More of Seaside

Here are some of the pictures of Seaside that were on my Nikon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Saying Goodbye

As you all know, Will and I made the big decision to move back to the West Coast...which was not at all an easy decisions. We had to look at so many angles and parts of life to see what we thought would be best for our family. Also, what would help us accomplish what we wanted most at this time in our lives. With our decision, we had to say some very hard goodbyes. I left some great friends and some wonderful family. It broke my heart to say goodbye to my parent-in-laws.  Liz, my mom who was there for me during my two pregnancies and the first 5 years of being a parent and wife. I do not know what I would have done without her support and comforting words. Love my Liz! Also, my father-in-law, Bill, a man who made our accomplishments with each life challenge to somehow sound so spectacular. I will very much miss our intriguing conversations. Thank God for email!

I am so grateful for all that Will's family has done for us in our almost 6 years on the East Coast. I love you all!

We had a family get-together to say our "goodbyes".  It was very sweet and a good way to celebrate our time there. Just thinking about it makes me tear up.

Here are a few pictures from our last weeks. 

Playing Grandpa's harmonica

Will took me to the National Art Museum in April. The tulips in front were so beautiful.

 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

 

Wildlife Safari

Yesterday, the kids and I headed to Wildlife Safari with Grammie.  The kids had so much fun!  I loved the park as a child and really wanted to take Colin. Wildlife Safari is unique in that you get to drive your car through the park where a lot of the animals roam freely. A few like the bears and lions have some fencing to keep them from playing with the cars. I prefer this to zoos that have them in such restricted cages. Colin was amazed by how close we got to the bears. He was right outside our window!! Some of the animals we got to see were lions, tigers, bears, bison, hippos, rhinos, zebras, and several others. There was even a giraffe walking in the road right next to us; he practically bumped our car. If I had to guess what Colin's favorite thing would have been...I would say getting our car washed by an elephant!  Meli was not as big of a fan. This was the first time I have seen her scared of something. To her credit, the trunk of the elephant was hitting her window. She was OK as long as I held her hand.

We had a nice lunch with a view of some monkeys swinging from their play gym.There was also an area to walk and to pet some smaller animals.

I think I am going to give in and buy a camera cord. I took a lot of pictures yesterday that I am anxious to load on my laptop.

Summertime

I went to the storage unit and did a quick look but could not find my camera cord. So sad. Here are a few recent pictures from my phone.

 

Meli at the Saturday Market in Eugene.

Playing with bubbles.

 

Colin's new Iron Man mask - ready for the pool!

Meli wants his mask...

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Coming Together

Our new life in Oregon is starting to come together.  We had put an offer on a house. Both of us just fell in love with this house, but we were still a little hesitant because it was pretty far out from the main business district in the area. It would be quite a commute. This would not be a big deal for Will since he is still working for his company in Virginia. The amazing concept of telecommuting!

Not to dwell on the house but it was beautiful and perfect...3200 sq ft...so much space. It was built just last month. It has 4 bedrooms with an additional room/den on the main level. Everything is so spacious. The master suite is the biggest bedroom I have EVER seen and the bathroom...Oh man. I love this house...but there are some things about living that far out I am just not so sure about. Plus, we felt the location of the house in the neighborhood was not ideal. For now, we decided to rent a nice townhouse for a bit and then try to find something similar to our dream house closer in. Fingers-crossed. Or if we decide it would not be too far out then maybe we will go for one of the ones being built right now.

So we move next month. It will be nice to have our stuff out of storage and get set-up for the school year. I cannot believe that Colin will be starting Kindergarten this year!!!!! I have already gone through him going to pre-school but still it is just such a big thing - kindergarten. I cannot quite put my mind around it.  I spoke with the school today, so we are getting him registered this week. I may cry. I am excited for him though. It seems like yesterday I was planning his 3rd birthday party. It really does fly by.

Meli will not know what to do with herself without her big brother around. I am sure she will have fun in spite of that fact. She is such a happy, fun-loving girl.  Once I start back to work, she will probably be going part-time to preschool, which will be good for her.

I am excited to move and for summer time. The weather has been so nice here. Colin is excited to use the pool at the townhouse. Plus, hopefully we will be able to have a few trips this summer. I want to take Will to San Francisco or maybe San Diego. Two of my favorite cities on the west coast. He has not really spent anytime in California, so it is about time. We may also try to head up to Seattle. Colin wants to see the Space Needle.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Seaside Adventure

This past weekend we headed to the coast for a little family time. Colin always talks about the beach.  We took him when he was 2 and he seems to remember it very well. He is always asking when we can go again...so 3 years later we finally took him again. So sad...but to our defense it has been a very busy 3 years. Plus, it was a long drive from where we were at in Virginia. The coast is a lot closer to us here in Oregon, so I can see us going more frequently. We decided to head up to Seaside since we needed to be in the Portland area anyway.  I love Seaside!!! It was one of my favorite places as a kid. 

It rained a lot on our drive up there but then once we arrived it backed off a bit. The time we spent on the beach was rain free and actually decent weather. The pictures make it look cold but it actually was not bad. Not warm like the east coast, but good for the pacific northwest beaches. 

Meli loves to keep us on our toes.  It is like her 2 year old mission - well she has been doing it since birth, so lets say life mission. Our hotel was right on the beach, which made it so nice not to have to lug the kids too far.  Once we stepped on that sand, she made a run for the water...and just kept going. Unlike Colin, who ran away from the water, Meli ran towards it. Will took the first turn to run after her. He saved her from getting wet from the incoming tide (not a bad one) but he unfortunately got pretty soaked.  More so then he wanted to anyway, which was to not be wet at all. We were able to prevent her from getting wet a few times, but she eventually got what she wanted and got in the ocean. Shoes and all. Our cute little stinker. I thought the coldness of the water would keep her from doing it again...nope...she just ran right back in. Colin was the only dry one but he was pretty sandy, so we headed back a bit early to take warm baths/showers before going out for dinner.

