Oceanside

This past weekend we spent a grand 5 days on the Oregon coast with the whole family. We stayed in a big house where we headed down to the beach everyday to jump in the waves, build castles, fly kites, and completely cover ourselves in sand. This is the first beach trip that Jacob enjoyed himself. By the end of every day he was completely covered in sand and needing a hose down. Luckily, we never had to actually hose him down completely and usually a good brushing off, removal of pants, and spraying of legs and feet did the job. We found out that he now likes (not loves) the sand and loves running in and out of the waves. He would run towards the ocean (a little farther than I was comfortable with) and then turn on his heals run as fast as he could away from the encroaching waves giggling and laughing the whole way. It was so much fun to watch. We had a great time and I love that my family has built a tradition of spending time on the beautiful Oregon coast every year since I was little. We are greatly blessed by such an amazing family. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for hosting us. We love you!

1-2-3....SWING!


Our trilby kite. It's so much fun to fly.

Jacob loved every minute of playing on the beach with his uncle Johnny

He is every bit of what his shirt says

Our gracious hosts...we love you mom and dad!

Julianne, Jackie (w/ baby J) and Jordan

I don't know why I even bother rolling them up...he gets wet anyway

Oh how I love my little beach bum

Jacob getting some love from Aunties Joanna and Julianne

A visit with Dana and Ben

Jacob and I made a trip up to Bothell to see Aunt Dana and the little boy that she nanny's for. It was a wonderful visit and Ben was such a little sweetie sharing all his toys with Jacob. It was hard to get some good pics of the two of them...they just didn't seem to cooperate with my request for smiles. Afterwards we headed over to Cliff and Dana's for some yummy dinner. It was wonderful Cliff and Dana and I'm glad that we got to come up and visit.

Sharing so nicely

How we have fun at Nana and Granddad's house

Our desire to cool off led to the slip-n-slide being set up, which led to the quick determination that it was just way too short. After adding a few more tarps to the end of the original we finally decided that we could have fun. A great day in the backyard make for some sweet memories.

My sweet man watching us crazies slip and slide

Fun in the backyard

We've been having some fun this morning. Setting up the little pool and watching Jacob throw all shorts of things in and then fish them out again. I sure love living in the northwest on days like these.

Oh no Jacob where did your pants go?

He has such a great little grin

Sweet little bottom

Mowing the lawn

This afternoon we finally got around to mowing our incredibly long grass after 2 weeks of being gone and Jacob wanted to join in the fun as well. He pushes/pulls his little cow mower all around while daddy pushes the large noisy mower. We hope to train him early! :)

He also liked going around and telling mommy where she needed to water the plants.

Apparently I didn't do a very good job.

"It's okay mommy...I forgive you"

The 4th

We had a blast this 4th of July celebrating it with my whole family in Idaho on beautiful Lake Pend Orielle. The 12 of us (Nana, Granddad, Aunties Julianne, Jackie, Dasha, and Joanna, Uncles Jordan, Johnny, and Josh, Jacob, Mike and I) all spent an entire week between two condos at a little resort right on the lake. Granddad brought the speed boat and we spent the next week tubing and wake boarding to our hearts contents. Even Jacob jumped on the tube for a little while. We got a few smiles from him up until the ride was over and water came over the front of the tube getting him all wet. Apparently he believes in a dry tubing experience. The 4th of July was a little on the cold side and thunder storms rolled in just as the fire works show started. It was pretty incredible watching the fireworks while seeing flashes of lightening streak the sky directly behind the barge they were shooting them off from. I must say that God's fireworks are definitely more powerful than anything we can come up with. It warmed up shortly after that which allowed us to jump in the lake without freezing. We enjoyed all our meals together and then after the sun went down we spent the evenings doing a Bible study together. It was wonderful to slow life down a little bit and enjoy great quality time with the people I love most in the world. All the Kids

(Mike, Janelle, Dasha, Julianne, Jackie, Jordan, Joanna, Jacob, Johnny, and Josh)

Our little family

Me and my wonderful sisters

Lake Pend Orielle always puts on a great fireworks display. We watched from the comfort of our little deck off the condo as they shot them off from a barge positioned in the middle of the bay. It rained & thundered during the whole show but that was okay with us since the deck was covered

Every day we were able to play tennis. The whole family took turns while Jacob meandered about the courts pushing trucks and picking up balls.

My little muscle man

Johnny and Jordan waiting their turn.

Dasha and Jordan kicking some tennis butt.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. He really wanted to go fishing with his uncles.

Ready for some serious fun.

My cool dudes...admiring the view.

My dad driving his boat. This is the place that he spends most of the vacation when we go to the lake.

My handsome man taking over! We tried to give dad a few breaks here and there. It was hard to watch the tubing though when that sexy face was looking my way ;)

Lake Pend Orielle is huge and completely gorgeous.

Jacob tubing for the first time. He was a little nervous but we got a few smiles.

On our way back home we stopped at Silverwood theme park and enjoyed the water park and rides. Jacob is really into Thomas the Train right now so he was excited when we got to see the little steam engine take off. He hadn't gotten a nap at this point and was a little sleepy during the whole experience however.

This was Silverwood's play on the Dumbo ride. These elephants' ears, however, weren't even close to being big enough to get that huge body in the air so I was a little confused on how they were taking to the sky. Jacob seemed to enjoy the ride despite the poor design :)

The park also had a water park attached to it as well. We spent most the day letting Jacob play in "Toddler Springs". This was my favorite part of the day. Water slides and roller coasters are fun sure...but there was nothing like watching Jacob giggle and scream about streams of water shooting out of the ground. He had a blast and was completely drenched at the end of the day.