Together Again... Finally!

Monday morning, we had another FSY drop off.  Evelyn and some of her friends, along with some other friends from the ward got dropped off for their week of fun and spiritual strengthening.   David stayed home this time, but it was still a nice drive down and back!  

We got the girls all squared away in their rooms and then they were off and ready for fun!  From everything I've heard, they all had a fabulous time, and it's been neat to see Evelyn's spiritual growth from just this one week!  

Wednesday, we went to Battleground Lake to play in the water and hang out with friends.  The weather was great and fun was had by all.  Unfortunately, I was bad at taking pictures.... 

David and I had fun this week playing and building things and such.  He always wants me to take his picture with things - it's so cute! 

Thursday, Eileen and James got back with my Dad.  I picked them up from the airport and we got home to unpack and do laundry and settle back in.  My dad was exhausted.  He's had 2 trips to Scotland with almost no down time between and he was just about dead on his feet, so hopefully now that he's home, he will be able to rest and recover!  James and Eileen both had a great time.  They both loved to talk about their adventures.  

Saturday was the first day all month that our whole family was together this month.  Anna and Aaron and I went to play water polo at Parkrose, then I took Anna, Aaron and Evelyn plus Caleb to Open Polo in the evening.  It was fun!  

Church today was wonderful!  After church, Eileen and Dan and I went to pick blackberries which are ripe and ready to eat and all over the place.  So we picked until it was time to get home and our bowls were full.  Then I took the girls to choir and Dan made blackberry syrup and blackberry cobbler!  YUM!  

More kids gone....

Monday morning, We loaded up the van with kids and their gear and headed down to Monmouth Oregon to drop them off at FSY.  We got them checked in and their stuff unloaded, then left them for a week of fun and spiritual growth.   

 David and I then drove home with David and we stopped for some lunch at In N Out Burger!  He loved the burger and milkshake!  

It was very strange just having David and Evelyn home this week.  Evie and I had water polo on Monday and Tuesday, then she had practice on Wednesday.  The High School girls headed to JO's and I spent some time helping out the Elementary School practice which was fun.  Thursday was my first time in the water this week and we didn't even really have enough for a scrimmage.  :(  Then Parkrose was cancelled too because of a nearby fire putting asbestos all over the area.  I finally got to scrimmage again at Open Polo which was fun - there were enough people there to play and have a few subs, but not so many that we spent the entire time on the side.  

Tuesday, David wanted to go for a walk to the park, so we walked down the hill to play at the park - he played on the playground for a bit, then we had fun tramping around the creek for awhile.  It was fun and a perfect day for it - warm, but not too hot! 

On Wednesday, morning, I went to work out as usual and it's been fun since there are lots of other kids there for David to play with, so he wants to come hang out with his friends.  

After, we met up with a bunch of friends at George Rogers Park to swim and play.  It was hot and it felt so good to be in the water and it was so fun to have friends to play with!  David loved it when I took him and his friend Landon out on one of the kayaks.  We paddled around and they jumped off and climbed back on and we got to see a bald eagle - it was so cool! 

Thursday, David wanted his friend Landon to come over and play.  Then he wanted to go on a nature walk with him, so we went to a nearby nature trail and the boys had fun with their notebooks finding things and writing stuff down.  

Then on Friday, Evie decided that she wanted to go to a park with her friends, so we picked up Natalie, then David wanted to bring Landon, so we picked up Landon and headed over to Champions Park

Then we were hot, so we headed back to our house for popsicles!  Silly boys!!  

On Saturday, Aaron and Anna got home from FSY - they had a great time, but were exhausted, so they kinda crashed for the rest of the morning.  Evelyn was at the Band car wash all day, then after, I took her and Anna and we met up with some other friends to go see the Barbie Movie.  We had a fun time together, but we had front row seats - which is not my favorite place to be in a movie theater!  

Church today was great, Anna and I sang a musical number and it went well!  After church and choir, we had David's dinner choice of Cereal for dinner.  Then in the evening, Sandi and James came over to play games with us again!  We had fun playing Gizmo's (where Sandi crushed all of us) and Wingspan.  Now we are prepping for Evelyn to head out to FSY and next week James and Eileen get home!  

Summer Fun

This week was pretty chill.  Monday was mostly spent getting Aaron ready for Young Men's Encampment/High Adventure.  Doing laundry, running errands and such.  Anna finally got her dress finished.  With the exception of the button holes - she really did this all herself and it looks amazing!  She has done great work and the dress is beautiful!   Now she want to make a shirt using the pattern for the top of the dress with the leftover fabric.  

Aaron headed out for his week of adventure Tuesday morning and it's strange to only have 3 kids in the house.  Tuesday was 7-11 day so we headed to the nearby 7-11 to get slurpees.  The one we went to was very well organized and it was awesome!  We got our slurpees and headed home!  

