Cannon Beach

We could walk to this beach from our RV park. The day that we went was cold and windy, but the kids had fun anyway. It was a beautiful spot and Haystack Rock can be seen in the background of some of the pictures.

Nolan, Joe, & Collin.

Joe running along the beach.

Eli is enjoying the feel of the sand between his toes.

Kimball & Angelina.

Seaside Beach cont.

While in Seaside we visited a little aquarium right near the beach. It wasn't very big, but the kids enjoyed it. They had a table set up that was filled with water and the kids could touch living starfish and other sea life. They also had a tank that had an octopus it in. Eli was fascinated by it as it swam up close to the glass window. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the octopus, but it wasn't light enough. I also couldn't get any good pictures of the kids feeding the seals.

Eli finally brave enough to touch a starfish...but nothing else.


Collin, Heather, and Joe takes turns touching the starfish.



After stopping for ice cream, Joe and Eli ride the carousel.

Hitting the beach

Our first full day in Oregon we went to Seaside to walk along the beach. Seaside seemed like a really popular tourist spot with hotels lining the beaches, narrow streets, and lots of little shops. The beach was quite crowded and so we decided to visit a different beach on a day that we were prepared to play and get wet. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant and spent the afternoon just looking around. We visited a small aquarium where the children could feed fish to the seals. They were quite entertaining to watch as they slapped the blubber on their belly to get your attention to throw them your fish. They were very vocal and made some funny sounds. I will post some of our aquarium pictures another day.

My Mom & Dad.

Our family.

My brother Adam and his family.


My brother Lyle and his family.

Simple Pleasures

The kids loved riding their bikes around the campground. We lucked out and had a quiet spot in the RV park for the kids to ride their bikes. Other visitors to the park drove very slowly and were careful of the children that might be playing in the street. The kids, and even the adults, had fun riding their bikes down the grassy hill that was across from our RV site. It was always a disappointment when someone pulled their trailer into that RV pad. However, whenever they left, our kids raced over there to ride down the hill.

Eli braving the hill on his bike with training wheels, while Kimball waits to catch him if his bike tips over.

Joe takes a turn!

Here comes Nolan!

Adam racing down the hill on his cool Walmart "cruiser".

Family Reunion at Cannon Beach in Oregon

For the next while I am going to post pictures of our family RV trip to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast. I am so far behind on my scrapbooking that I am going to add plenty of detail so that I can scrap these pictures at a later date.

A few years back my family decided to make time for a yearly summer RV reunion trip. This year my brother's wife Brandi chose the destination. The drive out along the Columbia river was something I will never forget. It was beautiful. The mountains were dotted with giant wind turbines to produce green energy and home to many large birds. The river was full of people enjoying various types of recreation such as windsurfing, boating, and water skiing. Their were also many barges carrying various cargo up and down the river. We also passed by several large dams. The other detail that stood out when we arrived in Oregon, is that gas station attendants have to pump your gas. My Dad said that it was a law there. It was nice to not have to pump our own gas and I assume it provides jobs for many people. It was weird to come home and not have someone pump my gas.

Our campsite was beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better location. The first thing that my children noticed when we arrived, was that we were the biggest family in the smallest trailer!

My parent's fifth wheel. Unfortunately they had to stop to fix a blow-out on the way. Their fifth wheel received some damage.

Adam, Brandi, and their three boys rented this large rig for the trip since they don't own an RV yet.

Lyle, Lisa, and their son Nick rented this big rig as well.

Our Home Sweet Home for the next week with our FIVE kids! We have three pop out tents. Sarah & Heather share one tent, Joe & Eli share another, and Kimball and I have the tent in front. Angelina slept in a portable crib in the center of the trailer.

Children's parade

Every year in July our city puts on a children's parade. Usually I try to avoid parades since I have attended one too many and tired of them. However, this year I couldn't escape it since Joe and Eli were invited to be on a float and they couldn't wait to participate.

Angelina waiting for the parade to start.

Joe dressed as someone that he wants to be when he grows up. He walked behind the float.

Eli got to ride on the float. The girls were dressed as Cinderella and the boys dressed as the mice.

