End of the Summer at Tie Lake

Well, just as summer was ending, only days before school started. We went to Tie Lake to spend a week with Scott's family. It was, as always, an amazing trip. The weather was beautiful. The lake was relaxing. And the company was fantastic!

 

 

Scott stacking rocks. You gotta love the hat. It takes a real man to wear a hat like that! 

While at the lake, we each try to plan an activity. This year, we brought some PVC pipe and mini-marshmallows for marshmallow dart guns. We did target practice, then turned the kids loose on teams for a marshmallow war!

 

Berlyn was dirty and homeless looking most of the week. I don't think a day went by where she didn't have food spilled down her shirt. But she didn't really care! She was so happy to spend all that time outside near or in the water! 

 

 

We made both boys try knee-boarding. They did great! Moses was a litle mad about it at first, but then he was glad he went.  

Part of the Tie Lake experience is the turtle hunting. They only caught one turtle the whole week, but they spent everyday improving the amazing, temporary home for all the turtles they planned on catching.

 

Berlyn's first steps

Berlyn isn't quite a walker - but she has started taking steps. It's so fun to watch her grow!
(Click here to watch the video on YouTube)

So Tired....

Whew - that vacation was fun and now we need a vacation from our vacation! But there is no rest for the weary! We have swimming lessons all next week and then we are off to Tie Lake with Scott's family. I know, we have it really rough. I love summer for all the fun things we get to do.

The Portland Temple

While we were in Portland we wanted to take the kids to the temple where Scott and I were married. The temple was closed for cleaning, so we couldn't go through the gates. But we could show our children the temple and tell them about that day 9 years ago when our family began.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the seventy said in April 2009 General Conference, "Understanding the eternal nature of the temple will draw you to your family; understanding the eternal nature of the family will draw you to the temple." I believe this to be true. I love my family so much and am so grateful the Lord gave us temples. And through temples, the gift of eternal families. 

More Cousin Time

After our time at the beach we went North to Tigard to visit my brother in his new house. While in the Portland area, we went to two different children's museums,OMSI and the Portland Children's Museum, with the kids and their cousins.

OMSI was first...

Moses holding a leaf bug and Moses and Scott ready to take off in the rocket.

Putting together a food rainbow. 

Then we went to the Children's Museum in the afternoon...

Cleaning the teeth of a crocodile at the dentist station. Both Girls showing off their face painting!

 Moses and Kael enjoying the water room.

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Isn't Learning Fun! (I know this picture is blurry, but they were all in it. Should have used the flash - next time!)

Cousins are the best!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Rish, BLUE FISH

The boys got to go fishing in the ocean with Grandpa. They fished off the rocks. While they were hiking to their fishing spot, Scott slipped and fell, somersaulting down a steep hill. Luckily his tumble ended in a creek bed and not a big cliff or sharp rocks, and although he was scraped and bruised there were no serious injuries. The boys each caught two fish and Moses found a starfish on the expedition.

 Someone is excited to go fishing!

 We ate the fresh caught seafood for dinner and some of it was indeed BLUE!!

Fun times at the playground near our cabin.

 
These motion shots are so hard to do. I took like 25 of them and this is the only one even close to turning out!

The Beach

We spent 4 nights at the coast in a rental cabin. The first day was cold and foggy. The air was so damp that our hair and clothes got wet just walking along the beach. But after that the weather was beautiful! The fog blew away after the next morning and we were able to enjoy ourselves at the beach. It didn't rain once!

She's ready to go to the beach. Unfortunately she didn't like it that much once she got there. I'm not sure if it was the sand, the wind, the abnormal nap schedule, or a combination of all of them, but she cried most of the time she was at the beach. Except when she was in the water - of course.

 An intense look from Moses. Watch out for our little hoodlum

 

Hoodlum one second, surfer dude the next. Moses can work lots of different looks.

Seriously Lysa - a 2 year old, an 11 month old, and your pregnant! SLOW DOWN! Just jokes, of course. She offered to take Berlyn back with Tristan (she was of course crying) and I'm sure that is what many people were thinking as she walked back to the cabin.

We had a lot of fun playing in the water. It was so cold...Scott, Bryan, and Emily where the only ones really brave enough (a.k.a. CRAZY enough) to get all the way in on purpose. Kael fell in a few times, of course.

Berlyn loved dipping her toes in the water! Even though it was icy cold it was one of the few times she was really happy at the beach.

One night we had a bonfire on the beach. It was beautiful and so much fun. Hod dogs and s'mores with the sound of the waves and the sun setting over the ocean in the background - life doesn't get any better than that!

 

Moses "invented a new kind of s'more. It was one with extra chocolate and no graham cracker, just in case the original wasn't messy enough.  
This seagull was interested in our dinner. Lucky for us, Moses thought he might be able to catch it for a pet. It was never allowed to get too close to us.