THE GLOWING W

Ashley gave me a new W when she was here last weekend, my first one with lights. It's probably six inches tall and is so bright! 

Dad suggested taking a silhouette picture with it, which would have never occurred to me. A lot of light came through the battery section on the right side, but he was able to block most of it for a fun shot.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

I was out Monday night and didn't get home until long after the kids were in bed.  Tuesday morning I noticed one of our Ws had fallen off a shelf, but when I lifted my eyes up to put it back I discovered that every W that could be flipped over had been flipped over.  I also noticed that one of the the human Ws was smirking. Evidently Devon had been up to a little mischief while I was out the night before.  Goofball.

TEN ON TUESDAY - 1/14/1

Blender - Our blender died a while back.   Although it's not an essential part of life, we used it several days a week.  Thanks to some gift cards we received for Christmas, we were able to replace our blender and I'm loving our new one.  Lots of friends love their Vitamix or Blendtec blender and I know they're great, but I had neither the ability nor the desire to spend hundreds of dollars on a blender.  We ended up getting an Oster BVCB07-Z and I love it!  We use our blender primarily for smoothies and the reversing blade makes fabulous smoothies without me having to scrape down the sides.  Thankful for generous friends who made my time in the kitchen so much easier!

Boogie Board - I grew up in Brookings, which means I consider boogie boards to be something used for playing in the ocean.  Devon, however, came home from school last week with a prize that he'd been awarded for good behavior.  It was called a Boogie Board, but it was nothing like the ones I'm familiar with.  It's an LCD writing tablet and he's had a lot of fun with it!

Candle - I love lemon-scented candles and Devon gave me two of them for Christmas.  I've been burning the Better Homes and Gardens Sugared Lemon Bar canister candle and it smells so good!

History Lesson - I've been reading to Naomi when we soak her newly pierced ears  A few days ago I read Berenstain Bears and the Slumber Party and had to explain two foreign concepts to her - cassette tapes and not knowing who was calling when the phone rang.  Yes, I'm old enough for the things in my childhood to be a little piece of history.

Kindness - I was looking for a book a friend was talking about and stumbled upon another book that intrigued me, so I checked it out from the library.  It's called How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids and it's written by Tom Rath.  Quick read, good reminder to be think past yourself, and a handy word picture for using in your own home.

People - As opposed as I am to people living in a church bubble, our life somehow ended up that way.  It wasn't deliberate, but it had happened nonetheless.  Over the last year we've connected with so many people outside of church and I love it.  I'm thankful for opportunities to meet new people and make new friends!

Reading - I love it when our bigs read to our littles!

Tea - I've been drinking a lot of Celestial Seasoning's Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea lately.  I love it!

W - I bought this mug with a gift card from friends.  Cute, huh?

Words - Things Teebs is saying.

* Hoe-dee me:  This is how he says "hold me" and is what he says when he wants wake-up snuggles or is otherwise needing a little lovin'.

* Hallelujah:  He walks around singing this word, which is kinda funny when it's preceded or followed by his R-rated pronunciation of another word that he sings all the time.

* Lunch?/Lunch!:  Evidently there were enough times that I told him he couldn't eat something because it was almost lunch time, we were having the item for lunch, or something, because now he responds with "lunch" in question or exclamation form every. single. time. I tell him he can't eat something.

* Yetz:  His version of "yes".

LOVE SHOWN THROUGH A LETTER

I have been the recipient of a whole lot of W love lately!!  Want to see the newest additions to the W collection?

Sachi saw this blanket and thought of me because the chevron pattern is like a long string of Ws.  I love it!  I think it's been used every day since she gave it to me nearly two weeks ago.

As if the W/chevron pattern wasn't enough coolness for one girl to handle, which it is, the blanket happens to be made from my two favorite colors.  Not only is it my two favorite colors, but it's shades of blue and green that go perfectly with my crazy cobalt and lime walls.  Check this out! 

 

 

The next form of W love was given to me anonymously.  My friend Ruby makes felt Christmas ornaments, including buttoned monograms.  I received a package from her a week ago with an ornament enclosed, along with a note saying it was from one of my Sonlight sisters.  It immediately went on our tree and will be moved to the W wall later today.

