Camping 2017 - Beverly Beach

I've set a goal for myself to finish up our camping trips/Oregon Adventure by the end of this year.

I guess I like to stress myself out about random deadlines for no apparent reason.

But we've been home for 18 months now, and "KuWAIT for it" needs to finish up already.

 

So as we were rounding out our time in Kuwait, Dave began to plan a mini "tour of Oregon"...=). It was fun watching him select places and zoom into campsites online to find the best ones. He pointed out that we'd shown our kids several other places around the world, but not the state they were born in. It became a nice little bookend to our Kuwait Adventure, and, it was a nice way to kill some time while we were waiting to sort out our housing situation and readjusting to life back home. 

He crafted a trip that included a few days of camping followed by a stay in a hotel so that we could do laundry and get really good showers and such. All in all it was ten days and six stops. 

Heading out on The Great Family Road Trip...

Not only was it our first "adventure" since returning to the states, but it was the inaugural Road Trip for our new (to us) van!  

We'd purchased our 2005 Toyota Sienna like five days before we packed it full of our crap and drove it around the state.

(It's funny because it's the same year as the van we sold when we moved to Kuwait! But, it only had 53K miles on it when we bought it and it had everything else we wanted so we decided not to care about how old it was. Dave and I are super boring when it comes to cars...we hate car payments, we love low miles so we can drive the same cars for YEARS. I love the Sienna as it has fold down seats! Our old van was a Dodge Caravan and while the third row was removable, it was super heavy and a pain in the ass every time we (and by "we" I of course mean "David" because feminism is complicated) had to remove it. We were ready for our next van to have stow-and-go options! And yes, we bought another minivan. I freaking LOVE having a minivan! I'll probably still drive one even after our kids move out! The best part about driving a minivan is the looks you get when you bump rap music at high volumes while driving one. I'm a soccer mom in a lot of ways, but I will never stop listening to Wu Tang Clan...)

I digress.

We loaded up from my sister's house in Portland and made our way to Beverly Beach.  We pulled off the highway at one view point to get out and look around at the incredible scenery...

You guys!! Oregon is SO BEAUTIFUL!! 

We arrived at Beverly Beach and found the great spot that David had reserved for us. He and I set to getting the tents up because we're adults and the twins set to climbing and exploring because they're kids...

Hot dogs cooked over a campfire...All American dinner right there...

The kids made themselves at home playing around our site... 

…and Dave got to work on his fire-poking stick...

...and he did such a good job that we ended up taking it along with us to all our sites, and it sits in our garage currently with the rest of our camping supplies =)

The twins made friends with some neighboring kids and spent a lot of this trip playing around the area with their new buddies, which was a new stage of life for us. Several times David and I found ourselves sitting quietly reading while our kids played happily with friends nearby...camping had never looked like that before! 

We also spent an entire afternoon one of those days playing on the beach.
Such a beautiful place to camp near!

 We did some exploring...

..we went on one of the campground hikes...

It felt really good to be spending so much time OUTSIDE. There were many, many blessings about living in Kuwait and I will always be grateful we did... but one of the things that weighed on me was how little time our kids spent playing outdoors during our time there. I've just seen so much research on how healthy it is for young kids to get unstructured, uninhibited time in nature...it's really great for their development! And while they received countless benefits from being expats in the Middle East for two years, I found myself giving thanks for all the playing-in-nature that occurred while camping. 

Not to mention the life skills, like Dave teaching them the *art* of keeping a good fire going...=)

The Beverly Beach part of our trip was a lot of fun, beautiful scenery, and relaxation. 

After two nights in Beverly Beach, we packed up camp and headed to our next destination!

Road Trip stop #1 complete =)

Catch up.

It's nearing the end of summer, and I can honestly say this has been the FASTEST summer of my life! It has just flown by!

We've started a new school year last week, and it's got me all reflective on 2018 thus far...

It's been a year of finding our groove with re-repatriation, and I feel fairly confident saying we're all fully re-acclimated to living in the U.S. again. Praise! Things look different than I thought (and planned!) they would at this season, but honestly? that's just fine. 

We have been in our rental house a year now, and actually just signed another one year lease.

I'd hoped we would be homeowners again by this time, but the market has been just stupid crazy. It appears to be finally, slllooowwwlllyyyy calming down a tad, so we're hopeful for the future, but the prices have been so outta control around here, we just refuse to pay insane prices for a home!  

And, this house has been a great home for us for the past year! We've loved it here, and it's nice to be able to provide consistency for another year also.  The kids are happy here, the pets are happy here, we have good outdoor space in both the front and back yard...all is well =).

