sneaker waves

There had been a lot of warning signs for sneaker waves... and I think every one of us got caught by one at some point on the trip.
However, I don't know if any of them were documented, and not nearly as well as this one that Kyle documented of Porter.
Kyle and the boys were out flying kites on the beach while I was taking a nap.

A little boy, thrilled to be flying a kite... has no idea what is approaching him from behind.

At first, he was only a little nervous.

But then he started to get wet.

At this point, Kyle ditched the photos and ran to save Porter. Those sneaker waves were quite sneaky. Just when you thought you were safe, one would jump up and get you.
And although he got pretty wet, Porter was mostly happy that he kept his kite in the air the entire time.

Family Pictures

While tidepooling, we found a beautiful little spot for some pictures. But there was a slight catch, you could only reach the spot at low tide. So we headed out early one morning to take some shots... and it was an interesting session.

We ended up with many pictures without Bridger... cause he was running around.

And loads of pictures where he decided to join in, but not even remotely focus on the camera (we really couldn't figure out what he was laughing at here... he was staring at a rock)

After trying for a good picture for a while, we had to make it fun by frowning for a few pictures so that they would smile for others.

From getting photo-bombed by the boys when we tried to take couple shots.

 To the actual photo-bomber... he saw us setting up the picture for a while, and decided just when we all got into the frame to run across behind us and get distracted by the tide-pools so that there isn't a single photo without him in the background.

We were able to get some fun pictures of the boys showing that they really are best friends.

And at the end of it all, we had a couple of great photos...

Oregon... continues

 The next morning we got up early to head out tide-pooling. I love looking for starfish, and we found quite a few. Porter loved looking for different things in the water and was so thrilled to find starfish.

 After we got back to the beach house we caught some pictures of Kenny trying to pull off a superman jump on the back of the bike.

 And he gave it his all.

We all got cleaned up from our adventures for the morning and headed south to go see some lighthouses and sea lions.
On our way we pulled over to see the Spouting Horn in Depot Bay. With the storm rolling in that day, we saw some really big splashes as the waves would come in.

 After lunch at Mo's and checking out the bathing sea lions, we headed to Heceta Head Lighthouse.

 You can see the lighthouse in the background behind the boys while they enjoy the enormous suckers from Newport's candy store.

 It's a shame that the lighthouse was closed for repairs. But the hike was fun and the views were incredible.
Such a pretty, windy, rainy day on the coast. I loved it.

Oregon continued

 

Day three started out by exploring our beach. The boys really didn't see much of a difference in the ocean from when we were in Carlsbad back in September. Until they had been out in the water for quite some time, they didn't care/didn't realize how cold it was.

 

The boys had fun playing with the seaweed, and playing in the sand.  Here they are building volcanos in the sand. 

 

It was a beautiful walk along the beach, and a little climb up a sandhill to see some really pretty views.

 

Not the best wave that we saw here, but it was pretty cool to see this big hole in the rock with the waves coming up through it.

Kyle and the boys playing tag on the beach.

Porter loved playing in the sand. Rolling down it, digging in it, building things out of it...

 It was a fun morning, but I think all the running and the playing around wore the boys out. They fell asleep on our way to Tillamook. Porter was so tired that he slept on my lap through all of lunch.

 But he woke up for the air museum.

 The air museum was pretty cool. I don't know what it is about old airplanes, but I love them. Reminds me of  one of my favorite movies, Memphis Belle.

 After the air museum, we headed to the cheese factory. Squeaky cheese and ice cream was the perfect end for the day.

 

Charlie

We've been looking for dogs for a while and finally decided it was time. We kept our eyes open for a Brittany and we found him this past weekend. He's 6 months old and needs a little training, but we love him. Oh, and I think he's stunning.

The boys are so excited to have a dog... and so is their Momma!

We were not successful in finding the owners for the bunny, but we were able to give the bunny away to a lovely family who knows how to care for rabbits and they were thrilled to take him.

They boys however couldn't part with the name Charlie.

So, we are happy to introduce Charlie the dog (not to be confused with Charlie the rabbit).

Oregon 2013

For Christmas Kyle's parents rented a home on the Oregon coast for all of us to stay in for a week. We ended up going at the end of February... not the ideal time to visit the coast, but with 3 babies joining our family from spring to fall, there really wasn't a better time! And it was so much fun! I love the Oregon coast. Day one was not that picturesque however... driving through Nevada never is. But our second day started out much prettier.