The club water polo teams are getting ready for JO's, so we have been scrimmaging all week - so I was in scrimmaging with the girls Mon, Wed and Fri.  Then of course with the Masters group on Tuesday and Thursday (thankfully we actually had enough people there to scrimmage both nights) 

Our days have been spent with playing together and reading together (David has been getting so good at reading and it's fun to read with him) and doing craft projects.  David and Evelyn went to a music camp with Sister Shum on Wednesday and had fun.  The consequence of having people gone is that I keep trying to get more people in our house, so Evelyn has had friends over all week to help fill our house up a bit more.  :)  

We got new phones this week - Dan switched our plan and put us all on the same family plan and we got new phones to go with the new plan.  It's so nice having a phone that doesn't need to be charged every 3 hours.... :)  

Dan got more stuff for Italian Sodas and he and David made some up and David put way too much syrup in his and we thought his BRIGHT red moustache was funny!!  

Saturday was fun.  We hung out together and got some stuff done around the house and waited eagerly for Aaron to get back home.  :)  Then I took Evie and Anna to open polo in the evening.  It was a fun group of people - great turn out and lots of fun! 

Church today was great, we had a wonderful meeting and the ward choir performed - they did an amazing job as usual and the talks were also great!  After church, we had some lunch then got together with Sister Wilcox to practice for the music number next week.  In the evening, Sandi and James and Taz and Kai came over for a game night.  The kids had fun running all over the house and we had fun playing the bean game and Love Letters.  

Anna just finished up the shirt, in time to take it to FSY with her tomorrow!  

Summer Time Fun

We are officially getting into a summer routine.  Eileen wanted to make some chocolate covered pretzels, so we got melting wafers and pretzels and she and Evie had fun making and eating them!  The siblings all wanted to help eat them too.... 

Tuesday was the 4th of July.  We packed up and headed out to Naked Falls.  It was hot and a great day to be out in the water.  We had a great time, but it was really crowded and there was a lot of drinking and other stuff going on, so we headed out before it got too late.  

Wednesday we went out to the coast to meet up with the Ballegeers at Cannon Beach.  We had a fun couple hours at the beach before we needed to get Eileen home for a meeting - unfortunately, we didn't pay attention to the time zone for the meeting time and she missed the meeting, but we were able to re-schedule it.  Once again it was perfect weather for the beach.  It was warm and sunny and beautiful!  

Wednesday evening, we had water polo.  Evie had her practice, then came and joined the HS girls scrimmage.  I'm so glad I signed the kids up with Newberg club this year.  I love the atmosphere there and this has been a great experience!  

Thursday I had water polo in the evening, but once again, numbers were low, so we did 5 lives since we didn't have enough to scrimmage.  But we had fun and it was good practice for me.  

Grandpa Cox arrived Friday afternoon.  I took James out to get his stuff for his trip, then we spent the afternoon getting him packed and ready to go.  Saturday morning, Grandpa, James and Eileen headed to the airport.  Eileen for some time in TX with Grandma and James and Grandpa for Texas followed by Scotland!  James is so excited and he has been talking non stop about all the things he is excited about!  

Anna, Aaron and Evelyn all had a water polo tournament this weekend.  Aaron only had a couple games, Anna and Evelyn both had more.  Evelyn had fun, but didn't get as much play time as she would have liked.  :)  But she had some great moments while she was in!  Anna was mostly in the field since Aukai discovered that she was a good field player too this last week.  She got a lot of play time and played really well!  

Saturday evening, I went to open polo - Aaron and Anna came with me - I was surprised Anna still had energy after 3 games playing for almost the whole game each time and most of that time in the field.  I was glad she came though since numbers were pretty low.  We mostly just ended up shooting and messing around, but it was fun!  It is starting to feel like way too many people are out of town right now though!!  

 Church today was wonderful!  Primary went great and our littles are slowly learning and improving at sitting and listening and participating.   Choir after went great, then we had a fun evening playing games and helping Anna with her dress.  

Home Again

Monday morning, we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We planned to spend most of the day there, and it didn't disappoint!  We watched the shows, saw animal feedings, touched animals and just enjoyed the amazing sights to see.  After, we walked around Cannery Row for a bit to check out souvenirs and get some treats.  Then we headed back to our place for the night.  Dan and Eileen crashed and finished up a show they have been watching together, I went and walked 3 miles on a nice little trail nearby!  

Tuesday morning, we checked out and began our drive back north.  We stopped in San Jose for some In N Out Burger and a visit to the Winchester Mystery House.  Eileen actually really enjoyed that one - as did I.  It was kinda crazy, part of the tour took us through a part of the house that had been damaged in the 1906 earthquake, and as part of the tour they played the sounds of an earthquake in the room and had us imagine what it must have been like.  I didn't have to imagine that much - the sounds took me straight back to childhood and living through the 1989 earth quake.  It was a visceral reaction to something that wasn't happening.  I've never really experienced that before, but it was kinda crazy.  

After, we headed to the Oakland Temple and went through the visitors center.  We couldn't get an appointment to do baptisms with Eileen, but it was still a nice visit seeing the Christus and walking around the roof top garden.  

