Camping with kids and great music.

We were worried about giving up our beloved annual Colorado Folks Festival weekend when we moved to Portland. Thank goodness for the Pickathon......

pickathon.com

Photos by Sam

We went to a concert on Sauvie Island at Kruger's farm. We gave Sam the camera to take pictures of the flowers. This is what he found. Not bad for a 4 year old.

Back to Real Life.....

A week in hot and stuffy Myrtle Beach with 18 people in a house may sound too close for comfort. Not when a bunch of weird Shaffers are involved. We had a great time hanging out with my family for a week. I can't remember the last time we were all together like that....Maybe never? I got to know some new family members and catch up with the old ones (and I do mean old)! I have two new Sister-in-Laws, Amie and Stephanie.

Amie seems to be a perfect fit for Steve. He found someone who knows more about motorcycles than he does and agreed to build the monster-sized garage before building their new house. That's love. She taught us all about the creatures at the beach. She took us hunting for ghost crabs (and found them), taught us all about sand fleas (creepy little creatures that you don't even know are there until you know they are there and then see them everywhere). I also picked up quite the southern accent again from her. Luckily I lost it before we made it back to Portland.

Stephanie seems to be a perfect fit for Jeff. She wanted to take home a stray cat or two found on the trip. I thought Jeff may kill us for egging her on. She is funny and you can tell she adores Jeff. They brought Matt and Brad with them, my new nephews, who I made call me Auntie. It was super fun getting to know Stephanie and her boys better. I hope we can visit more often.

Sharon finally got to meet Jeff (and Amie and Stephanie) on this trip and while out picking up pizza we let them bond in front of a cheesy lingerie store. We went out to eat with Steve and Amie on the last night and had a great time.

We celebrated Mom and Rick's 24th wedding anniversary on the trip and they even got to spend a whopping 4-5 hours out together without anyone with them!!! Amazing. I bet they were bored.

We had a great time and I hope we do it again. It's nice to know your siblings as grown ups.

Bu-Bye

We are off to the beach with my family on Saturday. Today I have to get ready and pack and clean and meet with the house sitter. I can't believe I scheduled myself to work 5 12 hour shifts this week. I usually work that many in a month. This will be a much needed vacation. We are going to enjoy 9 days of fun in the sun on the SC coast. We will NOT think about work, but will sit on the beach in the hot sun all day. We are NOT going to think about email, but will think about rolling over every 20 minutes or so. We are NOT going to think about paying the mortgage, but will have another margarita with salt. We are NOT going to think about that letter from the IRS sitting here challenging our 2007 tax returns, but will celebrate my parents 24th anniversary. We will not think about Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson, Governor Sanford, the economy, or unemployment but will stuff ourselves with fresh shrimp and crab. We will not argue over who will put the kids to bed or go to the grocery store, but we WILL take daily walks on the beach without our kids (thanks to a big family who will take them) and wake early to drink coffee and watch the sunrise.

We saw a little stinker....

I worked Friday and Saturday so we had a bit of a holiday today. We drove out to Sauvie Island Beach and the kids played at the water's edge. Should have brought my own suit, but I figure I will be in it enough next week. We picnic'd and sunburned and then on the way home stopped for blueberry picking at Kruger's Farm. The chickens were out and the berries were ripe. As we were making our way past Turtle Pond......out pops a skunk. I know I have seen skunks before, but only smashed dead in the road! This was a real live one with tail up. Thank goodness he didn't spray us. Home for blueberry pancakes for dinner. Yum.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Norma! It was a beautiful day for a birthday party. The last chance for a party in June. We ate stromboli~ after a few mishaps with the dough, it turned out. We ate cake. We opened presents. YAY! The kids were so excited to give Gramma D. her card with the kissing chimp of the front (and an obnoxious kissing sound when the card is opened). Yes, that is our junkie trailer which is still sitting there, untouched, behind her....

Soccer Camp

Sam is doing soccer camp. It is really funny to see 20 4 year olds trying hard to focus.

Many June Birthdays

I forgot to post a big to-do about Sharon's birthday on here. I am sure she didn't mind. We had a nice dinner with her parents and then ate the cake. The kids decorated the house special for her and even got her huge balloons in the numbers 6 and 4 for her age.......oh, I mean 46. Sam gave her a nice medley of toys and knickknacks.
Tonight is the birthday for Norma and I am working on a cake now. Keeping my fingers crossed that it comes out ok. I am going to let the kids decorate the house again even though Norma seems to be poo-pooing a celebration. Should have hired a stripper.

She was a Day Tripper

Packed up the kids and headed for the volcano. Mt. St. Helens has been on the list for two years. We drove to the Observation Station directly across from the crater and saw some amazing footage of the top blowing. I was amazed at the landscape for miles around. The blast sent hot ash and rock 12 miles into the air. The North side of the mountain slid off and went for miles like a river down into the towns surrounding the mountain. There was enough earth in the slide to make a 3 foot deep, 7-lane hi-way from Portland to NYC. Wow. It looked like we were on the moon. The picture of the dragon fly was at an information station about 40 miles away from the mountain. The rivers were all diverted and filled with mud and many miles of land turned into marshland. There were tons of dragonflies and tadpoles. The faraway lake is Spirit Lake which was filled with earth and trees after the explosion. Interesting stuff.

Haystack Rock. Extremely Low Tides.

The tide pools were absolutely amazing, although, the ones we saw with mom last year on July 4th were just as cool. There were sea stars EVERYWHERE. Orange, brown, and my favorite~ the purple ones. The anemone were bright green or brown and closed up if you touched them. There were odd looking creatures and plants everywhere you looked. Crabs, hermit crabs, funny sucker fish, and weird little crawling things. We saw quite a few different kinds of sea birds living on the rocks and you could see them nesting. One gull took a huge crap on my friend Meredith! Gulls have a lot of poop! The "guides" that were there answering questions said that the bigger sea stars were probably close to 30 years old. AMAZING. The tides will be just a little lower tomorrow, but we did have to come home. I couldn't believe how many people were there to take it all in. We ate some yummy seafood and visited another iconic candy store.

Sunset at the coast

Yes, this is our third trip in 2 weeks. Yes, I love the coast. Meredith and I took the kids to the beach for the night to make sure we could get to the 0700 low tide. This is the night before. All was good until.....Sam fell in the water and was soaked. He had to ride home naked wrapped in a towel. AND~ I got a 45$ parking ticket.