I think my butt is bruised

Me and Annie.

It was an awesome ride!

And back at home... Justin is schoolin' Nick on the Wii!

sand in my toes

In the words of Jusin - the water here in Ocean Shores is..... brrrr freezzzzin'Justin loves this! His pants were soaked, he had sand in his butt crack and frozen toes! I had to drag him off the beach.

Go fly a kite

Nick and I untangled a big string mess!

After many failed attempts to get the kite to fly... Nick finally gets it to stay up!

It was windy, but quite cold!

Justin sat on flew his kite for quite awhile!

Me and Amanda!

Today Justin and I traveled from Portland to Ocean Shores and mom, Nick and Amanda came down from Seattle. We met up at a Mexican restaurant for some lunch and then headed up the hill to the rehab center to visit Grandpa.

After checking into our hotel we hit the beach for some fun. We had dinner at the Quinault Casino that night, put 5 bucks each into a slot machine and lost while we were waiting for our table. Had a lot of good laughs, some decent food...

Lifted

To Do:

Before any trip I always make a to do list. We'll only be in Ocean Shores for 2 nights, but when we come back I will be bringing 3 more people home with me and I just can't come home to a dirty house. Plus I need a list of things to pack, like the camera, cell phone charger... stuff like that.I know it has been said before, but it bears repeating. Trying to clean the house with a child around is an exercise in futility. As seen here, Justin shooting me with the vacuum hose. Nice. Not pictured would be Justin throwing all the clean laundry around the living room. Me cleaning his room and Justin playing in it and covering the floor with toys again.

I can't really complain, I actually got a lot accomplished today though and I am ready to hit the road tomorrow. Excited to see Nick. Excited to spend time with the fam. Just plain excited!

Lets take a spin

Sunglasses - check
Seatbelt on - check
Favorite song cranked - check Busy day at work, followed by a busy evening at home. Part of which included washing the car inside and out.

Other highlights of the night included: Rachel came over, we sorted buttons, watched "dance your ass off", ate ice cream, played with Justin.

Anticipation reins supreme

One more working day until vay-cay
Two and half more days and we will be on the beach
One week until I cruise into Spokane and reconnect with friends
Eight days until I will be sitting on the dock with my feet in the water
Two weeks and one day I will be getting lost to the sound of The Dave Matthews Band.

After it is all said and done I will have logged 2,000+ miles in the car and very likely have taken 2,000+ pictures. Which is why I don't feel so bad posting 2 camera phone photos tonight. We were at Jamie's pouring thru the new fall/winter Scentsy scents and catalogs. I had nothing else in mind to photograph, so... here we are. I love anticipation. I love plans. I am looking forward to this so much.

real shoes

There is something to be said for real shoes. I have taken many a stroll in flip flops, but tonight we put our running shoes on for a walk after dinner.

It was hot today and it feels very heavy and muggy. I layed on my back for a bit on the cool grass this evening, it was nice.

Dr. Justin in the house

Justin came up to me and asked if my heart was broken. I said yes. He went right to work writing me a prescription. I also told him my knees were broken - he fixed 'em.

lunch break

I am super spoiled only working 6.5 hours a day, but this week I will be working 40 hours to make up for time I will loose by taking all next week off, and usually I don't "officially" take a lunch, but today I had too and my first choice was...

I also took a couple of walks around the parking lot today. Seems kinda silly, but the AC was cranked in the office and it was really really nice outside, so just to warm up I would go outside and take a mini-stroll. 4 more days to go and then a full week off! Ya-hoo!

Officially closed for business!

After spending the past 2 days in Canby helping Jamie and Scott with their garage sale {and trying to hock the rest of my goods} I am done! No more garage sales for like 20 years! Luckily Jamie, the boys and I were able to break away at 2:00. We hit up Sonic {cherry limeade! yay} and then we parted ways and Justin and I went for a foot soak/pedi. We came home and did a little cleaning in the space that once was Justin's room. Yikes! I gave roomie-Julie Justin's bed to use until I could get my hands on Jamie's extra queen bed {which is still in my hallway downstairs}. And in an effort to organize Justin's toys I have created this mess...

I have one week to get this clean and get the bed up here. Someone needs to sleep in this room and that just isn't possible as it stands. I also have a new dresser for Justin that has like 8,043 bolts and screws that needs to be put together. Do I have any volunteers? Anyone....?

Then last night after dropping Justin off I left the mess and went and had some fun. I think I am starting to like Sundays again.

Edited on 8/19 to add this little gem that I found on my cell phone. This adorable self portrait was actually taken on this day - where as, I must confess, the picture of Justin's room above was actually taken on Monday - the facts are the same, but the picture was not taken on the day I claim. My little monkey was looking out for me apparently.

what a day!