First Swim Lessons

Eli just turned four and was able to take his first swim lessons. He did so well. He took right to the water and wasn't afraid. I enjoyed the two weeks with just him and I at the pool. It was fun to watch him. On the last day of swim lessons they let the kids take turns going down the water slide and jumping off the diving board.

Waiting at his number for his teacher to arrive.

Eli was so little that the water slide flipped him around and he came out on his back, head first. He thought it was fun!

Jumping off the diving board while his teacher waits below to catch him.

Is it a boy or girl?

Everyone was excited to find out what our new baby would be. No one was more excited than Mom. Eli and Joe really wanted a brother to even out the numbers. Mom didn't really care, but she thought a sister would be nice for Angelina to play with.

Kimball and I went to the Ultrasound by ourselves this time. Mostly because we didn't want any distractions while they checked to make sure everything was Ok with the baby. We told the kids that we would bring home a present that was either for a boy or a girl. When they opened it, they would know if they were getting a brother or a sister. We let Eli open the present to find out.Mom didn't mean to trick anyone, but she wrapped the outfit in blue tissue paper to prolong the surprise. However, as soon as everyone saw the blue tissue paper, they thought it was a boy.

Surprise! It is a girl! The boys are smiling now, but a few minutes after the news sunk in, Eli broke into terrible tears. Thankfully, the tears didn't last too long.

Heather's Art

Heather loves to draw pictures, especially pictures of animals. I have been promising her for a long time that I would post her latest "masterpieces". These were drawn the end of her 9th grade art class. I am glad that she has been patient. It has been a very fun and very busy summer and I am finally finding a few moments to catch up on my blog.

Don't forget to smell the flowers along the way...

We took Angelina to Kiddie Kandids to get some pictures for her 1st birthday. At first I didn't think that our adventure would be very successful. The photographer scared her and all she wanted to do was hold onto Mom and hide her face. Eventually she came around and warmed up to the photographer. I think the pictures turned out wonderfully. The images on my site are a little blurry to protect Kiddie Kandids copyright...but they'll give you an idea of how the real ones turned out. There is one side of her that wasn't captured and I haven't been able to get a picture of that expression yet, but when she is really happy, she smiles with her whole face. Her eyes become really squinty and they look like little upside down smiles. It is the cutest face. Someday I am hoping to capture that face on film.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we took a walk to the local cemetary to enjoy the flag display that honored veterans from many wars. While we were there Kimball noticed a flag honoring someone from the Blackhawk war. Although we don't have family buried in this cemetary it was a beautiful sight to see all the flowers and to feel the love that everyone has for those that are buried here.

Summer Challenge

One of the blogs that I enjoy reading is the blog on a little girl named Gracie. It can be found here. I guess that I enjoy reading it because it reminds me to appreciate all the small moments that I have with me children, even when all I am doing is something as mundane as changing a diaper. I have read the entire blog with tears in my eyes from start to finish. In her most recent post she challenged everyone to take more pictures of your children this summer. So, the other night I took a few pictures before we went for an evening walk. I decided that since I will be having babies that are 17 months apart, I needed a double stroller. After a lot of research I found this one. I decided to purchase it now and get some more use out of it. I have enjoyed going on walks with Angelina and Eli in the evening when it is cool.

The Birthday Presents

I can't believe my sweet little angel is One year old. Angelina has been such a joy to have in our home. She has brought a lot of happiness to our ever growing family.

At first Angelina didn't know what to do with her presents. Even though we helped to rip them, she thought they were something to climb on. Then, she was only interested in the pieces of wrapping paper that came loose from the presents. We had to open her presents for her. Since she loves to push chairs and other things all around the house and walk behind them, we decided to buy her a cute pink doll and stroller made just for this purpose.

The Birthday Cupcake

We decided to buy some fun cupcakes to celebrate Angelina's 1st birthday. Everyone picked out their favorite. Sarah chose cookies-n-cream, Heather chose toasted coconut, Joe chose strawberry shortcake (we cheated on his gluten-free diet for this occasion), Eli chose chocolate raspberry because they were out of vanilla, and we chose key lime for Angelina.

Angelina wasn't quite sure what to do at first. The frosting was sticky, but once she tasted it's sweetness, she figured out fast what to do!