Fun with family

This last weekend was a blast!

Shawn's parents came up to visit us from California. The kids spent the entire day outside in the front yard watching for them to drive up, they just wouldn't come inside. Boy were they excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. The second they arrived, Jefferson started talking to them, and he never stopped the entire weekend.

We went to the beach on Friday. It was scalding hot here in Hillsboro so we all dressed for it. But it was windy and freezing at Seaside, bummer. Of course the kids didn't seem to mind. Jefferson went straight for the water. He and Grandma spent most of the time running in and out of the waves.

Peggy tried taking Grant out into the water to fill his bucket when an itty-bitty wave came...

and this was the result...

Note to self... keep Grant away from the water

The smart ones stayed under the umbrella

The smarter ones sat like this...

Don't get me wrong, it was really fun, I'm just a baby! We stayed for a few hours while the kids played in the sand and the grown ups 'people-watched'.

The next day was the Fourth of July. This has got to be one of my favorite holidays. I love celebrating this wonderful country. I love American History, heck, we named our kids after Presidents! There is no better way to celebrate the birth of our country than with a PARADE! Yeah. We weren't actually planning to go to the parade, we just wanted to get some berries at the Farmer's Market. But since we were there, why not.... The kids loved it. More than me? I don't know.

Loud music, marching bands, horses, big trucks, flags flags flags, dancers and....

CANDYJefferson was an awesome big brother and got candy for himself and Grant. My favorite thing about the parade was yelling the boys names. Sounds weird. I usually feel uncomfortable shouting out my kids names in public. But it was almost patriotic. I don't think there's any other place more appropriate to yell "Jefferson, Grant, Reagan!"

That night we set off fireworks. The boys had a hard time waiting until dark "Can we do 'boom boom' (fireworks) now? Now? Can we do them now? It's getting darker, can we do them now? Please? Please?" They rode bikes and played outside to pass the time until the fireworks. Here they are practicing for the American Bobsled Team.

Coming from an area in California where they're illegal, we had a ton of fun setting off our own. Reagan even got to set off sparklers this year, she loved 'em. Here's a video of her with her first firework. Silly me, I filmed it sideways, but you can still hear her excitement!

My mom gave me this idea of drilling a hole in a cup and placing the sparkler through, so the kids could safely hold it. Genius... thanks Mom it worked like a charm!

Jefferson and Grant enjoyed ALL of them. We didn't spend too much on fireworks though, we don't have to when we have neighbors who spend tons of money on illegal fireworks. We have our own personal show in our front yard. These suckers are Fireworks Show quality. The cops drove through the neighborhood, but that didn't seem to stop anyone.

Watching the show

Monday we took a drive up through the Columbia Gorge and visited Multnomah Falls.... which never ceases to amaze me. The beauty is breathtaking!

Here we are at a lookout along the road. SOOOO beautiful, and peaceful!

Reagan taking a peek

Taking a walk with Grandma and Grandpa

We stopped at Latourell Falls and hiked in for a closer look. Check out those rock formations, (and Shawn's head). I wish I knew more about geology to know what happened to cause that, but I do know it's amazing.

The crazy's actually walked to the bottom of the falls to get an up-close-and-personal look.

We got wet.... very very wet

Then it was off to Multnomah! Here's Monty and Peggy enjoying the sight.

The other two were lost at this point

Jefferson, waiting for the family to catch up along the trail

The kids favorite things about Grandma and Grandpa's visit....

Going to the parks,
Riding in Grandpa's car

Riding pet horses with Grandma (named Moon, Star, and Blood... can you guess which one was Grant's?),

Making homemade ice cream "but I didn't like it" (Jefferson) We had sooo much fun. Thank you Monty and Peggy for spoiling us :-) You guys drove all the way up here which was kind enough! The kids loved having you around and we enjoyed visiting. We love love love you guys and can't wait until Christmas when we see you again

XOXO