Summer Fun

Each year my company hosts a summer family fun day at a venue around Portland. This year we lucked out that Ski Bowl resort in nearby Government Camp was the destination. Of course coming directly from our beach stay we still had the longest commute to get there!

My parents kept Piper so G got to have a special fun day all by himself. There was tons to do and we didn't miss a thing!











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Monkey See

Gigi captured this great sibling moment the other day which I just have to share. Not sure which monkey saw first. Definitely one for the sweet sixteen slide show!



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A Room With An Even Better VIew

As you probably noticed, each summer I burden by amazing husband (and often his Dad too) with some sort of large home improvement project.

Remember adding in living room windows:

Who could forget the back porch redo:

This year it is replacing the old single pane (enormous) picture window in the living room.  It still needs the finishing touches but I an thrilled!  It is energy efficient glass with the two side windows being casement so we can open them.  No more feeling like a terrarium experiment on those hot summer days, yay!

Thank you Nick and Pop Pop!

Hi Ho Cheerio

Happiness is sharing a bowl of Cheerios!

365 Days of Pip Pip

It seems impossible that we have been blessed with one full year of Piper in our lives.  She is such an amazing spirit and I absolutely could not imagine life without her.  Gunnar may beg to disagree but we are definitely not giving this one back!

Here was miss sleepy head being greeted by her brother on her birthday:

A birthday girl should never be kept waiting so we got down to presents asap!

A boingy jiggly chicken from her big brother:

 (love this pic of her with her legs crossed like such a big girl!)

A pull behind whirly caterpillar from her Grammy and Grandpa John:

AND her first purse from Spohie and Keira:

I found a great Craiglist bargain for her big gift and broke it out before my vacation so we could have something new to entertain ourselves with.  It has been a big hit with all the kiddos:

We love love you with all our hearts Miss P and can't wait to see what the next 365 days have in store!

Okie Outing

My parents came to visit these last two weeks and for a little change of pace we hit up the beach.  I found an amazing rental via vacation rental by owner that was steps from the beach and top of the line everything!

The kids (young and old) had a great time exploring the beach!  Gunnar lucked out the first day there and found some community toys left out on the beach so when we went out to explore the next morning he was sure to have his eyes open to possibly find more toys.  We didn't find any more toys to borrow but we did discover that the clams like to squirt water up from the sand and will squirt at you if you walk by.  Add in a little boy that can run as fast as lightening and the squirting rivaled that of the Bellagio fountains!

Cruise In

I got distracted on the way to the grocery store a couple of weekends ago and we ended up at a cruise in drive in benefit breakfast by the Sandy Kiwanis club.  I have seen the signs for these events a ton of times but never checked it out so when I noticed them this time I figured we would check it out.  How far away can it be I thought.  Famous last thoughts!  After winding and winding through Sandy back roads we finally made it.  And boy was it cool!

Of course since it was an impromptu visit I was completely unprepared with nothing to hold Pip Pip (stroller, carrier etc) except my tired arms so we only made it about 1/4 way through all the cars.  There must have been over a thousand.  It was amazing!  We did see someone come and go in the helicopter and managed a short tractor hay ride as well.

Of course the highlight for me was that we saw a restored Renault just like ours.  Way cool and inspiring!

Summertime Fun!

July 4th always means the beginning of nice summer weather for us and this year did not disappoint.  The water table and pool have been in full effect to help beat the heat!

Fourth Celebration

We are really fortunate that friends just across the highway from us throw a wonderful 4th of July bash every year.  There is a potluck with bonce house, band, beer and fireworks for everyone.  We have yet to be able to stay for the fireworks but some day we will!

I have no pics of G this year as he spent the entire time running and jumping in the bounce house.  Pip Pip loved the band and got in some good hoola hoop time too:

Too Pooped

We are in perpetual teething hell these days with Pip Pip.  One day I came home to a fussed out baby and exhausted Daddy laid out on the living room rug:

Wet N Wild

A few weeks ago the kiddos and I needed a weekend adventure so we packed up and headed to the aquarium.  Luckily it was not too terribly crowded and was a big hit as usual.

There were tons of cool critters in the tanks and our octopus friend put on a great show:

We fed the stingrays and lucked out that they were super hungry.  Or maybe just really loved splashing the kids that day!  Piper even loved getting her hands down to pet them and being splashed:

At the end of the aquarium they have an aviary too with a climbing kids jungle.  Gunnar really enjoyed that (possibly the most!) as well.  It was obvious it had been a while since our last visit since last time G was too scared to climb up to the top of the jungle.  In fact I even had to go in and rescue him!  This time he was like a little monkey all over the place and recruiting other kids to help with building projects.

Until next time!