Summer 2009

Somehow this Summer just flew by unreasonably fast. I still keep thinking, "Summer's over already?!" and we're already quickly approaching October!

We DID work really hard at having FUN this summer and lots of it. It's the first summer we've had where school is not looming heavily over Nate's shoulders. The first summer where vacation time is on the books and waiting to be used. The first summer we haven't had HUGE yard and/or house projects begging to be accomplished.

In May we had a weekend where we made an offer on a house and then pulled out after realizing the epic amounts of work required to make it happen (it was a REPO). After months of wondering if we should sell while the market is good (and it really IS good in the Tri-cities right now) and find a house that's actually larger than 1000 square feet, we finally had to sit down and make a decision if trying to sell our house all summer long was how we wanted to spend it. It was decided that this family needs some peace and fun for once and the house selling would have to wait until next year. And then we both heaved huge sighs of relief and got busy planning summer.

And of course, no summer is complete without a trip to the zoo. Well, at least WE haven't seen a trip to the zoo in way too long...so in May we stopped for a few hours on our way home from family.




June just wouldn't be June without swim lessons, sun burns, park trips and the annual "Filling Of The Pool"...as witnessed below...




Of course, most of you haven't heard about our newest family addition. Since you know that we aren't having any more of the human variety added to this nest, then it would have to be a new pet! And, yeah, we haven't told A SOUL about him since we're just so embarrassed that we could possibly be silly enough to add one more doggy-door-using type around here. Now's the time to introduce him....

















even though he WAS quite a surprise to even US......

















Here he is.... In all his red-hair glory....

















Oh wait.... That's not a DOG! That's not even a CAT!




That would be the little 11 month old that I couldn't keep out of my dog door all summer long! Isn't Cade the cutest?! :-)

Our summer wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the beach for a week. And so that's what we did. I found a DEAL on Craigslist for a 2 bedroom condo at Long Beach, Washington for the 4th of July week! We were completely stoked and immediately called these two people to drive on up from Utah and enjoy it with us...



My Mom and Dad aren't ones to turn down a trip to the NW coast, as that's where they spent the majority of their years before turning ship and going to Utah (of ALL the places!). It was an amazing week! Just too much fun. One blog post couldn't ever do it justice, but I'll try...

We got to see an incredible Fireworks show right on the beach, with the waves crashing behind us and thousands of people lighting off all their own fireworks all around us. Scared me to death, but was something I'll never forget!

We spent all our quiet, down time in the condo working our hearts out on this...




1000 pieces! And we finished it the night before we left! Kenzie and Natie were even big helps and my mom and I obsessed over it just a little... Nate and my Dad tried a piece or two and then went back to their laptops. :-)

We tried to go see as many scenic places that we could, like the Astoria tower...




Or the Northhead Lighthouse that Natalie was too young to go up in, so I stayed with her and we played with the camera...




We got as much playtime on the beach as we could possibly cram into one week...





And now I have way too many beautiful photos to choose from to scrap! It was a week to be remembered, for sure!

On the way home, Nate got the grand idea of stopping in the Gorge to do some hiking. No, really, it WAS a good idea...we're just not usually the family that can handle that much STUFF in one day. It turned out to be really awesome, though. Nate and I spent quite a few of our first years together hiking trails in the Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, Rainier and more. Doing it with kids is a new adventure...doing it with OUR kids brings new meaning to the saying... "Get it off!! Get it OFF!! Nature is all OVER me!!!!" Our poor, nature-deprived, overly-sensitive 8 year old girl...she's one of a kind. It was a good day, though. A long, good day...




And if that's not enough to keep us busy, we also had tons of family come visit, a few trips out to the Hermiston Aquatic Park, lots of picnics at the park, plenty of afternoons playing in our little pool, a few trips to paddle around in our canoe, a few free movie mornings, lots of quiet afternoons at home watching movies...




...and even a few trips out on Nate's Dad's new boat. Thank goodness he decided to buy one and saved us a few thousand dollars...




All in all a fantastic summer. And so as not to leave you without a little anticipation for the next elusive blog post, I'll give you a little hint to how we finished out our summer...

Next week...



We're Moving!!!