Daddy Daughter Campout

This past weekend Kyle & Kylene went on the Stake Daddy-Daughter Campout at Fishermen's Bend. According to Kylene, they "played fun games and roasted hot dogs and roasted marshmallows. And we played at the park and we went to the river, but then we didn't stay very long but we touched the water. And on the way home we went to eat ice cream at Dairy Queen. And we listened to some music the person that was playing the drums and singing in the microphone." Good times were had by all!

Kylene snuggly warm in her sleeping bag.

Skyler--Happy Six Months!

It's hard to believe Skyler is six months old today! He has passed so many milestones recently: sitting up on his own, eating "real" food, getting his first teeth, etc. We love having him in our home. He is a happy, mellow baby that pretty much just goes with the flow. He smiles at just about anyone and everyone, is easy going, and loves to be part of the happenings. He loves watching his brother and sister, and is very ticklish, especially under his arms.

Like I mentioned, he got his first two teeth about two weeks ago: his bottom front ones and mommy is not exactly happy about it. But what can you do? He loves sitting up and playing with his toys, and is experiencing more independence doing this now. And so far, he has enjoyed mashed bananas and brown rice cereal: yummy! We are so thankful for our handsome, sweet, little guy!

At his six month appointment, Skyler weighed in at 18 pounds (60th percentile), was 26.5" tall (50th percentile), and his head circumference was 46 cm (95th percentile). Way to go, Skyler!

Eating his first ever "food": mashed banana and breastmilk.

Showing us his skills at sitting up on his own.

He loves bath time!

Family Vacation, Day 3 (Afternoon)--Wildlife Safari

After Coos Bay, we quickly headed east about two hours to Winston, Oregon (near Roseburg) where they have a Wildlife Safari. A pretty amazing twist on a zoo, you drive into the animals' habitat area where you are "caged" in your car and the animals roam free. I was surprised how close many of the animals were, but there were some quite a distance off from us as well. The kids loved seeing all the animals, although they were almost equally as elated that they got to drive in the van without their seat belts on. Now, that's pretty cool when you're two and four years old, don't you think? After the drive-through safari, they have a small village area with a lot more animals to see, a petting zoo, camel rides, and a little zoo train. We even were able to "pet" the tortoise during his daily, very slow, tortoise walk:).

In case any of you were wondering what our kids would look like as sheep:).
Here's Skyler...
And Spencer...

And, finally, Kylene...

The classic "kiss me" picture next to the camel. I should upload my pictures of me with the camels at the pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt to compare!

All aboard the zoo train!

I had to include this one of Skyler since we took so few of him on this trip (again). It must be because he's so often in the stroller or car seat! Poor, Skyler:). Gotta love the tongue, though! (Classic Barney trait!)

Camels in the safari.

Elephant waiting to wash a car. For only $20 more, it's guaranteed NOT to get your car clean, or so they say.

This gorgeous creature (emu) was walking and pecking at our car window right in our faces. I was amazed at how close it came to "pecking" without once touching our van. It had to be trained, don't you think?

We couldn't get a good shot of this giraffe's face because it was busy eating lunch!

I like this perspective shot:

There were electric fences between us and the bears in this area; a comforting thought!

Am I still in the picture, daddy? I'm sucking in and everything!

And that was the grand vacation! I'll leave out the part about the miserable 2 1/2 hour drive home with three very tired children in the back seat having melt downs the entire way. Those are the parts you want to forget; hopefully the happy moments are what endure:).

It was hard to let Kyle go back to work on Tuesday after 10 days off. Man, if only we could pay the bills without his working!

Family Vacation, Day 3 (morning), Sunset Beach

Day 3 was the fullest; we spent the morning seeing the sights around Sunset Beach. Right next to Sunset Beach is Shore Acres & Cape Arago State Parks. Cape Arago is a beautiful lookout (with lighthouse) and is a resting point for thousands of sea lions. Shore Acres is a beautiful garden area overlooking the ocean that a pioneer shipping and lumber man built in the early 1900s. He had a huge estate there and created the gardens around it, but his home was destroyed by fire. We spent about an hour walking around the gardens at about 8:00 a.m., so it was quiet, peaceful (we were the only ones there that early), and the morning dew was still on the flowers. (Again, sorry the pictures are out of order.)

Kylene & Spencer playing in the wishing well in Shore Acres, after throwing their pennies in:
Kyle pushing Skyler out of the gardens:

My favorite shot of the rose garden that I took. The tiny dew droplets that were on everything were so beautiful to me.

In front of the dahlias in full bloom:

Cape Arago, overlooking the sea lions. They were so loud!

Entrance to the gardens:

Family Vacation, Day 2--Oregon Coast

Day two of our vacation (September 3) was spent driving down the coast from Newport to Coos Bay. After a leisurely morning in the hotel, we drove around Newport a little, then headed south stopping wherever we felt like it. Our favorite stop was for lunch. We randomly chose Honeyman State Park and LOVED it! It has three fresh water lakes that are just on the other side of the sand dunes from the ocean. The small one we chose had beautiful, clean water that the Ranger told us was 65 degrees! They had pedal boats and canoes to rent (we chose the pedal boat), a beautiful little beach with a swimming area and dock to swim out to. At one point, Kyle actually swam across the lake, hiked a little around the campground area and up onto a sand dune, then swam back to us. Here, again, are too many pictures. (Sorry they're out of order; I haven't figured out how to upload them in the right order yet...the picture upload is kind of a pain for me. Suggestions, anyone?)

Playing on the beach at Honeyman State Park:

Kyle swimming out to the dock near the middle of the lake:

Playing on the beach some more:

I included this one because I loved how blue Kylene's eyes look:

Cute Skyler in the hotel room:

Our picnic before playing at the beach:

Skyler enjoying the sunshine during our picnic:

Ready for the pedal boat:

After a full day of driving and playing, we ended at Sunset Beach, a beautiful state park just outside of Coos Bay. We had our first experience staying in a yurt and loved it as well. Talk about a great way to camp: beds, a heater, and lights all in a cute, round tent house! All in a regular campground. We are definitely hoping to take advantage of that again.