Rockaway Beach

For weeks before we left for the beach, the kids talked to my parents on the phone and made plans for what we were going to do at the beach. One day, my mom and B were talking about roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. B told my mom that we were bringing marshmallows, but who had the sticks? He said, "I can bring the sticks, I save my corn dog sticks (doesn't everyone? He seriously does, not kidding, he uses them for his art projects). My mom sustained her laughter long enough to let him know that they might not be long enough. She let him know that they had long roasting sticks at the house we were renting. Too cute! B so excited to finally be roasting!!

Proud boy, and he let me know his hot dog was, "DEEElicious!"

Princess Ellie.

We went to Cannon beach one day and had lunch at Mo's. Across the parking lot was this cool little park. We played there for a while and let the kids burn off some energy. I think Kent had as much fun as the kids. They had this cool contraption that you could spin on. It made me sick just watching, but Kent and the kids loved it!

Monkey girls.

Spinning and spinning.

How many people can fit on a tiny spinner?

This pic. is out of order, but I had to sneak it in because it is so dang funny. You can't tell very well (thank goodness), but Ellie has a bare bum. Every time we went down to the beach the kids got soaked! Finally on the last day I thought it would be a good idea to put their suits on. However, before that, their clothes were soaked! The girls ended up getting rashes from their diapers and legs rubbing together and chafing. On the walk back to the beach house I thought it would be more comfy if they were buck. They thought I was crazy, but it was a lot better for all of us, then I didn't have to carry them!

Working and working.

Every time Dani stepped onto the sand she would break out into giggles. It was the cutest thing, I think she thought the squishy sand felt funny.

Dani working and working, that bucket of water probably weighed more than her.

Ellie getting ready to load her bucket up with water. I think Brayden was in charge (surprise) and he had the girls hauling the water while he manned the sandcastle and dug the hole.

After seeing these pics. I know why B decided to stay near the hole and keep it safe. The girls thought it was great fun to destroy it and knock all the sand back into it. As you can imagine, B was not pleased after his trip back from the ocean with his water.

Ooooh, not so happy about his "naughty sisters!"

Hhmm, working together?? That's a new concept!

We had a great trip to the beach with Grandma and Grandpa we can't wait for next time!

I also was lucky enough to see almost all of the 'couve girls. I had a great, relaxing lunch with Lins, Kathy and Connor. AND a nice, long, relaxing dinner with Jocey and Sarah. Thanks for sharing all of your Uganda pics. Jocey. I loved catching up with you girls! I can't wait for our next trip to the 'couve! Sarah thank you so much for our special trip to OMSI, the kids LOVED it, and so did we!

Great-Grandma Wagener's house

On the way to the beach (not really on the way, since G-ma's is South of the beach) we stopped to visit my Grandma. She was thrilled to see the kids, since we hadn't seen her since Christmas. It was fun to watch the kids play with all the toys I remember having as a kid. It is amazing what great shape they are in, considering they went through my siblings and my cousins too! Dani was so snugly with Grandma, which is so unusual for her, it was really cute.

Big smiles from Dani and G-ma.

I even got snuggles from Dani.....

....and Brayden.

I love this pic! Brayden looks so old though.

Ellie wasn't being too cooperative, so this is the best pic. we got.

The whole gang with Great-Grandma!

G & G's House

After an almost 8 hour drive, we arrived and G & G's! Everyone was very excited, we had been counting down the days for weeks! One of the first things they did was hunt for "polliwogs" as my mom says (tadpoles). I thought this was the funniest thing, I never would have thought my mom would like to do this, but she was way more excited than the kids. YAY GRANDMA! They headed out to the little pond at my parent's house and Brayden swatted the net around in the water. This made the polliwogs dive for cover, and B couldn't understand where they all went. After lots of patience and more waiting, they finally caught quite a few. Some just had tails and some had two legs. The kids were fascinated! The plan was to watch them over the week to see how they changed, but we left for the beach and the jar was still sitting on the counter.....

For dinner the first night Mom grilled and we had corn on the cob. For some reason my kids have never had corn on the cob. I think it's because Kent won't eat it, because it gets stuck in his teeth and it drives him crazy.....I thought watching the kids gnaw on the corn was hilarious, they were chewing on the end for a while before they figured out how to eat it right. Here are a bunch of pics. I am such a dork, sitting at the dinner table, taking pics. of my kids eating. Who does that???

Brayden went to town on his.

Ellie was all about digging in!

Danielle thought it was pretty tasty and she felt like such a big kid!