 

Ruby's shop, which is currently closed for Christmas, gave a significant part of their profits toward an adoption grant for Simon during December.  I love knowing that a W that I love will also help a family bring Simon home!

Then it was Christmas day.  I opened several Ws from Carol and one that was in a bag of gifts left anonymously at our front door the week before Christmas.  A magnetic notepad, a package of cards and envelopes, a wall hook, a box of scratch paper, an ornament, and two large Ws to hang on the wall.  I'll probably leave the white one as is because I don't have a plain white one, but I'm going to do something fun with the other one.  I don't know if I'll just paint it or venture out on the limb of crafty stuff.  I'll let you know once I figure it out.

 

 

Fun, fun, fun!!  I love how each of my Ws reminds me of a person, trip, or situation that makes me smile.  

TIM + BETHANY - KIDS = A FUN MORNING

Our friend Kelli recently asked if she could come hang out with the little Ws so that Tim and I could have some time alone.  Is that sweet or what?  She came over after breakfast this morning and we took off.  We had no plan in place, so we ran a couple errands, then sat in a parking lot trying to figure out how to kill some more time. 

The weather was cruddy, so hiking or doing anything else outdoors was out.  We didn't want to spend a bunch of money.   We have a gift card for a place we could have gone, but we really want to save it for a family outing.  So, Tim fired up the engine and took off down the road.  Where did he go?  Aurora.  Why?  Because I've said a few times over the years that I'd love to spend a day looking in all the antique shops there. 

We didn't have all day, but we did have the morning, so we went to one small store and three big ones.  Oh my!!!  I love, love, love browsing antique stores!  Pretty glassware and dishes don't excite me at all, but there are always so many other interesting things.  It's like a history lesson and it's so fun!  I always find a few things to covet and tons of things I think are cool, but wouldn't actually want to own.  I'm also finding that the older I get, the more things I recognize from my own childhood.  Seeing things you grew up using being sold in an antique store is a bit of a reality check, but it's still fun.

We stopped at Hwy 99E. Antique Mall, Main Street Merchantile, Aurora Mills, and South End Antique Mall before it was time to head home.  Some day I'm going to go back and look in all the rest of the stores, but that may need to wait until the summer. It was pretty chilly walking around today!

Here's a picture of Tim and I in Aurora Mills, followed by a blurry (because I want to post it now, rather than wait for natural light tomorrow) picture of two-inch piece of aluminum that Tim splurged on.  True love.

I'm thankful for Kelli's thoughtfulness in offering to watch the little Ws and her grace under fire when the morning didn't go quite as planned.  And, no, I'm not blogging about those details.  We'll just leave it at "Kelli's awesome, even when it's hard to be awesome". 

I'm thankful for Tim's thoughtfulness in picking something to do that he remembered me mentioning in the past and commemorating the occasion with a souvenir W. 

Such a fun morning!

173.72 MILES OF FUN

25.64 miles - Our friend Carol had invited Naomi and I to lunch as a birthday gift for Naomi and yesterday was the big day.  Naomi and I took off, picking up Carol on the way.  The first thing Carol did when she got in the car was to give Naomi a beautiful scarf she had knit.  Naomi put it on immediately, of course, then we headed to Lavender Bleu Tea Room.  

The weather was beautiful and Naomi chose to have us sit outside.  All the food and tea was delicious, but I think one of the best parts of the whole thing was the look on Naomi's face when her plate arrived with the "Little Ones Tea".  Her eyes grew wide as she looked at all the miniature goodies laid before her.  Highly impressed and with much emphasis she said, "Wow!" We chatted over our lunch for well over an hour, then spent some time browsing the gift shop before heading home. 

Here's a picture of all three of us.

And one of the birthday girl with her new scarf on.

Isn't she looking grown up?!

25.64 miles - We headed back toward our homes, Carol and I chatting on the way to her house.  As she got out of the car, Carol handed me a bag with some candy for Tim and the big boys, a charm for Naomi, and two little somethings for me.  Sneaky lady!  Naomi had said she wanted to be with Carol as we browsed the store, so I had wandered around other areas in order for Naomi to have Carol to herself for a bit.  Turns out they were choosing little treats for everyone.  Want to see what Carol gave me? 

