Here's a few pictures from this summer. Last Sunday we took a drive down to the coast for a day of R'n'R. We decided to stop whenever we saw the sun. Well, that happened to Cannon Beach. But, by the time we had exited the exit ramp, the sky was gray again. But, the weather was warm, and we enjoyed our time anyhow. We went to Ecola State Park this time, and these pictures are on Indian Beach. It is absolutely beautiful. You can see the lighthouse (in the background in the first picture), and there are tide pools where we found jellyfish and oyster shells.

The boys loved running in the waves, and those are surfers in the background catching the waves.



























Elise loved riding in the Ergo (my latest awesome carrier), and we did as much hiking as a couple 3 & 5 year old walkers could handle.

We then headed down to Tillamook, as we had promised the boys a tour of the Cheese Factory. As always, we try to cram too much into our relaxing day, making it a busy, busy day. The Tillamook Factory was super busy, so we didn't buy anything (the lines were miles long to buy even an ice cream cone), so we headed across the road and had some fish and chips for supper instead. James was at his finest cooperation, as per usual.

We tried to take a short cut home, which ended up getting us lost and back in Portland, so it ended up a long cut instead. Our map didn't zoom in close enough to see where we were supposed to go, and the signs were poor and somehow we ended up pretty much where we had left off (making a big loop instead of progress!)

This picture is of a bonnet that my aunt bought for Elise at a garage sale. She actually like wearing it, although you can't tell that from the picture. She wore it all day, to church and all. She usually is pulling hats off, so that's unusual.

Here's one from the Cowlitz County Fair, where we went a couple weeks ago. It's a great small town fair, which is free (yay!) although we did have to pay to see the rodeo. The kids found the rodeo a bit boring, mostly because there was so much waiting between action. Then they'd miss the action because they were jumping around, not paying attention. Luke enjoyed petting some animals, but James was pretty hesitant to be so close to them.













This video is our boys (along with their friends) who came up with the idea to drive their car down the driveway. The switch is broken on it, so it only goes backwards, so they came up with the idea to push it up the driveway and then ride down. It worked so well that Greg had to try the fun!