Beach Bums!

July 26th through August 1st we had the first of hopefully many Bradshaw family reunions with Casey's parents and siblings with their families.  Everyone was able to make it except Richard and Caitlin who are away in Nevada doing an internship.  I was preparing some treats for the car and while we were there, one of which was puppy chow and Cooper came into the kitchen and said, "mom, are you making poop."  The reunion was sooo fun!  We went to the Oregon coast, which was absolutely beautiful.  It was not like the other beaches I have been to in California and Florida, it is cold for starters and it is nothing but big beautiful trees that end right where the coast begins.  We left Casey's parents house Monday late morning and made it to Pendleton that day where the kids got to spend their first night ever in a hotel.  They loved playing in the pool and jumping on the bed (something only allowed in a hotel, not at home).  The next day we drove the rest of the way with some sight seeing stops along the way.  We stop at Bonneville dam where the kids loved seeing a fish latter and a 10 foot sturgeon.  It was also really cool to see the locks and how they move the big ships from the lower level to up above the dam.  Next we stopped at a water fall called Multnomah Falls.  Their were 2 levels, the higher spot their was a little bridge that went all the way across. We hiked up to the upper part which was really awesome. All in all the kids did really well spending all that time in the car. Being in close quarters that long you get to here a lot of comments from the kids that are funny here is a few...Cooper: Are we in Oregon yet?(We heard this one a few times!);  What  are we doing here? (Every time we stopped or started back up in the car); I want to go to the ocean!
Shelby: A girls got to do what a girls got to do!; I enjoy being a girl!  Kolby:  Once we saw the ocean he said, "Is that part of the deep end of the ocean over by that cliff?"
James and Cindy arraigned  for us all to stay a house in Nehalem Oregon.  Which was fun all being in the same place for the kids and adults.  Once the kids were asleep we adults played games into the night. One of the nights we thought all the kids were asleep so we cracked open the games and was just getting started when Shelby came out and saw us all sitting around the table and said, "Why are you guys eating without us... Don't you know we are STARVING?!"  We said," Shelby we aren't eating we are playing a game game, go to bed."  She went back to her room and later came out and said," what game are you playing?"  We did alot of sight seeing which was fun but I think the kids would have enjoyed just playing on the beach more than they got too.  Even though it was cold, the kids had the most fun there, here are some pictures showing how much fun we had!

We stopped at Bonneville Dam just east of Portland.  It was pretty cool to see such a big dam on the mighty Columbia river!

Next we stopped at the beautiful Multnomah Falls!

The spot we went to on the beach was about a quarter mile hike from the road down to the coast. The trail meandered though all these huge trees.

That clearing is the ocean!

The beautiful Oregon coast

One of the locals

 Chase and his buddy, grandpa.

Kolby and Cooper on the beach-Yea!! We learned after our 1st excursion to the beach no matter how cold less is more because they are going to get wet anyway and sand sticks to wet clothing.  We unintentionally brought back a lot of sand in the car as a souvenir.(FYI The only souvenir that was free) 

Mom helping Cooper build a sand castle

Shelby gathering sea shells. Her favorite thing to do. Grandpa even found a bracelet that he gave her that MUST have came from a pirates ship. 

Grandma and Grandpa and all the grand kids

Chase finally found a place he could crawl and not get sand EVERYWHERE!

The next day we went to Tillamook and went to the big cheese plant.  We got to sample lots of yummy cheeses and have some really good ice cream. Which believe it or not that was lunch, it truly was a vacation.  While the beach was the kids favorite thing, this was second.

We got to see some neat lighthouses.  The one above was west of Tillamook and some people had shot holes in the glass and the light so we could not go up in the top.  The lighthouse below was north-west of Astoria and we missed being able to go inside by about 5 minutes! Apparently some people have to go home to their families. Casey was bummed. Thats ok though because kids under 7 couldn't go in anyway

On the way back from Astoria we went to Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark stayed for the winter before returning back east. It was interesting to see and learn about their expedition. We were in time for the closing ceremonies with the flag and Kolby and Shelby got to help!  Kolby thought that the old time guns were so cool and how they used everything on the bodies of  the animals that they killed for clothes and shoes and many other things. 

We got to try out body surfing, which was fun and cold!

One way they found to warm up after being in the water. 

The last day we spent playing at the beach we even had a hot dog roast.  Cindy & James had a bunch of mini watermelons that we were having with our lunch that our kids were helping them carry quite a ways for a little kid.  Well, apparently Shelby dropped hers causing it to crack a little.  She caught up to Aunt Cindy saying that Cooper dropped it.  Cindy said,"Thats ok."  After a few more yards Shelby confesses, "Ah, Aunt Cindy I actually dropped it."  Cindy said,"Oh, thats ok, why did you tell me Cooper did it?"  Shelby answers, "Ahhh, I don't know".  Cindy says, "Did you think I would be mad? Next time just tell the truth."  You got to wonder how much stuff is blamed on Cooper.

Chases favorite thing to do to get attention in the car was to gag himself which is not a great thing especially when he has been eating food all day.  We found a few things that kept him occupied as you can see.

The kids did really well in the car, we just had to keep them full of snacks and new movies!  Thank goodness for the DVD player!

On the way back we didn't stop, we went from the coast to Rupert without stopping for much, just alot of potty breaks, park breaks, gas and food breaks. We made it in about 13 hours and the kids were real troupers. In fact, I think they did better on the all in one day drive then breaking it up on way there.

The very next weekend after getting home from Oregon we went to Starvation reservoir with some of our friends.  We had fun boating and playing on a beach again.  I got to try wake boarding and was able to get up but that's just about it.  Its not at all like slaloming but still fun I can't wait to try it again.  The kids had a blast on the tube.  But I think even over all that fun stuff the highlights of boating was the huge wave that decide to enter or boat with the help of our driver, drenching us all.  Then having boat problems and having to flag down another boat to tow us all the way back to camp.  Once their we found we were out of gas. We all had a good laugh.  Thank goodness for that fisherman and his wife, it would have been a long paddle back to camp.

Casey showing off his archery skills

Shelly relaxing by the fire

Kolby fishing again!  He caught one first thing but it was a little small so Casey told him to throw it back.  We thought that having him catch one within the first 2 minutes he would catch a lot more-didn't happen.  He and his friend Spencer did catch a lot of crayfish at night though.  They were too creepy looking to get a picture.

Barbies have to bath too!

Kolby had a hard time putting the pole down to for meals too.

Chase in his birthday suit!

The past few weeks at the different beaches have been very fun for our whole family, and we are not done yet.  Casey and I are going to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary next week.  Once we are back from that trip, we will be done being beach bums for a while.

Chase is walking everywhere now.  He loves walking up to your legs and grabing ahold.  He wants up then down but still wants you to hold him.  He is hilarious.  His favorite pass time is any bathroom where he puts his hands in the toilet water and splashs.  He dosen't get to do that often enough so he settles with the bath tub in our bathroom he turns on the water there and splashs.  He keeps a close eye on the gate that we put on top of the stairs so he doesen't fall down.  We have been working with him on going down the right way for a 1 yr. old.  When ever a kid goes up or down without putting the gate back turbo crawling speed kicks in and he is right there teetering on the top step shacking his head no.  He is to big for his little britchs.  One more lovely thing he does now is when we are outside he wants down so I applige then he goes straight for the road.  Some would think that the curb would deture him instead its his challange the one step he can make it down before I get to him.

Busy Summer!!

Summer vacation is now more than half over and we have been trying to pack in as much stuff as we can, this is what we have done so far... June started with Shelby's pre-school graduation.  It was fun to see all the fun things she learned and all the songs.  It was also fun to see some of the other kids in her class, they all put on a good graduation show.  Both Kolby and Shelby have been so lucky to have a great pre-school teacher.  Shelby made some huge strides this year and we cannot wait to see how much she learns and progresses in kindergarten, thanks Teacher Wendy!!

Casey and Cooper's birthdays were next and they were fun.  I think they enjoy sharing a birthday, but it is not good for the waist line to have two cakes at the same time.  Cooper had a snake cake with strawberries on top, he called it his rattle cake.  Casey had his normal chocolate with chocolate frosting and I continued the strawberry theme and put one on top of his too.  Cooper decided he needed to help make the cakes...as you can see he was a big help!

