First Day of School

What happened to the summer? School started on Sept. 3rd. Charlotte was very excited!

All ready to go with her dinosaur back pack and alligator-airplane lunch box.

How did she get so big? 

Charlotte is going to a new school this year; Periwinkle Elementary. It is a nice school with a great gym, cafeteria and super nice playground.

Sissy wanted to stay.

Here she is with Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson is young, pretty, energetic and so sweet. I think it is going to be a great year.

Olivia stared pre-school today. She was really excited even though she really has no idea what to expect.

She could fit inside her backpack; literally!

When I dropped her off she looked quite nervous. There were lots of kids making lots of noise. But, she quickly found a friend and some toys. I hope she will like it!

Colorful morning

We went to the Albany Air and Art Festival this weekend. Which meant waking up really early to see the hot air balloon lift off.

It was worth the early start. The girls were sooooooo excited to watch the balloons fill with air and then lift off the ground.

The scenes were so colorful; I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The Panda was definitely their favorite.

Olivia was also pretty impressed with the triangle balloon.

There were more than 20 balloons; they looked so cool filling up the sky. Charlotte came right home and started drawing colorful balloons with dinosaurs in their baskets.

Have a colorful day!

Vacation Part III: The Beach

Our vacation ended with a 4 nights stay at the beach In Bookings. 

The beach near our rental house was really fun. It was rocky and had great tide pools.

Charlotte had fun rescuing stranded sea stars.

This terrifying creature scared the wits out of Olivia; she took off running and screaming when she saw him.

Olivia does not like to touch yucky things; She was brave enough to poke a sea anemone this time.

Our trip included several short hikes. We went on a lovely hike though a thick jungly forrest to find this amazing "hidden beach". 

I think Mia had the best time of all of us. All she wanted to do was play in the water.

Lovely mermaids; this also happens to be the only photo I got of Logan. 

Jens boys-so sweet!

Another beautiful view at Hidden Beach

Hiking out (in flip flops-bad idea)

We also visited some sand dunes. It was hot and there was no water so we didn't  stay long.

While the big kids played at the dunes; we took the little girls to Whales Head Beach. Daisy romped around in her birthday suit and enjoy every moment of it!

The girls played in the shallow river-it was the perfect play place for them.

We spent lots of time on the beach roasting hot dogs, sun bathing and looking for sea glass. Every one had a blast!

Another fun family get together! Thanks to Andrea for making the arrangements!

Vacation Part 2: Redwoods

We made a stop to see the Redwoods on our way to the beach. A short hike lead us into a beautiful forest called the Stout Grove. The trees were big!

Daisy rode on Mommy's shoulder all the way down; what a life!

Not one of our most glamorous sisters pictures-but at least we got one.

Olivia looks like a tiny elf in this huge forest.

Jennifer felt right at home amongst these tall beauties.

There were so many wonderful hiding and climbing opportunities. My girls pretended they were velociratpors for most of the trip.

Even Mom made the hike down into the grove-good job Mom!

The Grandkids (Plus one friend). It took 16 of us to wrap around this huge tree. 

This was a very cool place; felt almost other-worldly. It was a very fun afternoon. We remembered the bug spay this time-yet several of us still managed to get some pretty wicked mosquito bites-I'm still itching!

Family Vacation: Part 1

We just got back from our annual family get-together. This year we met up at Andrea's house in Medford for some fun in Southern Oregon.  I took over 800 pictures during the week; so we'll have to do this in phases.  First-stop; Crater Lake!

The lake was more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined. It is so clear and blue!

The kids all had fun participating in the Junior Ranger program.

Charlotte was very proud of her Crater Lake post card she drew and the Junior Ranger  badge she earned.

Olivia drew a picture of the big black bug that landed on her hand. At the time, she was terrified of him and made quite a fuss when it touched her. Then her feelings changed and she wanted to send him a post-card.

It was a warm sunny day; we enjoyed walking around the rim.

Grandpa looks very grumpy here; but he was very glad to find some shade, a rocking chair and have a quick nap.

Later we all took a short hike down a beautiful creek-side trail leading to a wild-flower meadow.

We finished the day with a stop at an ice cream stand where we all had ice cream cones the size of our heads-so good! Unfortunately we also all left the lake with mosquito and gnat bites that kept us itching all week. Next time we'll remember the bug spray!