A magnet, which is now on the W magnetic board my sister made for me.

And a charm, which is now hanging on my W charm stand.

I love Ws.  And I love Carol.  But I loved Carol before she gave me Ws.

61.24 miles - Tim left for an interview the minute we returned from our lunch date, then I left for a slumber party the minute he returned from his interview.  I hopped back in the car for a trip to Battle Ground.  There was crazy Friday afternoon traffic, so I averaged 30 mph for the whole trip, but I turned off the radio and just enjoyed the silence.  I may or may not have missed an exit near the end of my trip.  If I had missed one, though, then it would have only added five minutes of travel time and one crass, yet very helpful, gas station employee to the trip.  Hypothetically, of course. 

Friday night was spent with five other ladies and one of my favorite babies.  I love time with these girls -  time spent eating and laughing, talking about superficial and serious things, then eating and laughing some more. We stayed up til about 1:30 Saturday morning, then hit the sack. 

This morning we woke up and lounged around the house all morning.  I think it was about 1:00 by the time everyone had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed.  It was such a relaxing morning! 

One of the things I learned this morning, which I feel a moral obligation to share with you, is that Pepperidge Farm's French Vanilla Pirouettes go really well with Thea's fruit salsa, which is a blended combo of strawberries, apples (I think she uses Pink Ladies), and kiwis.  This is important information that I will be sure to use for the rest of my life.  Don't know what Pirouettes are?  Here's a visual. 

One of our group had to leave at 1:00, but the rest of us went to The Catalyst a little later so that another member of the group could get her nose pierced.  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a group picture when we were all at the house, but we did manage to snap one on the piercing outing, though we were missing one person.

Once the nose ring mission was accomplished we headed back to the house for more eating, laughing, and talking.    

61.24 miles - A couple of the gals chose to stay one more night, but two of us needed to head back to our own homes this evening.  So I hopped back in the car for a nice drive home with the windows down, radio off, and a smile on my face.

LETTERS ON MY WALLS

First, the letters S, D, N, and T.  Where?  The bathroom.  Why?  Partly because I wanted something dark on the walls of a fairly light and neutral room.  Partly because I wanted there to be no question at all which kid is responsible for any towel that may be left on the floor.  An empty letter equals a guilty kid. 

Second, the letter W.  Where?  The living room.  Why?  Because I've dreamed of having a wall of Ws for a long time and finally have the opportunity.

Oh, how I love this wall!! 

I intentionally spread things out to fill the space and so that there would be room to add other Ws I accumulate over time. The frame on the left was filled with five Ws a couple years ago and hung horizontally.  We need to redo it with six Ws and I'd like it to be vertical this time, so I just hung it that way and we'll make new Ws soon.  There are a couple silver ornaments that were given to me by friends, a wooden type setting block I got while at the BFM last year, two other Ws found while hanging with friends in and around Seattle, a woven W made by a friend, magnetic Ws from friends, a cookie sheet my sister put a W on and turned into a magnet holder for me, and a few Ws with no special story behind them.  And my crafty W, of course, which ended up supplying a nice punch of non-black, non-white, non-silver to the collection.

The only thing that didn't work out the way I planned was the jewelry holder you see on the left of the TV cabinet.  I picked it up a couple months ago, back when I thought I was going to put all the Ws above the fireplace, and intended to put it on the mantle.  It's too big for the shelves I hung on the wall and looks lame on the TV cabinet, but it's the only place I have to hang my W charms.  I'm mulling over some other options, but for now it's staying by the iPod dock. 

I really wanted a random, bright, bold, fun living room and it's finally coming together.  Love it!

FOUR MORE Ws

I've noticed Home Treasures, a little gift & home decor shop in town, several times, but I never have a chance to stop when I'm driving by. A few days ago my sister and I popped in to check it out. The vast majority of the inventory is stuff that's too pretty or formal for my taste, but a lot of it would make good gifts for various people in my life.

They did, however, have a nice selection of something I like. Ws. Oh, yes, I came home with four new Ws. Four! The silver and pink floral ones are magnets, which now reside on my fridge with the other W magnets, and the round ones are charms that will go in an eclectic display of Ws that I'm collecting.

I know it's silly that I love Ws so much , but I'm ok with it. We all have our quirks and this one is pretty harmless.