So. What have we been up to for the last nine months?

Somehow our sweet Gus has gone from this...

(Jan 2018)

To this...

(July 2018)

He's a MOOSE.

He's bigger than we'd anticipated.

And he sheds A LOT.

Like, I vacuum the downstairs and the couch at least once a day, sometimes twice a day.

(and each time I do, I offer up Thanks for my fancy new Dyson vacuum with the amazing pet attachment that I *had* to buy because thieves stole my other vacuum...)

But he is THE BEST. 

Seriously, our Guster is the Dog of Dogs. 

He's easy going and eager to please. Just yesterday at the park, he obeyed and stayed right next to me, off leash, when another dog came on the field. His recall is very impressive for a 10 month old pup!

He has been SUCH an easy puppy, it's borderline obnoxious. We're like those annoying parents who bring home a newborn that sleeps through the night right away and then wonders why all the other new parents are having such a hard time? =)

And Astrid? She's simply a delight...

She is the sweetest, most easy going cat I've ever met.

She's playful and cuddly, and we all just adore her so much.

We lucked out BIG TIME in the pet department!

(especially considering we picked them both pretty randomly...Astrid from the Humane Society on our first visit, and Gus out of a classified ad and a few pictures!)

As great as they both are independently, the sweetest thing is the relationship between the two of them...

They are buddies!

During the school year, Gus goes in the (attached) garage from 7:30am - 3:00pm four days a week, and every single time Astrid chooses to go out there with him. She gets all upset and scratches at the door if we try and leave her in the house! 

They play together constantly, and are so freaking cute together we can hardly stand it. 

Our pets have been such a huge blessing to us!

Some less adorable parts of 2018 thus far includes my having to pay the TWO speeding tickets I accrued during our first five months home...

Oops.

Turns out while I don't miss driving in Kuwait in general, I do miss the freedom to go whatever speed I want whenever I want. 

In February we had some SNOW! It was not a ton, but enough to make everything beautiful and gift us all a day off from school and work. 

Also in February, the kids began playing soccer...

By the time early Spring rolled around, these two goofballs were head-over-heels in love with the Second Grade...

In March I turned 37 and felt incredibly blessed to be alive and healthy! The kids had a school concert they were in that night but I made Dave snap this pic before we went in...

The end of March brought the twins' 8th birthday...

We hosted their party at an Indoor Soccer place, and the kids had a great time...

In the end of March, we were thrilled to attend a wedding for our old neighbors...

In April we got to spend the weekend at the coast with our besties...

Gus thoroughly enjoyed his first beach experience...

As the Spring weather began to dry out the rain, we played outside as much as possible...

In May, I had a fantastic Mother's Day...

I so often feel like I'm in over my head...but I always know I'm very, very blessed to be a momma.

The twins were generously given a zoo membership for their birthday, so we've been making the most of that and have loved hitting up the zoo frequently...

We've felt SO LUCKY to have a local cousin who wants to play all the time! Watching these three play together makes my heart wanna explode...

School finished in mid-June, with a super fun Field Day I was able to volunteer for...

...it was fun to get to watch the kids play with their friends in their element. I'm so thankful for a great Second Grade year!

Also in June, Astrid turned one, and we celebrated it because we are gigantic nerds...

In the end of June, one of my very best friends got married, and I was thrilled to be stateside and have the honor of being a bridesmaid in her wedding. It was crazy fun being there for all the festivities leading up to the Big Day too...

The wedding took place in Sisters, Oregon, and it was a weekend full of good times with good people...

(I thought I'd be smart and ask the kids for ONE GOOD PHOTO in exchange for not asking them to pose for any more photos the entire evening...)

No Dice.

Take Two...

All summer long, we've been trying to enjoy as much outside time as possible...

We've loved getting to cheer Dave on at his games again!

In the end of July, our sweet friends we met in Kuwait (and then spent Christmas with in Abu Dhabi) came to visit us! Having them here in Oregon was so surreal...world's colliding. 

We were SO happy to see them!

In the beginning of August our little family headed over to the beach for a few nights...

The weather was overcast our entire stay, but not too chilly. 

In the end of August, our friends from Paris came to visit! 

The kids all picked up right where they'd left off...

It was very fun getting to spend time with them again!


And now? It's September. Our kids started THIRD GRADE last week, which is insane. 
This is the first year that they are in separate classes, and the first day of school we came home and my heart was warmed as I listened to them catch each other up on their respective days...

Three quarters of the way through 2018, and it's been pretty great year so far!