Beach day with cousins

Dani and Scott's family spent a few days at the coast while they were here.  We had planned to drive over and play with them one day, but Alan wound up taking the boys by himself while I stayed home and tried not to get yet another migraine.  :(  The boys had a great time and Alan and Debbie texted me pictures throughout the day.

Alan, Spencer, and Mason met everyone at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City.  That was Spencer and Mason's third time at that beach in the last three months!

Flying a kite:

They took a break from the beach and had lunch at a park.

Alan and Mason climbed all the way to the top of the huge dune.  Alan said it was really hard with Mason.

Cheese Factory!

They all had a great day and even Spencer was totally worn out by the end!

Independence Day

We celebrated Independence Day in our usual way with a fun race in the morning and a bbq with friends and family in the evening.

Dani, Spencer, and I ran the 5k.  Mason enjoyed the ride in the stroller.  :)  Spencer hasn't been running as much since track ended.  He worked hard, but didn't quite set a PR this time.  It was his 10th 5k though and he was proud of that.

This is what happens to you when you are the first children of Uberthons.  Spencer was thrilled!

Kaylee wanted to run the kid's race and Ryan wanted to the 1-mile.  They were both at the same time and since Dani couldn't be in both places at once, Spencer joined Ryan for another mile.

There was a pancake breakfast after the race and the kids had fun playing on an obstacle course for awhile. 

Everyone came to our house in the evening for our usual bbq.  In contrast to last year when it was too hot to eat outside, some of us had jackets on this year!

Mason didn't know what to do with his corn on the cob.  :)

Mo works for Alan and Darwin.  He has become a good family friend and spends some holidays with us because he doesn't have family in the area.

Teri and Jim got invited to several parties on the 4th, but made time to come see us for a few minutes.  They are always fun to have around!

Making homemade ice cream has been on of our 4th of July traditions for most of the time we've lived in Oregon.  It was sad that I couldn't eat it this year.  I had planned to make myself some vegan ice cream, but didn't find the right ingredients in time.  (Eating vegan has become normal and easy for me day to day.  It gets hard when it messes up traditions and social gatherings.)

I opted to stay home and put Mason to bed again instead of taking him to see fireworks.  I couldn't imagine an exhausted boy and loud noises late at night would be very fun.  Alan took Spencer to Tigard HS again though.  It was cold, but they had fun playing games and eating candy.

Even though our society and government seem to get crazier by the day, I am still so grateful to live in America.  I have a testimony that the founding fathers of our country were directed by God and am so grateful for their sacrifices.  Happy Independence Day!

Parks

We spent a lot of time at parks with Dani's family while they were here.  Mason wasn't quite walking last summer, so we didn't go to many parks.  He's at a much more fun stage for parks now and has been having a great time!

Snyder Park in Sherwood:

Mason hasn't eaten sand in awhile, but tried a handful this day.  Yum!

Spencer and Ryan worked hard to build a dam and get a good-sized puddle of water in the sand area.

I took Mason home for lunch and naps, but Spencer got to stay and play and then spent the rest of the afternoon at Grandma's.  Heaven for this little boy!

Another day, we drove down to Salem to go to a children's museum.  Once we got there however, we discovered an armed criminal was on the run in the area and the museum was shutting down to avoid any potential of a hostage situation.  Yikes!  A nice lady in the parking lot directed us to a fun park about 20 minutes away and we quickly got out of there.

The Big Toy at Keizer Rapids:

This is Spencer's new favorite park because it made a great American Ninja Warrior course.  :)  He and Ryan especially loved these moving steps.

This playground was good for little guys too.  There was a separate area just for 2-5 year old, but Mason loved running around the whole thing.  He really likes bridges and tunnels right now.

Grandma always brings fun snacks that mom doesn't usually buy!

We spent their last morning here at Cook Park in Tigard.  We've been there plenty of times for races, but haven't spent much time on the playground.

Spencer wasted no time in converting it into yet another American Ninja Warrior course!

Last picnic with cousins!

Mason doesn't know how to play with other kids yet, but he and Kaylee were sure cute when they were together!

We went on a nature walk and probably walked for about a mile.  I was surprised that Mason walked the entire thing until he started crawling with about 20 yards to the finish!  He especially loved chasing squirrels.  Spencer and Ryan found pieces of bark to use as "nature journals" along the way. :) We found a few ducks and geese on the river bank and I had to hold Mason back to keep him from running right to them and falling into the water.

Mason's new favorite way to go down the slide: