Hooray for Groupons!

I purchased a groupon for two tickets on the Oregon Coast Railroad a month or so ago thinking it would be something fun to do while Alan was out-of -town last weekend.  When we woke up to a gorgeous, warm day though, I was seriously tempted to bag the 2-hour trip to the probably cool and cloudy coast.  I'm so glad I didn't though.  Amazingly, it was warm and sunny at the beach too and Spencer loved every minute of the ride.   Well, except for the parts where A. was trying to hug him. ;)  Turns out Spencer doesn't care much for physcial affection from other kids.

We met some friends there and boarded the trail in Garibaldi, rode 30 minutes to Rockaway Beach, bummed around an antique shop for 30 minutes, then rode the train back to Garibaldi.  We were in a covered car on the way out, but Rich was kind enough to save us some seats on the open-air car for the ride back.  Much more fun!  I came prepared with winter coats and blankets, but I didn't need more than a light jacket and Spencer was fine without anything.  The sunset over the Tillamook Bay was lovely.  The lady letting her pet parakeet pick bits of dead skin off her chest was not.  So gross!

Spencer and A. ran around on this playgroup for a few minutes before getting back in the car for the trip home.  Remember the old merry-go-round at the SJ park, family?  This was a miniture version of that one.  I can't believe none of us ever got seriously injured on that thing!  It was a little too scary for Spencer.

This was not our train.  Just a cool, old steam engine.

Thanks for inviting us friends!  I'm so glad I didn't bum out.  It was definitely worth the drive for us.

Preschool '12-'13

This was Spencer's first day of preschool last week.  We have an older group of kids this year - all going to kindergarten next year.  And, we purchased a curriculum that I'm excited about.  It will be a lot less work for me and hopefully the kids will learn a lot more.  Spencer is loving it so far and it's nice that I can schedule some of my chiropractor appointments during preschool so he doesn't always have to come with me.

Almost Fall at the Oregon Garden

Spencer and I joined some fun friends from book group on a quick trip to the Oregon Garden last week.  We had gone with my parents in July and loved it so much that I jumped at the chance to go again.  The flowers weren't quite as stunning this time of year, but it was still gorgeous.  This might sound crazy coming from an AZ desert girl, but I actually like the browns and yellows we start seeing in the plants at the beginning of fall.  It's refreshing after all of the brilliant green.  Anyway, we had a great time at the garden again. 

This wind chime was Spencer's favorite part of the garden this time.  He was the only one of the kids who was tall enough to jump up and move the chimes.  The little girls sure tried hard though.

All of our friends left right after lunch for nap time.  One of the benefits of having a 4-year-old is that we're not tied down to naps anymore.  We stayed and rode the open-air tram and then went back to the Children's Garden.  I was so glad we did because the model train was actually working when we went back!  Spencer was in heaven!

This one's for you, Elise.

Slug drinking fountain.  Yuck!

Thanks for the fun time friends!

One last time

We had one of our last hot afternoons last week and Alan got a half day off work for his efforts putting on the annual Farmer's 5k, so we decided we'd better enjoy our favorite splash park one last time for the summer.  I'll let the smiles tell the rest.

Balance Bike

We had planned to get Spencer a balance bike for his birthday clear back in April, but the specific one we wanted wasn't on the market yet.  We've been waiting for it all summer long while the nice weather slipped away.  A few weeks ago, I finally gave up waiting and ordered a different bike.  These are pics of his first time on it.  He was excited to try it out, but the excitement quickly disappeared when he realized that he was much slower on the bike than he is on his tricycle.  Now, it's a challenge to get him on the bike at all, but he's slowly getting better.  I'm crossing my fingers for lots more nice bike riding weather this fall.

Road Trip (continued)

After our short stay with Elise, Eric & Porter, Spencer and I headed south towards Provo.  On the way, we stopped by Alicia's fabulous, new house in Lehi.  We played a few card games then went out to dinner at Zuppas.  Why are there so many great restaurants in Utah that never come to Oregon?!  Thanks for the fun, too quick visit Alicia!

The main reason for this trip was my 9th roommate reunion!  The first one took place when I was just a sophomore.  We used to hold reunions every year when most of us lived in Utah.  Now that we're spread out all over the west, we get together every other year.  Still pretty impressive, if you ask me.  I was so blessed to wind up with such an awesome group of girls.  And, thank heavens for blogs and facebook that have helped us keep in touch.

