Beating the Heat

This past weekend was record hot up here, I think it got to 101. Here are some fun things we did. (warning this is another long post)
Enjoying a little ice cream. They are definately our kids. They always want ice cream!

On Friday Ian's parents invited us to Lincoln City with them, they had been staying at their friend's, the Monsons beach house. The weather said it was supposed to be 80 on the beach so we decided it would be worth the 2hr drive. We got there in the morning and it looked beautiful but.....you stepped outside and just about got blown away. So we did a little shopping at the outlet stores, and ate lunch back at the house waiting for it to get a little warmer, then headed to the beach. It would have been soo nice if the wind wasn't blowing so hard. Here are a few of the pictures from our 15 minutes we stayed on the beach. Gunner did not even care that he was about being blown over, and the sand was blasting you, he was just excited for his new toy.



We had about enough of the wind and decided to go to Devil's lake just off the beach and try to find some sand there. We ended up finding this perfect little place and the kids had a really fun time. Malia charged right into the water, and was almost too brave. She dared to get in up to her neck. I was mad because I had taken the blow up toys out of the beach bag thinking we wouldn't use them on the beach, they would have been perfect where we ended up. She came back in one time after she had almost fell, and said "I was so scared and I caught myself and started to swim, and that was sooo fun!"


Gunner was pretty much content to just dump water into his toy, but every once in a while he would all of a sudden get brave and head out pretty deep. A couple of times he went under a little and Ian had to run down to pull him up and he would be scared of the water for a few minutes but a little while later we would see him charge out into the water again. In the car on the way home that night he told us the whole story. He said "Water, Fell, Mouth, Water, Daddy, Help, Scared, Water, Mouth." I was videoing it at the time so didn't get a picture of him in the water.

They also just enjoyed playing in the sand and having Aunt "Anrees" as Gunner says bury them in the sand.



We ended up having a good time even though we weren't at the ocean beach, but it was nice not being wind blown, and the kids had a lot of fun so it was worth it.

On Saturday, we were going to go to the zoo, but we were so tired from the beach, we just decided to go to the farmers market, and play in the water fountain. The kids were hilarious. Malia charged right in as usual.





Gunner on the other hand was too "scared". He kept running up the stairs away, and this is how he spent the first half of the time.

After the big sprayers went off, we finally got him to go in, and had a hard time getting him out, and by then Malia was done.





Then he started getting braver and started running and jumping and his little personality came out.




He was getting some good air!

When we got home we got to enjoy our purchase from the farmer's market...the strawberries! We love this time of year!

A few updates

Here are a few things that have happened around here these past couple of weeks. As soon as we got back from Mexico, Gunner's binkie's got "lost" at Grandma's house. It only took that first night of crying a little for a half hour, and then he only asked for them a couple other times. Like it was for Malia, the binkie was more for Mom and Dad than for him, he couldn't care less now.
The next thing is Gunner is potty trained! I figured it was easier to just wipe and dump than changing diapers with my wrist. And depending on what you consider potty trained, he was pretty much trained in one day! By the 2nd day he was going both and had no accidents. He has even started staying dry during nap time. He is very good at going all by himself, and the only way I would know he was going was I would hear YEAH!! CLAP!!! We then moved the top of his potty to the big potty and he thinks he is such a big boy now for going on the big one. We now only have to conquer going at places other than the house, and he is doing good now too. At church it was the hardest he needed to go but the first time trying it without his seat he was a little scared, so would only do a little squirt and want off. He would just hold it, until Ian showed him how to do it standing up. He went right away. Good thing he hasn't connected that at home yet.
The next thing is I got the pins taken out of my wrist!!



Yeah! But wow, I still can't move my wrist, I will be going to physical therapy for a while. I also got graduated from this ugly splint that I wore for 5 weeks..

To this one for two more weeks.

Then last, we finally planted our grass!! With my wrist, typical Oregon weather that didn't copperate very well, either way too wet, or way too hot, and a few minor glitches with the sprinkler system, we had way too many setbacks, and got it in almost a month later than planned, but it's in. And hopefully by the end of July we can actually appreciate it. Here are a few of the pictures from the looonngg process.
First the tractor...


Then the rolling, thank goodness for a 4 wheeler!



Then lots and lots of raking, and then lots and lots of more raking.


Then the sprinkler system..


Then lime, fertilizer, seed, mulch, and more rolling.

And voila....
(this is not dead grass, it is the mulch)


If it actually grows I will post pictures when it is green :)
Now maybe we can enjoy our summer instead of spending every minute working, there is still more little things to do, but we are going to be busy the rest of the summer with fun things!!!

Thumbs Up!!!

Yesterday at lunch, we look over at Gunner and he has his hands in fists with his pointer finger sticking out on both hands, and he starts saying "Down" and then pushes each pointer finger down. He had to say Down and and pushed them down a few times before they would stay, and then we realized what he was trying to do. He finally did it, then yelled "Thumbs up"!!!

The little birds

So I never had time to post these pictures before we left for Mexico, but the little birds finally hatched! I had checked in the morning around 9am that day and they weren't hatched, but by 1pm, we saw them running around! We went over to the parking lot and we found one already squished on the road, the kids were sad. Then a few days later while Ian and his Dad were working on the yard, they saw a hawk flying away with one in it's talons, and the dad chasing behind it! The parents were so loud that week trying to protect the babies, it was annoying! The internet said they learn to fly within the first week and take off. After the few first days we never saw them again, so we don't know if the other two made it or not.

In this picture you can barely see the baby in the upper right hand corner.


They also liked to run and hide in the grass.

Tribute to the Fathers in my life...