BFM '11 - SEATTLE

The BFM, which stands for Big Fat Meetup, is an annual weekend away for women who met on a homeschooling forum that I'm part of. It has nothing to do with school and everything to do with laughing, eating, and playing for three nights and four days. The location changes every year and three years ago a string of financial miracles allowed me to go when it was in Huntington Beach. This year it was in Seattle and since it was close enough for me drive to we planned ahead for me to go. As it turned out, I ended up co-planning the weekend with my friend Heidi. Tim is currently unemployed, which puts a damper on vacations, but we'd already paid for the trip, so I went and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I'll tell you a little about my trip, but I must confess that I have very few pictures. I don't know how I managed to come home with an almost empty camera, so I guess I'll be stealing pictures from friends who went and were more diligent about taking some.

I filled my van with three local-ish friends and headed north on Thursday morning, picked up Heidi (my co-planner), then went to our hotel, which was on Lake Union, to greet people as they arrived. Deana showed up with some booties she'd made for the 6th W. So thoughtful!



Some of the group went to Melting Pot for dinner and some of us ate from the rooftop of a building downtown (someone loaned their apartment to a member of our group for the weekend). I was in the rooftop group and we all bought our dinners at Whole Foods, then elevated into the Seattle skyline. Not only was the view amazing, but dinner was great, the company was fun, and I got to eat the best cheesecake in the entire world. This picture doesn't come remotely close to doing the view justice or showing what a gorgeous day it was, but I had to include it so that you could get an idea of what it was like.



We all met back at the hotel Thursday evening for chatting, snacking, and playing a game involving fun trivia about each of us. Heidi and I handed out bags filled with all sorts of goodies, including these totes with a logo our friend, another Heidi, designed and embroidered.




Aren't they cute?! The embroidery Heidi is the same one who has done some of my Ws, both embroidered and woven. We were also able to take the logo design and have it put on water bottles for everyone. So fun!

On Friday morning several of us met at Pike Place Market and spent a chunk of time shopping, eating, and visiting the gum wall. An attempt at taking the Underground Tour fell through, so a group of us headed to a Greek restaurant for lunch, then headed different directions. My group started at Pioneer Square and walked toward Seattle Center, stopping when the mood struck. The mood certainly struck when we came upon a gazillion trees with sweaters in Occidental Park. Hilarious!



Our group met at Ride the Ducks, which was highlight of scheduled events for me. So fun! Lots of historical information for the tour aspect, but also some good music, a funny captain, and lots of laughing as we rode an amphibious vehicle down the roads and through the waters of Seattle. Bonus points for getting to sit with Heidi, the co-planner variety!



Just a quick shot of the skyline from the middle of Lake Union taken while on our Duck Ride.



After our tour was done, we walked a couple blocks to Buca Di Beppo and inhaled a fantastic dinner. That night several of us hung out in the pool room, whether chatting around a table, swimming in the pool, or soaking in the hot tub.

Saturday morning was spent lounging around our room as people got ready for the day, then we all hopped on the Bainbridge Ferry. I ended up spending our time there with Thea. We split a gigantic panini, laughed hysterically as we tried on silly glasses, and found a few treasures as we browsed the shops. We ran into a couple BFMers on the ferry back to Seattle and kicked around with them on the waterfront as we killed time before dinner.

That day I scored two Ws! The blue one was from a shop on Bainbridge Island and the other is a type setting block that Thea found at an antique store. Pretty pleased with those two purchases!



Saturday night's dinner was at The Crab Pot, which was delicious. Some of the group went to do karaoke and the other part went back to the hotel. I'd had about 10 hours of sleep in two nights by that point and had walked countless miles over a few days, so I opted to head to the hotel and relax in the pool room with some of the people from our group before heading to bed.

Sunday morning we all met for breakfast in the hotel, then everyone headed for home. Leslie gave me these knit dishcloths, which I'm happy about. Someone else had made me some a few years ago, but I'm a dork and ruined them while washing sharp knives. Lesson learned and the new ones won't be used for that purpose.



The time away was physically exhausting, but otherwise totally refreshing. Of course, there are a million details I've left out, funny stories that won't ever be shared publicly, and loads of memories made. I'm so thankful I was able to go!!

