Beach Day

I love that picture of Cannon Beach.  We took the kids there for the first time on Tuesday, and once we got to the beach, enjoyed a beautiful day.  I don't know what's wrong with us that we haven't taken Daphne or Christian to Cannon Beach yet.  It's only one of my top 5 favorite beaches in the entire world (Daph was very impressed that I got to live there when I went to Ecola), but apparently we've been very lax in our beach adventures.

The drive is about an hour and a half, but since we like things wild, it took us 3 hours.  Our first issue had to do with a me staying with the car and getting gas in Hillsboro while David walked across the parking lot to my favorite Starbucks (185th, yay!), except he got confused and walked to a different Starbucks.  The kids and I sat at my favorite Starbucks for what felt like hours wondering where he was, me imagining him having disappeared into thin air, search parties, breaking news on TV; the whole 9 yards.  But we were finally reunited and it was fine.  Especially because he managed to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte at whatever other Starbucks he went to. 

Our second issue occurred when Christian started whimpering in the backseat when we were about 20 miles from CB.  But you know kids and whimpering: it happens so often you mostly tune it out.  What you can't tune out, though, is the sounds of massive amounts of vomit spewing from your child's mouth.  We pulled onto the first logging road we found and spent 45 minutes trying to clean up the disaster, something that's rather hard to do when you only have about 7 napkins in the glove box and you're almost out of wet wipes in the diaper bag.  David got sick too, because he does that when he sees other people get sick.  A trucker pulled over to tell us it was National Dog Day, so at least we had that.  

Obviously we were off to a rough start.  Cannon Beach was the busiest I think I've ever seen it, but we found a great parking spot, had a good lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, then spent the rest of the afternoon under the sun and on the beach.  Jonas was pretty good the whole day and the kids had a terrific time playing in the sand and water.  Lola found a few doggy friends to run with, so I think she enjoyed her Dog Day fairly well. 

We drove home uneventfully but in a rather malodorous car.  One feeding stop for Jonas meant we even missed city traffic.  Hurray for beach days.  

her favorite beach activity is digging a hole to hang out in

must've just been a little carsick, because he perked right back up

jonas's first beach trip

all of us

Fish and Other Stuff

We made our annual trip out to Bonneville Fish Hatchery last week.  We don't have air conditioning at our house (which is good because I don't like air conditioning), but when it gets really hot it's nice to head out of the city.

Basically we looked at all the fish, I took a bunch of pictures of the backs of my kids while they looked at all the fish, we had a picnic, then went to Cascade Locks for ice cream.  Then it started raining and we had a cool thunder storm.  Then it was very humid.

I don't even know why I'm writing about this; it wasn't really that interesting.  I won't let that stop me from posting pictures, though!  

(Great quote for the Bonneville tourist brochure: "It wasn't really that interesting.")

(It is fun, I promise.  Our kids love it there.)

first trip to the gorge and first time getting a diaper changed on a picnic table

In other summer news, I finally got started on my canning today.  And while everyone else in social media is posting pictures of their colorful and completed jars, I thought I would put a nice spin on things by posting photos of how my children's faces looked while I was working in the kitchen:

"doesn't anyone love me and want to snuggle me?"

"I pretty much hate my life."

No shots of Christian, but he was running around being a pill.  Throwing things down the stairs, stealing food and feeding it to Lola, yelling wild war cries; you can imagine, I'm sure.  I'm not worried, though, because I know they will love me this winter when they have food to eat.  (And they'll be like, "sheesh, Mom, you could've just bought this stuff from the store.)

Jonas: 2 Months

I guess I ask Jonas why he's growing so fast a little too often, because Daphne asked me if we could take him to the doctor to see why he's growing too fast. All my talk must make her think something is wrong with him.

wearing a crown made by Daph

He did go to the doctor today and weighs in at 11lbs 4oz (19th percentile) and is 2ft tall (85th percentile).  Nothing "too" much about those numbers, I don't think.  The doctor told me that Jonas is still young enough that if he cries I should probably change his diaper or hold him or something.  We always get to go home from the pediatrician with such good tips on baby-raising. 

we needs all the tips we can get, because these are some seriously blank and empty faces

Jonas seems to love his older siblings because he talks to and smiles at both of them.  Of course he's pretty happy with anyone who will make eye contact with him and he still loves the ceiling fan, so it seems his requirements for offering love are fairly low. 

The other day I asked Christian if he wanted to come over and talk to Jonas.   He laid himself next to his baby brother and whispered, "Don't get stinged by bees."  Then he left.

 (This was BEFORE Christian got stung by a bee on Saturday, so it seems he was having some sort of premonition?)

This baby is such a content and chill little guy who sleeps great.  Definitely my favorite baby. Definitely one of my top 3 favorite babies. 

This Week So Far

The kids and I did church again Sunday morning.  And because Sundays are the Best Days, I set a friend's dish on the front of the car while loading all the crazies in, forgot about the dish, then took off up the hill, where it flew off and nearly hit a man walking his dog.  The people in our new town are strangely friendly and nice, but I think a glass dish to the face would've put a strain in this relationship.  Instead it crashed all over the street, so I got out and tried to clean it up as best I could without slicing my hands open.  Then I had to pile all the glass shards in my front seat because this town is clean and people don't throw things in ditches.  (Not that I would ever do such a thing, of course.)

Oh, and Daph woke up that morning with another lost tooth, and this time it was REALLY lost.  As in, she probably swallowed it in her sleep.  Gross.  

So that was Sunday.

Monday was much better, mostly because David was home, but also because we've discovered not one but TWO lovely coffee shops nearby.  Yesterday we tried Petite Patisserie and we definitely give it 5 stars.  Or 10 stars!  100 stars!  All the stars, because it's a wonderful place.  We've been tempted to spend every waking minute trying to settle perfectly into the house and get lots of projects finished, but I think our poor children have been feeling slightly neglected lately.  A morning off for a yummy breakfast was good for them. 

We found the library, too.  I've been desperate to get down there, and David lured me out of the house yesterday saying if we went to breakfast we could also go to the library.  It's a great place with a playground right outside, so the kids and David stayed out there while I ran in, got my new card, and even had a bit of time to browse around.  I think we'll like it there.

We closed out the day with a supper picnic at the park, time on the splash pad, and a few minutes watching the skateboarders.  Christian just loves those "skateboarding boys," because he got a skateboard recently and now is obsessed with learning how to ride it.  Unfortunately for him, we live on a hill where skateboarding is not recommended by his mother.  He wants to try the skate park, but I said he's too little.  Mothers can be such killjoys. 

Christian woke up this morning screaming bloody murder.  David went to get him and saw that the reason for the screaming was a giant spider on the wall near his head.  Christian told me it was a crab, so I suppose that's saying something about its size.  This house has amazing spiders.  I wish they would all go away.

"this is my elbow"