Our day at Lincoln City.........

We love the beach.  Our boys always have fun on the sand and want to get their feet wet....no matter how cold the water is!  

Our twins caught on this trip to how much fun the sand can be.

They reminded me of astronauts on the moon.  :)

Johnny was a little nervous this trip because of the sneaker wave that got us all wet on our last trip.  He was very worried about the twins and stayed far from the water, bless his heart.

BJ had a little too much fun with the binnies.  He thought tying seaweed around their wastes would slow them down.  We all got a good laugh watching the boys work together to walk.

Then BJ tried weighing them down with a little driftwood!  Joshua picked up Josiah's stick and had a little fun.  

We should have known better than to not bring swimming trunks....even on a chilly day. We thought there was no way anyone would want to get wet.  We forgot we have a Jud!  Jud's socks dried in the back of the van window as we drove to get ice cream.  :)

We ended the day with dinner at Mo's and family worship on the beach.  Fun times!

Lincoln City

Toward the end of September, we took a day trip to Lincoln City. The boys had been wanting to go to the beach and we knew the weather would be changing soon.  We had a wonderful time.

I think little boys are crazy.  It was cold, and yet, they want to get in the water.  I remember going swimming in the ocean as a child, but I lived in California. :)

We almost all ended up wet at one point.  The boys were enjoying running from the waves, I was trying to take pictures, and BJ was next to the boys holding Joshua and Josiah. Out of nowhere came a big wave that left us all scrambling to get away.  Poor Johnny was knocked over and rescued by Jesse. 

There is kind of a lot of pictures, but we had so much fun playing in the sand.

Joshua and daddy

Dinner turned out to be a really special time.  We brought a lunch and planned on fast food for dinner, but when dinner came around we decided to eat at Mo's instead.  I know that is not a super expensive place, but it is definitely more than we would normally spend.  Right before we walked in I was having second thoughts about if we were being good stewards of our money and I fleetingly sent up a prayer in my head, "Well Lord, you could send someone to pay for our dinner."  After being seated and ordering our waitress informed us that a couple had anonymously paid our bill because they were blessed by our family. What an encouragement to all of us! The Lord is good.

Before our drive home, we ended the day with family worship on the beach.  It was short but sweet. :)

Oh Shaniko....

On Labor day we took a road trip to Grass Valley.   We had been wanting to visit our friend, Emily. She moved there to teach at the only grade school in the whole county. BJ excitedly planned our day. :)

We started off with a picnic in Madras.  BJ really wanted to take our boys to Fossil, Oregon,  and the boys really wanted to dig for fossils.  Unfortunately we ran out of time.  We were in the van a looong time as is. :)  The next stop on BJ's agenda was the ghost town, Shaniko.   

After many hours in the van, Shaniko was a welcome break.  The boys found this deserted town exciting!

The joys of little boys!

2 out of 4 boys acted out their role as a jailbird.  In fact, I think Justin refused to smile the whole time we were there. :)

Hanging with the locals.

We all enjoyed our icecream....and watching Johnny enjoy his icecream!

After Shaniko we made it to Emily's place in Grass Valley.  Talk about small town! It was neat to take a leisurely walk from her home to the school where she teaches. 

Long day, lots of driving, but fun to see new territory. :)

The Zoo

Back in July we met the Freemans at the zoo. We needed to do a little suburban exchange and thought we might as well make a day of it. :) 

These hats from Uncle Joey and Aunt Alison were so cute....too bad the twins didn't think so. :)

We have always thought Gracie looks like she could have been one of ours. :)

We get a lot of looks when we are out and about together. We sat here to eat lunch and watch the bird show.  BJ said the lady sitting behind us stared at us the whole time.  Sometimes I feel the pressure.  We want to be real, and yet we know we represent the Lord.  I want our family to be a reflection of God's love and the blessing of children.

Amy and I are usually real chatty...with or without caffeine.  With caffeine, however, watch out.  I can picture in my head Isaac's eye roll whenever Amy and I are together and have had coffee. :) So anyway, we are talking in the back while everyone else is fascinated by the monkeys. :)

Jesse, our trusty guide.

The babies were all tuckered out by the end.  And actually, so were the parents. What is it about doing anything outside of the norm that is so exhausting? :)