First Beach

We went to First Beach in La Push, WA. It's absolutely beautiful there. We took an end of summer Twilight tour of Forks and La Push, just me and the kids and my daughter's friend. We had a lot of fun!

I will post highlights of the trip at a later date. For now, I'll leave you with this beautiful shot of the beach.

Wow

Has it seriously been since before our trip to California that I last wrote anything here? I have no excuse. Summer is in full swing here. My oldest will be 20 years old next week! When did THAT happen?? Next month is also my 20 year HS reunion.. yes you can do the math there. =) We also have Alex and Jake's birthdays on Aug. 4th and 5th. They will be 15 and 12. Come January, I wont have anymore children in single digits. Wow.

A lot has gone on or is going to happen in the near future.

We have a wedding to attend in 2 weeks and the next day we have a big post wedding reception for another couple. They had a small ceremony before he got sent to Iraq. Now that he's home they are having the celebration. It's also the dedication for their new baby girl!

We put a cover over our back deck last month. What a difference. Our back yard is northern exposure but the sun is on the back yard all day long and the setting sun in the west is pretty gruelling until it hits the tree line. This cover lets us use our deck so much more now. We also built a fire pit in the yard for a fun summer twist. We've only used it a few times so far, but it's been nice and looks good out there. Who doesnt love a good weenie roast and S'more-a-thon?

This next school year is bringing lots of changes for the kids. Alex will be up at the HS, and she's really excited about it. She's taking French this year, that should be fun! Jake will be at the Jr. High, taking lots of hard classes. Sam will be at the newly built Elementary school. We're excited to see it at the open house, it sounds like it will be a really nice school!

Till next time; whenever that may be......

Weekend and Vacation Ramblings...

I'm so excited! Only 9 days until our Disney trip. I want to have a clean house when we leave so I dont come back from vacation and have to do a bunch of work. I expect to have laundry but the rest I'd rather ease into.

We had a pretty good time this past weekend. Saturday was a very busy day. Alex had a choir ensemble contest. It was 3 girls singing a beautiful song in another language. I need to ask her what language it was, it was very beautiful. They got a 1- for their score. A 1 is perfect and lets you qualify for State. I'm not sure they'll get there with the minus but it's still a great score and I guess I cant say it enough, they sang beautifully!

From there we headed over to a fundraiser for a coworker of Tony's. It was at a Glow mini-golf center. We had a good time, it was really neat in there. It was pretty weird seeing the fuzz on your shirt, that you didnt even know was there in regular light, show up like you just washed your sweater with a Kleenex! LOL.
There are three 18 hole courses inside. We had the time and sanity to do 2 of them. Tony and I bet each other for Holes in One. I got the first one.... and the second one..... oh yeah, and he didnt get ANY. So guess what? That's right, he's making dinner tonight! Woohoo. He even offered me a double or nothing bet after my first one but I was too scared I'd lose! I'm soooo not a gambler. =)

So from there, we had to get Jake to a swim/birthday party. All of these places were pretty far apart and not near home. We dropped Jake off and the 4 of us (Me, Tony, Alex and Sam) went to Red Robin for dinner. We still had time to kill before the party was over, so we walked around Borders for a while and picked up some new Calvin and Hobbes books.
So we finally made it home around 7:30. A very long Saturday for us. And thankfully Sunday was a stay-in-your-pajamas-and-dont-shower-until-2 kinda day.

Now, I'm trying to fight a cold. I'm actually doing ok keeping it on the mild side with Airborne and Zicam (probably just jinxed it now...). And I'm sort of glad I got it now, getting it over with before our trip. The kids all had colds last week and the week before. I'm really hoping this is from them and not something new that they will now get from me (just in time for the trip...).

Today I need start making my neurotic 'To Do' lists for this week and our trip. Plus my coffee grinder quit on me, so now I have to go out and find one of those, too. I had JUST enough ground coffee in my tub for half a pot. I have plenty of beans. Oh, and just so you know, a Kitchenaide food processor doesnt grind coffee beans.......

Spring Things

Wow, March 1st already?? Tony just got back from a 6 day trip to Phoenix for work. The kids were excellent for me while he was gone. I had such a hard time sleeping while he was away, though. I slept in until 9 his first day back! We all missed him SO much!

As much as I love winter, at least the snow part of winter (which we dont get much of here, usually), I'm really excited for Spring! We've gotten teased (like we do every February) with a few, very pretty sunny days, making me want to throw open the windows and spring clean.
My tulips are starting to emerge. I'm kind of excited about that, since they are my favorite flower and I just planted them this year. I hope they bloom. My last attempt a few years ago were duds. I think I got 2 blooms out of all of them, the rest were just the leaves.

We are soooo excited, we are taking the kids to Disneyland for spring break! We'll be there for 8 days. It's been 4 years since our last trip. It was a great trip but with the kids all being that much older now, I think it will be even more fun. Plus, before, it was their first trip there ever. They have memories of things they liked now, so it's nostalgic for them, like it is for Tony and me. Emilee isnt able to come with us because of her work and college schedule. I feel bad leaving her but she seemed to be ok with it.

I really need to get my iPod up and running. I got Emilee's hand-me-down when she replaced hers with a better version. It will replace my 'old school' Shuffle. I think that will be my goal today. Off to find the cord.....

In sickness and in cars....

Well, Sam's strep got better with a 10 day course of antibiotics. He had his Pirate birthday party that went rather well considering we had 9 kids here ages 8-11; mostly boys.
Unfortunately about 3 days after he was done with his medicine, he got a new fever and swollen tonsils. We went back to the doctor that day and they gave him a new (different) antibiotic. She said it was definitely tonsillitis and she could do the swab to recheck for strep, but since she said she would treat him with the same medicine either way, I didn't put him through that painful step.
So now we wait. He has his yearly 'well child' (hopefully) check up on Tuesday and we'll see how he looks then. Hopefully this is the last of it.

In other news, we're thinking about buying a new car. We have a van now that isn't in terrible condition but we've had it 5 years and we'd really like something else. With my oldest 19 and driving herself everywhere anyway she never rides with us anywhere. We don't need 7 seats anymore. We've decided we really like the Jeep Liberty. Tony and I test drove it today and we both love it. So, we'll see.

January Updates:

My little guy is sick. Well he isnt so little anymore. He'll be nine on Wednesday. NINE? It cant be possible. He was just born in 2000.. has it really been 9 years??
Well now he has strep. Home from school, miserable. He seemed a little better this morning before we went to the doctor but I knew the ibuprofin was keeping his fever down and knew better than to second guess it. About an hour after we got home, he was in tears with how bad his throat hurt. It's been hurting since yesterday but this was the worst he's felt it. Thank God he has the antibiotics started so he can get some relief soon.
We had a good set of holidays. Thanksgiving was yummy, as always. Got to see family we only see twice a year, had a nice visit with everyone. Christmas was a little different this year. We got so much snow and ice right before, so some of the family wasnt able to make it down to the in laws. It was a very quiet Christmas but special all the same. We had a big New Years party at our house and all the family that couldnt come at Christmas made it down for that.
The New Years party was a blast. We had a wig party. Most everyone wore a wig or fashioned their hair in some fun way. LOL. There was a contest and we had 5 big winners. So much fun!
So now the next 2 events are Sam's party this weekend. A pirate theme. We have a couple of games and a couple crafts planned. Hopefully he'll be back to his old bouncy self by then. After that is the Superbowl. Still not sure of the menu or how many people will be here. I dont think it will be as big as New Years, that was 31 people, I'm sure it will be a little less.
Gotta run check on Sam, till next time....