After, we headed to Nate and Ally Guinn's house for the night.  We went to a fun little Asian place for dinner and had a great time chatting and hanging out with old friends.  The next day, we had a long drive home.  We made it in safely just a bit before David's bedtime and then I spent the next 3 hours trying to burn all the extra energy I had from 9 hours in the car with a 3 mile walk/run with Koopa and a trip to the gym with Dan.  

On Friday, we had a little birthday party for David.  Unfortunately, David had mostly forgotten to hand out the invitations, so there were only a few people who came - and most of them were older kids.  Only one was close to his age, but he had a great time.  We had a ton of water balloons and a small slip n slide and snacks and a piñata and so he was happy.  Evie made his cake for him and put Happy Birthday David and Bob on it.  

Saturday morning, I met up with my old friend Anthony from high school for breakfast.  He was travelling here for work and we got together to catch up.  It was nice to see him and chat for a while!  

Saturday, we went out to Vancouver lake with some friends and had a great time enjoying the sun and the water and friends.  We headed home around 2 so Evie could go to a friends birthday party.  Evie went to swimming for her friend Olivia's birthday party and had a great time, I had a hard time getting her to leave and come home!  

In the evening, Anna and Aaron and I went to open polo.  There was a good turn out - including some friends of Anna's from Hillsboro.  It was fun and it was nice to get to play since I had been gone for a week and a half and Thursday at THills had had only 4 of us there....  

Church today was wonderful and we had a great Fast and Testimony meeting.  Primary went well and we had a good turn out for ward choir.  In the evening, we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and we had a great lesson and dinner with them.  After that, we went to a going away party for the Bennion family.  We will miss them!  

Road Trip and School's Out!

Monday morning, bright and early (well, early for Eileen) Dan, Eileen and I headed out on out road trip!   We made a quick detour stop on the way at Jared and Charlotte's to drop off some earrings Eileen had made for Charlotte.  

Then we drove down to the Wildlife Safari and had a blast looking at the animals and feeding the animals and trying to take pictures of the animals!  That night we stayed at a nearby airbnb.  

 

Tuesday, we headed out towards the coast and stopped at a fun little place called "Prehistoric Gardens"  They had a beautiful trail to walk along filled with full size recreations of dinosaurs.  Eileen loved it, and then she managed to see a bunch of her crocheted dino earrings to the gift shop owner for her to sell in her store!  She was so excited to get a big order, now she just has to make them and ship them!  

After, we continued on our way to Crescent City.  We got in early enough to do some walking around on the beaches and look around a bit.  We were in a fun little inn filled with doll houses.  I thought it was close enough to walk to stuff, but Eileen doesn't enjoy walking quite as much as I do.  :)  

Wednesday, we spend the day checking out Crescent City.  We went to the aquarium.  It wasn't a huge aquarium, but the guide there was great and she answered a lot of questions and we got to watch the seals and sea lions perform and got to pet a shark!  

After, went to the nearby lighthouse - we learned about light houses, climbed on the rocks and enjoyed the beautiful scenery!  Then we stopped by a local farmer's market, checked out a local museum and then Eileen was done, so we got some dinner and headed back to the hotel.  Dan took me out on a nice walk in the evening, but Eileen was tired.  

Wednesday was also the last day of school for the kids.  James and David had field day and had a blast.  James has had some great friends this year!  Milo's parents sent some pictures of the kids from their last day of elementary school!  

Thursday morning, we headed out and our first stop was the "Trees of Mystery" which was a huge redwood forest area with lots of fun stuff to see and do and some awesome walking trails including a part that was up in the trees! 

After, we drove through the avenue of the giants and enjoyed a scenic drive through amazing old forest.  We made one last stop at the drive-through tree, but our van wouldn't fit through, so we just walked through.  It was a fun little stop though.  After that, we made our way to Fort Bragg where we stopped for the night and enjoyed walking around on the beach and finding sea glass at glass beach.  

The next day, we made our way down to San Francisco and checked into our hotel room and spent some time walking around the city and got some dinner and wandered around Chinatown for a bit.  

On Saturday, we headed into town to check out the sealions and walk around Pier 39 and then we grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to take the ferry out to Alcatraz.  I of course loved the history and stories of the place, Eileen's favorite part was the ferry ride and the seagull babies.  To be fair, there were lots of floofy babies and they were really cute.  

After, we walked over to the aquarium at the pier and wandered around it for a bit before Eileen was tired and ready to head home.  We rested for a bit before walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then Eileen walked back to the hotel and Dan and I walked to Safeway to get some groceries for Sunday.  

Saturday was also Evelyn's performance with her Moonstar Acro group.  Thankfully I was able to watch a video of her performance and she did an amazing job - including nailing her no-hands cartwheel.  It was fun and she's had a great time with these girls!  

Today, we checked out of our hotel and went to church, then drove back to the hotel to get the airpods Dan had forgotten, then we really began our drive down to Monterey area.  After getting into our airbnb, we made dinner and took a walk on the beach and then relaxed for the evening!   Just a few days left, but Eileen's most anticipated part is tomorrow!  Hopefully all continues to go well!