4th of July

Yikes, this summer is just flying by.  Although I'm not quite as panicked about fall's approach now that I've switched Cash to the half day kindergarten.  I had originally enrolled him in full day Kindergarten because I wanted him to participate in all of the "enrichment" programs like music, art, and P.E. which are only provided to the full day kids.  I just wasn't feeling at peace about the decision though and was actually having panic attack symptoms when I would think about him being away from me for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.  It was just overwhelming.  I also just don't think Cash is ready for that.  He loves being at home with his sister and I.  He doesn't even like being left alone in a room, always reminding me that he "wants to be with his family".  Even if it's for a trip to the bathroom.  LOL  It's almost August so I thought I should probably post our 4th of July photos. 

Our 4th was pretty low key.  Josh had to work part of the day so we waited for him to come home and made burgers followed by S'mores in the front yard.

This is the first year that we've set off fireworks at home.  Cash has always been really sensitive to loud noise so I knew he wouldn't be into it when he was younger.  As it was, he kept his hands over his ears the whole time.  It was something new and fun though.  Just not sure we'll do the fountains again.

Newport

Right before Josh's crazy harvest season hit he called me on a Friday afternoon to say he was taking the family to Newport for the evening.  We headed out by 3 and were on the beach about an hour later.  It was the most beautiful day on the Oregon Coast I had ever experienced.  It was actually HOT with a very slight breeze.  The kids played in the sand, Josh and I played frisbee, and Cash brought literally 2 cups of sand home in his pockets.  Fun was had by all.

Josh dropped my camera in the ocean so the remainder of my pics came from my phone.  At some point soon I'll have to bite the bullet and purchase another point and shoot camera but lately my phone and my SLR have been picking up the slack.

Annual Zoo Visit

Once a year I try to take the kiddos to the Oregon Zoo.  It's a 4 hour round trip so that's about all I can manage.  A few weeks ago I met up with a friend from the Portland area, Ene, and she brought her sweet little boy Daniel. Last year Millie was way too young to really get it but she loved looking at the animals this time around.  Cash was a great listener and we had a fun day with friends.

Ene bought the kids scorpion lollipops.  The literally had dead scorpions in the middle of them.  They loved them and it provided the adults with a lot of entertainment.

Birthday Boy

Cash is 5.  I'm in denial.  In just 3 1/2 short months he'll be going off to Kindergarten.  I get sweaty palms just thinking about it.  We had a fun birthday party for him though and he was so excited that so many of his school friends came!  Literally half of his class came, a great turn out.  But did you know that some parents figure that 5 years old is an appropriate age to drop off their kids and LEAVE?!  Yeah, I didn't know either.  There were brief moments of chaos but all the kids took turns operating the tractor we had here for the day and all kids went home tired and happy.  Here are some pictures of our construction theme party.

Once again, I had great intentions for the cake but ran out of time.  I never got around to putting on the windows or the front blade of the bulldozer.

Both of Cash's preschool teachers came to the party.  It was so sweet.  Judy and Lexie

 Jessica on the tractor with Josh supervising

 Cash's best friend Roman.  They always greet each other with a bear hug.  It's adorable.

 Henry

 Blake

 Taylor, Cash, and Roman.  I didn't get pictures of all the kids that came but I was impressed that I got about half of them. :)

 Nana!

 Mandy and Addison

 

 We had a great time and I got to know a lot of the other moms better.  We plan on having some play dates together over the summer.  I know Cash will miss all his little friends.  We only have 1 week of school left, it's hard to believe.

 Millie loved Cash's balloons!

Weekend in Washington

Mother's Day weekend we trekked up to Washington for a couple days at the Great Wolf Lodge and for my cousin Jennifer's wedding.  The Great Wolf Lodge is an all indoor water park with 4 big slides that you go down on inner tubes plus 2 slightly smaller slides people go down without tubes.  They also have pools and a kiddie play area with smaller slides and numerous fountains.  Cash's favorite part was the wave pool and we spent the majority of the time playing there.

 Mommy and Daddy took turns going down the tube slides with Cash.

A jet ski that had a water gun attached?  Awesome!

After the long days of playing in the water we got the kids in their pjs and we went to a story time they have at the lodge.

We also made a stop at the arcade they have inside the lodge.  Daddy won a ball for Cash out of one of those claw machines on his first try.

Cash and I played a motorcycle game after which I decided I'm not fit to EVER drive a real motorcycle.  I mowed down countless pedestrians.

We attended my cousin Jennifer's wedding over the weekend too.  She was a beautiful bride and it was so nice to see some of the fam.

Pause button please!

The kiddos are growing up at lightening speed.  Millie turned 1 1/2 on April 25th and Cash is about to turn 5 years old.  Wahhhhh!  That's me crying like a baby.  It's just going too fast.  We just enrolled Cash for Kindergarten at Santiam Christian School for the fall.  Crazy to think he'll be away from me all day, five days a week.  I may have a nervous breakdown.  I may need to be medicated.  I may need to go sit outside his classroom window so I can feel like I'm still part of his life between 8am and 3pm.  Anyhooo...here are some pictures that I took of the kids this week.  We have sunshine, woohoo!

San Diego...part deux

San Diego...part deux

We decided that we couldn't visit San Diego without a trip to the zoo.  So glad we went!  The only downside is that now I have become completely disenchanted with the Portland Zoo.  I was amazed at how close the exhibits allowed people to get to the animals.  There were, of course, a lot more animals to see as well.  It's a beautiful zoo and I highly recommend it to anyone who travels down that way.  Actually, it's worth making the trip just for the zoo.  No kidding!

Cash took this picture!  I thought he framed it so well!

Millie was so in love with all the big cats they had.  This jaguar was looking at her like she was a snack.

This is a Cheetah and her best friend, a dog she was raised with, out for a walk.  Probably the only time in my life I'll see a Cheetah on a leash so I had to get a picture of it.

 Dinosaur digging

 Dino diggers.

I wanted Josh to take a picture of the kids and I on this very cool life sized elephant sculpture but you can't really tell what we're sitting on.

I have a few more pictures to post, I'll try to get that done in the next week or so.  :)