Whew.

After some lazy summer not-much-on-the-agenda weeks, here's where things accelerate for us.  First, we shipped Wyatt off to Worldview Academy.  He had an amazing time - so glad it worked out for him to go!  I'm looking forward to going through his notebook with him and talking about the different sessions, because when I ask him about it... it's kind of overwhelming.  Sort of a drinking-from-the-fire-hydrant kind of week.

And though he'd never admit it, I think he kind of missed his brothers.  Sure is good to see them all together again :D

The way the timing worked out, we picked him up in Seattle and headed on south for vacation in...

Oregon!  Grandpa and Grandma Grasshopper rented a big beach house and invited us all (two of them, five of us, my bro/SIL/niece, my sister, and my cousin/husband/two girls = FIFTEEN) to join them in Lincoln City.  It would be better for all of us if we don't speak of the traffic in Tacoma, around JBLM, Olympia, and Portland.  Oh, Portland, your freeway system is completely inadequate at the best of times, and on a Friday afternoon in the summer?  Arrrrgh.  And for a city that prides itself on being eco-conscious, why is there no HOV lane on southbound I-5?  Whyyyyy?

Once we got through that mess, it was all good :D  Stopped for a quick dinner in Salem and headed west through farmland...

... past familiar landmarks...

... until we finally made it to Lincoln City (the lighthouse marks the end of town).

Past the politically-incorrect Sambo's...

... turn right at the Viking who seems to be having an issue with his pants...

... and find somebody reeeeeaaalllly happy to see us!

And we made it just in time for sunset AND the green flash.

We've stayed in lots of different rental houses, all unique.  This one had a nice fire pit - that's me, holding Naomi.  And boy did we hold onto her because, can you tell we're up on a pretty high bluff above the beach?  No?

Well, here's a pic from the next morning, looking back up at the house.  Ours is in the center, on the left - the green house.

Look closer...

The guys are actually standing up on the second floor deck.  The yard is pretty small, and... overhanging.  You really don't want to walk out to the edge!

But the beach, on the other hand, was fabulous!

We found some little tide pools with anemones - fun to touch and watch them close.

And guess who loved the water?  Even as cold as it is, she would have plunged right in!

This is not exactly a tropical beach, you know?  A warm day is low 70s, and the water temp is about 55.

The only catch to the "high bluff" part of the equation is this:

the stairs.

One hundred thirty-two of them, to be exact.

So we spent a lot of time hanging around at the house, just enjoying being together :D

And OH MY.  Some rental houses are just that... houses.  Which is just fine.  But this house was kid heaven.  Ping pong.  Foosball.  Pool table.  Air hockey.  Plus the games and books and movies that we brought with us!  Plenty to do for everyone :D

And as long as we were all going to be together anyway, we combined our July and August birthdays and had a party!  Since that was my night for dinner, Wyatt got to choose the menu - chili!  (Or as the boys say, "Chili for dinner; musical program to follow." *ahem*)

We celebrated Kerry's 51st - that's some kind of chocolate that has potato chips AND bacon in it, apparently.

Mike's (my cousin's husband) birthday... can you guess what he's holding?

And Wyatt's birthday.  He needed a new razor :D

Naomi wanted to wrap a gift too... maybe it's for her?

Wyatt's brothers sent him on a wild goose chase treasure hunt, which ended up with the gift being under the chair he was sitting on.  Because, you know, we are awesome like that ;D

And Kerry got his favorite treat - Fiesta Cake.  Never mind that it looks kind of like a giant cow pie, it's actually sort of a chemistry reaction in dessert form.

So there were many movies watched (Fletch, anyone?  The Three Amigos?), books read, walks on the beach, runs to the outlet mall (tax free!), and cut-throat Scrabble games.

And of course, there was lots of this, because vacation is hard work, people.

And another one of these...

And I'm tellin' ya, we saw the green flash, even if you can't tell in the photo.