Thursday, July 30, 2009

Yurting at Nehalem Bay State Park

The kids and I took a 4 day trip to Nehalem, Oregon and stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park (thanks for the recommendation Pam!!!) in a yurt (note here...this is the summer of yurts for our family!!!).



Photo of the inside of our yurt. It seemed a bit bigger than the ones we stayed in at Champoeg State park.

...and fancier. This is our first yurt with a mirror AND floor lamp!!! Living the life, yurt style!!!

Brandon tending the grill and making our dinner Monday night!!!

Family Beach shot for 2009 (last year's photo was on Long Beach Washington)

Monday night's sunset....it was worth the wait!

Monday evening's campfire.....we look forward to this time every night!

Tuesday morning...you can see a few of the kids down at the ocean while riders went by on horseback. I went to see about horse rentals, but they are not offering them this year.

Tyler and Sarah

Brandon, Tori and Ryan spent 2 hours straight chatting and standing in the waves.

Ryley skipping rocks on a walk down the beach with me.

Me and the ocean :) Photo by Ryley!!!

This cowboy on horseback took his horse into the waves and kept pace with us while we were walking down the beach.

While the temperature in Portland soared to over 100 degrees, it reached 89 degrees on the beach (unheard of). Ryan and Tori spent a lot of time playing in the water.

Tyler after a swim in the ocean.

Sarah and Ryley staying busy building castles in the sand.

Three military helicopters flew right over the top of us (quite low I may add). Not sure what they were up to flying so low over the beach.

Ryley and Brandon with their moat and castle

Ryan, Tori and Brandon spent 5 hours body surfing in the ocean. Once they got the hang of surfing on the second wave to come in they were hooked!!!

Sarah in her swimsuit on the beach....because it was just that HOT!!!

Tishendorf toes

Ryan and Brandon body surfing still.....

Ryley still trying to reach China

Trying to rescue the sandcastle from the incoming high tide

Sunset on Wednesday night.....it doesn't get any better than this!!!

Wednesday friends came and spent the day on the NOW fogged in beach with temperatures not going over the mid - 70s (brrrrrrr). Above is the Sand "igloo" of the day!

Sarah was tired and had a sunburn that "really really hurt", so she spent most of Wednesday on a blanket napping.

Ryley -- aka "Sandman"

Sarah's beach station...

Twins.....Ryley being buried in the sand by Ryan

Tori's action shot. I have to say we have friends that always take "jump shots" on the beach, and their daughter Lizzy always jumps SUPER high. We decided to catch our height by jumping from one of our chairs.

This is my favorite photo from the weekend. It looks like my friend is pulling the chair out from behind me while I am going to sit down. In reality, she was being kind, holding the chair while I jumped from it. Our photographer caught me landing, instead of in the air though.


Finally....my action shot!!!!

Photo taken by my friend of our family on the beach :)

Ryan jumping from the dunes

Tyler's turn

Ryley's turn

Tori's turn....love the pose

Ummmmm....yeah....that's Tyler....face planting

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Baseball season is over

Tonight we went to the end of the year party for the twin's baseball team!!! What a great year they had....going to the State tournament for the second year in a row!!! The one thing about their head coach...he loves baseball and knows how to teach the boys skills that will set them up for a lifetime of high achievement in all areas of the game.


Ryley receiving his T-shirt and listening to Coach Bret's speech about him as a player.

Ryan's turn....

The coaches with their T-shirts

After speeches and dessert we played some ball -- parents vs. kids....

Matt up to bat!!!!

I must have learned a little something from watching the boys as well, because I also got a hit :) Notice no photo of the astounding stance and swing..but I assure you it DID happen!


Summer yurting trip #2 with friends!!!

Wednesday through Friday we took a Mom and kids yurting trip with some of our favorite friends from Canby!!! We headed (once again) to Champoeg State Park which is a 15 minute drive from our home! Yes, close enough that those who wanted to could go home to shower in the mornings .....now that is living the life!!!



Getting the party started with our first campfire Wednesday night!
13 of the best kids in the world!!!

Mom's of the best 13 kids in the world!!!!

Smores time!!!

Sarah riding the trails

On Thursday we decided to make the 1 and 1/2 hour drive to Lincoln City and spend the day on the beach. Blue skies and little wind made it one of the best beach days we've ever seen!! When we arrived at the beach, the first thing we spotted was the huge kite above. The owners said it was $2000.


Look at the size of that kite!!!!

Our kids playing in the $2000 kite --- SHOES OFF!!! The owner was a really great guy. He had another kite he'd made himself that was $4000.

Ryan the sandman

Ryan's good friend Lizzy


Beach friends are the best!!!

The always required jump shot!!!

The mom's jump shot (photo courtesy of Megan!!!)

My sweet Sarah!

Brandon doing what he does best.....enjoying a good book!


Ryley digging to China


Ryley spent hours digging this whole, and towards the end got quite a bit of attention and help from other kids on the beach.

Filling the hole!!!

On our last day we went Geocaching before heading home!!! The kids found this cache behind a tree in an open field where people were tent camping.