I’m 40!  That would be a bigger change if I hadn’t considered myself “almost 40” since I turned 39.  School gave us a four-day weekend with Veteran’s Day on Tuesday, so we got to spend some time at the cabin.

I love taking pictures of the kids at the beach. I got two shots in before Piper borrowed the camera and used up the battery.

 

But thanks to Pipes, there’s a picture of me on my birthday!  I’m talking to my mom, thanking her for giving birth to me. I’ve thanked her every Nov. 10th since pushing out my own children. 

 

In the afternoon, friends came over and we spent the afternoon at Double Bluff beach.  In spite of hanging out there dozens of times, I’ve never walked further than 100 feet down this gorgeous beach.  I played the Mom Card and insisted we actually walk—which turned out to be a marvelous adventure.

 

I love this shot of Wesley’s long shadow.  I insisted he wear pants on a chilly November day at the beach, but he still kicked off his boots as soon as he hit the sand and rolled up his sweats. 

  

 

 

 

In between insisting they can’t walk another step and wanting to go back, the kids were enthralled finding jellyfish, crabs, shells, climbing over a “tree bridge” and getting themselves soaked and sandy.

 

And I have some really wonderful girlfriends who texted, emailed, or voice-mailed me birthday wishes—even though I’m not on Facebook.  Thanks, beloveds!

There are a lot of things about heading to the cabin that can be stressful—packing up clothes and food for the 4 of us (Dwayne packs his own clothes and is usually there just one night), cleaning up the house, remembering all the things the kids will need for therapy and tutoring for 4 days, their favorite audiobooks, the coats and boots they should have worn to school that day but didn’t–you know, all those things that fall under the role of “Primary Care Giver”.* Then there’s Wesley, asking “Can we go now?  Now? Now?”.  Snacks and water have to be ready in the car when I pick up the girls at the top of the neighborhood to manage risk of tantrums and fighting.  Ideally, we get to the ferry quickly enough that we only have to wait an hour at 5pm on a Friday, again still keeping the sibling peace for as long as possible.  So when we get on the ferry against a beautiful sunset backdrop and off the ferry with an incredible harvest moon rising close enough to grab from the car deck, it feels like a really great end to a hectic day and a good omen for a four-day weekend at the cabin.

 

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*I just finished a book that could be categorized “feminist non-fiction”, and she points out that one parent is unquestionably the one in charge of scheduling all dental appointments, and the other parent simply isn’t.  The parent who does is certainly the PCG. In our house, Dwayne is in charge of all his own vision and dental appointments, and I take care of me and the kids.  If you know us at all, that is not even a little surprising.

We left church camp early enough Sunday morning so that we could get home and repack for another camping trip.  Dwayne showed up for part of church camp, but we left him at home to meet my parents at a local county park for a few nights.  It’s real camping because we had to put up our behemoth tent (not a one-person job), but modified, because my parents had their brand new camper and my Magnificent, Wonderful, Saintly Mother did all the cooking and cleaning up.  It’s about the only way I enjoy camping. 

And after a day at the sand beach and shallow swimming area, we topped it off with almost all the s’mores we can eat. I did make the s’mores, even an extra one or two for my mom, since she more than earned it!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us tag along with you, like four parasites!

 

We spent a Saturday at Pacific Science Center exploring the current Ripley’s exhibit.  Worth another trip. Thanks, Friends, for making it such a fun day!

A chair that fits 4 kids?  Maybe not a great idea for a regular living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wesley sizes up a model of the tallest man in the world.

 

 

 

 

The kids pose in a replica of a prehistoric snake’s mouth.  I stayed outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyla gets ready to (virtually) explore the Crystal Cave.

We celebrated Sandi’s 30th (!!) birthday in Oregon and played (and ate) as much as we could.  We started with a pumpkin farm adventure. 

 

 

Pumpkin bowling turned out to be a hit!

 

 

As did the rubber ducky races.

 

Sandi is always a favorite of Kyla, and Piper joined in, too.  [Wesley stuck close to Grandpa, who was carrying the kettle corn. I’m sure it was a coincidence.]

 

 

How tall this fall?  It would be fun to take these pictures every year.  Even if the scarecrow’s measuring stick is not calibrated correctly.  Kyla’s definitely over 4 feet!

 

 

I try to get one good shot a year of all the kids.  It’s only October, so fortunately, I’ve got a few more months.

 

The pictures get a little better with Brian and Sandi, but it now looks like they are the parents, and who wants to wish that on anyone??

Dwayne likes hand-drawn portraits, so occassionally I try to do accommodate that.  But I’m just as likely to take something he wants, twist it around to something I want, and wrap it up to present to him.  This year, I had silhouettes made.

I found an Etsy site that would take my profile shot and then digitally make it into a silhouette.  It was reasonably priced ($15/picture) and, being digital, I could do what I wanted with the final product. 

Here are the the at-home shots followed by the silhouette:

 

I told Dwayne it was a birthday gift, but really, it was so I could finally complete this frame and cover up the stock photos of strangers I had in there for about two years.  Hope I like these, because I’m probably not going to be updating them soon!

Kyla turned 8 today and we had a pool party a few days ago.  The pool limits number of total guest (including parents) to ten, which makes it a good sized party and it was just what she wanted!

    

 

She decorated the cake herself!

And had the best birthday party at a kid firehouse.  All the kids got to put on child-sized firefighter suits. 

   

Piper found a different drummer and stayed in her civilian clothes. 

Piper loves her cats.  Loves, loves, loves her cats.  She wants to hug them and kiss them and love them…and make them into living dolls.  But now Timmy is safe in his kitty roof car seat.   Thanks, Pipes!