Back to school-2012!

Back to school again! I know I say it every year but really? Time for school to start again? We have had such a spectacular summer and done so many great things that one good thing I can say about school starting is that reflecting back on our summer makes me happy. We had a great, fun filled busy summer. We left no stone unturned.

This year Conor is entering the 4th grade and has Mrs. Robeson. Josie is entering Kindergarten and has Mrs. Bedeaux.  Conor had Mrs. Bedeaux and so did 40 other kindergartners for the last 30 years.  Josie is in the AM class and is one of 6 girls in her class. There is a shortage of girls her age in North Spokane. All the schools are spread thin on girls. I figure when she gets to dating age she will be happy with this 2 to 1 ratio.  Mrs. Bedeaux does not rate high on my favorite teacher list, but I will leave it at that.  We just hope we make it through this year and that she retires before Lincoln gets there.  Fortunately Josie likes school and isn't letting her not so warm and fuzzy teacher ruin her year.  Go Midway Sharks!!

Headed out on the first day

Conor-4th Grade

Josie - Kindergarten

Josie and Isaac-she knows Isaac from preschool and church.  I am really glad he is in her class, he seems to make it familiar and comfortable for her to have a friend.  She got to ride home on the bus with him for a play date which was pretty cool!  She said it took forever though.

Our newest Midway Shark

Kid pics 2012

It is that time of year again. I like to do the yearly kid pictures all at once, so I just plan on early fall when they have all hit or just about hit a milestone. This year Conor is 9, Josie is 5 and Lincoln is 2 (in 2 weeks.) Here are my favorites. Josie is in that awkward stage where she tries too hard to smile. She looks like a beaver in the majority of the pictures, but we found a few. Conor is getting much better at tolerating the "torture," and Lincoln was done by the time we snapped the first picture. Amazing enough we ended up with some that worked. I am thinking we might have to superimpose Lincoln in the family pics this year.

Lincoln

Conor

Josie

Oregon Coast-Day 7

  We decided to stay one more night in Florence because we really wanted to spend more time on the dunes and try some sand boarding. The weather turned out a little dreary and cold but we knew it would burn off later so we headed off to the beach again to do some beach combing. We walked a ways down where the off road vehicles are allowed on the beach, so Lincoln drove his cars in the neat tracks in the sand.

We then went and rented some sand boards to try our luck on the dunes. It took is a while to figure it out. After we were finally introduced to wax on the board we picked it up. It was fun, but a little hard to control. Kevin was really good at it and did it on his first try. Conor and I finally picked it up. The hardest part was having to walk all the way back up the hill. Sometimes Lincoln would end up at the bottom too and you would have to run him and the board up-what a workout. I was exhausted. Walking up sand is a killer. Lincoln and Josie entertained themselves by rolling in the sand or swimming I should say. We all had sand in our ears and hair...fun stuff. After we were all too hot and tired to board anymore we headed to the beach for some sand castle making and beach wandering, Ironically we tried to fly the kites but there wasn't enough wind, the day before there was too much.

In our beach wandering today we found a bonus surprise. Conor, Kevin and Josie walked right into a seal, they really stumbled right across it. He was sunning himself and didn't mind us looking at him as long as we didn't get too close. The kids were so excited!

As the sun started to set it was time to head back to camp for some dinner, shell sorting and some fun camp fire and s'more making. What a great finish to a fun trip. We had to get up early the next day and head on back to real life in Spokane. Farewell Oregon coast, thanks for the great memories!

Lincoln following the tracks with his cars

The wind blown sand up above the beach so pretty

Just had to take a picture of where we spent so much time

Kevin showing us how to sand board

Don't you want to give him a big kiss?

Conor braving the jump

View of Lake Cleawox from the top of the dune we were boarding down

Josie really wanted to try the boarding so I decided to try and ride it like a sled.  It worked, but we were covered in sand, Lincoln even got on once. 