Not that this was exactly what I wanted to wake up to when we left our snow covered Utah, but man it looks beautiful on 80 foot pine trees.

 Several hours later, we were out of the snow (and I could stop panicking) and we arrived at the ocean. One of my favorite places to visit on the coast. Shore Acres is incredibly beautiful and if you get the opportunity to go, I highly suggest you take it.

 We saw enormous waves, and although we were quite high above them, we even felt the spray on our faces.

It was a beautiful long scenic drive the second day up to our beach house in Pacific City.

funny boys

While Porter was writing his letter to Santa, I told him to put a period at the end of the sentence.
"What's a peridid mom?"
"A period is what goes at the end of a sentence, like this" and I put a period at the end to show him.
"Oh! That's just a dot Mom."

I drop Bridger off at school about 45 minutes after Porter, it's quite a bit of time but not enough to make it worth it to drive back home. So we try to find things to do close to their school. One morning I took Bridger to the park. The sun was out, but for some reason I didn't realize that the wind was blowing... and it was cold. We spent exactly 2 minutes at the park before we ran back to the car and once inside Bridger looked at me and said, "Mom, let's not do bad ideas anymore, okay?"

"Bridger, what did you do at school today?"
"I made a hiccupotamus!"

While trying to get Bridger dressed, "Mom, I can't wear that shirt. It's a lunch shirt."
"It's not a lunch shirt... I don't even know what a lunch shirt is, but you can wear this shirt today."
"No, mom. It's a lunch shirt and we just had breakfast. I can't have a lunch shirt for breakfast."
"Why do you think it's a lunch shirt?"
At this point he opened the shirt to look at the label... it was a Fruit of the Loom shirt with picture of fruit on the logo... apparently these are lunch shirts and are not to be worn at breakfast time.

I was making bran muffins with the boys when I started to pour the All Bran cereal into the bowl.
Bridger looked up at me and said,
"Mom, I think that's poop cereal. But, it's probably not, and it's probably good for me."
It's good that he's figured out how to identify healthy food.

While trying to teach them about money and how much each coin is worth.
Me: "So, how much is a quarter worth?"
Bridger: "A gumball"

Back in the fall when we were out chopping wood for the winter, I was standing with the boys watching Kyle chop down another tree. We heard it come crashing down and as it did it took another dead tree out with it.
Porter turned to me and said, "Well, that was destructive!"

Porter fell in love with an Angry Birds shirt and wanted to wear it day in and day out for a while. One day he came downstairs wearing it and he had worn it the previous day. I asked him to go change his shirt because it was dirty.
Bridger looked at me and said, "It's dirty?"
Me: "Yes, it's dirty."
B: "Did he pee in it?"
M: "No, he didn't pee in it. He wore it yesterday and it's dirty."
B: "Oh... did he poop in it?"

Porter was outside watching a grasshopper that had an injured wing.
"Oh no, his wing got hurt! Wah Wah Wahhh!
For a while there, any time something sad happened he would make that sound... it was hilarious. A few too many cartoons perhaps?

Porter always says, "Achoo" after every actual sneeze... make me laugh every time.

Bridger was in the bathroom when I heard him yell, "Oh no! My underwear!"
M: "What happened to your underwear?"
B: "It fell down my leg pit!"
M: "What's a leg pit?"
B: "My underwear fell down it! It's in my leg pit!"
M: "Buddy, I don't know what a leg pit is."
He finally came out of the bathroom to show me that his underwear had slid down into one of his pant legs... apparently the pant legs are leg pits.

Porter was trying to help me bake some cookies. I was holding the tray of cookies and I asked him to open the oven door for me. He put one hand on the stove and the other hand on the handle to try to pull it open. I told him not to put his hand on the stove at the same time as trying to open the door. He looked at me confused and continued to try and open it with the one arm stretched out over the open door. We went over this several times and he just got more and more confused. Finally I said,
"Porter, don't put your hand and arm above the oven when you open it, I don't want it to burn you."
"But Mom, I can't open it with my legs!!"
I hadn't realized that he thought I meant he shouldn't use his arms at all... guess I need to be more specific.

Porter thinks that my turn signals in the car are like GPS. He loves to tell me which way I need to go. I don't think he realizes that I control them yet... and I'm trying to decide when to tell him, cause he's getting really good at telling his left from his right!