Birthday Buddies

G'pa Harvey and Uncle Drew turned another year older this April!  Here's something to make your brain spin:  G'pa is 82, Drew is 31.  G'pa was born in '31 and Drew was born in '82.  Trippy!!!

Spring Break--Our Trip Home

A lovely uneventful trip home!  We stopped at Multonomah Falls for a mist bath, a coffee, and a potty break, then back on the road.

We had such a great week of fun--starting at the farm, going to the coast, and back home again.  All refreshed for the 2 1/2 months of school that is left!

Spring Break--More Fun!

What is it about kids...you can go to the most amazingly beautiful place on earth, and the thing they remember most is the swimming pool?  That would be our kids--fish!

They LOVE swimming with Auntie--she knows all the fun water games!

 Our pool burritos...

One day Auntie straightened Gracie's hair.  (Just so you know her powers, Gracie doesn't let ANYONE do her hair...)  But Gracie kept bouncing by mirrors all morning long with her straight, long hair...

At the waterfront in Newport...one happy boy and one three-legged mom...actually a mom hiding an unhappy girl.

 Lunch break!  Gracie, Julz, and Trina...

 ...and Jeff, Josh, and me.

I had to take this picture to let you see why most of our shots were taken inside this week.  Granted, this was at Cape Foulweather, but the wind and rain were steady companions this week.

Spring Break--The FIRST Lost Tooth

I passed on swimming that night, graciously allowing Jeff and Auntie to swim with the kids while I did dishes, and wouldn't you know, that's the place where Gracie's tooth would fall out!

She'd been wiggling this sucker for WEEKS!  She said that she was in the pool with Auntie and all of a sudden it POPPED OUT!  She was afraid of losing it in the water, but somehow she kept it safe.

This girl isn't yet FIVE, people.  I thought tooth-losing commenced at SIX.  I'm not prepared for such grown-up milestones to be happening.  It makes my heart hurt.

"The children were snuggled up fast in Auntie's lap...while visions of TOOTH FAIRIES danced through their heads..."  We're so glad the Tooth Fairy knows when we're on vacation!  Gracie woke to find a quarter where her tooth had been laid the night before.

The next day she tells me, "I miss my wiggly tooth."  And then she started working on the loose one right next to the empty space.  Holey gums, girl!  Slow down!  :)

Spring Break--Tillamook Cheese Factory

The Van Sickles were in Portland over break, and so we decided to meet them half-way to play at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  How fun getting to see Spokane friends in Oregon!  :)

 Gracie and Alea posing as the cow and farmer...

 Kai and Kalei posing...

 ...and the biggest CHEESE of them all posing as #95.

We watched them package some cheddar...love that this factory picture even came out as the color of CHEESE.

And of course there's no better place to eat ice cream right BEFORE lunch!

Lunch at Burger King after this and THEN, a very memorable excursion on the windiest of beach days at Oceanside, OR.  We ran on a windy beach to a tunnel that was made through a rock...Gracie said that was NOT her favorite part of the day.  :)

Spring Break--Newport Aquarium

Day two took us from Portland to Depot Bay.  We weren't with Julie & her mom for more than an hour before we decided to rush to the Newport Aquarium...we heard that the weather was about to change for the worse and wanted to get some good outdoor fun in!

This tunnel surrounded by water was the coolest thing!   Sharks, stingrays, all sorts of fish swam all around us as we walked and gawked.

A very fun first day at the Oregon Coast!

Spring Break--On our way to the Oregon Coast!

Destination:  Auntie Julie's condo in Depot Bay.  Day One took us from the farm to Portland.  We made many stops, but the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

Home of Herman the Sturgeon

A great place to stretch the legs!

That night we met cousin Megan Dobroth for dinner and swimming at our hotel.  It was so fun to see and spend time with her!

Twenty Years of April Fools

 Uh, oh.  Sign misspelling?

 Nope!  Tents, tents EVERYWHERE!

 Jeff and I camped out on G'ma Trudy's lawn with Levi, Brooke, Tanya, and Matt.  I only remember large trucks driving by quite often...

G'ma treated us to breakfast!  Waffles and eggs and sausage!

 Kelly brought little Millie by on their way to work.

And we stayed visiting until 10.  What a fun morning.  What a fun twenty years!  Cows with two shorter legs than the other, Trudy's Taco Take-out, the crime scene in her front yard, free autographs and kisses from Genesee's Junior Miss, hay bales and plastic eggs in bulk, flowers delivered anonymously to me at school, underwear and pant-legs sewn shut, yard sale recalls, Weber crossings, notes left on the backs of pictures being reversed...

Levi's Pigs

 Easter evening we got to go help take care of Levi's pigs--Joshy had been asking!  Gracie and Megan only got THIS CLOSE, due to the "icky" smell.  The rest of the time these two were picking dandelions in the driveway.  :)

One of these is "Big Gun."

 Joshy got to feed the pigs marshmallows--what a treat!

Look at this cackle--he's loving it!

Weighing the pigs...

This was the perch that he found that helped him see everything.

He got to help mix in the feed...Auntie said, "Josh!  That was just the right amount to pour...how did you know?"  He shrugs his shoulders and said, "I just knowed."  No big deal.  :)

Very fun visit.  Thank you, Auntie and Levi and Jerry!  We still talk about the pigs...mostly when things smell a little off, Joshy shouts, "I smell pigs!"  :)