This year, we met at Audra's house in Provo.  Her four adorable kids vacated their rooms so we could all have a bed.  I had planned to have Spencer tagging along with me the whole time, but Audra's husband offered to keep him at home with the rest of the kids.  Thank you Ron!  Spencer had such a great time - way more fun than he would have had with the mommies.

The five of us roomies (and 4-month-old C.) spent the day visiting Bridal Veil Falls, driving by our old apartments, walking all over BYU campus and eating dinner at Brick Oven.  It's amazing to me how the years fall away every time we get together.  We've all had different challenges and experiences, but we're still so much the same too.

Usually, I'm the one doing the flying pose in our pictures, but we thought it would be fun (and a whole lot lighter!) to pass it on to the next generation this time.

Spencer and I started our long drive home on Sunday morning.  We spent a little while walking around Temple Square; Spencer's first time.  The flowers were as gorgeous as always and he loved all of the fountains.  It was a lovely place to be on a Sunday morning.

We wound up driving 3/4 of the way home on Sunday and it was a LONG day, but it meant that we were home by about noon on Monday morning.  N. and I both decided that it would definitely be worth doing again.  Thanks for being such a great travel buddy N! 

Road Trip

Last week, my good friend and I loaded up our 3 combined kiddos for a road trip to Utah.  I think it's normally a 12-13 hour drive, but we broke it up into two days and took lots of long breaks at parks along the way.  Spencer isn't a very good traveler and I had no idea how my friend's two-year-old and 5-month-old would do so I was nervous.  Besides a rough 3-hour stretch on the way home, it went much better than I anticipated.  I drove almost the whole way and N. got the much harder job of keeping the kids entertained.  I bought a portable dvd player just for this trip and it was worth every penny.

After pulling off the freeway in Brigham City for lunch on the 2nd day of our drive, we decided to eat up by the new temple.  We were thrilled to discover that the open house for the brand new temple was still going on, so we pulled our nicest clothes out of our suitcases and went through.  It was so neat to be able to take Spencer through a temple.  He was kind of grouchy before we went in, but I think he could feel the special spirit inside.  We loved all of the natural light and the gorgeous chandeliers.  I told Spencer that he was super lucky because not many 4-year-olds get to go inside a temple.

We dropped N, A and J off in Bountiful to visit their family then Spencer and I continued down to Kearns to see Elise.  They have a great, new house and the boys had a lot of fun playing in the backyard and with Porter's toys. The fighting and lack of sharing made it obvious that they're both only children though.





On Thursday, Elise drove us up in the mountains to Silver Lake.  The mountains are one thing I really miss about Utah.  The leaves in the canyon were just starting to turn and it was beautiful.  Silver Lake is small and has a nice walkway all the way around it.  It was perfect for running, climbing and seeing a few animals.

This was how Spencer did his "exercises."

I was sad that we only got to spend about two days with Elise and her family.  I think the boys would get along better if they got to play together more often.  Thanks for being such a great hostess Elise!

Neskowin Beach

Hooray for Labor Day and another weekend without a race!  We take every chance we get to head to the coast in the summer and this time we were even lucky enough to stay the night in Darwin and Debbie's beach house.  We didn't leave until after dinner on Friday night, but it meant that we had ALL day Saturday to play.  We slept in, then Spencer watched cartoons while I got ready and Alan went on a long run.  After a lazy morning, we finally headed out the door for the beach around 11:30.  Alan broke the house key in the lock though, so we wound up spending the next hour and a half searching for a spare key and having a new key made.  I think we finally got to the beach around 1:00 and it was so perfect that we forgot all about the key and had a lovely afternoon.

We drove a little north of Lincoln City to Neskowin beach this time.  There was a big island to block the wind and a little river with calm, warm water - perfect for Spencer.  The weather was sunny and almost hot - by far the best beach weather we've had in YEARS.  It felt great!  Alan and Spencer dug a trench and ran away from the waves.  I got some good reading time and made sand cakes with Spencer.

He liked making "sand gloves."

After pizza for dinner, we got to see Alicia and some of her friends for a few minutes before heading home.  We put Spencer in his jammies and he slept the entire way.  What a great, mini-vacation!