Cooper is going through a faze where he hits EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING!!  We are hoping it is a faze!  We decided to try to get him to hit something else besides people so for his birthday we got him a punching bag.  It has a suction cup on it to stick to the table and he can just smack away on it!  We hope it works. He also got a bunch of his own play dough, a Diego/Dora movie.  He was a happy 3 year old! Cas got a lot of golf balls, a battery charger, and a ping pong paddle.  He was a Happy 32 year old!  We have now started a new birthday  tradition in our family we have cake and ice cream in the morning b/c I love them having a sugar buz all day long.  No, j/k it's b/c if we don't we have learned that their isn't much of a cake to put a candle in when dad gets home from work.  Cakes a good breakfast to start the day with right?!

Somewhere in the middle of all of this was fathers day.  We had a good one starting with almost breakfast in bed.  The kids woke Cas up before it was done.  To top it all off home made cards and coupons and every mans dream a deluxe weather forecaster from Cabelas which automatically makes it a good gift no matter what!

Two days after the birthdays we left for Warm River.  We were excited to be able to go this year as last year we couldn't because I had just had Chase.  The weather was a little cold, but that didn't stop us from having a lot of fun!

The first thing was to find the cousins!

The next thing on the list was to find the treats.  Looks like Cooper found them. 

It was fun to see all our extended family and to play cards, eat, fish, eat, hike, and eat.  We can't wait to go back next year, hopefully the weather will be a little warmer so we can get in the water more although it was freezing the kids still braved the ice berg water of warm river.

After Warm River we went to Grandpa Ivan's cabin on Henry's Lake.  We spent 3 days there and as always Ivan goes all out to make sure we have a good time.  We took out the boat and just like last time we had an unfortunate incident with the plug and started to take on some unwanted water.  We were able to get to shore in time and get the engine compartment drained.  We didn't catch any fish, and we lost an anchor but the kids had lots of fun riding on the boat!  Except when they thought we were sinking! j/k The May flies were so thick that week you had to be careful breathing, I think that's why the fish weren't biting.

We also took the 4-wheelers out for a ride.  The weather was a little chilly the whole time we were there, but it was perfect on the day we went riding.  We took some leftover hamburgers and hot dogs and started a little fire for lunch. Casey thought it important to teach Kolby the "proper way to put out the fire.  So Casey did his part, then Kolby.  Then here came Grandpa Ivan unaware of the event that had just taken place.  He had retrieved snow from a bank to put on top and proceeded by swirling it around some. When we realized what he was doing we quickly informed him exactly what he was stirring!  He found that snow bank again and washed up.  Then pay back time, we had a snow ball fit in June.  We got to go on some trails none of us had been on before which was great.  The kids got a little restless because riding 80-90 (we think) miles in one day is a long time on a 4-wheeler, but it sure was fun!

Some of the beautiful scenery!

We even found some snow in the trees and had a snowball fight!

We also had the opportunity to take the kids into Yellowstone National Park.  Usually when we go there we just drive to Old Faithful and see it go off and then the kids are ready to leave.  This year we decided that once you have seen Old Faithful you really don't need to see it again so we just drove and went on some off-roads and saw lots cool animals including elk, deer, Buffalo with their calves, and even a coyote!  We also on our last day went and let the kids feed the fish at Big Springs where we saw some huge fish, seagulls, and even a muskrat.

The very next weekend after we got home from Warm River and Island Park we went to Lagoon.  Clint was able to get us discount tickets from his work so we decided to go.  It was very hot, but the kids had a great time.  I can't ride roller coasters, but this year the two older kids were finally old enough to go so Casey took them on the rickety old white one.  When they got done Casey asked them what they thought and Kolby said he DID NOT want to do that again.  Shelby our little dare devil was ready to go again right then.  Too bad the line was long and we had to go to babysit a neighbors kids, maybe next year...

I dare say this may be our favorite ride!