I have 4 wonderful amazing fathers in my life. First is the wonderful father to my two kids. He is the best dad, and he loves his kids so much (even though at times it is hard.) He loves to just get on the floor and play with them, and they love him! He works so hard for our family, and has taken on a lot these past few weeks and hasn't complained even with all the things that he has wanted to do getting put on the back burner. I love him so much and couldn't have found a better Father for my kids!
Second is my Dad. He is such a great example of a hard working Dad. There just isn't anything that he can't do and do well. You can always get the best advice from him, and I love him, and he is a great Grandpa and we miss him lots!
Third is my Father-in-law, and I couldn't ask for a better one than him. He has welcomed me into their family like I was always there. He is always willing to help us out and is a great Grandpa too. He has to put up with a lot from us living so close and we love him for doing it.
Last is my Father in Heaven who is always there for me, even when I probably don't deserve it. I know he loves me and is mindful of me and my family through all the trials we go through and most important he gave us his Son so that we may return to him.
So on this Father's day I am so greatful and blessed to have all these wonderful Fathers in my life!

Mexico!!

We got back last night from Ixtapa. It was so beautiful and hot! We had quite the shock when we landed back home and it was only in the 50's! We had a great time considering....and it was a nice relaxing trip (atleast for me).
This is our Hotel. It was one of the first ones built in Ixtapa. Ixtapa is a tiny town built just for the tourists. We were there on the beginning of their rainy season (it only rained the day we were leaving) and so it was their slow time. It was so nice for it to not be busy with people. The only thing was that we were some of the very few Americans because this is a huge place for Mexican vacations too. I probably would have felt a little uncomfortable if it wasn't for Ian, who spoke Spanish to everyone, we didn't feel as much like outsiders.


This is looking down the beach from the hotel.


Here are some pictures from our balcony, and our awesome swimming pool with slides, the kids would have loved it!





This is the inside of the hotel.




Aligators on the way to Ixtapa Island.



We had to take a little water taxi over to the island, and they liked to pack us on there!



This was the most beautiful beach on Ixtapa Island. It was awesome for snorkeling, atleast Ian said :) He saw some awesome fish, his favorite being what they called a trumpet fish. About 3-4 ft long and about 4-5 inches around with a long nose.





As soon as we would get near the water taxis tons of people would come up to you and try to get you to go to their restaraunt, and sit at their tables when you go to the island. We chose good and the food and drinks there were great! This is also how I spent my time on the island.



The room service food was great too, and fun to sit on the balcony and watch the waves.



Here we are getting serenaded on the water taxi going to Las Gatas beach in Zijuatenejo. Zijua (as most called it) is the real populated little city, and more like the real culture of Mexico. It still had some awesome resort places on the beaches!





This is Las Gatas beach only accessible by water taxi, and the best beach by far that we went to.



Ian snorkeled most of the time and I read my book on the beach. I did venture out a few times and dared to go up to my waist. I was just afraid I was going to fall and get my splint wet. It felt so good to get in the water after laying in the sun and we both still got sunburned even after putting sunscreen on 5 times a day, and staying under the umbrellas most of the time.



This was our attempt to use our timer on the camera, and get a picture of both of us in the beautiful water. This was the best one, didn't go too well...


We decided to save money and take the $1.40 bus ride to Zijua and Ixtapa Island instead of the $6 or $7 taxi ride each time. Some of the buses weren't bad, but the first one we took was seriously like a mini roller coaster! Thank goodness they got a little better each time we took them (or maybe I just go used to it).



This place is called Franks and everyone had told us to go there. It is a little Sports bar and the owner is from Canada. We had an awesome BBQ pizza there made in a brick oven, and my new favorite drink, that I got addicted to; Mansana Sol. It is basically Apple pop.


This was my favorite part of the trip beacuse it was something I could do, the shopping and "getting a good deal". In the background is one of the smaller flee markets by our Hotel. (oh and don't mind my funky hair and pony tails in all the pictures, that is probably one of the hardest things for me with my broken wrist, I can't even put my hair in a pony tail! Poor Ian, that is one of the many chores he got stuck with. What a good husband! He is getting realy good at them now:) )


One of the nights at our hotel they closed the pool early and had this huge dinner for a group that Ian said translated was Crazy people Anonymous or something like that. The cool thing about it was they did fireworks for them, and it was awesome to see them at about eye level over the beach and ocean.






Ian also spent some time body boarding on the beach outside our Hotel, and I think he had a lot of fun doing that. There were some awesome waves!






While I was sitting watching Ian (what I did a lot of), I had to deal with all the people trying to sell you things on the beach, well this guy just came and sat this Iguana on my stomach, and said I take your picture! Then probably because of the look on my face kept saying no worries, no worries. Then he picked it up, and sat it on my shoulder then head!! I knew the kids would get a kick out of that picture and they did. Then of course he said don't forget the tip! I about said you put it on me, I didn't ask for it, but I was nice and tipped him :)




And we can't forget the very yummy ice cream we loved to get! Mango w/vanilla and coconut were the favorites!




Overall we had an awesome and relaxing time. We would definately go there again, preferably when we can go do the things we (I) couldn't do this time that looked so fun, like jet skiing on the ocean, sea kayaking, paragliding, zip lines, swimming with the dolphins, and the water park two blocks from our Hotel. It was nice to get away, but of course we missed the kids, and thought in some ways it would be fun to have them there (our Hotel had lots of stuff for kids). They survived without us, and I think Grandpa and Grandma probably barely survived, but we really appreciate them tending for us! We knew they would be in good hands.
So if anyone wants to go, we will go with you!!!!