1st day of school

Second Grader.

Kindergartner.

Anyone else notice the height difference?

Saying goodbye to little brother who wanted to "stay and play, too."

I finally have 2 kids in school.  Easton is in second grade and Luke has been ready for Kindergarten for about 2 years, so it seems like we have been waiting for this day for a long time.  I'm sure both the boys will have a ton of fun and lots of success this school year.

Multnomah Falls

On the bridge.

On our way to the top with the Columbia River behind us.

On our way back home to Hermiston, we stopped at Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the bridge.  I've stopped there many times as a kid, but have never gone up all the way.  The kids appreciated a little leg stretch on the way home, too.

Astoria

At the top.

Astoria Column.

Doing the Truffle Shuffle in front of the Goon Docks.

Fort Stevens.

We took a quick day trip 15 miles north of Gearhart to Astoria to see the sights.  We went to the Astoria Column and flew wood airplanes off the top.  Great views of Astoria and the Columbia River.  (It was too cloudy to see all the way out to the Pacific.)  Then we went to the "Goon Docks", or the house from the movie "Goonies" for those of you who are unaware of the term.  And last, we stopped by Fort Stevens on our way back to the resort.  The kids climbed on everything that they could see and had fun running around.

Flying kites was a little difficult.  It was a little too windy for our dollar store kites.

Max and Grandpa getting water for the sand castle.

Ginny looking pretty in the sunset.

Ahhhh.....love at the beach.

Cousins trying to keep dry while the tide comes in.

We stayed in a condo in Gearhart, OR right on the beach.  It was perfect!  The condo was huge and felt like home.  We had so much fun with Scott's brothers' family and Scott's parents.  We wished that the whole Pingel family could have come, but we'll just have to plan another one.  We had fun just playing in the sand and water with cousins, eating good food, and talking and laughing.  The trip didn't last long enough!  We loved our first trip to the coast.

Seaside, OR

She loves to get dirty.

Diggin' a hole.

Feet in the sand.

We're tough!  That water is COLD!

#twinsmuch?

Lewis and Clark End of the Trail Monument.

We picked the wrong weekend to roll into Seaside.  It was their annual beach volleyball tournament, and it was packed!!  They had rows and rows of nets set up and the traffic was crazy, so we didn't really get the feel for the cute town of Seaside, but the kids loved seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  Ginny couldn't get enough of the sand.  And, of course, I had to buy some salt water taffy (they had a cake batter flavor that was to DIE for!). 

Oregon Zoo

Loving the zoo!

Ginny loved petting the animals.

Avery and Max=BFF!

So, I guess these are the only pictures that I took at the zoo.  The kids loved it and it was a beautiful and warm day in Portland.  My cousin, Kristen, was kind enough to let us stay the night with her and the kids loved playing together.  The next morning, we had to take advantage of being in Portland, and ended our stay with a trip to VooDoo Doughnuts.  Yum!!!