Fort Stevens Camping

Ben loves camping. I, do not. When I was asking about ideas for Christmas presents for him, he said that he would love it if I planned a family camping trip. I was happy to oblige, on my own terms. I found a lovely little cabin, in a campsite, near the beach. We wouldn't be "roughing it", but it was my kind of camping. It was the first trip of the summer and the kids were all looking forward to it. Two days before we were to leave, Briella had a nasty fall on a scooter and scraped up her knee and elbow. She is our sand/ocean baby and we were worried about how those two elements would affect her wounds. Luckily they scabbed over before we got there and she was happy as a clam!

Ben had a golf tournament he had to be at so we didn't get to leave until later in the day. We stopped for dinner and then drove to the beach, just in time for sunset.

Our little cabin! My favorite part? The full sized, non-septic bathroom. The beds weren't super comfortable but I'm planning on investing in memory foam toppers so we can make this an annual thing.

After making breakfast burritos, we headed out to explore. Then off to the beach.

The boys plotting out their sand castle.

We pretty much had the beach to ourselves and the weather was perfect. 

 

Afterwards we headed to Fort Stevens to explore that. It was cool to read the history of the Fort and then walk around the bunkers and holding rooms. The kids were freaked out by some of the rooms and didn't want to stay long in those.

 

Since we were close to Astoria, we decided to drive up there and go to the Goonie House. The kids had seen parts of the movie so they kind of got it. What was disappointing was that the weekend before had been the 25th anniversary of the movie. All the stars from it had come to Astoria and there was a whole weekend of events and Goonie related activities. We would have loved to been there for that. 

It was a little short, but definitely fun.

Beginning of Summer

Summer started off with a bang! We spent a day with friends at a beach in Washington paddle boarding and kayaking. It was the first time paddle boarding for us and we loved it! The company was great, the weather was perfect, it was a perfect day! 

We had to leave the beach a little early because my cousin Jenny was coming to town! Our kids had gotten along like crazy the year before and they wanted to come see us. The house was filled with giggly girls, James was a great sport about it. I wish we could see them more. 

The boys were camping so we had a girls night. Ice cream for dinner and a movie!

Last Day of School

One of the traditions our school does is to have a stepping stone ceremony the last day of school. The teacher says some nice things about each student and gives them a stone with their grade on it. Then they "step over" into the next grade. We have quite a collection of stones now! The ceremonies were spaced so that there was time to go to all of them, but it was crazy running around between them, saying goodbye to teachers and friends.

Briella and Ms. Campbell

Avery and Ms. Nice

 All the kids had their class parties at the same time the day before. I had already agreed to help set up James's class, so once that was settled I ran back and forth between the three. The end of the year also gets so crazy that it takes us (me) a few days to decompress! 

James and Mrs. Boedigheimer

 

The kids all loved their teachers. They felt challenged, loved and heard. I can't ask for too much more!

Ben's 38th Birthday

Since the kids were still in school, Ben and I got to spend the day in Portland. We went to lunch at his favorite taco place, I introduced him to sipping chocolate at Cacao and we did some shopping. The kids loved celebrating him, especially having donuts for dessert. We sure love him!