Astoria and the Long Beach Kite Festival

Last Saturday, we left for a vacation at the beach.  We rented a beach house in Seaside, OR with my aunt, uncle, and cousins but couldn't get into it until 4pm, so we decided to go to Long Beach, WA to see the annual Kite Festival first.  On our way there, we stopped in Astoria, OR to visit the Astoria Column which overlooks Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia River.  The weather was great and the view was beautiful!



(The above photo is a picture of the main group who came.  There were others who joined us for parts of the trip, but this is the original group who stayed the whole time.  From left to right: Acadia, Ryan, Me, Rori, Joy'el (Sami's friend), Lathan (Victoria's boyfriend), Victoria, Spencer, MaryJane, Matthew, Sami, Sarah, and Trey)

There are 165 stairs leading to the top of the column and we climbed every one!  (And we felt it later, too! lol)



The first thing we did in Long Beach, was visit Scoopers.  They serve HUGE ice cream cones... YUM!  Then we made our way down towards the beach to check out the kite festival.  The kites were bright and beautiful!

August

I cannot believe how fast the summer has gone by!  It is already the end of August.  Wow.

I've been working on getting my beach pics up on-line.  And while doing that, I noticed I have several miscellaneous pics on my camera from this month.  So, I thought that in the meantime, I'd share these random snapshots of our August.

Being a toddler is really hard work.  Sometimes you just need crash on your daddy's lap for a comfy afternoon nap.



Another way it's hard to be a toddler: you just can't keep clean!

 

We had some seriously hot days this summer!  At the beginning of the month, we broke all kinds of weather records.  One of the most fun ways of staying cool, was playing in the neighbor's kiddie pool.



Aurora loves books!  On this particular night, she insisted on bringing all of these books into bed with her.  lol

I could not ask for more.

We had such a wonderful time at the beach!!! None of us would have minded staying another few days - or more! The sun shone beautifully everyday. It was clear, warm, and just plain PERFECT! We had a fantastic time with family - SO. MUCH. FUN!!! I took several hundreds of pictures and I'm working on getting them up on my computer. Rest assured, I will post them soon. :)

We arrived home yesterday evening and found our home cleaner than we had left it! Our neighbors who were dog-sitting for us, hung around one day while it rained to keep Simon company (they had been taking him out for a walk each afternoon for us, but didn't thinking walking a dog in the rain would be very fun). And while they were here, they cleaned! It was such a sweet surprise! I had been fighting headaches everyday for a week before we left on our trip, so I hadn't gotten the house as clean as I would have liked. It wasn't the worst I've ever left it... but I had hoped it would be nicer so I wouldn't come home to a house that needed as much attention as the sandy clothes I'd be bringing home. ;) But thanks to incredibly kind friends, despite my lack of housework before the trip, when I got home all I had to do was unpack. I think I have the BEST NEIGHBORS... EVER!!! :)

Don't look for me here!

Because I'm HERE instead!  :)

Not much going on...

Just busy getting ready for the weekend!

•I got my hair cut, it's a little different than before. We'll be taking lots of pics at the beach, so I'm sure I'll have a pic to post later.

•Simon got his haircut, too. We still call him "puppy", but really he's an old man. He's at least 15 years old!!! And he's finally starting to look it. It used to be that when we got him shaved, he looked like a puppy, even at over 10 years old. Not anymore. He looks like a bald old man now instead. lol

•Ran a carseat over to my aunt so my cousin's little boy will have a carseat when they fly in tomorrow.

•Finished up the laundry that needed to be done.

•I started cooking/baking for our trip. I'm making some stuff ahead of time and freezing it to take there. I'm glad the weather has cooled down, it makes it much more enjoyable to have the stove and oven on. :)

Tomorrow has a long "to do" list. Shopping, more baking and cooking, PACKING, a couple of errands, pay bills, etc. I hope I get it all done in time!

It's been a weird day.

It started out alright, Rori and I were productive; we did some cleaning and went to Costco. Granted, I didn't get out of there for under $200, but when do I ever? We were almost home when everything started going weird on us.

It started with one stop light being out, then another, and another. At the fourth, there was a cop directing traffic. Huh. We got home and began unloading the car. I love the feeling of walking into a COOL house when it's already hot outside and it's not even noon yet. After I brought in what I needed to, I walked farther into the house and realized that something wasn't right. No power. Oh, so that's why the traffic lights were out.

Of course it has to happen on the hottest day of the week. Broke the record high today (the record was 94, we hit 97) but that is unimpressive after our last huge heat wave. (I don't remember if I even posted about it - we broke all sorts of records, including our all-time high - we broke it twice!) I went about trying to do what I could with no power - did dishes, cleaned some more. And thankfully, the power kicked back on about 30 minutes after I got home. Yay, no going the day without A/C! :)

But while the power was back, I couldn't get the internet to work. I waited and waited, thinking it was related to the power outage. Finally I caved and called. Turns out the power outage messed up our router. Temporary fix - skip the router and connect the motem to the PC. Permanent fix - well, that'll be up to Ryan when he gets home tonight. :S

Even with the A/C going, it's gotten pretty warm. The house is 74 now. I don't want to turn on the oven or stove to cook. Acadia just got home from spending the day boating on a lake with church friends. Despite my many warnings and instructions to wear LOTS of sunscreen, she came home burnt to a crisp. Great.

So, I texted Ryan who will be on his way home soon: Pick up aloe vera on the way home. Oh, and dinner too.

:)

I'm pretty sure blackberries are evil.

There are not many things that I do not like about living here. But blackberry bushes are certainly one of them!!!

I like blackberries. Yum! Blackberry milkshakes... MMMMMM!!!! But, you know how the devil tries to make evil things appealing? Yeah... blackberries. The blackberries make you think that the bush is a good thing, but do not be deceived!!! They are evil!!! Granted, as long as they are not on or near my yard, they are fine... but the moment one comes into my yard, CURSE THEM!!!

We've been infested by them since we bought this house. They crawl over both of our side neighbors' fences, under them, and sometimes through them! You can't get rid of them. When we cut them back and even when we dig them out, a couple of months later they are back! They are constantly trying to choke out whatever trees/plants we have along the fence and their thorns are nasty, they grab you when you're trying to walk by! We even had one branch grow over the fence, through a tree, over the pathway, and under the make-shift-awning in our backyard just in the last few weeks. It got all the way to our back door. I cut that sucker down today. lol

In fact, today I spent all afternoon ridding one fence line of the little (and not so little) buggers. I think I'll leave the other side of the house for Ryan. ;)