Down by the Sea

John, Amy and Grace came for a visit earlier this week. We had fun hanging out with them and catching up. Tuesday morning before they had to go we took a quick trip to Seaside for Grace's first visit to the ocean. Alaina and Lila got to do some swinging on the beach. Thanks for coming for a visit J, A, and G! It was fun!

Mmmmm! Me want Brownies!

Rylan loves to pull himself up on the front of the oven and watch what is cooking!

Garden Beauties

Well, our garden is about at its end. We harvested a couple more veggies and lots of sunflowers. All that is still growing is our pumpkins. Here are some shots of the girls with some of the harvest.

Happy Birthday Rylan!

Rylan turned one today! This first picture shows his confused/shocked look when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. I don't think he moved the whole time. His dazed look was gone when he realized we were holding out a cake to him and he could touch it! Eating the cake and then ice cream was - from what we could tell - his favorite part. Opening and playing with the presents came a close second - even though most of the toys he received were quickly taken over by his big sisters.

First Day of First Grade!

Today was Emily's first day of school. She has been counting down the days for a while now and was quite excited to meet her new teacher and see her friends. She was excited to have her own desk, her own lunch box and get to ride the bus home for the first time!

Hikin' and Berry Pickin'

The last days of summer have been beautiful here in Cathlamet. We took a walk the other night on the wildlife reserve and had to take some pictures of God's beautiful creation. Today we took the youth group out to the beach for some swimming and tubing out on the river. The girls were quite enthused to find blackberries growing on the beach we were at. They spent at least an hour picking as many berries as they could reach. They ate quite a few as well. We didn't have anything to put the berries in so we used some paper plates left over from our lunch. We did have a few casualties on the boat ride back but I think enough survived to make some jam and maybe even a pie!

The Tugboat Crew

Here's some pics of the newest tugboat crew out of Cathlamet. Their tug is docked outside the elementary school and leaves port every once in awhile when their mom drives them over there. They have fun shouting orders and heave-ho-ing things. I'm not sure the position of "captain" has been assigned yet. All four members of the crew seem to think they have inherited the position. I am biased of course, but I'd have the say they are the cutest bunch of sailors I have ever seen!