The Andreasens: August 2013

The Few Things we did Between Trips

Our summer was very full and we had tons of fun! But there were some days of normalcy between trips.

Like days when we played legos and Clara dressed up in Tyler's clothes

Or the time I heard Clara calling for me and found her stuck in the easel.

Or all the dress ups and Pretty Pretty Princess games

Or the time I found Clara trying to take a nap in the bookshelf

and Tyler insisted on joining her

Or the crafts we did on occasion

Or the watermelon we snuck out of the fridge

Or the one time it rained and we ran outside and danced in excitement

Or the times we played tball in the backyard

Or the time we jumped on our friends tramp

Or the time Clara learned to use a scooter.

We've had a great summer! And now we're looking forward to preschool, soccer, and all the activities fall brings! So thankful for a beautiful/crazy life!

Oregon Trip Part 3 (Wettlaufer Family Reunion)

The last week of our Oregon trip was spent in Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast for the Wettlaufer Family Reunion. We've had almost all our family reunions there since I can remember, with a few exceptions. So all the things my kids did, I did as a kid too.

Including this park/lake, Devils Lake:

It may be a teeny tiny bit inland from the coast, but it was still freezing! I can't believe my kids were actually swimming, although, I guess I always swam when I was a kid too!

Uncles are the best!

The kids even had a very belated egg hunt - but who'd turn down candy in eggs?

Tyler got to go on the boat with Uncle Jared

You can't go to Lincoln city and not eat pizza at Humble Pie Pizza where you can write on the walls! Pizza's not too shabby either.

And of course you must play on the beach, no matter how cold!

Cold or not - splashing in the water is mandatory

Our house was right on the beach and minutes away from tide pools

After our walk to the tide pools, Tyler found a seaweed whip and commenced spanking everyone with it!

My grandma at the family talent show

We tried to find different tide pools, but unfortunately came when the tide was too far out! There wasn't enough water in the tide pools for the sea life to come alive so we just played on the rocks and in the water instead.

We did find this lovely crab that we stuck on Clara's head. (It's not alive - disgustingly enough, a sea creature had sucked out the meat/guts and left it fully intact)

On the way back to the ocean house Tyler kept saying, "We in the jungle!!" I guess to a desert dweller this really does look like the jungle!

Tyler thrived on all the attention while in Oregon, but especially at the family reunion! He had tons of people there to perform in front of and he took advantage of it daily. He would get on the coffee table and perform his rendition of the "uh oh song" (aka What Makes you Beautiful) while turning and pointing and hamming it up! This video is of him singing the song at the talent show. Unfortunately, he doesn't get as into it as he did while on the coffee table!

Oregon Trip Part 2 (Papa and Grandma Lerman's House)

The second part of our trip was spent at Papa and Grandma Lerman's house.

For Clara's birthday my mom got her a real ballerina costume from a real ballet boutique. Clara was in love at first sight! Knowing her affinity for dress up I should have known she'd love it, but I had no idea she'd be so in love she wouldn't take it off for DAYS! (well at least the tutu).

The first thing she would do when she woke up was bring me the tutu to go over her pjs. It actually matched pretty well.

And of course she had to wear it wherever we went, like the park.

Before we left for Oregon, Mark said all he wanted to do was hike the Silver Creek Falls trail and then find a different falls closer to Portland. So, after getting to my mom's house we googled water fall hikes near Portland and found this gem - Elowah Falls.

It was gorgeous! And pretty big! See that tiny white speck by the falls? Yep, that's Mark.

Clara and I make selfies look good! The closer you got to the falls the windier it got and even this far away we were getting sprayed like crazy!

Playing in the creek with the falls in the background and some pretty awesome sun rays.

Even though I grew up here, when I come back to visit I can't get over how green everything is! SOOOOO PRETTY!

Tyler and Clara's preferred mode of travel

While in Portland we had to go visit my cousin's new pizza restaurant. BEST PIZZA EVER! And the home of the "Largest Bear in the World." I believe the goal is to have the whole thing covered in ivy.

And of course spent some time at my grandma's house. Here's Clara in the same rocking chair I played in when I was her size.

The four generation shot

Great grandma with great grandkids

Grandma with grandkids

Another fun activity while in Portland was picking berries at Suavie Island Farms. I sure wish we lived close enough to farms to do stuff like this! I was in heaven. The kids were in heaven!

Um, why don't we live here again?

Clara's happy berry face

Doing our part to spread weeds through out the farm.

Playing in grandma's makeup

Unfortunately, while in Portland we had a little mishap and Clara cut her finger pretty bad. I was afraid for a while she'd need stitches, but thankfully it stopped bleeding eventually.

Poor Clara!

Our last Portland was adventure was a trip to the zoo via The Max (aka the train). I'm not sure if Tyler was more excited for the zoo or the ride to the zoo.

Waiting for the train with Aunt Melissa