Summer Wrap-Up

And finally some summer fun to wrap up our summer 2013.  Summer is always a great time with kids.  We get to play outside and do fun things.  I absolutely love when fall comes but I am always thankful for summer and the time to play with my kids.  Longer days, warm weather, sunshine, and lots of outdoor activities.  Fall is officially here now and I am thankful for that.  Goodbye to another summer!

 

I found this toy on clearance at Fred Meyer toward the end of the summer and the kids loved it.  It was just a little water and sand "table" toy with trucks and a crane.  They spent a lot of time on the front porch or in the grass playing with their new toy in the water.

 

We got to go to the splash pad with my friend Ashley and her two kids (now three but the newest was still in her belly).  Grace and Owen are some of Carter's best friends.  He always asks when we get to go play with them.

 

Watching cartoons in a box.  Now this is some wild and crazy summer fun!

 

We attempted a day at the Oregon Coast.  I am notorious for picking cold and windy days and this time was no different.  I went with the expectations of spending hours down on the sand building sand castles, hiking up the dunes, and eating a picnic lunch.  Ha!  The wind was blowing so hard that sand was flying in our faces and eyes and actually stinging our skin.  Eating lunch was a joke because we were basically eating more sand then actual food.  Madelynn wouldn't do anything but sit on my lap which made it difficult to do anything.  We were cold and sick of the sand flying everywhere.  After about an hour, Jay took all of our stuff back to the car and we just walked around by the water and climbed on rocks and looked for treasures.  It ended up being a fun time but it started out bad!  Since the day didn't turn out great we decided to head on over to Tillamook to see the cheese factory and get some ice cream.  That was fun but we had a much longer drive home with cranky kids because of it.  Oh well.  We tried :)

 

Madelynn did try digging in the sand for a few minutes...didn't last long though.

 

Carter had some fun.

 

Our summer also included a lot of yard work.  When we work in the yard, the kids get to play.

 

A few months back Jay's mom came over and helped Jay grind a bunch of stumps with a stump grinder that we rented.  Sadly I completely forgot to take pictures of them working but I snapped a picture a few days later of some of the divots where the stumps used to be.  We were thankful for her help doing a really crappy job!  So thankful I didn't have to do it.  This is the hill in our backyard that used to be a jungle and now it is all cleared out.  Jay worked hard on building a fence this summer.  We still have a long ways to go but he made a lot of progress!

 

My dad came over and helped dig holes with a very nice auger.  This was also a job that I would not want to do!  So thankful for his help!

 

So many roots...

They won't go away!

 

 

Carter always likes to "help" daddy!

 

Tired boy.  Love that he fell asleep on our bed while watching a movie.

 

 

Always double fisting :)

 

Time for fence posts!!

 

This was once my garden and will hopefully be my garden again someday. 

 

Madelynn loves to read in Carter's bed.  So cute.  She is obsessed with books lately!

 

 

Playing together.  They have these moments often and I just melt every time.  They have there bad moments too but I am so thankful for these moments. 

 

2013 Oregon State Fair

We ran into our friends Tim and Jessie and their two kids who are Carter and Madelynn's friends too.  It was fun doing a little bit of the fair with them.

 

We love the petting zoo!  Madelynn wasn't too sure but Carter can't get enough.  The little pigs were definitely his favorite animal in the petting zoo.

 

 

 

 

Get that goat away from me daddy...

 

We actually went to the fair a few times because Jay was working there (as an EMT).  We liked going and hanging out with him when we could.  One of the times we went my cousin Craig went with us. 

 

 

Carter's friend Eloise was in a little kids play and we got to watch that.  Carter refused to go up and be a part of it. 

 

Waiting in line to ride a pony with Eloise.  Carter loves doing this every year!

 

One happy boy!

 

 

And then, literally, his favorite part of the fair!  I think we had to come back to the tractors three or four times every time that we went to the fair this year.  When we asked him what his favorite part of the fair was he always answered, tractors!

 

Putting our forest fires ;)

 

 

Apparently the tractors were not Madelynn's favorite part...

 

I loved the tiger.  Except you had to be careful because he liked to spray, up to 30 feet.  I watched many people get hit.  Ugh!

 

 

And Carter and I rode the fair lift twice and he got to ride once with my mom.  This was a highlight for me!

 

My silly girl!  Always wearing something...shoes, hats, necklaces, underwear...something!

 

Our yard before demolition...

 

During demolition with our neighbors excavator...

 

 

And after demolition...

We have a ton of work ahead of us!  Well, Jay has a ton of work ahead of him.  He gets to haul all of this away!  Everyone keeps asking us what our plan is when we are done hauling...

we have no idea!

 

 

 

Story time before bed with Grandma and her puppy, Casper.  Carter loves Casper!

 

Dressed cute in new fall outfits.

 

 

Madelynn has some hair!!!  She actually has enough to get major bedhead now.  Woohoo!

 

Pretty girl all dressed for church.

 

Handsome young man all dressed for church.

 

 

And that's a wrap!  Hello fall!  Well, it is actually October 1st today so we are really into fall now.  We have had rain for days.  Not just a little rain but torrential downpours and crazy wind.  Silly Oregon.  I am excited to blog about Carter's first day of preschool!  Coming soon.  And miss Madelynn Grace is 18 months old!