The Bridge House

Natalie and cute little Anna - best buds
Angela trying out her octopus kite!
Sarah took this picture of a BIG bubble! These were a hit!
We got soaked playing in the water.

The Bridge House - I LOVE the landscaping at Bella Beach
Adorable cousins at the aquarium.
Ready to fly some kites!
I love this picture - it reminds me of Lord of the Flies for some reason. (o:

The Twinkie and chocolate money treasure was found!

I am trying to play catch up from the summer and can't forget one of our most memorable summer events! Our trip with Kelly and Lisa to Bella Beach!! What a blast! Kelly and Lisa made the long trek to Oregon and we got a beach house together for a few days. We had such a great time and I LOVED watching the cousins bond and make some fun memories together. Since this was our first trip in August at Bella Beach, I couldn't wait. August is the dryest and warmest month of the year. I couldn't wait to enjoy the sunshine and packed all our summer and beach attire. I was pretty bummed when we arrived to rain and we had rain almost the whole time! Plus it was freezing! What in the world? Oh well, we had a beautiful house to hang out in and we had breaks in the weather that we took full advantage of. Some of my favorite memories from the trip were...

1. Shopping at Safeway and dinner prep with Lisa - sounds ordinary, but it was fun to hang out with my sister-in-law that I never get to see! I enjoyed our dinners around the big table together too.

2. Visiting the Newport Aquarium on one of the rainy-er days. Besides the fact that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fish and learning about ocean life, I loved watching the cousins experience it together. Sarah and Kelton held hands through the aquarium almost the entire time and were always pointing at something cool. I liked seeing the wonder as the kids looked at jellyfish, pet starfish and watched big sharks swim right over our heads.

3. I loved meeting our little nephew, Corban, for the first time since his birth in May. (I still need to meet little Sammy - drat these 1200 miles from family!) I loved getting to hold him and snuggling with him. -Sigh -

4. Doing art projects and games with the kiddos for inside entertainment. We painted ocean scenes, had a treasure hunt and did HUGE GIGANTIC bubbles on the porch. One of my favorite memories was when we all - adults included - played Sardines in the house. It was hilarious! We laughed a lot and had to be creative to find places to hide where everyone could fit!

5. Buying kites for the kids at an awesome kite store in Newport and testing them out on the beach during one of the dry spells! They each got their own kits and were so cute all flying them. Kelly and his brother I am married to* - tried flying a stunt kite for a while which was a bit entertaining.

6. Watching the kids all play by the ocean and taking zillions of pictures. At one time, I was the adult in charge of making sure none of our kids got swept off in the sea. It was so fun to just observe and get a glimpse into the world of being a kid. They were hilarious. I got a lot of bum shots of Cameron and Anna. They stood on their feet and leaned over playing in the sand, almost with their heads down between their knees. Then when the waves came, they'd jump up and run. One time, Anna didn't see the wave coming and it made her do a little somersault. She was soaked, but wanted to keep playing!

7. The adult time after we got kids to bed was so fun. Kelly and Lisa are so much fun. I can't remember all the things we laughed about while we played games and hung out together. With the kinds of subjects Kelly and Frank* bring up it's probably better I don't remember them. Oh I remember one conversation starter, "If there was one commandment you could take out of the original 10, which would it be?" That sparked some funny conversation.

8. Lunch at Arctic Circle in Newport and the snazzy sunglasses all the kids got with their kids' meals. Kind of ironic since we didn't need to use them. Simple things like eating corndogs together were so fun. I love family!

9. Seeing Mr. Magoo* having so much fun with his brother. They are pretty funny. I think a highlight for them was buying the live crab and cooking and eating it together. And we will never forget the look on Cameron's face when he saw the crab and then watched his uncle place it in a pot of boiling water.

10. Natalie and Sarah and Angela, for that matter, couldn't get enough of holding Corban. Natalie even preferred holding him to finding the treasure in the treasure hunt! The kids were all so cute together. I remember one time with all of the adults were downstairs with the baby and it was eerily very quiet. I decided I better check on the kids. They were all huddled in the big closet in the boys room playing Tinker Toys together. I think Anna had fun having some girl companions and she really bonded with all of our girls, but especially seemed to love to be with Sarah and Natalie.