Inside Play Time

When we come in, there's no lack of toys here. One of Rile's favorites is "the princess house" which is actually a Little Tikes House that used to have people to it, but I can't find them. So, I bought a set of disney princesses about the same size. Thus...the princess house! Anyway, Hunter discovered it last week while I had it out. He had a good ol' time swinging the lamps from the ceiling and dropping the princesses off the balcony. Hmmmm....he must be a boy!

Outside Play Time

It's so nice to be able to play outside with the kids. Now that Hunter is crawling, he can explore the yard on the ground rather than on Nana or Papa's hip. The grass is a little crunchy, yes, but that doesn't stop him any!

Anniversary Weekend

Monday, August 4th is our 29th anniversary. This "happened" to be Lamar's long weekend off, so we decided to go and celebrate on the coast. We originally were going to go to Seaside, but I just couldn't get anything that wasn't going to cost us an arm and a leg. So, very last minute, I decided to try Priceline. I haven't done that in years, but it worked. I got two nights for the price of one! We actually stayed at the Red Lion in Astoria. I wasn't too thrilled about it at first, because some friends of ours stayed there years ago, and didn't like it at all. But you know what, it was really great! We got a big room, everything was nice and clean, got free breakfast in the morning (which we didn't know about until we saw the breakfast room!) and an awesome view from our room. I guess God knew better than we did! Hmmm...imagine that!



We had a wonderful sunset Saturday night and we enjoyed every minute of it. It was kind of neat to get a different view at the coast of the sunset without the waves.



We went up to the Astor Column. Unfortunately, it was closed due to construction, but the view from the parking lot was as amazing as always.


We went to the Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens State Park after spending some time at Seaside on Saturday. It was a nice stop to walk along the beach one last time.



I don't know much about the commercial fishing industry, but it was interesting as we walked around, to see the cannery across the street hard at work sorting out the fish and then down at the other end of our dock, there was an old man who cleaned fish for the charter boat customers after their big catch. It was fun to watch and great to capture in the lens!

We also went to church in Astoria and visited our pastor from 25 years ago, Raoul and Lynda Robles from St. Johns. It was great to see them (along with our friend, Mary Clapp!) After church, we walked through the Sunday Market on the streets of Astoria before heading back home. We had never done that before either. So, all in all, our weekend at the beach ended up being a great weekend in Astoria and something new and different.

A Family Visit

Lamar's brother, Mahlon and wife, Darlene stopped by from Southern California. They are making their way to their daughter, Melissa and her husband Todd's home in Northern Washington. It was great to have them! Short but sweet...we miss them already!

The Garden Gate

Our grandkids love our garden gate. They are drawn to it. I took some pictures of Hunter the other day and remembered that I had done the same with Rile' around the same age, so I went hunting through my files. I found it! So, I put these two together to show you. Rile' is on the right. This was taken when she was a year old. Hunter is on the left and this was taken the other day (almost 11 months old). It is fun to see how much they look alike (from the back/side view) and how much their hair is alike at this age too. You can definitely tell they are brother and sister! And it looks like Hunter is going to have curls too, much to his mommy's delight and his daddy's dismay. :-)

Hunter and Meeko

Hunter and I went outside to look around this morning. Of course, Meeko followed us around and I was giving just a little bit too much attention to Hunter, I guess. So, he made sure that he got his fair play time.

Butterfly Gifts From Heaven

The other day, I was outside walking around, and these two butterflies appeared. I thought, oh, how sweet, TWO butterflies flying around together. As I wandered around our property, they kept following me. So, I grabbed my camera and started shooting.


In the yard...

In the driveway...

On the edge of the hayfield...


At one point, they zoomed up so fast, I barely caught them...but I thought this was a cool shot anyway. Didn't do anything to this...just came out white with the two butterflies flitting around in the sky.





So, then I thought to myself, I wonder if I stand by the butterfly bush, if they will follow me there. I got my camera ready, focusing in on a particular bloom...I kid you not, the first one appeared in my frame.

I then zoomed in, because if it was going to pose for me, I was going to get up close and personal!









Then, the finale...the other one came into the frame. I never moved from my spot! I couldn't believe it! I just about cried, because I truly felt like I had been given this gift from God. It may seem silly, but I felt blessed. It was just God, me and the butterflies and I felt His presence.



GOD IS GOOD!