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We’ve returned to the regular world. Vacation was fantastic and we even had a couple of nice days!

We spent a week in Seaside for the annual Ham Radio Convention. Chris had a good time going to talks and buying technology. He even found a cheap laptop for our preschool’s financial records! We missed him while he was gone, but the girls and I managed to keep ourselves busy. He did take us to the local radio club’s spaghetti feed… the kids had a great time and we even won one of the door prizes.

We spent a lot of time on the beach. Chris made the girls a sand fort and blew bubbles for them to chase. I tried to convince them to wade in the ocean with me with limited success. The water was a little cold, but that doesn’t actually stop me. We also took a couple of walks along the river, did some window shopping, visited our favorite ice cream shop and rode the carousel. We went to the little aquarium, where LiliBee enjoyed the touch tank and CareBear talked to the octopus. We fed the seals and tried to avoid the splashing, though the girls weren’t sure of the raw fish chunks.

Around the middle of our trip, my folks joined us! They were in the cottage next door to us, which was very exciting fir the kids. We showed them all of our favorite places and had a picnic on the beach. We build “pools” of sand to play in and flew a kite. The grandparents brought some nice weather with them so CareBear, AliBoo and I all got a little sunburned… LiliBee just tanned, lucky girl. I’ll have to remember to double up on the sunscreen next time!

Chris and I were even able to sneak away for a quick date night (thanks, Grams and Pas!). AliBoo isn’t too keen on being left behind just yet so we weren’t gone long… just long enough for a quiet dinner and a walk on the beach. It was very relaxing.

We got our pictures taken at “Flash from the Past” in the carousel mall again. We love that place! They’re so nice and even seem to enjoy the chaos that is our family. It was a lot of fun.

And now it’s all over until next year!

The rest of the last couple of weeks was spent either getting ready for vacation or recovering from it! AliBoo had a check up (she’s healthy and up to 11 pounds!). We finished up this session of classes at the Y. And I became treasurer for the preschool.

This week looks to be pretty nice, weather-wise. We’ve been enjoying our meals outside and spending a lot of time on the swing set. The big kids will be having a play date with cousin H later this week and we might meet up with some of the preschool kids for some fun at the park. I have a dentist appointment and my first board meeting. I’m hoping to go to Meeker Days this weekend (I think it’s this weekend and, of course, there’s Father’s Day on Sunday!

Come to think of it, we’re busier than I thought!

We have returned from vacation… Chris is even back to work today, so it really is all over for another year.

We had a great time, though. We did the carousel, window shopping, beach going, the aquarium and hit some of our favorite eateries. Chris’ folks, his sister and cousin H joined us for much of our week.

The girls had a great time together and the weather was nice enough for lots of beach and ocean playing. It was fun for us to show off one of our favorite vacation spots.

LiliBee loved the water and CareBear loved the beach.

We did manage to get CareBear to play in the water a few times, though.

I wrote a few updates on our blog while we were gone (see below), if you want more details on our vacation. I’m also working on getting more pictures up here… but that might take me a couple of days.

The only bad part of our vacation was LiliBee’s trip to the local ER. The house we were in had a flight of stairs to get up to the bedrooms and we kind of pulled in opposite directions when I was helping her one evening. She ended up with nursemaid’s elbow (a common dislocation, it’s more common in girls than in boys for some reason), which the doctor popped back in quickly and LiliBee acted like nothing had ever happened. I was more traumatized than her.

In other news, the critters here at home had a great time with our best house sitter. It gives us great peace of mind to have someone that we can count on to take care of them while we’re away.

On our way home, we stopped in Olympia and visited the new goats at Grandma’s house, which was great fun. Grandma got three baby goats just after she got back from vacation. They’re really cute and sweet.

We’ve spent the last few days trying to recover from all of the excitement of vacation. We’re slowly getting back to our regular routine, but it’s tough. We had our last tumbling class of the session and our first trip to the farm for produce. Lots of different things going on these days… we’re looking forward to Meeker Days this weekend and maybe some visiting. And Chris has an appointment to find out the results of his sleep study!

Greetings from Seaside!

It’s our last night of vacation…we’re driving back to reality tomorrow.

Chris and I had our date night out, though it got a little delayed by a trip to the ER. LiliBee pulled away dislocated her elbow (nursemaid’s elbow) while the two of us were walking up the stairs. It was very traumatic for me. She was totally fine after they popped it back in, like nothing ever happened! The dr tried to tell us how to re-seat it ourselves since it tends to happen more than just once, but I think I may leave that to the professionals for awhile longer. Anyway, date night was lovely. Chris bought me a crab dinner and then took me for a sunset walk on the beach. It was very nice and soothing after the trauma of earlier.

We had fabulous weather yesterday for our big beach outing. CareBear and Cousin H ran around in and out of the water for over 4 hours, I think! Chris made them an island with a moat and they chased seagulls around. LiliBee decided that she wanted a nap first, so the two of us were a little late to the party. We did get in on the swinging, snacking and running around in the water, though. LiliBee loves the water.

We made an early night of it last night after the family left. The girls were exhausted from all of the fun! We also had a pretty mellow day today. We bought Carys her first kite and Chris taught her how to fly it. She was very impressed that she could do it all by herself. LiliBee and I made one final trip down to the water and then we all had a picnic on the beach. We’ll miss our little vacation spot!

