Beach

I got to take the kids for a long weekend at the beach house while Brian was in Texas for a wedding. We had so much fun, it was a much needed vacation away. We took Brian to the airport Friday afternoon and headed out to the beach house from there. My parents came from work and got there about 9:00. One of my projects at the house was to paint the garage and trim. Dad helped me prep Saturday morning scraping off the rust and spray painting so I could paint over it. The garage looked like someone had come along and painted graffiti on it. We got a lot of looks from people driving by. It started to drizzle so we left most of it for Sunday, although I was able to get a coat on the trim while Isaiah took a nap. Since he's the busiest, I got a lot done! After naps we went to the beach, soaked up the sun and played in the sand. Saturday night we went out to pizza and had a campfire and ice cream on the beach while we watched the sunset. Sunday my parents took the kids on an outing for a few hours while I got the garage done, then after naps we flew kites and walked on the beach. The kids couldn't get enough of the beach! They took us out to dinner that night and we all left on Monday (Grammy and Grandpa a little earlier than us since they had to get to work). As you can see we had gorgeous weather and we wish we could have stayed longer. Grandpa made us a campfire on the beach where we got to watch the sunset. She was so cute making sure he didn't fall. Up, up and away. Flying a kite for the first time Grammy and Ashley flying kites Isaiah flying his own kite

Papa Time

Brian has been working a lot lately, so this was a much needed snuggle time.

Multnomah County Fair

Mom and I took the kids to Multnomah County Fair at Oaks Park the weekend of Memorial Day. I've never been, but was really impressed and it was free! They had a petting zoo, a mamma pig and her piglets, games, music, food, pig races, tractor races for the kids, and a ton of other stuff. We didn't go in, but this was really cool to watch. There was a pet adoption agency with adorable puppies you could hold. Fortunately I know what it takes to train a puppy, otherwise the kids would have loved to bring one home! smoothies! The kids were a little intimidated by this big guy, but they are so cool to look at. Besides the Tiger, they had all sorts of exotic animals, spiders, and snakes that the kids got to see. They were pretty brave actually and got up close to see each one. The alpacas were so cute. This one was very interested in the kids. Piggy Races! Dried corn they could play in I thought she was playing with the water pump and all the sudden I go to look for her and she's over trying to figure out how to milk the cow!

Garden

Brian made two huge planter boxes to go on the side of our house that gets ton of sun. It's a perfect spot and we can't wait to get some yummy veggies growing. This will be the first time we've had a garden, so we're really excited to see how it goes. We also have 4 blueberry bushes we planted this year as well as raspberries and strawberries already planted. Last year the slugs got all the strawberries, so this year we have a few ideas in the place to keep those guys off our fruit! It's been interesting learning about all this stuff.

Camping

We went to our favorite camping spot at one of Clackamas County Parks last weekend with my parents. Brian had a three day weekend from being on call so we packed up and headed out Saturday evening. The plan was to leave a little earlier and take the kids to "Small Fry Lake" for their first fishing experience. They stock the lake with trout and we've been told the kids love it. Isaiah even got his very own fishing pole for the trip, a spider man one that he had to have! Ashley got a princess pole a few years ago, so she's been practicing. Well since we left late on Sat the plan was to go on Sunday. It ended up raining and we left a night early since Monday was predicted to have a greater chance of rain. Even thought the weather didn't hold up like we hoped we still got to play on the playground Sat night, have yummy food around the campfire and go on a hike to the swimming hole to skip rocks in the water.

Brody doesn't quite fit between those two big carseats anymore!

She loves her Papa!

And he loves his Grandpa!

Trouble

Mother's Day

I enjoyed a very special Mother's day. My mom's church has an annual brunch which we went to on Saturday. They do an amazing job with decorations, food, guest speakers and singing. We had little purses at our setting this year which was a highlight for Ashley and the theme was Hope. While we listened to the guest speaker they took all the kids in the back room to make Mother's Day gifts for us, it was really sweet and they turned out great! Steph came for a visit, so she got to go with us this year. Saturday night was Bella's birthday party, so it was fun to see everyone and celebrate. Sunday morning Brian had to work, but Steph and I took the kids and dog for a long walk down to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast. Brian came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and we had a nice dinner together. The best part of the day was the kids were on their best behavior. I told them it was the best gift they could give mommy!

Ashley's Mother's Day gift that she made at the brunch

Ashley walking back from putting a flower at Mary's side.

Beach House

We went to the beach house at the end of April to do a little work on the outside. It was the first time we had been there since our new property manager took over and they are doing an amazing job! I was very pleased with how well the house was kept. Brian power washed the entire outside of the house to prep it for when we stain this summer and I got to spend the day at the beach keeping the kids occupied, tough job! He worked really hard and got it all done on Sat so we could enjoy taking the kids to the park and spending time at the beach as a family. It was a gorgeous weekend.

Park

The kids love going to parks and I love finding new one's to take them to. This was at Lents park about a 10 min drive from our house. The nice part about this park is there is a lot of shade for those hot summer days. They also have a bark path to walk the dog and a public garden. It's off of a bike path we like to go on and would be a great stopping point for the kids to get out and play.