Last Getaway of the Summer

Our last getaway for the summer was spent at Olivia Beach in Lincoln City. We stayed in a nice, new 3-story house with 4 bedrooms. There is a cute neighborhood park just a couple of houses away that we enjoyed spending time at. We crammed a lot into 2 days - celebrating Kelsey's birthday, playing games, making smores, playing some sand volleyball, hiking up and down 165 stairs to the beach, jumping off rocks, playing football, shopping at the outlet mall, riding scooters, eating delicious pizza, going on walks, taking a trip to the candy store, spending time in the hot tub, and giving Amy a hard time about Facebook :) It was fun watching the cousins play so well together and watching the older cousins visit with each other. They are now friends as well as cousins. McKenzie and Kelsey spent a little time on the roof and then immediately spent some time in a timeout...I guess I'm getting paid back for the times I jumped from my friend's second story loft onto her couch on the first floor... We missed having Mary, Sam, and Alex share the fun, but we're happy that Sara was able to join all of us. Kelsey was in heaven getting to spend time with all of her girl cousins on her birthday.

Kelsey's Almost Nine!!

Today Kelsey celebrated her 9th birthday with a cooking and swimming party. We celebrated at the Merry Kitchen - Kelsey chose the menu of homemade chicken nuggets, french fries, a fruit salad, and a chocolate "peace" cake. The girls had so much fun learning how to make everything, and then we all got to have lunch at the end. Peter was even able to join us for lunch since his work is only 5 minutes away. The peace cake was especially delicious! Each of the kids got a packet of recipes from the class. After the cooking class we went swimming at the Wilson Pool - it was very crowded but very fun!! We opened presents in the back of the van (no one had ever done that before!) Kelsey is now sound asleep on the couch after a fun, busy day. She is looking forward to her "family party" at the beach this weekend with her cousins.

Another Great Weekend

We had so much fun camping with friends from our life group this weekend! Four hundred and fifty people from our church spent the weekend at Nehalem Bay Campground in Manzanita. The weather was beautiful, so we spent lots of time on the beach, bike riding, and walking around the camp. We went on a bike ride to the bay where there is an airstrip, and a plane took off right over our heads. McKenzie enjoyed the "night games" for the middle and high school kids. She played capture the flag on the beach in the dark with the help of glow sticks. We played many games of Farkel (a fun dice game), baked cinnamon apples in the fire, played ladder golf, ate smores, and just had lots of fun being together. Peter was the AAA man at the end of the weekend, as he had to jump start 4 cars because of dead batteries! Of course, we stopped at Waves of Grain bakery in Cannon Beach on our way home for coffee, cookies, and cupcakes :)