Rockaway: Beach Time

We spent A LOT of time on the beach with all the great weather. So many photos!

Rockaway: House and more

The house we stayed at was up on the hill, so we had a great view of the ocean. We had fun playing foosball and ping pong upstairs in the loft, too. Grandpa and Grandma got in on the action, and the kids learned that Grandma has some mad ping pong skills.

trying to stream the Olympics on the computer--didn't work very well

Aunt Lindsay played games with the kids for a long time. They loved it.

Greg and Aubs waiting for the crabbers to come back

Rockaway: Cape Meares Excursion

The weather for our Arnold beach trip to Rockaway was unbelievable. I've never experienced 80 degrees + at the coast. It was 92 degrees one day! I took lots of photos, so here we go.

The first full day our family was there, we drove out to Cape Meares and explored in the forest to see the Big Spruce and its interesting--ahem--backside. (Thank you, Millers, for that.) We saw the Octopus tree and went up inside the lighthouse, too.

Joel at Trout Creek

Joel went to Trout Creek Bible Camp last week and had loads of fun with his friends. He came back dirty and happy and with a very croaky, hoarse voice. Unfortunately, we had some bad news we had to break to him once we got home. His hamster, Fluffy, died while he was at camp. He took it hard and cried all through his shower, just made me so sad listening to him. I told him if he wanted to, we could go to the pet store and see if there was another one he would like to have. He decided he did want to go look. We drove to the pet store and looked at the hamsters...and the guinea pigs. I kind of liked the idea of a guinea pig more than another hamster, and Joel had been so sad, and his smile when I said "maybe" to a guinea pig got me. His bigger smile when he was holding the guinea pig sealed the deal. I said yes, and we came home with Charlotte.

Man Camp "Ultra"

Greg and Joel backpack-camped for the first time at Boulder Lake up on Mt Hood a couple weeks ago. They went with some friends and called it Man Camp Ultra. It was so much fun, they decided they want to do it again sometime. We'll have to work on upgrading their gear for next time. This was a bit of a trial run, so they made do with what we already had, for the most part, and it wasn't light! Greg's pack weighed 52 lbs, and Joel's weighed 21 lbs--for just one night. Joel injured his foot a couple days before and had to hike in a boot. Thankfully, the x-rays showed no fracture. It was just a deep bruise, but he wasn't able to walk on it without the boot. It did the trick. He was able to go!