[day 237 ... aug 25]

Our first trip to the ocean beach this year! Here Tynor, Niall and Cory are holding up part of the wreck of the Peter Iredale, which has been rusting in the sand for over 100 years.

Later Niall and I went back to the museum near the West Batteries so he could buy a little hurdy-gurdy and get a flattened penney momento (and so I could get a break from a very crabby 5-year-old). We stopped by the adjacent rose garden afterwards, and Niall ended up spending a half hour or more smelling the different roses (so he could find the very best scented ones) and chatting with the woman who was dead-heading roses and pulling weeds there. I rested on a bench after the first dozen roses or so and just enjoyed the nice afternoon and a little breather in my day.

[day 236 ... aug 24]

Today we enjoyed exploring the West Batteries at Ft. Stevens. They look a lot like the batteries at Ft. Flagger (not surprisingly, since they were mostly built at the same time by the same Army Corp of Engineers people) but with a different setting and somewhat different layouts, it was fun to roam around.



Back at camp, Cory learned to ride his two-wheeler with no training wheels! Whoo hoo! He was so pleased and proud. I only had to do one round of our campground loop jogging behind him holding the balancing bar, and then he was off and riding on his own. He picked up starting by himself very quickly too. He was really ready.

The girl he made friends with at the campsite across from us suddenly wanted to learn to ride on her own too, so we lent them the balancing bar (which you can see the older girl holding in the picture). Here the two kids are, happily babbling to the firewood deliverer about their new accomplishments.

[day 235 ... aug 23]

Off on our second camping trip of the summer! We headed off for Oregon today. We'll camp at Ft. Stevens for three nights, then Nehalem Bay for four. Hoping the weather stays nice and that we didn't forget anything major!

This photo was taken about halfway to the campground, as Tynor was setting up a movie for the boys. Our deal is that we drive for at least a few hours, and then they can watch something after our first rest stop break. Works out reasonably well, as they then also read/look at books, listen to music, draw, etc. instead of just vegging out to TV the entire trip.

[day 234 ... aug 22]

All four boys and I were at The Little School's 50th anniversary picnic celebration today. It was great fun. This photo cracked me up. Silly boys!

They had photo albums from various years (including pictures of my kids in some of them!), way back to the old days of the school. Also a dunk tank, an activity in which only those 12 and up were permitted to participate, Niall was disappointed to find out. Crushed might be a better word. He spent a lot of time telling teachers how unfair that was, how contrary to "the Little School way," and how it was actually safer for kids to be dunked than adults. And by the way, did they realize that by the next anniversary celebration (60 years), he'll be 18 and not at TLS anymore?! He thinks the school should design and build its own dunk tank for kids. We'll see if that plot and plan comes to fruition.

There was also a scavenger hunt which occupied most of the rest of Niall's time (Cory and I tried it too). But I mostly just enjoyed chatting with people from yesteryear who came by for the party, and catching up with other friends. It was a lovely day and a great event to help celebrate. Teacher Steve said that he and other staff members were trying to think of who was there that had been at the school the longest ago, and he thought I was probably it. Pretty cool. :-)

[day 233 ... aug 21]

So last night at bedtime, Niall tells me, "Oh, I need to have 'Australia' and the flag drawn on my camp shirt for tomorrow." All righty then. Would have been nice to get a little more warning, but...that's not how it goes!

I ended up doing the shirt this morning just before we headed out the door. A speedy job with three colors of Sharpies, checking out an Australian flag in a book as I went. Good thing Niall knew right where to find international flags in our book collection!

It turns out that the Australian flag is strikingly similar to the New Zealand flag, which I never knew. A few fewer stars and red ones instead of white, but otherwise the spitting image. The things you learn when you have kids who need sports shirts decorated. :-)

[day 232 ... aug 20]

Day 2 and the gear from the Bellingham trip is still right where it got dropped when Tynor came in the door. Guess he's need a bit more training in the "putting things away" category. (Don't they all?!)

[day 231 ... aug 19]

Cory has learned a LOT about soccer and other sports this summer. He thinks since he's now an "expert," he doesn't "need" to go to camp anymore LOL. I've explained that even professional sports players need lots of practice to improve their skills, but he doesn't really buy it.

He does enjoy showing the other kids how to do things (no surprise there) and has fun playing, so apparently the "skills mastery" aspect hasn't been too onerous over all. :-)