Posts tagged as:

vacations

At The Beach

by Claire on July 25, 2011

IMG_5861In Seattle, when the sun comes out, it’s a novelty. Particularly this year because it’s almost the end of July and we are just now starting to have temperatures cresting around 80F. Since the sun is such a rare occurrence around here, I suppose I could – almost – forgive all the multitudes of fashion faux-pas that burned my retinas yesterday. I really wish I had more time to snoop photograph some of them, but also some of them would have not been suitable for work (or family). Maybe next time. Instead, I’ll inundate you with cute pictures of my grandkids.

Sunday afternoon my youngest daughter, Stacy, and I took the kids to Mulkilteo, WA. It was crowded. (Have I ever mentioned I don’t like crowds? I always feel like I’m being stared at. Truth is, I’m staring at everyone else. Ha!) We meandered down to the water where I started off telling the boys they could only get into the water up to their ankles. What was I thinking? That’s like torture to a little boy at the beach. I remembered I had extra shorts in the car, so the tops came off and the shorts turned into swim trunks. Poor Evan. He has no butt and is so skinny (but eats like a bottomless pit) that his shorts kept falling off him like a little old man with no belt. Laila absolutely loves water and I give her mommy credit for this and getting her used to water from a very early age. Hopefully she can get her in some swim lessons when she gets a bit bigger.

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Cayden loved playing with this huge piece of floating driftwood. (Is that redundant? Floating driftwood…just the editor in me surfacing…punny….)

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Laila getting her feet wet.

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Hey…where’d the water go?

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I can’t wait for another sunny day so I can take them again and to a less crowded place and when we can stay longer (and have a blanket and towels to sit on.)

Ah… sun.

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The Great Outdoors

by Claire on July 23, 2011

IMG_5690You know, in my former life, I never proclaimed to like the outdoors very much. I had convinced myself it was too cold, too much work, too tiring, and maybe even boring. You’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen them all. Right? These days I love being outdoors – that is, if it’s not raining. I could even tolerate the rain if it wasn’t too cold. I get overly tired if I have to expend my energy shivering and keeping my body warm. But when the sun shines, odds are I’ll be outside.

I loved being in the mountains with the exception of driving up there. I’m a-skeered of the roads and the sharp drop offs with no barriers. I also seemed to have a bit of an issue physically with the altitude this time. I don’t know if it was my lungs or that I was just recovering from a bout of stomach flu or what, but I didn’t feel top notch. Still, going for a bike ride through the pine forest, smelling the hot sun on the pine needles, or walking the dogs through the meadows down to the river while saying hello to the elk (or moose-deer, as my brother Chris calls them) was all a lovely, peaceful retreat from the hectic life I’ve been living lately.

Let’s pretend I’m back there, shall we?

Some of the wildlife we encountered along the way to the river.

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Chris taking pictures of the “moose-deer”. Chris loves to make up names for things and I think that’s totally endearing.

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Heading across the meadow toward the river from the farmhouse.

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Jeepers loves the river water.

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Breathtaking.

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Decorating Ideas from a Farmhouse

July 23, 2011

When we were in Packwood this last weekend we stayed at this cute little farmhouse. Ok, so, not so little. It had four bedrooms, two full baths, two wood stoves, and a kitchen that looked like it came out of a Pottery Barn catalog. My brother found the place online and worked out a great [...]

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Vacation Time

July 17, 2011

When was the last real vacation I had? I think a year ago. Went to San Antonio, Texas with my mom. This year, I stayed local and went to grand ol’ Packwood, WA on my own to meet up with my brother and sis-in-law (SIL) who took a road trip out here from Kansas City [...]

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Weekend at Mimi’s

August 23, 2010

Well, it’s really a weekend at Cindy’s and Cody’s, only without Cindy and Cody. Just me, the boys, and Dug the Pup™. We are having a grand time. The first night was a bit rough – mostly me getting settled into things. Learning how often to take Dug the Pup™ out to go potty, and [...]

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San Antonio Riverwalk

July 11, 2010

I’ve been to many beautiful places in my life, but the most unexpected so far has been the San Antonio Riverwalk. I never expected to see such lush greenery and beautiful water in the middle of Texas. The architects who designed this area were inspired and talented. This river runs below street level in the [...]

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Baby Herons

July 10, 2010

Our hotel had a balcony, and right outside the balcony was this huge tree. The first morning I stood out there, I noticed some “weird” birds. I couldn’t figure out what they were, but a couple days later, Colleen and I were standing out on the balcony and she saw them as well. There was [...]

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San Antonio, Texas

July 10, 2010

I love to see new places. I just don’t care so much for the getting there part. This 4th of July, I went with my mom to San Antonio. It took a day each way just for travel, but once we got there, we had a great time. We were greeted with the effects of [...]

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