1/20/11 THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the magnets I was surprised with last night. More importantly, I'm thankful that every time I look at them I'll think of Michelle, the person who gave them to me, and be reminded of her thoughtfulness (she randomly came across these, thought of me, and bought them), creativity (she makes super fun soaps), and generosity (she donated products to an adoption fundraiser a friend of mine was having, a woman Michelle would never meet).

What's one thing that you're thankful for?

11/25/10 THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that Tom & Linda are part of Tim's life, that they consider him (and the wife & kids he's accumulated over the years) as family, and that they include us in their Thanksgiving festivities each year, along with their other kids.

On a less serious note, I'm also thankful that Amy, my pseudo-sister-in-law, gave me this fantastic Christmas ornament today. Love it!

What's something that you're thankful for?

PORTLAND-ISH TO SEATTLE-ISH

Cheri, Toni, and I were talking a couple months ago about our desire for some girl time and a road trip. So, I asked Heidi (one of the gazillion that I know) if she'd be willing to let us sleep on her floor and couch, which are located in a town that would require a little bit of traveling to get to. Well, she said yes, then it morphed into a group of Portland-ish girls driving up and one Boise-ish girl driving over to Seattle-ish, and spending the weekend with a bunch of girls that live up there. There were about fifteen people involved over the weekend and it the first time I'd met four of them, though we all know each other online.

Oh, it was such a fun weekend!! We met up at the Country Village Shops in Bothell and spent the afternoon there. Lots of cute shops and plenty of socializing taking place while we browsed and shopped. I bought my first random (meaning, it doesn't match anything I own and serves no practical purpose) W at a kids' clothing store there. It's amazingly gaudy and you'll be shocked I actually spent money on it. Truly. In fact, I'm shocked. But it's always going to remind me of a weekend with friends, so it's worth it.

Saturday night we hung out at Heidi's house and ate a truckload of food - some snacks that people had brought and a bunch of Mexican food that Heidi had prepared for us. Then we stayed up late talking, laughing, talking, laughing, talking, lau .... well, you get the idea. The locals all went home between 10 and 1 to sleep in their own beds, then the rest of us put on jammies and stayed up as late as 3:00.

We, along with some of the locals who came back over, had a leisurely morning on Sunday, staying in jammies til almost noon and eating a fantastic breakfast that Heidi had prepared. She is truly the hostess with the mostess!! All we wanted was a place to sleep, but she really pampered us.

Although we were in the Seattle area, we skipped the city stuff and stuck with visiting smaller areas. So, after we all got dressed, we headed to downtown Edmonds for a little shopping (and a lot of browsing) in all the cute shops they have. I bought some over-priced gummy grapefruit so the group could all experience them and Melanie loved them enough to buy her own bag. I also got an ice cream spade (we like them more than scoops) and a clove-scented candle that's awesome. Eating was next on the agenda and we opted for seafood. Toni and I ended up going halves on the two meals we couldn't decide between. So, I ate half of an incredibly yummy Hawaiian cobb salad and half of a crispy coconut prawn bowl, plus the bread that comes with the meal. They almost had to roll me out the door. So stuffed!!

Then it was time to drive south, dropping people off along the way. A personal milestone occurred on the trip home when I pumped my own gas for the first time. That's right, folks, I'd never pumped gas. I've lived in Oregon most of my life and other people have pumped when I've been in other states. Crazy, huh? Faith did an excellent job of coaching me, though, so I wasn't totally winging it.

You'd think the story would end there, but it doesn't. I'll tell you the rest in a second, but first I'll show you some pictures.

The Friday night group - This is the group that met in Bothell ... minus one, plus three.
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We got to "meet" the son of one person in our group. Having your picture on a milk carton isn't always a bad thing.

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I won a contest about a week ago and my prize was hand-delivered over the weekend. Cute little cosmetic bag, huh?
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My totally crazy W purchase ... I mean funky souvenir. Pink beads, orange fabric, sequins, little bells. Yeah, it's odd.

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The Sunday night group - This is who we spent the earlier part of the day with, minus two.

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I'm so thankful for the time away from the daily grind, laughing so much my cheeks hurt, talking about all sorts of things, and just relaxing!

