Shorepine Village

This is the most excellent vacation rental ever. Our home was just beneath this path to the beach...here is the first trek by me & the boys...

...they were so excited. Just having this path was very cool for them!

At the top, this is what we saw.

Absolutely beautiful sunset in progress.

Early on day two, around 0600, the boys woke me up and we again headed to the beach.

It was freakin' cold!

Sunrise sun on Sully and Haystack Rock, Pacific City version.

Pacific City

Here are shots of our fun, fun, fun eight (or so) hours spent on the beach last Sunday, the 21st.

As evidenced by the joy on their faces, the boys very much enjoyed jumping down the sand dunes. This is, by far, the best.beach.ever to take kids. They jumped and jumped and climbed and played....and then slept for about 12 hours afterword. We never need to go to another beach, ever again. At least until the boys are grown. ;o)

Our very first fire on the beach as a family!

Sully's first taste of roasted marshmallows. Don't worry: I did the roasting, not him!

Keaton's first time roasting his own marshmallows.

We tried using boogie-board-type-things to slide down the dunes. Epic fail...but at least we tried!

Mike really enjoyed pretending to ski down the dunes.

Sully mostly slid down the dunes, so I am happy to have caught this great action shot!

The D River

On our last morning at the beach, we awoke to find it overcast, windy, and verrrry cold. We decided to change our plans (we had intended to check out of the rental home and have a fire on the beach for as long as the boys could stand it before heading home) and drove south, looking for sunshine or an interesting place to stop: whichever came first.

We lucked out in that the sun did come out when we found a fun place to play. We went to Lincoln City and played in the D River. This river has the distinction of being classified as "The World's Shortest River". It basically runs from the parking lot to the ocean...and we had a very fun time playing with and collecting rocks. The boys and I got into the water (which wasn't too bad once your feet went numb...the extreme pain of the cold water was worth it once you could no longer feel your lower extremities. Lol.)

The boys threw rocks like mad. We attempted to cross the river but it was just too cold. Being so close to the ocean, the D River is a) cold, 2) cold, and 3) the (cold) waves get pulled in to the ocean as the ocean waves receded. This makes large (cold) waves in the river...too deep (and cold) for me to drag both boys across. Did I mention that the water was, um, cold??

What I love about the above shot is that Sullivan could be walking anywhere in that beach...but chose to follow directly behind his big brother. As much as Keats is mean to Sully, they are still brothers when you get down to it. ;o)

Sully is such a bird man!!

Showing off the "really cool" rock that he just dug out of the water...

...and seeing how far that "really cool" rock can be chucked into the D River.

Sully doesn't mess around. He goes for the BIG rocks!

Bombs away.

He actually has great form...check out the extrended wrist. He may grow to be a basketball player with that natural style!

The Moore Boys in Lincoln City

2.22.10

Vay-Cay

I have worked 39 of the past 60 hours. I'm tired. But excited. Giddy, even. Cannot wait for the beach! And I think I'll feel a lot more like I earned the trip...like I deserve it....since I put in so many hours this week!

The new job is going just fine. Busy, but I'm used to that. Younger crowd of workers, which is a really good thing. You get less as far as experience but more as far as zip, pizazz, enthusiasm, spunk. That is something I have really missed in all this time of not working much. It will be nice to be able to be silly on those rare shifts that everything is mellow. ;o) I just have a difficult time taking everything so freaking seriously all the time! I am nervous about staying up all night but hopefully can just drink tons of coffee and run the stairs to get my second (third, fourth, fifth) wind(s). Lol.

I'll post lots of pics next week after we return from the beach. As soon as we're independently wealthy we are SO buying a beach house! It is ridiculous how excited while anticipating a trip to the beach and then so happy while we are there. We absolutely love to have a place to stay at the beach any time we wanted!

What's Up With Patti & Mike

The above are images from the 5K we did last month. Vince, Debbie, Ginger, and me. :o)

I am starting a new job this coming week. Wow, huh? Same hospital but I will work two night shifts per week in the Neuro Trauma Care Unit (NTCU). I will keep my position in IMCU as it is now, where I work a few times per month, but will probably have to drop that at some point due to scheduling conflicts. I am not looking forward to working night shift but I am looking forward to working on a more regular basis. This also allows us to send the boys to the new school, which I think will be good for everyone. Night shift pays quite a bit more per hour so that will be nice, too. I really want to try to go to Holland in the fall, before or around my 40th birthday.

I'm also really hitting the fundraising trail for March For Babies. I'm doing really well already and haven't even sold many cards yet. My new goal is $400. We'll see if I can get there by the end of April.

Mike just got a good-sized bonus from work and he is excited about that. I mean really, really excited. ;o) He spent so many years working his ass off for the State without ever having that acknowledged. He is loving the possiblity of bonuses at his current job. We booked a house at the beach for three nights next weekend and he will buy an iPad as soon as they are on the market. I'm a good wife (sucker??) and told him he could do what he wants with the money. Heck, he let us save Moose so I'm willing to let Mike do whatever he wants for at least another month or two. ;o)

That's about it with us. Just trying to find the balance of a happy family....or at least a semi-happy family....or at least a family that has enough positives in it to withstand the negatives. :o)

What's Up With Sully

Sullivan isn't quite as angelic as he appears in these pics; he is, however, as adorable as he appears in these pics. ;o)

Sully has been changing a lot, too, right along with Keats. Sully has always been much easier to deal with, in regards to not having as strong of a personality as Keats, but has been giving us a little glimpse of reality now & then. He is still so sweet & snuggly but definitely has some of his own opinions. He also has learned how to milk the "baby of the family" thing! He doesn't want to help dress himself, doesn't even want to try to help with pulling up his undies or anything! And he insists that I come into the bathroom with him while he potties. He wants certain cups & bowls & that sort of thing now, throws a fit to watch what he wants to watch on tv. Very typical for his age, just not typical for how easygoing he's always lead us to believe he is! Lol.

Sullivan will start going to an all-day preschool on Friday's. He will still attend Melina's preschool three mornings per week but we needed him to have another all-day alternative now and then. His first day was yesterday and he had an absolute blast! They had a Valentine's party so his first experience was like an all-day party.