Chess Geek

I don't know how it started, but Briz somehow started getting hooked on Chess.  We play games from time to time at our house, and she found this and latched on.  I have loved playing with her.  It's so cool to be able to play a game that is challenging for both her and I.  Is that sort of sad for me? :/  She is pretty good and catches on really quick.  

July Adventures

Our adventures and fun has continued.  I have LOVED Summer this year.  I don't want it to end.  I get angry at anyone that starts talking about back to school stuff. Nope.  Not yet.

We had some play dates.  This happened to occur on a rainy/cloudy day, so we switched our outdoor plans and did some fun indoor activities: painting with cotton balls, and building structures with toothpicks.  I always seem to be able to think of a lot of fun indoor activities when its summer, but come fall, I know I will draw a blank (I've started writing everything down to try to help).

One afternoon we explored a new park, Sellwood Park.  It's awesome.  Bike trails, the river, baseball fields, playground, tennis court, and swimming pool.  Plus, beautiful views of Portland.  I wish I had been more prepared and brought more stuff so we could stay there all day.

I love Portland and the Willamette.  It's so beautiful and so unique.  This is right across the river from Holland's cemetery.

You can't tell in this picture but there is a beautiful view of the West Hills and downtown.

Wembleys favorite thing at the park continues to be the swings.  She will often sigh as she swings.  Just perfectly content.

We have also continued to visit the library, often with friends.  This was a comedy/magic show.  I love watching my girls giggle with friends.  And even more I love it when its free!

I love the library, but my fines have also really started to pile up.  How do people do it with lots of kids?  I can't seem to keep track of my books!

Wembley usually likes climbing on things at the library and knocking over books.  It's an adventure with her there, but there is a lot of space for her to walk and roam.

Camping Crazies

So Nick and I got invited to go camping last minute.  And we have made no plans for camping so far, so I was excited it was all going to work out.  Our friends were going up to Fort Stevens on the coast and we were going to meet them a day or two after they got there cause we had work.  Turns out Nick had work all weekend (and has been working nonstop since in fact).  I was bummed when I found out, but with a little encouragement form my friends and Nick's support, I decided to go camping by myself.  Yes I really did.  

It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds, because I actually shared the campsite of my friends.  They were very helpful, but had three crazy kids themselves.  It was a bit of mayhem when it came to bed time.  I didn't bring the pack n play, because when Nick and I were originally talking about going, he said he didn't think we would have room for it, so I just sort of stuck with that.  Bad decision.  Wembley was a nightmare.  She was up until 3:30 a.m. I ended up making a little bed in between Briz and I and we got a good 4 hours of sleep.  I felt awful for keeping everyone up.  Next time I will be more prepared, now that I know what a bad camper she is.

During the day was awesome.  We played at the lake, at the beach (which is all a bike ride away from the campground), and we went on a bike ride.

Briz and her friend Blair rode their bikes all day, every single spare moment they were riding their bikes.  It made me so happy to see.  Dubs and Cate hung out in the trailers for a bit.  When they weren't doing that, they were getting extremely dirty.

We had fun roasting hot dogs and marshmallows at night.

And Briz and I drove over to where the Columbia runs into the Ocean.  It was beautiful.  I loved seeing the jetty and learning about it with Briz.

The Oregon Coast really is so beautiful.

Dubs loved playing in the lake.  I didn't get to sit down much because she thinks she can swim.  She was on a little inflatable canoe.  She just dove right off of it into the water.  I need to start trying out water wings or something, because she is way too cool for the floatie now.

She also loved making new friends.  She went up to random strangers and sat in ther laps, held out her arms asking them to hold her.  She has no boundaries that girl.  Here she is with Holly Bruno.  Holly is one of my activity day girls.

Briz and Dubs were ridiculously sandy and messy the whole time.  Part of me loved watching them, but then part of me was cringing knowing that it was going to be a disaster attempting to clean off.

Here Briz is trying to show kids how to roll down the sandy hill.

They all tried it and then decided it would be better to run down the hill into the lake.

We went to see the old abandoned battery and played a game of hide n seek.  Until Trevor scared the crap out of all of us.  

Wembley loved exploring with all of us.  She looks cute and innocent here, but definitely was not at 3 a.m.

Me with Krissy and our kids.

Briz had lots of fun friends to play with at the lake and beach.

At one point while playing in the mud and sand, Wembley laid her head down in a big puddle.  I couldn't stop laughing at all of the mud in her hair, on her face (from eating said mud), and on her legs.  She LOVES to make a mess.

Outdoorsy stuff

When we got back from Utah I was excited to get settled and back into our routine.  We've had a good thing going this summer with our routine.  It's worked well for us, and I've been trying to take advantage of no organized activities for Briz and just lots of time with my girls.

We did a guided nature hike at Tryon Creek.  Briz learned about dragonflies.

Wembley was so excited to sit and listen with all of the big kids.  For like 2 minutes.  And then she was up and about, climbing on people, making friends with them, getting in the way, and making a mess (those last two things she does very well).

By the end of our hike, she was covered in brown dirt.

We went to an oudoor concert for kids at the library.  We brought Brizzy's friend Emi, and the girls had a blast showing off their dance moves.

We went home and the girls spent hours playing with the hose.  We got out our cheap broken slip n slide and they had a lot of fun with it.  My water bill might be high this month, but at least my grass got watered thoroughly.

Nick and I went to a David Gray/Amos Lee concert.  We were late cause Nick couldn't get home early from work.  But it was the most beautiful night.  Perfect weather, and they both sounded amazing.  It was relaxing and so nice to be there with Nick just chilling.  We also enjoyed all of the interesting people around us.  There were a lot.  And there was a lot of alcohol, so it made for a really entertaining combination.  He appeases me with concerts, but that's okay, I'll take it. He generally seems to enjoy them after I drag him along.

We've been berry picking (although not nearly as much as I would like).  It's tough with Wembley cause she doesn't hold still and just wants to eat the berries.

This spot is one of my favorites because the girls were entertained by the friendly horse.  

Never enough berries.  I could go for hours and hours, so its probably good that my girls prevent me from my OCD getting out of hand.