Slumber Party Fun

This year we skipped the big birthday party Kelsey usually has and as you read on the last post, we took her to dinner. I promised she could have a slumber party with a few friends. She had her party this past saturday. It was a whirlwind of chaos but I think everyone had a blast. Scott and I set up the tent on the back patio for them, complete with a tv and air mattresses.

I think I was a bit more ambitious when I was shopping than I was when the party actually arrived. I bought tie dye and tshirts. It was extremely messy so not sure I'll try that again. I think the kids like the results, but it was something I'd never done before so I know that you need a lot more dye than it looks like or it doesn't soak all the way through the shirt. But it was still fun... I suppose. I didn't want to send the kids home with dye all over their clothes so I was a bit OCD about them touching the stuff, but it worked out.

Another first for me was making Pizza on the barbeque grill. Still wondering why I thought I had so much energy. But it was a hot day and I really didn't want to heat up the house with the oven. If i was smart, I'd have bought the pizza at Papa Murphys and then put it on the grill, but nope, not me, I bought frozen dough and did it myself.

The rest of the night consisted of the girls playing games, smores over the fire pit, making braceletts and a movie. This morning we had waffles and fresh fruit. Oh and whipped cream, Jocelyn obviously enjoyed the whipped cream. :)

HAPPY 10th Birthday Kelsey

It seems a lot of my posts start with "Happy" something don't they? :) I really need to become more original. Yesterday was Kelsey's 10th Birthday, it was a ton of fun. For all of us. This year was a big one for her, not just because she entered double digits but because she ended up with a laptop and dinner at a japanese steakhouse.

We had a ton of fun torturing her with her gift. Since her laptop was a more expensive gift than we've ever bought for her before, we decided it was her one and only gift. But we still wanted her to enjoy opening gifts. So, we wrapped a picture of the laptop in a box and then wrapped that box inside another and so on. I think she ended up with about 7 boxes to open before finding the picture. Then had to stare at the picture for a minute to see what it was and where it was sitting. While she was busy unwrapping I snuck into her room and set up the computer. I know I'm a bit crazy for buying her such an extravagant gift now, but I justify it by reminding myself that our desktop is a dinosaur and she couldn't even load games on it. Plus, I got sick of sharing my laptop for her reports during the school year. :) Also, when I was growing up, there was no need for a computer as a gift, I always had one in my room and even if I didn't, there were 2 or 3 others in the house.

Thank you Great Grandma and Grandpa Perez for the clothes.

Thank you Great Grandma and Grandpa Spadt for the Polly Pockets


Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Waring for the computer case, clothes, money, hairdryer and straight iron. (hmm... spoiled much?)


Starting to open her picture.

Thanks for the brick!! This is what we used to give the box a little bit of weight.

What the heck?! ANOTHER BOX?!

Seriously mom?! Another one? I think here she was saying, "Oh my GAWD, another box."



I think by now she's just trying to figure out why she spent all that time unwrapping for a picture. I missed her expression when she figured it out and took off running down the hall.

Checking out her new toy. And yes, she thinks it's a toy. She keeps wanting to take it places, to daycare, to Jocelyns. I guess I should've gone for a desktop. :) But the laptop will be nice when I do allow her to take it places.... someday. But by then, she might need a new one because this one will be outdated.


Great Grandma and Grandpa Spadt (to Kelsey) and Grandma and Grandpa Waring also joined us for her birthday celebration. We had an excellent dinner at a local restaurant called Samurai's. The kids loved it. We got to watch someone cook our food in front of us and he even drew a heart with a smiley face on the grill and then lit it on fire for her. After we ate, they rolled out a big set of drums and Kelsey got to play them.

Braden's first try at chopsticks. he did awesome. Ate a whole salad that way and a lot of his fried rice before changing.

This was Kelsey's first try. I only added the picture because as I was taking the picture and laughing about her having her mouth wide open, a woman tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that we have two beautiful kids. :) Very nice of her.




This was Kelsey's flaming heart/smiley face. What, you don't see it?!

This was Kelsey playing the drums, it's pretty dark and difficult to see, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

Happy Belated 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!! Belated of course. I'm behind on my updates, nothing new.

Our 4th of July this year was fairly low key. We almost never leave our house, instead we invite people here and between us and our neighbors have lots of food, friends and fireworks. This year was quieter but we still ended up with a fairly good size crowd. We enjoyed a BBQ at the neighbors house, played a couple board games and then sat in our culdesac watching the boys blow things up. Scott even let the kids do a couple of their own. The kids getting to light them made me a little nervous but Scott watched them carefully. Actually, Braden never lit any, he just got to hold the bottle for the bottle rocket.

The dogs behaved very well and Gauge didn't freak out too much at the noises. Especially since there were 6 or 7 of them running around between the two houses. We had our fences open between the houses which allowed the kids and dogs plenty of room to run.

The Newport Aquarium

On our last and final day in Newport, we decided to go to the aquarium. Scott and I went there more than 10 years ago when Keiko the Killer Whale was there. From what I remember, the aquarium has changed quite a bit and it's nothing like what I remember before. Keiko is gone and they obviously did some remodel. It was a lot of fun and there was plenty of hands on touch pools for the kids to enjoy.


Gee... Kelsey looks thrilled that I asked her to touch the starfish so I could get a picture.



Check out this giant crab... oh and the one in the tank behind him. I would not want to run into one of these in the ocean!! Poor Braden, not sure if you can tell in this picture, but his head was as red as a cherry tomato! He got burnt the first day. I wish I knew who his parents were so I could tell them off for forgetting to put sunscreen on his newly shaved head.

The Devils Punch Bowl

I know, I know... I still haven't finished showing off our trip to Newport. There was just so much and so many pictures I haven't been able to decide what to post about. Plus, now it's been so long I've forgotten what to say. But atleast the pictures are fun to see.

Everytime we go to Newport, we take a trip to Depoe Bay and the Devil's Punch Bowl. The beach there is our favorite and most successful for searching for Agates. The shot above is a picture looking down into the bowl just before low tide.

This picture was taken on our walk toward the bowl. You have to wade through some water and walk over some algae covered slippery rocks to get there.

Here is everyone inside the bowl. Kelsey and I were still on our way in.

The 3 of us inside hunting for rocks. I had to carry Braden because he got a bit chilled. It was not the warmest day we had and it was even chillier inside the bowl.

Scott and I are standing towards the mouth of the bowl - where the water comes in - getting sprayed by waves. The "low tide" wasn't very low this time and we were too worried to stay inside for more than about 20 minutes. People have been stuck before. I don't want to be the one who has to have a helicopter come rescue me from above.

After that we enjoyed some beach time and rock hunting.

Braden even got to fly Oliver's kite for a short time. I wish I would've thought of getting him one but it didn't even occur to me.

There is a point you can go around by crossing a bunch of rocks when the tide is out. I caught up with the rest of the gang and this is what they had run across. A bunch of Seals hanging out on the beach. We were able to sit about 20 feet away from them in the piles of rocks and they just ignored us. The one glaring at me stared for a long time before finally leaving.

This guy didn't seem to mind us at all. He even took a nap while we sat on the beach next to him. It was pretty neat to see these guys. In fact, I'm still in trouble for not hiking back around the point to tell Scott and the kids so they could see them.

One of the traditions in Depoe Bay is to get ice cream.