A Coast Getaway

Road trip!

Last month we took the kids on impromptu road trip to the coast. Meli had been a little confused about the whole moving thing. It did not help that we had a few weeks between our old house and new one. We also were staying at a house during that two week period, and on vacations we tend to get houses rather than hotels.  Poor Meli. She really was unsettled.

Her truly happy place is around water, preferably the ocean. She is our little fishy. It is so amazing to see her in her element. The look of pure joy just makes your heart melt.

Happy Kids

We headed to Lincoln City for the first part of our trip. We spent time at the beach, perused the outlet malls, had a family dinner at McMenamins, swam at the hotel pool. Meli loved the hotel. My memory could be wrong, but I do not believe she has stayed at a hotel since she was two. She loved it! I think if she stayed at the hotel swimming pool the whole time she would have been satisfied. My mom came with us, so we got a family suite that was very exciting for the kids.
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The wind was crazy

That night, Will and I had a date night. Will had never been to Kyllos, so we tried there. The food and drinks were delicious. We also were lucky and got a table with a window view of the beach. Sunset was gorgeous! My picture thru the glass did not do it justice. 

Sunset dinner

Dad & Son

Wonderful restaurant

My frilly drink

I do not usually do frilly drinks, but thought it would be fun. I cannot remember the name but it was something about a beach. Delicious (a little sweet for me - so one was good). I love taking pictures at restaurants, usually to irritate Will. Hence the drink shots. My second drink was a Champagne Twist or something. I liked this one a lot. More my style - not as sweet.

Haha, he didn't even know

Sunset stroll

We got to see the world's shortest 

On the way out of Lincoln City, Will saw a Christmas Cottage store - which sparked his memory that he had actually been to this coast town years ago. His memory of Oregon is horrible. He got the whole car excited for Christmas. Now we  will be hearing about that until the end of the year. 

Hotel

We spent the next day in Newport. I have been hoping to take the kids to the aquarium. Colin loves all types of animals. He was so happy to explore the place. 

Colin's treat

Will's treat

The kids had so much fun

The aquarium was pretty nice. The kids loved the under water tunnel. Colin really wants to do the sleepover in there. Not so sure about that. The idea of sea creatures swimming around me in pure darkness seems very creepy. Plus, I have seen all of the Jaws movies a ridiculous amount of times.

Meli

Meli thought it was funny to see Dory

Happy kids

She was not sure about touching

Did not look at the hair before taking the picture

The kds' favorite part

Under sea adventures

Oh no!

Will's happy place

We also headed to Rogue for a family lunch. They had a pulled pork sandwich made with their homemade root beer. Seriously delicious. There cider was wonderful too.

I really wanted to take the kids to Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Wax Works, and Under Sea Gardens, but we did not have time. Plus, I am not sure how Meli would like the wax things. I loved it as a kid but not sure about these two.

My Super Sweet Boy

Last week, the kids and I were exploring our town, kind of saying goodbye. Colin is sad to change schools, but somewhat excited for something new. I explained that we would definitely keep in touch with his friends.

Meli is excited for the move, but at the same time not quite sure what is going on. She seems a little unsettled. I think it was hard because we stayed in a house at Sunriver, then at a family members house (once we sold our house), then finally into the new house. I think she just needed it to be done so she knew the final picture. Somewhat a rough behavioral weeks for her, but at the same time it was somewhat understandable. She was very nervous whenever I would leave. Made me so sad.

During our exploring, we came across this cute little guy. The first time we saw him, he was laying down and did not look like he was going to make it (or dead already). We headed to our destination (ice cream) and said a prayer (at the request of Colin) that either the little guy would be OK or if not, it would be quick for him.

On our way back towards him, I could hear Colin behind me whispering a little prayer behind me ("let him be OK, let him be OK"), Colin swears that when we got to him his eyes just opened! I am thinking it was before that, but he is adamant about it.

We must have sat and watched this guy for at least 30 minutes. I was surprised he did not scurry away. Especially with Meli fairly close to him. I am guessing that he was injured somehow, but did not see any obvious marks. Hopefully he ended up OK.

