Hug Point

It's the name of a beach about an hour and a half from our house. Last Monday in honor of A.Deb's 24th birthday and also because we hadn't been to the beach in a long time we ( three sisters, kids and Grandma Jo) piled into the van and went there.

The drive went well, as you can see the kids arm wrestled to pass the time.

We had just pulled up and were getting every one out of the van when there was a roar and we looked up in time to see the Blue Angels fly by in their Delta triangle formation. It was quite a welcome! They are getting ready for the air show the weekend of Aug.9 th at the Hillsboro airport.

It was a bit chilly at first but once we got down on the beach in the sun it felt great!

Phi was not sure about the sand and had to get used to it, probably didn't help that he got woke up from his very short nap as we got there.

Miss Kate didn't mind it at all.. well may be!

We dug Leroy a little hole in the sand and he was happy!

So was Miss Kate to have him down were she could reach him.

" Let me help you with your jacket Leroy!"

The kids played in the sand...

until Miss Kate decided it was lunch time...

"Yumm! just what I was looking for"

"It would sure taste better with out the plastic!"

"Umm! " Enjoying the yummy sandwiches Gramma Jo brought.

Leroy enjoying his sippy.

After lunch Miss Kate and Leroy took naps in the double stroller while Phi and A. Deb made sand castle volcanoes.

Then we decided to stroll down and check out the ocean.

Rocks! well, pebbles, they taste almost as good!

There were some cool scum bubbles after the waves came that were great fun to pop!

Also the Tonka dump truck was great on the wet packed sand for cruising.

We headed down to this very cool, fresh water fall at the edge of the beach.

Going to check it out.

Phi was entertained by it for sometime.

Until Miss Kate and Leroy woke up.

"Hmm it might be more fun if this moved."

"Or NOT!!"

Leroy enjoying the sand on his toes.

"This is fun guys!"

Our little beach bum.

Phi started off the day unsure of this stuff and ended the day rolling in it.

...And dumping buckets of it over his head. It was a great day with beautiful weather enticing us to go back again soon.

Kate's mommy contributed some of these photos of the day.

Verse for the day:
The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Psalm 93:4

Our Memorial Day

To begin with Daddy arrived home safely on Saturday.
He was an hour after schedule as they decided
the plane needed new wipers after they had
backed out from the gate in Anchorage, but he's here ! (;
There was an awesome thunder storm Saturday night
which Phi and us enjoyed from our bedroom window.
It lasted for an hour with almost continuous flashes
of lightening followed by very impressive BOOMS of thunder.
It was Phi's first storm like that but he thought it was neat to watch
and gabber about so long as we were there. Sunday was a relaxing day
with meetings and a rest in the after noon.
That night there was a YP sing out at
the pond which we attended. It was a bit drippy but the
real shower held back until we were
just done singing around the fire.
Then "the rain came down" and we hurried to
set up a canopy over the refreshment table. Leroy slept through it all,
cozy in his car seat, well Phi enjoyed some goodies. I forgot my camera
so that's why this is not a picture post. Some brave souls camped
put for the night but we went home to our dry beds,
and returned in the morning.

Jenn kindly gave me some copies of the pictures she took
as usual they're great. Leroy's curious about what she's doing?!?

Phi found some puddle which were in abundant supply.
there were quite a few wet kids through the day.

Miss Kate and I watched her daddy and mommy
and lots of cousins and friends play baseball .
They had a great game and the sun even came out
(almost) toward the end. By 5:00 everyone was ready to
head for their homes so we had an impromptu family gathering
for dinner and chatting at our house. I think I do better at spur of the
moment gatherings. the house wasn't entirely clean but we had a
fun time anyways!
It's back to work to day on what feels like it should be another day off.
Because of the thunder storm things started off busy at work, with afew
businesses having had power outages over the weekend and just finding
out their phone systems aren't up to par today. But it's good to have Daddy
back in town.

A lovely...interupted...picinic.

On Saturday we it was a beautiful sunshiny 95 degree day,
so we decided to go disc golfing along the Columbia Gorge w/
Kate and her Daddy and Mommy.

Here's Leroy enjoying the shade of his stroller.

We played a few rounds and then it was decided that the
guys would head out together to return the bosses car,
(farther up the gorge) that we still had from the
trip earlier that week while us ladies and the kiddos were
going to wait for them at Benson Park.
It was so hot and sticky and the kiddos were sweating

and trying to keep cool .

There is a lovely little creek that runs through the
park and we found a little island in it just across the railroad
tracks that run along the edge of the park.

So we happily set out our picnic snacks,

stuck our water and carrots in the creek to get them cooled again

and were all enjoying ourselves.

Leroy had just joined the picnic when we heard
a train whistle in the distance...
This mom thought naively 'Oh cool we'll get to see a train up close"

As the train reached this point
(we're all directly below the bottom of the picture)
he blew his whistle again
long and loud at which point we all went deaf and there was
much action on the part of the small ones in the party.
I now understand the phase about a barreling freight train,
I did not know they were sooo loud, thankfully it was a short one.
Deb had grabbed Leroy and covered his ears and I had Phi as he had jumped
up ready to run..somewhere... while Kate after the initial scare was peering
around me trying to watch the train, while we tried to cover everyones ears
at once. It took Phi a good ten mintutes to get over it and he kept wanting to
find safe places to hide.

Safely back at the car were Phi wanted right out of the stroller and into
his car seat..Let's get outta here!
Thus ended our lovely, interrupted, picnic.