Me pretending to control the board.  I kept veering to the right

Conor, Grandpa, Grandma, Me and Josie

Me, Grandma and Lincoln worked on this sand castle together

The beloved seal with Conor. This is a favorite memory for the kids

Check out this shell haul.  What to do with all these?

Hanging out around the camp fire our last night together

One last view of the Motor home...fun times

Oregon Coast- Day 7

Today we found some breathtaking scenery. So beautiful. We headed back up the 101 to check out Devil's churn and Good fortune cove. We could have spent hours here. The tide pools here were pretty spectacular, and we saw some critters here that we didn't see in any other tide pools. Conor and Kevin found a gigantic crab hiding in some rocks so they headed off the rocks found a stick and went back to chase him out.   After we had our fill and the tide began to creep back in we went back south to Florence so we could go on our Sandland Adventure Tour. Florence is home to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which stretches 40 miles along the coast. Some dunes reach up to 100 ft, absolutely incredible. The other cool thing is that they are always changing. We really wanted to get out and see what we could of the dunes so we opted for this fun tour. It was a crazy crazy windy day, but well worth the ride. We got a little sandblasted but who can complain? We were in the sand.

Kevin braving the ocean crashing behind him-Lincoln was itching to get away

Good Fortune Cove behind us

The only place we saw these fun little guys-so pretty.

This was close to Devil's churn

The view we saw of Conor all week!  Here is is chasing tad poles. 

The largest catch yet!

No explanation needed-happy memories being made.

Check out all these starfish!

More Amateur photography-loved this shot

This is our ride to see the sand dunes. 

Conor and Josie got the very front seat and we sat behind them.  We noticed that we could see them in the side mirrors and snapped this picture. 

Looking out over the dunes

Looking down at Cleawox Lake inside of Honeyman State Park

One of the tree islands that they use as a landmark out on the dunes

Trying to show the miles and miles of endless sand.  It reminded me of the ocean, you couldn't see the end. 

Oregon Coast Day 6

Day 6 we got up and headed a ways south from South beach to Seal Rock. We timed it just right so we could get there with low tide. We did see a few seals here, and some gorgeous views of the coast. Not the greatest tide pools but I really liked the variety on this beach with the neat rock formations. After exploring seal rock we headed back to camp to clean up and pull out.

 As we headed south on the 101 we stopped at the Haceta Head light house. Strike 3 for us on light houses. We picked the wrong year to see this beauty. I have seen gorgeous pictures of this but unfortunately this year it is completely under renovation so it looked like a barn silo with an ugly tarp over it. We did end up hiking to the light house to experience the view which I must say is beautiful. So bummed about the light house though. On to the dunes of Florence.

We pulled into Honeyman state Park and settled in. Big sigh of relief for me, I was most worried about this camp spot, but it turned out great! We broke out the camp chairs and relaxed for a bit before we headed off to the beach for some late afternoon kite flying. To get to the beach we had to drive down to the jetty and hike up a hefty sand dune.  This was by far the craziest windy day on the beach and the only person who could hang on to the kite was Kevin.  The rest of us wandered along this new fun beach to explore and collect sea shells-tons and tons here.  Then we decided it was time to find ourselves some seafood. Well, as close as our non-seafood taste can stand. We stopped at the famous MO's and ate delicious clam chowder and fish and chips. Yummmm yum. Funny enough the kids ate a ton. Guess they were hungry. We explored Florence a bit and did some souvenir shopping. We bought way too much salt water taffy here, so good though!

Enjoying the beautiful coastline

Kevin and Lincoln headed down to seal rock-Conor and Josie are in the bottom corner running ahead to scare off some sea life

My attempt to be a photographer here.  I couldn't get over how neat these rocks looked

Conor in the rock formations

These were the coolest little guys and they were everywhere.  I don't even know there real name.  We called them Squirters, because if you stepped on them they would spit water on you or if you stuck your finger in the middle they would squeeze around it.

Overlooking Seal Rock

The breathtaking view from Haceta Head Lighthouse-the light house is directly behind us here.

Enjoying some fish and chips and clam chowder at Mo's