The Last Day of Summer

To celebrate the last night of summer the kids were invited to a back yard fire, to roast marshmallows, make smores, and a read Harry Potter under the stars.


This was their invitation in the morning:


Before we started reading though, I made them tell me some of their highlights from the summer:




Disneyland (this happened in May before school got out)

Playing at the Beach with Friends

Our friends from Texas coming to visit

Playing outside in our yard with neighborhood friends

Swimming in our friend's pool

Camping (jake's)

The Cousins

Going to the cabin

Going to the fountains


I really did have a fun summer and for the first time am starting to feel like this childhood phase (the phase that has been my life for the last 10 years) of parks and fountains and meeting friends for lunch is almost over.... I caught a glimpse of them getting older, and not wanting to hang out with their mom. I had a twinge of sadness on this night. The night was warm, the stars were out, there was no sand in our smores.... I tried to soak it in.















Grace and her baby Elizabeth.

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner

Not everyday you see a hot dog car!

They then got little hot dog whistles from the driver.... whistles really???!?!?! Who ever thought that would be a good idea as a toy for children.

I want a Boat

This was at the end of our night....but it summed up our boat trip on the Willamette nicely.
We went with some friends to downtown Portland and had dinner on the water.

Me flashing gang signs or something?

Yes, we even swam. I think I was the only one who needed a life jacket. :) I'm such a sucky swimmer. And I needed to be pretty agile to look for sharks anyway.

I will talk Brian into getting another boat someday. Mark my words!

One of my Favorite Quotes from this Summer:

"I don't even want to want to garden" - Hillary Hansen

I, however, have gotten so much happiness from this little garden of mine....

Grace helped me plant this before school was out and the kids have gotten so much enjoyment from picking the peas, tomatoes, radishes, and strawberries. You should have heard the yelling when we found our first (one of only two) cucumbers. You would have thought we had found 100$ .... kinda funny.

Very few vegetables taste as good as a home grown tomato! 1000 times better than the store!

This is the basil I planted from seed. I'm shocked it has grown. All the basil plants I have ever planted have turned black and withered away.... The seeds look about like a poppy seeds when they went in the ground. Crazy.

4 things

4 things I wanted to do this summer:


Teach the kids to Double Dutch.
Go to Fort Vancouver
Hike Munson Falls
Go Berry Picking.


Check (well single rope-check), Check, Check, and Check!!!

My favorite Boys:

Fort Vancouver with Nell's kids:

Munson Falls is actually only a 1/2 mile hike at most.... I could have done it in flip flops.

Token picture of the parents:

Berry Picking

15 pounds of Raspberries!

Caves

On our trip down to Coos Bay this summer, we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves. Sooo cool. Sooo expensive.

This was the before shot. That other little girl would just not get out of the picture..... I figured I would just have to crop her out. Kind of funny.

The actual sea lions. They were all out sunning themselves and not in the caves on this day.

We took an elevator 300 feet below the ground. I thought it would be a little claustrophobic, but it was actually really cool.

The view from the north side, inside the caves. I couldn't get any pics of other views because there was 'no flash photography'.

The description:

The Lighthouse north of the caves.

The Next Closest thing to a Beach

More catch up from this summer:

Kiran came to visit in Aug, it was a short trip and my heart always hurts when she leaves. We packed a lot of fun in this little visit, including some sunshine.

This spot actually has the word Beach in it's title.... Cottonwood Beach. And it really does feel like a 'beach' without the two our drive right on the Columbia.

Sisters.

I love my sisters. They understand me, make me laugh, make me want to be smarter. Help me to be compasionate. Force me to see myself as I really am, which is mostly better and sometimes worse than I think. I can't think of anyone I would rather be around.

Coos Bay Catch Up

The Bridge leading to Coos Bay and North Bend from this Summer's Trip

Visited the cemetery where many Gaunt relatives are buried.

Brian's Grandparent's house. He has so many memories of visiting them.

The local market where they frequented as kids and bought candy cigarettes.

Dylan, Brian, and Scott

Cousins.

On our last day there Brian, Scott, Dylan and cousin Steve rented four wheelers and cruised on the dunes.