It was so sweet to see Colin (and Meli) so concerned about him (or her). I love their big hearts. Definitely a melting heart mom moment.

                                                               ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                         The B Family

Trouble & Sweetness

With as rough and tumbly Meli is, I am so surprised we have not had bumps sooner. She constantly has bruises and (if my memory is accurate) has had one head bump prior to this. Of course this happened right before bed (and Will and j have a growler calling our name in the fridge), but poor girl it's fairly big. Colin is being very sweet and reading his book to her. Such a sweet boy. Even if it is party because he feels horrible for helping to cause the bump. He is always sweet though. They were just too excited about their new rooms and play room. 

Moving is Exhausting!!

Moving can be so tiring! It feels like we have been packing forever. We only have a few more days at our house, which is bittersweet. I am exciting for being in a new place but we love our house and little town. I do seem to get antsy around the three year mark. This next area will have so much to do, it should be difficult to get bored. Hopefully. I think Will would love it (well I know he would) if I could commit to one city, state, etc. What can I say, my free-spirit self does not like being restricted and loves to explore new places. Who knows though. 

It will take us a little while to get to our new house...I am super excited. Hopefully the transition will be smooth for the kids. Meli asks everyday when we are moving (it feels like every few minutes)...I am so ready for that to be done. 

The kids have been very resourceful with playing and relaxing with no furniture. I love seeing their creative play. So fun and imaginative. Meli is really getting into art!!  I love our little art time together. The only problem is she wants to work on whatever I am doing. I cannot imagine the mess she would make with charcoal! She also loves my adult coloring books (truly a great form of relaxation). Such a bither. I will post some of her recent art soon. 

Until next time...

Grandma's Visit

The kids were so excited to have Grandma here for a week visiting. We were able to celebrate 4th of July with her, take her to Dorena Lake for a nice hike, and just hang out at the house being us. We already miss her and are ready for the next visit!

I already talked about some highlights of Liz's trip...so here are a few pictures from our week:

Art Corner - Meli's My Little Ponies

Meli and I started this project a couple months ago and just got to finishing it the other day. We thought it would be fun to paint her white letters that spell her name as My Little Ponies. She picked four (which her choice surprised me because she left out Apple Jack which she likes a lot more than Rarity. Maybe it was more for the colors. So, we did Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Meli is pretty meticulous with her painting. She did a wonderful job!!

She wanted to help me with the cutie marks. I was reluctant at first, but it is for her room. I was very impressed with her ability to stay in the drawings I did for the most part. I had to go over it a little bit and did some of the smaller parts of the design. We had such a fun time doing this. Colin wants to do Pokemon for his name. We will see how that goes!

While I was touching up, Meli made this frame for Grandma. I thought it turned out pretty creative and cute!

The Kids' Reading Corner: May & June

Colin loved the first two books of Diary of a Wimpy Kid! I have kept these books on the back-burner since watching my nephew, Alexei, reading these years ago. He was so into them! I like how many drawings are incorporated throughout the chapters. Very nice for kids just getting into chapter books. 

The kids love Piggie and Gerald!! Meli especially. She likes to memorize them. I think partly why they like these books so much is that Will reads for Gerald and I read for Piggie. They enjoy us reading it together and our voices we use. They each try to mimic our voices. Mo Willems is very good at creating fun characters. Sadly, The Thank You Book is the last one for this series. I wish he would continue to write them. 

We are big fans of the original style Winnie-the-Pooh. The kids like hearing the original stories. The characters and drawings are my favorite. I just love them. I recently was shown a Russian cartoon that is their version of Winnie-the-Pooh on youtube. It was very cute. The drawings were re-done. Pooh looks like a ewok...so adorable. It was interesting watching an episode i recognized but in a different language. 

I let Colin take pictures of the books like I do for my other blog. Colin had fun putting them in different places. He says that he loves Battle Bugs because "they are bugs that battle. That is just awesome!" Of course - I should have known that!