June 24th was Chase's birthday, we did our 1st birthday tradition of making him a cake and then sitting it in front of him and letting him just "go at it!!"  The cake turned out really cute, it was a farm yard with a cow, pig, and a chick and a fence made out of pretzels.  Chase was way too interested in the pretzels and didn't really care to dive into the cake like we thought he would. He acted like he wanted to but then he would fuss a little and look at me like, "well mom aren't you going to give me some." I think he wanted me to just feed him it.  He and Kolby were by far our cleanest kids after their first birthday party.  Cooper was pretty dirty, but it was Shelby who made the biggest mess.  It is a fun tradition and gives us a glimpse of how they will act when they are older...

He got blocks which he loved throwing.What do you give a 4th child that already has everything?  We gave him some of his favorite treats and a life jacket.  Bradshaw's gave him a helmet so he can 4wheel safely with us.  And Janice put $ in an account for him and Ivan gave him a toy that he opened early so he could play with on the way home from the cabin.  We continued the farmish theme for his B-day and went to the Lehi rodeo the night of his birthday.  Surprisingly he stayed awake for the whole thing.  He got a little scared during the jumping motorcyclist and the bull riding b/c the crowd and us would scream.  But all and all a great #1 birthday.  

After living in Saratoga Springs for 7 1/2 years we finally decided to make the 25 minute drive to the Kennicott copper mine.  It was really interesting!  The kids thought it was pretty cool to look out at the vast hole in the ground and to look through the binoculars at the HUGE dump trucks.  The tires alone on those things are twice as tall as Casey who is 6'3.

Partners in crime! 

What a bunch of silly kids!

I wonder if Chase will ever stop drooling?  He drools so much we always have spit bibs on him and it even soaks threw to his shirt too.















4th of July 2010  This year for the fourth we went to Rupert to remind us of the good ol' days. On Saturday we got up and the kids helped Dad move some wheel lines then we got ready and went to the parade at the square where we felt proud to be an American as our flag was proudly shown, saw some cool moves by alot of dancers and karate kids, tractors, old cars, horses, and lots of candy.  For lunch we went to Layne & Barbra Mackys for a barbecue.  It was tasty we even had homemade ice cream.  Then from there we went over to Lisa & Brandons to play in the pool and have dinner.  It was a perfect day and very fun filled we ended at Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw's for fireworks.  Then on Sunday we went over my moms house to watch the city of Burleys fireworks and had more good food.  Casey left on Monday to go to Kentucky and I stayed in Rupert for a week.  My sister in law Lisa & family just moved to a house with a swimming pool so the kids took swimming lessons there for a week.  I was able to tie my mom down and start the process of capturing her life history.  It was fun & I look forward to hearing more.  The kids got to play with cousins and Grandparents.  They had a blast.  One day I took them on a field trip and showed them where I grew up and were Kolby lived for the 1st 2 weeks of his life.  Also where we lived when he was in my tummy.  I had a great childhood growing up there. I tried to paint the picture for my kids of how there mom's life was at there age.  And though it is still so very clear in my mind I don't think with so many changes they can see the same view.  The house I grew up in just doesn't quite look the same, and the Acequia Merc is no longer there, and they built a new elementary school.  Oh well, its ok if its just stories to them but what I wouldn't give to raise them in a similar setting.  Theirs no price you can put on a little country farm w/ a family that's growing in a humble surrounding.  And everyone around just putting in an honest days work(kids included). Caring neighbors,cousins and family close (but not to close) by that care about your children and help any way they can.  Best friends that you can be pretty sure aren't moving in a year.  In fact your parents can laugh with your friends parents about when we were that age...do you remember?  Ah, like I said the good ol' days, what I wouldn't give! None the less, The kids thought the field trip of the past was pretty cool.  And it was fun spending some time there the week went really fast.

I got to go to the Shakespearean festival with my mother in law and my sister in laws and a couple of Casey's aunts.  I rode down their with Cindy on Thursday and we came back on Sunday.  Casey and the kids managed beautifully.  Casey even took them all out of the house at once!  They went to Cabala's, they slept out on the tramp and had a movie night one night too.  They had alot of fun too which made me have more fun not worrying about them.  I had good food, great shopping and entertainment and fabulous company.  I hope to do it again.