A Day at the Beach

Today we had a VERY rare day where we had nothing on our agenda. There were no dance classes, camps, gymnastics, appointments or classes for Mommy to teach so we picked up Grammy, had breakfast at Panera and headed to the coast. It was one of the most beautiful days I've experienced there. We played on the beach, had lunch and ate ice cream!

4th of July Bash!

We had an amazing Fourth of July once again this year! We gathered the crew and threw what has no become our annual bash. The festivities begin early in our neighborhood with a fun run and a pancake breakfast at the rec center. At noon there is a children's bike parade (our kids just wanted to watch this year) followed by an actual parade (small, but perfect!). After the parade, we went into party prep mode and the gang gathered at our house in the late afternoon. We partied until 10pm when the fireworks began.

The kids dressed and ready for the 4th of July fun to begin!

Hanging out, having lunch, waiting for the parade to begin

My little buddy and I watching the parade

All 7 little boys were playing in the sprinkler together and having a blast!

Alia watched the crazy boys from a distance ...

then played in the water table.

The big boys enjoyed some games (and beers) too.

No party is complete without cupcakes!

Of course we gave the kids snaps and sparklers and let some of the "big boys" light some fireworks. 

Little man was such a trooper the whole day. He had just been diagnosed with pneumonia the day before and finally crashed when we sat down to watch the big fireworks show. Jason ended up carrying him to bed and he slept all night long in his clothes. Poor little dude!

7 Year Anniversary

Jason and I spent this weekend on the coast at our favorite little B&B Sandlake Country Inn. We settled on celebrating our anniversary a little early so that we could get our favorite room there. We were trying to figure out how many times we've been there now. This is what we came up with:

1. Engagement - December 2005

2. Babymoon - November 2008

3. 1st Anniversary - June 2008

4. 5th Anniversary - June 2012

5. 7th Anniversary - June 2014

(We clearly love it there and would recommend it to anyone looking for a very quiet and secluded grown up place.)

On this trip, we ate at our favorite restaurant in Lincoln City (about 35 minutes from the B&B) and did a very quick round of shopping at the Outlet Mall. On Saturday, we did a 5 mile hike on the Cape Lookout Trail. It was a gorgeous day! You can't ask for much better weather on the Oregon coast. Then we went to the Cape Meares Lighthouse and had a picnic lunch. Later that evening we went to the Pelican Pub & Brewery to enjoy some beers. 

A bit of history - When Jason proposed on the beach 8.5 years ago on Christmas Eve there was no other place to go that day except the Pelican. Everything else was closed. So here we were, this giddy, newly engaged couple sitting at the bar, drinking beer, chatting with the locals and watching the football game. So funny :-)

We slept in, napped, ate, ate some more, and then ate. On the way home on Sunday we stopped at our favorite winery, Erath, to pick up our summer wine club wines. 

It was an absolutely perfect weekend with just a little bit of everything that we needed. It has been seven amazing years and looking forward to many more!

Dance Recital 2014

Another recital has come and gone. Alia's class was entertaining to say the very least, but absolutely adorable. I was so proud of her. Things got a little hairy up there for a minute but she stuck right to her choreography and just kept on going. I think my favorite part of the show was watching her come out for the finale. Next time I see you, I'll give you a little reenactment. Adorable! She has now been given the ok to go on to the next level which is where they can do whole classes of one format. That means no more 45 minute ballet/tap combo and Alia's is thrilled. She is so excited to have an entire class of just ballet ... weird, how are we related?! She's not interested in doing tap even a little, but I think I have talked her into doing one trial jazz class. We shall see. 

Dress Rehearsal "Happy"

Alia had her dress rehearsal for her dance recital this weekend. Her class is doing a ballet dance to the song "Happy". They were an adorable, hot mess at the rehearsal and Alia informed me that "that's why they have rehearsals!" So true! 

Family Pictures

My mom celebrated a milestone birthday last week and her two requests were to have Jamie and me in the same state and to have some family pictures taken. So, a big shout out and thank you to our friend Tom for coming over on a Saturday morning to make this happen!

Rose Festival City Fair

Memorial Weekend means the start of the Rose Festival here in Portland. We had a nice (not rainy) day Saturday, and since my brother was in town we decided to head downtown to check out the City Fair. Probably the neatest thing we did was go into the butterfly house. It was pretty cool! We also enjoyed a few rides.

Daddy and Max in the butterfly house

The butterflies really liked Max!

Silliness with Uncle Jamie

If it looks like it can be driven Max has to be a part of it.

Daddy's favorite ... the big slide

Check out those smiles!

Alia's favorite ride is always the carousel. She and Daddy were making silly faces every time they went around. Pretty funny :-)

Bussey, Radloff-Snyder and a few Douglas's all together in the same place at the same time!