Ok, I said the story didn't end there. Here's the scoop. We had stopped at a Burger King in Kelso to drop someone off. I started to get back in the van, but the other three passengers had to use the bathroom. Ok, fine. So, I wait inside by the door while they do their thing. I'm thumbing through a magazine and hear someone behind me ask if there's a hotel nearby. Then she asks if it's within walking distance. Odd question, considering it's dark and drizzly outside, so I glance back to see who it was. This girl (well, I thought she was younger than she turned out to be) is in tears and trying to coordinate hotel arrangements with someone on the phone. I hear her say the young guy who was giving her hotel info had offered to give her a ride down the street to the hotel. I'm sure he's a great BK employee and he acted like a total gentleman, but it just made more sense for a group of moms to take her than a guy on his own. Right?

Anyway, my friends are coming out of the bathroom by this point, so I slyly ask them what they think about offering her a ride. They all agree and we find out she needs to be in Portland by the next morning to catch a flight. So, we brought her along with us, took her to a hotel she had reserved, found out the reservation didn't go through because the company's server was down, wait for that online reservation to get canceled, then took her to another hotel, waited for her to get her room key, gave her a hug, then left ... and still got home at a reasonable hour.

I looked her up on Facebook when I got home to let her know we wanted to make sure she got back home safely. She wrote back and ended up becoming my FB friend. So fun! I've never given a ride to a stranger before and may never do it again, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. Guess it was a good (or God, as it seems in hindsight) thing my friends all needed to go to the bathroom (or we'd have left without going inside) and that I didn't (or I'd have been in the bathroom & never been aware of the situation).

And that concludes the story ... well, some of the highlights, anyway ... of my weekend.

I GOT ANOTHER "W"

I love it! When I first discovered Heidi's monograms, I fell in love. I told her I wanted a backpack with a "W" or one that I could hang on my wall. As we weren't able to find a bag I liked, I opted to get the "W" for my wall, which I showed to you last month.

I loved it and decided to just hold tight on the backpack. Well, Heidi sent me a message saying that her supplier had just come out with a bag she thought I'd like. She was right and I placed my order. Here's what arrived in the mail today.

The front.

The back. Notice the handy dandy zippered area back there? Love it.

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Modeled by a very satisfied customer.

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Now, I'm not one to spend money frivolously and I never pay full-price for anything. However, I always have a little stash of Christmas and birthday money that takes me forever to spend. I recently decided that I would use that money to splurge on handmade items for myself and not think about how I could buy something comparable at Target for a fraction of the price. I must say, that's really hard for me to do. Not the spending money on myself part, just the aspect of not spending the minimum possible on something I want. It goes against my nature in a huge way! However, I love the things I buy, my friends (or the strangers whose monogrammed magnets I may have to buy) earn some money, and it's money that was intended to play with in the first place. Everyone wins!

"W"

I like the letter "W". It's how we've identified our family ever since I was pregnant with Silas - 2 1/2 Ws then through 5 Ws now. We've slowly started collecting the letter. Random, but fun.

Anyway, I've acquired three new ones in the last week and wanted to show them to you. Since I was loading those pics, I figured I'd just show you all of them. It won't take long. Promise. Feel free to ignore the blinding reflection of the camera flash.

5 Ws - My creative idea for the year, which will get updated every New Years Day.

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The 4-inch W from Michael's.

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The 1-foot W from Kohl's.
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The magnet collection - bottle cap Ws found in Tillamook a few days ago, black & white W from Old Navy, wood textured W from Michael's.
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The custom W, which is in an 8x10 frame, made by my friend Heidi, The Blissful Stitcher. She does all sorts of custom embroidery, so go check out her site!!
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CAPE LOOKOUT STATE PARK - 2010

We got back a few hours ago from a few days on the coast.

Sunday - We load up the truck .... wait. Back up. Truck? We don't own a truck. Well, Sunday morning Tim headed out to help with parking at church. About ten minutes later the rest of us got in the van to head the same way. However, the van wouldn't turn on. Dashboard lights came on, headlights worked, but the engine wouldn't start.

We hop out of the van, leave a message for Tim to pick us up, then start walking toward church. We make it more than mile, though I'm carrying Naomi for the sake of speed, when a friend from church drives by and offers us a ride. Needless to say, she was my best friend for the day because carrying the 30 pound Nomes-a-licious up the hill we'd just climbed kinda wore me out.

Anyway, we come home & I post something on Facebook about our little adventure, thanking our rescue driver, and how we're loading up Tim's car for the camping trip we had planned. We didn't want to forfeit our trip, so we opted to cram into Tim's car and deal with the van when we got home. I'm an efficient, minimalist packer and Tim's good at spatial things, so we managed to get all of our gear into Tim's car. Of course the kids knees would have been at their chins and there wouldn't have been enough room for anyone to inhale deeply, but we were still going to be able to go on our trip.

Right about the time we got it all loaded, we got a phone call from a friend offering us their truck. How awesome is that?! So, Tim unloaded the car, took off to swap vehicles, loaded the truck, and we took off for the Cape Lookout State Park. We arrived around 4:00. One kid felt carsick on the drive and puked within two minutes of putting their feet on solid ground. Then we spent the evening relaxing, roasting marshmallows, and walking around the campground.

Monday - From a blogging standpoint, it was a very boring day. From a mental health standpoint, it was wonderful. We did a whole lot of nothing. The boys rode their bikes around our loop countless times, Naomi got one bike lap in, I read a book and took a nap, Tim did Sudoku at the fire, we spent a couple hours at the beach, ate taco bowls with Fritos, and hit the sack at a reasonable hour. It was great!

One reason, but three examples, of why I don't have any great beach pictures of the kids -they're always bent over.

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Tim & I - Yes, I know the glasses are all wrong, but I seem to have an abnormally large head and this is the first pair in years that doesn't crush my skull. Comfort trumps fashion.

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I love this one of Tim!

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Tuesday - After breakfast we head into town for a visit at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Silas has been there twice with the church's grade school group, but it was the first visit for the rest of us. We watch cheese get cut into blocks and packaged, then head downstairs for some samples, shopping in the gift store, and eating ice cream. The bargain shopper in me cringes at buying five cones for the same price I could get three cartons, but it's all part of the fun. Plus, it probably tastes better when you eat it at the factory. Right? Ok. I also find a couple "W" magnets to add to our collection. By "add" I mean "double". We now have four "W" magnets.

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Pistachio

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Coffee

Mint Chip

Orange Sherbet

Caramel Toffee Crunch

After the factory we headed to a city park to let the kids get some wiggles out, then stopped in at the Pancake House for lunch. I think their fries just bumped Mike's down to second place. Maybe not. I'll probably have to have a few more servings from each place to make an objective call on that one. They were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and not too greasy. I ate way too many!

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Tuesday afternoon was naps for the Tim, Devon, and Naomi, a book for me, & puzzles for Silas. Then Silas and I went on a walk (me)/bike ride (him) and played Rack-O while everyone else continued to sleep.

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That night I ran into a family that had gone to Simple Faith, our church in Ashland, had moved to Portland a few years ago, and was camping about ten spots down the road from us. We hadn't seen them in five years and it was fun catching up!

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Later in the evening the boys & I went to one of the campground programs. This particular one was about the various rocks you can find in the area and the boys were impressed. We wrapped things up with some time at the fire, then went to bed.

The token family picture. The miracle? We got an "all eyes open, everyone looking toward the camera, no silly faces" shot on our first try!!
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Wednesday - The kids woke up about 7:00 and we pulled out just after 8:00. The plan was to visit the Tillamook Forest Center on the way home. The reality is that we got there almost an hour before they opened. We opted to skip it this time and just head home. Bummer.

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The carsick kid didn't get carsick. Excellent.

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We had to pass our old neighborhood on the way home, so the kids ask to drive by the house we used to live in. We see one of our old neighbors and the kids all get to pet her dog, which they've missed doing.

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Then it's home. I get laundry started and give Naomi a bath. Tim & the boys unload. Everyone helps put stuff away. Devon gets cleaned up while Silas makes lunch. Silas gets a shower. All three kids go down for naps. I get a shower. Tim meets the tow truck as it takes our van off to get fixed, then he cashes in his freebie birthday burger coupon at Red Robin. I take a shower, fail at an attempt at napping, and get this blog posted. Whew! What a day!