Fourth of July

We haven't been camping in years but somehow this year we made it twice in a few weeks.  We found a great campground in Pacific City.  It is luxury camping: cabin, playground, swimming pool and a short walk to the beach.  I guess we just needed the right spot.

Fourth of July on the beach was amazing and a little frightening.  The city didn't do a show it was just BYOFW (Bring your own fireworks)  At Cape Kiwanda you can drive onto the beach.  So the whole night there were cars coming and going, massive amounts of fireworks being shot off in all directions and kids running everywhere.  I can't believe there were no injuries.  I wrapped my kids from head to toe in glow bracelets and necklaces and prayed they would somehow survive :)

 

This was Lilly's first year watching fireworks and the first time I have seen them in 8 years!  With young kids, I always had to leave the party early to get the kids to bed.  By kid #2 I may have stayed but she was so scared that I still had to leave the party early.  Lilly has very sensitive ears and it really scared her.  But as you can see from the pictures below she liked it.  (After awhile it was all a bit overwhelming and Lilly and I  sat in the car to give her a little peace)

Her thumb is not broken just crazy double jointed

Fun with the shutter speed on my camera.  Below is Bridger with a glow stick (being a ninja)

Hike to the Octopus Tree

Cape Meares lighthouse

Star of the Show

On the last day of preschool, we got to watch all the things the kids had been working on.  Lilly was Little Red Riding Hood in the skit.  I was a little surprised that she did it because she has been shy lately.  She did a great job and was so excited!

We planted some seeds in the garden.  They will get to pick whatever grows next year.  It will be a surprise garden because they had free reign on what and where things were planted.

Field trip to Papa's Pizza earlier in the year

Mother's Day

I have the most amazing kids.  They both have such an innate desire to be good and be kind.  They did everything they could to make Mother's Day special for me.  They made these adorable gifts for me at school.  Lilly was so proud of what she made.  She added jewels and stickers but the best part was the magic; it looks like a flower but if you pull it out it is really a pen!!
Somehow the "vase" that Bridger made me at school got lost.  He was so upset about it so the teacher gave him another one.  After school he was so sad that it wasn't special and that it wasn't the one he made.  I told him that the fact that he cared so much about it meant more to me than the actual gift.  It made him feel a little better.  On Mother's Day he decided that he wanted to make it special so he filled it with dirt and some flowers from my garden.  And he made a flower pen so he wouldn't be outshined by little sis. 

All day long they made sure I had the comfortable chair or special plate at dinner. Bridger got teary eyed and said he just wanted me to feel special.  They melt my heart

Soccer

The soccer star

The Fan Club

The amazing half-time show

Day at the Beach

There are only a few things you need at the beach:

1. A bucket

 

2. A big sand hill

 

3.  A lightsaber

4. A restaurant where the kids can play while the grown-ups eat

5. One adorable daughter

6. One amazing son

Our favorite beach: Pacific City, OR Cape Kiwanda

Life of an Eight Year Old

Bridger participated in his first Science Fair.  He insisted that we participate.  It was such a busy time for me but how could I turn down a desire to do school work?  He wanted to make Rock Candy.  He started out strong....and I completed my first Science Fair project.  We eventually found out that the main reason he wanted to do the Science Fair was that he wanted to earn the medal.  Next time we will do a project that can be completed quickly.   This one was a little long with little excitement. 

Bridger joined Cub Scouts in January of this year and by April he had participated in two pinewood derby's!  Luckily we were able to use the same car.  Because we have a few wards in the Stake that only had a few cub scouts, they decided to combine the troops.  One of the other wards hadn't had their derby so they invited us to do it with  them.