Our return home tomorrow will be broken up by a trip to Grandma’s to see her new goats and our first trip to the farm for our produce share. Not exactly a relaxing first day back, but it should be fun!

Greetings from Seaside!

Our weather has taken a turn toward overcast and slightly drizzly, but we continue to have great fun!

We managed to finally get the BBQ going Friday evening and enjoyed some tasty burgers and hot dogs. The effort of cleaning up the BBQ and getting it going  may or may not have been worth it, you’d have to ask Chris.

Yesterday was more convention time for Chris so the girls and I joined Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie and Cousin H for some outlet shopping. I got the girls some new jammies and Grandma bought everyone pretty dresses. After some browsing and being very good, the kids were rewarded with a trip to the chocolate shop. CareBear chose a crazy s’mores on a stick type treat that was dipped in white chocolate and mini-M&Ms. It took her 3 sittings to eat the whole thing!

Saturday afternoon, Uncle drove down for a brief visit so Cousin H and Auntie took him out to see the sights of Seaside. Meanwhile, CareBear tagged along with Grandma and Grandpa for some antiquing so LiliBee and I were on our own. We went window shopping along the main street (Chris even joined us inbetween seminars). I put her in the backpack and she napped while I checked out the cute shops. According to the pedometer on my cell phone, we put in almost 6 miles!

After regrouping, we all went out for pizza at a local and very noisy arcade. The pizza was ok, but the kids are too young to fully take advantage of the arcade games.

This morning, CareBear and Cousin H made blueberry muffins for breakfast and then we all headed out to get our Old Fashioned pictures taken. Once I get home and can scan them in (along with the info for the shop, so that everything’s all legal). It was a struggle to keep the three girls happy and focused during what turned out to be an almost 3 hour event, but I think we ended up with some good shots. The photographer was very patient with us.

We were able to spend some more quality time at the beach this afternoon, and Chris even joined us! His convention is offically over for another year, (insert big sigh from him here). The water was colder than it was the other day, but we managed to talk CareBear into running around in the waves anyway. LiliBee loves playing in the ocean and we can hardly get Cousin H to come back out. Everyone had a great time and we even got some ocean video!

There is baking going on right now as CareBear and Cousin H make cupcakes with Auntie. That will be a nice treat! And Chris and I get to go out to a fancy dinner alone tonight (ok, not fancy so much as yummy and not-fast-food). We’re going to Norma’s, which is one of our favorites down here. They have fabulous clam chowder.

I think we’ll have one more big family trip to the beach tomorrow (and I think the weather will even clear up a bit!) before they all head back north. Chris and I and the girls will be here until Wednesday… I wonder what we’ll do once we’re on our own…

Greetings from Seaside!

Our vacation continues. Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie and Cousin H arrived yesterday. The girls have been having a great time playing around the vacation house and on the beach. They all headed out to the ocean yesterday while Chris and I made a supply run. I hear, though, that everyone played in the water. CareBear has been reluctant to go wading in the past, so I’m sorry that I missed that.

Chris and I were able to sneak away to a movie in the evening. We saw the new Star Trek, which  we enjoyed quite a bit.

Today, we hit one of our favorite breakfast spots and then went to the aquarium. It’s a tiny, litte place but feeding the seals is a blast. After that, we headed out for more beach fun. LiliBee and I played in the water with Grandma, Auntie and Cousin H while CareBear hid in the beach blanket near Grandpa. She wasn’t interested in the beach today.

Chris is off at his convention today… and through the weekend. He looks forward to this geeky heaven all year. I’m glad that he gets to have so much fun (and that it takes place in such a good vacation spot!).

Looks like we’re in for a more quiet afternoon today, which will be a nice change from yesterday’s crazy wind storm! Hopefully, we’ll finally get to have our BBQ dinner.

Now if only I knew how to do pictures on this computer…

Greetings from Seaside!

We’ve discovered a wireless internet signal that we can “borrow” from our home away from home, so I’ll be able to update a few times! No pictures yet, though, since I’m on Chris’ laptop and I don’t know how to upload them. I’m sure I can talk him into showing me sometime soon.

We made it safe and sound after an uneventful drive down. The rental house is quite nice, with lots of bedrooms and a big living room. The kitchen is in the process of being remodeled, but it has lovely new appliances and a fabulous sink. I love interesting kitchen and bathroom fixtures.

After the long trip (they did sleep through parts of it) and the walk around town and on the beach last night, everyone actually slept well! Until I was awakened around 4am by a hungry baby. And then I was kept awake by the invasion of Mothra. Moths can make a lot of noise when they’re banging around walls and ceilings! Especially when they’re the size of a Japanese monster.

CareBear has declared that this place is “super awesome” compared to our “boring” house. She can’t wait for her grandparents (Chris’ folks) and cousin H to get here so she can show them the carousel and the beach. LiliBee loved playing in the sand yesterday afternoon. I’m hoping to get them down to the water this afternoon to see what LiliBee thinks of that. She was too little last year to really get the wading thing.

There’s a rumor that I should be able to post videos on our site… I tried for a couple of hours this morning, but was unable to get it to work. I think I need some kind of conversion of the file and Chris says I should be able to get it to work. Does anyone know how to convert a .mov from imovie into an .flv that will play on here?

I know, not a lot of techies (or maybe not a lot of people) read this, but it’s worth a shot! I think I’ll try asking this on LiveJournal, too.

In the meantime, something cute to look at from our trip to Seaside last June: