Beach Babies

Since Nathan is in New Jersey the rest of the week and we're in Oregon, this is the easiest way to share our adventures and pictures en masse. Lucky you, that means two blog posts in one week!

Since we've been here, Drew has been talking to Lala about building sandcastles each time they go out to play in the sandbox. Yesterday he had asked her something along the lines of why he couldn't get the sand to hold when he tipped over the buckets to build castles. She explained to him that it was because her sand wasn't (and wouldn't be getting) wet, but that we could go to the beach where there was perfect sand for castle building and where he could build to his heart's content. So, as promised, today we spent the afternoon building sandcastles and running around the beach in Florence, OR. Before today, I had only hiked around the beaches and never gone down to them. The beach was beautiful and deserted (for good reason, it was freezing)! We all had plenty of fun, but definitely missed having Nathan here with us. Just like blueberry picking, we'll have to go again in August.

Lala taught Drew how to build drip castles, which he thought was pretty neat.

Auntie Jenn and me freezing our tails off!

Collin was more interested in castle smooshing than castle building, but every so often he would put sand in a bucket to help out

Dragging logs to build the teepee

Gotta love the huge goose egg and bruise on Coll's poor little forehead. They're from his birthday, and when I get a chance to post birthday pictures, I'll explain.

The completed teepee Poppi built with Drew

Digging for water 

And of course, what beach day would be complete without a stop for ice cream on the way home??

The boys love love loved the sand! To them it was just one huge, never ending sandbox without rules. They loved it, I loved it, we only wished you were here with us, Hun! xoxo!

Blueberries for the boys

This week we're in Oregon! Technically, we weren't planning on coming up again until Christi's wedding, but when Jenn said she was headed up for a friend's wedding, we decided to stowaway and surprise my parents. It was well worth all the secret keeping; my parents were so so so excited to see the boys! Jenn's one request of my dad was that she would get to pick blueberries while she was up, and yesterday we did just that. We were joined by my dad's boss Scott, and Kell's friend Hannah. Everyone up here complained that it was "sooooo hot" while we were picking, but the barely 90 degree weather felt like heaven to us!

Anyway, for those of you that don't know, my dad works at the most amazing blueberry farm a little south of where they live in Eugene (seriously, go look it up, Fall Creek Nursery in Lowell, OR). They have fields where they grow trial berries and various new (and maybe some old?) breeds of blueberries for research, photos, etc. The fields are also used for selecting new introductions from over fifteen years of blueberry breeding work. Since my dad is super special (wink!), we are able to go out and pick berries every so often when we come up. We did this last September, but Drew was younger and Collin was teenie tiny. September was also the end of the growing season. At the time I thought the bushes looked pretty full, but those bushes looked bare compared to the amount of berries on them this time around! They were loaded! The boys and I had so much fun picking! Drew loved hanging out and helping pick, and Collin loved the freedom of being able to cruise around popping blueberries into his mouth. Heck, let's face it, we all loved that part!

Blueberries!

There are rows, upon rows of these bushes, all heavy with the weight of berries!

Once we were inside the gated field, Drew got to "drive" from the front of the field to the end rows where we would be picking. He loved this part!

Kell and Hannah

This is pretty much how Collin spent his afternoon. If he wasn't begging for berries from someone else....

...then he was helping himself to them,

and popping them in his own mouth!

Auntie Kell and Coll...notice what still has Collin's attention. The blueberries!

I wasn't kidding about Collin spending his afternoon eating blueberries! Almost every picture I have of him looks something like this. He LOVED them!

My dad's boss Scott showing Drew how the pros pick blueberries. He was so nice to Drew; seriously, such a nice guy! Drew loved him!

Poppi sharing blueberries with Drew

Look at his chipmunk cheeks! They are filled with blueberries!

Auntie Jenn Jenn

Me, Auntie Christi, and Coll-brother

Our berries! There were six of these filled to the brim! We have more berries than we know what to do with. Ok, well technically we know exactly what to do with them, as our picking had a purpose! Blueberry jam making here we come!

We did miss having Nathan here, but hope to be able to pick again in August when Nathan is here with us for Christi's wedding! In the meantime, we'll share our bounty with him when we come home with the bags upon bags of blueberries we brought back from the nursery!

Guess who turned one today??

COLLIN!!

Happy Birthday, little love! I can't believe it's already been a year!!

Three Things

DREW:

1. Loves Legos and building! He also loves to pretend and will create stories around whatever he's built. I love overhearing these stories and the situations he's thought up while he's playing (this plane was flying to Oregon). 

2. Loves to sleep under his bed...as in, sleeps there almost every night and definitely for every nap. We read bedtime stories on top of the bed and then he slides down to be tucked in under the bed. Not to worry, his bed is lifted a good two feet off the ground (at least!) so he's not squished. It was built to have a trundle bed under it, but we've never had one. I think to Drew the space feels like a small fort. In any case, he has a pillow, his blankets, and his lovees down there and from what I can tell, stays there the entire night.

**Sorry! You get a cute bathtime picture instead of a sleeping under the bed picture! It's hard to photograph a sleeping three year old....they wake up!! :)

3. Loves to make us maps and then follow them, especially if we're in the car. The maps are made on any piece of paper I have floating around, and usually just consist of what looks to the naked eye, like a bunch of scribbles. However, Drew will gladly decode it for you and then you too will know the many stops and sights to see along our route! Naturally, since he has mapped out the way, he now also loves to give directions. "Turn left up there, Mommy." or "No! You were supposed to turn there! Turn around!".  As far as I know, he has no real concept of right and left yet, so I just nod and ask him to double check his map if I turn the "wrong" way or won't go back. We usually find that I am indeed following the correct route. Phew!

COLLIN:

1. Is officially walking! Yep, he took eight or nine steps in a row last week and hasn't stopped since! This week he seems to prefer trying to walk over crawling (unless he wants to get somewhere quickly). 

2. Says "uh oh" and babbles constantly. He's started to use voice inflections and loves to wave his hands around while jabbering away, which makes me laugh. He's telling us something, we just have no idea what! He also loves to pretend he's talking on the phone.

3. Throws an uber dramatic tantrum like nobody's business! It's comical really, the amount of drama that goes into throwing himself on the floor over the smallest things! Aaaand, since I don't have a tantum picture (who wants to see that, really??), you get one of Collin packing his toys around in his diaper! (Thanks Auntie Jenn Jenn and Uncle Burkie for teaching him that new trick!).

Up we go!

Have I mentioned yet how much of a climber Collin is? Surprisingly, for as much as he likes to go up things, he hadn't realized he could go up and actually stay there until this week. He now proudly climbs up and turns his little hiney around to sit on the couches, chairs, coffee table, etc...and if I'm not careful, the counters (Ack!). This has all been hugely entertaining not only for Collin, but also for Drew who loves to egg him on.

Most of the time, my instant reaction is to grab him off of whatever he's managed to climb up, but in this case, the chair was a pretty safe option for him to hang out on, so I grabbed my camera

He almost always sits with his legs crossed, which makes me laugh 

The rest of our week has been pretty mellow. Since it's been hot (over 100 all week, ick!), we've been spending plenty of time playing in the kiddie pool, eating popsicles, and just trying to stay cool. Somehow in all of this though, I managed to snag only a few pictures. Shocking, I know. ;)