Another Great Day at the Beach

Our flying trips home NEVER give us time to reconnect with everyone whom we'd like to see. Never. I've been blessed, however, to reconnect with Becky, a childhood friend at Christmas. This trip we were able to see Uncle Oli and Jim  (see posts on graduation) and today Julia and children met us at the coast.

Michael, Dad and all of the kids had a great game of "something" resembling baseball, kickball, dodge ball....

Kalila and Arielle - who would have thought at Faith Academy we'd be sitting on a beach 29 years later while our daughters played in the waves.....

Feeding Jared to the seagulls; the moral is...

Never fall asleep on the beach....see the bread on his back? 

Feeding Jared to the Seagulls!

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Where's the Ark?

It is RAINING today. I thought a nice indoor thing we could do in the rain was go to the Oregon Coastal Aquarium. I assumed wrong....who would guess so much of an aquarium in OREGON would be outside. I'm sure it's beautiful in the summer.... ::snort:: It really was a lot of fun....but was quite spendy for all the drenching we got.   Mom and Dad called as we were finishing lunch and heading for the aquarium so we met there. 

Aquarium under you 

Aquarium above you 

Shark Whisperer

Did I say it was raining? 

We came home after dinner, made Chicken Divan and had dinner. Now the guys are playing games and we're going to watch Fiddler on the Roof. There is SIGNIFICANT more estrogen than normal in our house and we think Arielle deserves a nice "girl movie" - though I personally wouldn't classify Fiddler on the Roof as girly. 




Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Practically Perfect Day on the Coast

WOW! We were blessed with an AMAZINGLY beautiful day on the Oregon Coast. This doesn't often happen. I don't know that I've EVER had such a warm and NON-WINDY day on the coast.  We have learned that NO HOUSE in Depoe Bay - even if it IS beach front - is going to be right on the beach....CLIFFS...think sheer drops....but we drove up the road a bit and found lots of fun. 

I assume logs are a problem in OR as we've seen these all over

Of course......

A live star fish thrown back in the water....one at a time...

We decided to line up for a stair step photo as this is the first time we've had all the kids together since Dec 2009. 

First we had to check to see if Jared was moving back in the line up....

Ah...Jared, Nolan and Arielle have all moved back...Zander was upset he's still second from the front....but I predict he'll "pull a Nolan" and move back 3 or 4 in the next year or two. LOL 

It was such a nice day we were able to throw and CATCH the Frisbee.

SOMEONE had to get wet! ::snort:: 

Stacia is loving her time with Bre....here you have our 5 yo and our 25 yo in one shot...doesn't happen often. Stacia told us on the other side of all the water is "Japan - and it has the best water in the world!"

 We stopped at Mo's in Lincoln City.....love the glass floats...maybe I should do something similar at home. 

The beach in Lincoln City was so inviting we spent another few hours here....

We stopped at Thriftway on the way back home....Cooked rice, made a salad, toasted a loaf of bread and the meatballs were started before we'd left the house earlier in the day. 


Next on the agenda was CHRISTMAS in MAY....the girls didn't make it to the post office.....this was fun. 

Zander got lots of practical jokes - watch out Grandpa T. 

Michael got this really nice bound book of Narnia - entire series. We've worn several sets out. 

We stopped by the Outlet Mall today (another post for another day - or not) and Michael found THIS....The Meaningful Life"  - we grabbed our strawberry shortcake and enjoyed a family movie. 

Most the family is in bed. I figure - why bother trying to adjust to this time zone. I'll be in a new one in less than a week. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

A New Home on the Coast

Our first day of our truly FAMILY vacation. We started the day with our free breakfast....then some wanted one last swim. 

I included this photo as I found it fun to sit poolside and watch the trucks at Rexius move sawdust. My Dad put himself through college and then worked off and on at Rexius for years. 

Jamin, Nolan, Zander, and Arielle play Marco Polo

Mini-me was very sad this a.m. to leave the Hampton. I think she camps like I do. ::snort::  Believe it or not, the hotel employees seemed sad to say goodbye to us too. They enjoyed watching our family grow day by day. I checked in the first night alone, then added the girls, then Mike and the younger ones, then finally Josiah and Jamin.....

Jared and Josiah decide to catch up and watch the others

The estimate for the trailer repairs was done this morning instead of at 4:00 p.m. YES. Dad and Michael went over there  and then to Les Schawb. If we can find the tire receipt they will pay the $2,000.00 damage caused by the tire blowing out.  Here the men repack the van.

Krista, Arielle and I drove up in Krista's car. We did some PWOC shopping and some GROCERY shopping. The others headed for Depoe Bay .

A think of beauty - PINK LADY apples - and .88 a LB and not $1.09 EACH. 

Last time I bought bananas in the commissary they were $1.19 a lb

We spent the evening settling in to the home we will stay in until we leave for Seattle to catch a flight home to Japan.

8 Bedrooms....means that Nolan can have his own room... Zander agreed to sleep on a couch...though now he tells me he didn't know it would be so dark and lonely alone. This may not work well. 

I love the dining room - reminds me of our dining room in AK when we had all the kids at home. LOL 

Bedrooms to the left, alcove at the end, game room on the right. If you lean out over the railing and stand on one foot you can see our ocean view. ::snort:: We've discovered that "beach front" in Depoe Bay anywhere is going to be up a cliff and not on a sandy beach.....and our home was a "view" and not a "front" anyway....but it's big, has lots of things we can do if it rains, has laundry and 7 bathrooms and we can all be together. It will work. 

Mom and Dad will join us on Wednesday. We've got your suite waiting for you! 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...