Riverfront Park

A few weeks ago we headed downtown to Riverfront Park. We met Kent's brother, Kelly, and his family there, along with Unlce Pete, who was visiting from Florida. It was a hot day, but the kids were rarin' to go on the rides.

Ellie cruisin' on the bumper boats.

Uncle Kelly was trying to talk to Dani and this is what she did the entire time she was on the boat. Her head was down and she could not see a thing. This is the funniest thing because she will never look at Kelly! He tries to give her hugs and talk to her, but she won't have anything to do with him, BUT he is the one she talks about the most EVERYDAY! "Where's Uncle, Uncle's truck, Uncle at work." I don't get it, but it makes me laugh!


I refused to go on the ferris wheel, so Kent and Uncle Pete took the kids.

Brayden on the bumper cars ready to smash Dad and Uncle Pete.

Uncle Pete got the boys.....

...and Kent got to hang with all the pretty girls!

Ahh, from the mouths of babes

"Mom, how many times do I have to ask you that?!?" Says Brayden in his stern four (almost five) year old voice. I wanted to get mad at him, but I know those words cames straight from my mouth.

...3, 4 LOCK the door

Yesterday was a first for me.... the girls chose not to nap. This was not the first time, but what happened during the nap time process was not pretty, and was a first. I was trying to get some billing finished and B was watching a Clifford movie that we got from the library (can't beat that). For over an hour I heard some playing, screaming, jumping, laughing and banging. I went upstairs about a million times, while in the back of my mind I was thinking, oh well, they will eventually fall asleep and then they will sleep later than normal and we'll have a fun, happy evening. (Kent and B were going to a friend's so it was just going to be the girls and me). HOWEVER, that was not the girls' plan. After an hour and a half (I held out hope for a LONG time), I heard screams of terror. I thought for sure someone had broken something. I quickly went to their room and tried to open the door....no such luck. It was locked! (First of all, why do we have locks on the bedroom doors anyway??? Of course, we had no kids when we chose this, but kids or no kids, why would we have locks on the bedroom doors?? What were our naive, young selves thinking?) Anyway, a wave of panic came over me, but I knew I could get them out. Meanwhile, I can hear Ellie FREAKING out. She kept saying over and over, "You do it Mommy, You do it!" As in, open the door Mommy and get us out! I went to the bathroom and got the little tool, gadget thingy and got it out of the drawer. I calmly started twisting it in the lock for what seemed like forever, pretty soon, I was feeling very hot and sweat was starting to form on my brow, while Ellie is still freaking out. I assumed Dani was just standing there laughing at the whole episode. I kept jamming the damn tool in the door knob, but I couldn't pop the lock. Brayden kept running up and down the hall giving me REALLY helpful tips. :) I finally took a deep breath, started laughing (I guess inappropriately, but what else could I do?) and finally was able to twist the lock. I opened the door and Ellie could not have been happier to see me, however Danielle (the one who got us into this whole mess) was choosing to be oblivious to the whole thing and was cooking at her kitchen. EERRR, I guess nap time is over. This made for a very enjoyable evening, with two, grumpy two year olds all to myself!

P.S. I really wanted to grab my camera while I was picking the lock and snap a pic. as soon as I got the door open, (I knew Dani would be doing something w/o even caring about what was going on), but I thought that might be a little over the top of inappropriate.

More water.....

When the weather was hot, we were in the water everyday! The kids LOVE to swim, splash and play. It is pretty amazing to watch. Brayden would take the hose, or bucket of water and just DUMP it over the girls' heads. They don't know any different, and thought it was perfectly fine. I found myself getting upset because B was nearly dry and the girls were drowned rats. Is there a need to correct Brayden? I kept telling the girls to dump water on him, but they wouldn't. They would walk over to me, where I was sitting nice and dry, and say, "Dump-a you?" (dump on you), then laugh and say, "NO, dump-a myself!" Then they would dump it all on themselves!But they never once got me or Brayden! I couldn't help myself and I did end up getting Brayden pretty wet!

They quickly learned, the one with the hose has all the power!

Brayden at it again, this time with the hose!

Dani, notice no one is near her!

The kids decided to get ALL the toys out of the garage. Of course, most of them were filthy dirty and they wanted to put them in the pool. We told Brayden he had to wash them first! He spent a good 20 minutes scrubbing and scrubbing this ONE ball. I think that was the only one that ended up in the pool. It was too funny, just like his Dad (neat and clean, perfectionist, I can't really relate).

Dani. I'm not sure what she did, but judging from her face, it must have been something naughty!

Here I am, LOVING the sitting and watching part of my day!

Ellie up to more tricks. "Watch-a me Mama!"

Miss Ellie.