The drive-thru at Starbucks. 10:15 AM

$20.15 later, drinks for five people.

Feeling inspired and wanted to capture little boy eyes. I had to pay Justin $3 to get him to look at the camera. Jimmy was more cooperative. Love these boys! They are getting better and better and playing together and listening to their conversations cracks me up!

Goodnight!

But wait! It's only 7:30, can't go to sleep yet!
I asked Justin if I could take a picture of his eyes, his response "take a picture of my back," as he turns his back to me. Nice :)

not too shabby

It is golf season at work, which means the firm sponsors holes at several tournaments. I set up for my first one today, which basically meant I hauled a bunch of stuff out the the hole, set up our marketing materials and then waited for the attorney who was staffing the hole to come out. And honestly it was so very nice and just what the doctor ordered. It was a beautiful day {much more so than this camera phone picture shows - think blue sky}, I was alone with nothing but my thoughts and some coffee for a chunk of time and it was pretty darn awesome.

harvest

Obsevations on today:

- I am not crazy about humidity

- If it decides to rain again tonight while I am sleeping, I would like that very much

- Putting a belt on a 3 year old makes me break a sweat

- If you tell a 3 year old that a meat ball is sausage, he will consider eating it

Green

And a question... how does a 3 and a half year old know how to operate a Nintendo Wii? Not only operate it, but play it and win? Boggles my mind!

two birds with one stone

It was a big bubble kind of night!

under attack

Gluten for punishment

Did the garage sale thing again today. I still had quite a bit leftover and some new things found to sell. Did okay, totally worth it.

And Justin spent some time driving Jimmy's power wheel around. Jimmy got this F150 for his birthday, but is scared to drive it. Score for Justin!And... chocolate cupcakes anyone? They still need the buttercream frosting, but I have 40 of these shiny numbers in my kitchen right now - and one little boy begging for one!

Confessions #2 and #3

I like to take pictures of my kid that will very possibly embarrass him later in life.

Justin is wearing pants in this shot - I held back the pic of him wearing nothing but a t-shirt and the big boots, with his adorable little tush sticking out {saving those for his 16th birthday party}.

And... I heart magazines!

My People mag comes in the mail every Friday, makes checking the mail down right thrilling.

experimenting

These daisys always make me want to play the "he loves me, he loves me not" game. I am starting to think that if I had even the slightest clue how to work my camera - I may very well be dangerous.

mini hawk and the moon

This picture doesn't do it justice, but Justin is sporting a little mohawk courtesy of Uncle. I think it kind of cute. Justin didn't want his picture taken and this is the best I can do today.

And... a horrible thing happened today! Makes me sick to think about it. I crunched, flattened, massacred a squirrel on the way home. I will always swerve and/or break if at all possible to avoid being the demise of the little buggars, but I couldn't do either and the little guy was just too slow. I felt and heard the crunch under my passenger side front tire. I feel simply horrible. RIP little furry critter.

I have wanted to take a picture of a full moon for some time now, and I finally found my tri-pod clip, so I went for it. I don't have the right camera lense to really do this right, but I think it isn't half bad for a first attempt.

Goodnight Moon.

2 THINGS

Justin is really good at playing on the Wii. I have no clue how to operate the thing, I think I need to learn, he was having a lot of fun!

Good things are ahead, I just know it.

no rest

Justin doesn't like to stay at his Daddy's place, so he is home with me - and honestly, I need a break. Even an hour would be awesome.

Bonus Sunday pics

The 3 foot tall tornado strikes again. He told me he likes to "makes messes" and he is very adamant about his desire to do. He also seems quite proud and happy about it. I rearranged the living room {again} -it was about that time.And after dinner we took a stroll around the neighborhood. Justin had to stop and "wait for the bus." I asked him where he was going, he said he was going to get a balloon. Funny thing, cause we've never really taken the bus. Not entirely sure where this came from. Cracks me up.

Still waiting for the bus... I don't think it's coming...

What are the odds that he will pull me around?

Justin and his love of ants {the little ones} - here he is putting one on my leg - or maybe he is taking it off my leg. Either way.... all boy this one!

Bad Kitty

Very very bad kitty!

Honey Do

Wake up. Head to Starbucks. Go to Home Depot.
Mission: new blinds for spare room.

I have a long {really long} "honey-do list" and no honey to-do, so I put Justin right to work hanging up the new blinds.

Later in the afternoon I finished the cupcakes, which were... "rustic" at best. Major fine tuning is needed. Rachel came over for some crafting, we hit up Buster's for ribs, ate ice cream.

Happy Saturday!