After getting cleaned up we walked around the boardwalk and shopped around.  Will went into a store that made him realize he had been to Seaside before. He actually had bought our carved wooden chest from there. His memory sometimes! He does not seem to remember a lot of the places he went during his brief stay in Oregon (with the exception of the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which he is very excited to take Colin too)...Oh well, I will just have to show it all to him again.  Not that he saw a lot of Oregon. Just the northern part.  The next day we played on the beach again and then took Colin to the Aquarium to see/feed the seals.  Sadly, some of the ones that I remember are no longer there. A baby seal was born two days before, so we got to see him swim around.  Very adorable.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Mother's Day

Per the norm of the last few months, I am yet again behind in my blog entries. Plus, I have not gone to the storage unit to look for my camera cord. There are so many pictures I want to share from the past month...I will try to make it there soon. I have definitely been keeping myself busy - I am starting the exciting job search, adjusting to being a temporary stay-at-home mom, getting back into my work-out routine (I was doing not so well when we started to move), working on Colin's "homework" (cannot believe he will be starting school this year), entertaining two extremely active kids, seeing people that I have not seen in years, and looking for the place that we will call home. We did find a place and area that we fell in love with!  So fingers-crossed that it works out.

This was the first Mother's Day in probably 7 years that I have been home for. It was nice being able to spend the day with my mom. We had a BBQ so that Will could see my younger brother's house...and his dogs. Poor Will is not a big fan of dogs.

Have I said before how spoiled I am?!? I am sure I have. The kids and Will surprised me with a tree of life necklace that I had my eye on at the Irish store in Occoquan in Virginia. I did not expect it at all.

It was a perfect day to celebrate one of the best parts of my life, motherhood.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

My Little Sunshine is 2

On the 10th of May, our sweet baby girl turned two!!! It just blows my mind that she is already a toddler and on her way to becoming a big girl.  We were still adjusting to the move, so we did not go all out or anything. It was nice to be low-key and have a little get-together with family.  She has really been into My Little Ponies, so we went with that theme. It was pink everywhere! She has brought such a girlie touch to my life! She is still at the age that she does not really understand what is going on, but she had a blast.  As usual, she made out like a bandit and got some really neat gifts. Colin even got some cool toys from everyone. Spoiled kids!

I woke up Meli on her birthday with the same phrase I use most mornings, "good morning my little sunshine". She was just that, a ball of sunshine. Both of our kids have a very happy disposition.  They have their grumpy moments (especially Mae) but overall they are very energetic (very) and happy kids.  When I greet them in the morning, I call them both my "little sunshine". The times where we go in and actually wake the kids up and I get to witness the cuteness of them stretching and greeting their day...it just makes me so happy and really comprehend how lucky I am.  At first, I thought I should come up with another phrase for Meli, since I already used "sunshine" for Colin - but it just really fits for both.  They are so happy in the morning and they truly are the sunshine in my life.  It can get stressful at times...and sometimes it feels like Will and I move from one stressful moment to the next  - but through it all these two bundles of joy and rays of light just shine so much happiness on us.  Will and I are so blessed with two amazing kids.

Happy birthday, baby girl!!


The past few weeks, Mae's words have just blossomed. She is using sentences too.  She says:

Come on (daddy or mommy)
Hurry
Daddy, eat
Please
Sorry
Ponies
Dragon...grrrr
On
In
Me mommy (my mommy)
Go fast
Cupcake
Chicken

She can also count to five. Not always consistently but pretty well.

I am sure I am forgetting some...

So, I know this is late but Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl. My camera cord is in storage, but I will post pictures hopefully soon.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Finding a Routine

We have been here for a little over a week now...and we are getting into a routine...a little bit.  The kids took a few days to adjust to the time and different surroundings...but now they act like they own the place. We made a quick visit to my hometown so that we could see Grammie and explore one of the parks. Colin got to play on an old train that I loved as a kid.

We have also been exploring the area that we are temporarily staying in. The next picture is a historic covered bridge. The kids loved it.  Colin thought it was so cool that trains use to drive through it.



The weather has been beautiful since we have been here.  I was preparing myself for rain, rain and more rain...but not yet. It has allowed the kids and I to take our daily walks and play outside.  In the mornings, it starts out a little chilly, but I love that.  I dislike when mornings are instantly hot and humid. Those kind of mornings can make running not so fun. It is weird not having a job right now...but I am enjoying the time with the kids...and am starting to look for possible positions.

We are still in the process of trying to figure out where exactly we want to live.  What we had originally thought - seems to have changed a bit...we will see. Will started back to work the first Monday we were here.  It is so neat that his work is letting him telecommute. It is so crazy how much the workforce is changing.

Meli on one of our early morning walks

 I  forgot to mention that Will and I entertained ourselves during the drive across county by trying to find a license plate for each state.  We ended up seeing all of them except Rhode Island, Louisiana, and New Mexico.  Arizona almost escaped us but we found it as we arrived at our final destination.  We even found one for D.C. (surprisingly not in Virginia but in Indiana), and a couple for Canada. 

                                                ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                           The B Family

No More Car

I just have to say how nice it was to go for a run this morning. Being in a car all day for several days can make one feel very lazy and yucky. Here is my new view for my morning run. So beautiful!