playroom and they've been in the backyard. They are currently eating cheesesticks and dancing around the living room to their favorite music. All in the life of a SuperKid...

Padres baseball

Our All-American holiday weekend would not have been complete without a little baseball thrown in so we joined a good friend and her family for an afternoon of San Diego Padres baseball today. Talk about a fun family outing! M saw a Padres game last year and I saw a Seattle Mariners game years ago, but we hadn't experienced it as a family until today.

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Petco Park has a great setup for families. The "bleacher" seats where we sat are spacious with lawn between the rows perfect for small picnics. There is a "beach" area at the base of the bleachers to entertain the little ones. Behind us was a grassy hill area with small trees where blankets can be spread out with a t-ball field for the kids on one side and a playground on the other. The whole area is very open and has lots of interesting places to walk the kids around. Clearly the designers of Petco Park understood the needs of families who want to come to the games!

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We had such a great time! The kids all did very well and we got to enjoy visiting with friends, drinking cold beer and watching the Padres game. And don't forget about the unshelled peanuts and singing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

Independence Day

We spent much of the 4th in Coronado. I went down early to participate in their 15K race and to stake out a parade viewing spot for our family and some friends. M brought the kids down later for this very patriotic and long parade (nearly 2.5 hours!!). The kids loved it and we all enjoyed seeing our parade favorites. Afterwards we strolled the main avenue in Coronado and simply enjoyed the warm and sunny afternoon with everyone else. Later that evening we watched two firework displays from our house. We're fortunate to live on the top of a hill so we can see both Legoland's display and the bigger and better one that the Four Seasons puts on. Meredith slept through them both, but Thomas enjoyed watching them with us.