I love these small chapter books that you can get from Scholastics for a dollar. The kids like Cam Jansen and the fact that she has a photographic memory. Colin really wants that. Me too! Humphrey is a hamster. The kids enjoyed this book. It is nice having a chapter book that you can read in just a few bedtimes. 

Colin is really enjoying the Choose your own Adventure books. I recently found him several at a local bookstore. Colin was getting a little discouraged that he kept choosing wrong ways to go, so he would come to Will for advice. "If you were on a space ship and had a choice between...." Very cute!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~ 

 The B Family

Celebrating like an Oregonian

Sparklers

I have had a few people who are not originally from Oregon, comment on how much we love our fireworks. I never really thought it as being more so than others...but we definitely do enjoy the 4th of July show. A few were from Cali, where they said fireworks have been illegal for most of their life. This was their first Independence Day in Oregon, and I guess they were all taken by surprise by all of the noise...that lasted very late into the night...on a day before going back to work. The poor guy had to sleep part of the night on the floor of his kids' room because they were scared. 

I do remember the kids being scared our first year in Oregon. I guess for non-natives it is a shock to the system. Now, three years later the kids love this holiday. 

Chores

The kids were sweet and volunteered to wash my car. I should take an after picture, they missed several spots. Still it was fun and an easy way to cool off. Meli was a little sad to soak her "holiday" dress.

Grandma & mae

We got to show Grandma Liz how to celebrate the holiday with Oregon flare. I think she had fun watching the fireworks and throwing the snap-its at everyone's feet. After we said that she was off limits. Ha, ha...sneaky Grandma.

With getting ready to move and work,  I have not really been in a cooking mood...but the holiday helped bring that back for me. I had a great time cooking, baking, etc. We made banana bread, festive cake, and a few new recipes. I should have had Liz try Blue Apron out with me. I did not plan that one out. Bummer.

More 4th fun

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th. I really enjoyed the time with family. It was a very nice 4 day weekend. More about that to come!

Welcoming in Summer

To celebrate the end of the school year and Father’s Day, we took the kids to Sunriver. This is our second summer going to this resort and we loved it just as much as last time. There is so much to do that it would be difficult to get bored.

The kids enjoyed rocking climbing (it is so neat to see Colin transforming from this timid boy to this little adventure seeker – love it!), swimming at Meli’s favorite place in the whole world – SHARC, bumper cars, miniature golf, playing at the playground, and some quick dips in the hot tub. Will and I were lucky enough to have two date nights. We were also going to do bumper cars after dinner, but I was just too full. Bumping – just did not sound good!

It was nice to have a little break. We have been so busy with work, selling our house, finding a new place to live, and Will’s band. We needed the R&R. Now back to the grind. I am one who tries not to get too excited about things until I know for sure that they are happening…but I am so excited for our new home! Fingers-crossed! All should be good though. 

Meli had been counting down the days for this trip. You can tell in this picture just how excited she was. She is also like her mama and loves wind. I love being in a car with the windows down and wind in my hair. Not ideal for curly hair, but there are just some things that are worth getting crazy hair for. So, we had all of the windows down in the Camaro (plus the sunroof) and were just enjoying the drive on the backroads to Sunriver. Unfortunately, Meli tends to get car sick and being in the back of a two door sports car, did not help the situation. The remainder of the ride were not nearly as enjoyable as the first 45 minutes.

I was so happy to have some reading time. I got to finish my book and start a new one. My little buddy read next to me. I am beyond thrilled that Colin loves to read. 

We spent Father's Day at the pool for most of the day. It was so cute to see the kids having such a good time with Will. We got him a subscription to Loot Crate! Totally feeds his nerdy side!

When were at the swimming pool, there was the coolest rainbow (I guess) in the sky. It was not a traditional rainbow, but just a part of one cloud formation. The pictures do not do it justice…it was such a gorgeous view. 

The last day, after the kids were lying in bed reading, Will and I got the chance to enjoy the sunset together on the deck. Such a beautiful sky.