Mariners Game

A few nights ago while cleaning out his bag, Spenser discovered that he had been given 4 tickets to the Mariner's game last night. I'm not the biggest baseball fan so I told him that he could go with the kids, but that he had to take all of them! He agreed and I was excited at the prospect of a night alone to get errands run. Unfortunately, I didn't get quite as much alone time as I wanted when Spenser called from the Jack in the Box drive thru to tell me that he couldn't find his debit card and didn't have any money. I had to drive out to meet him at the ATM to pull some cash out and then they got on their way.

They were pretty late to the game, but that helped them benefit from some free parking and it was enough time for everyone to enjoy a little baseball and cotton candy. Zach reportedly loved it and was extremely excited to have a baseball glove just like his brother and sister.

Arriving at the game

Thomas complained when he got home that Zach

ate all of the cotton candy!

Thomas paid attention of course

Kayaking and Soccer

Thomas and Spenser got to have one more special treat before the summer ended. Thomas had been wanting to go out in a kayak for a while and Spenser was happy to go along. When I can fit back in a kayak we'll have to take Olivia along too. 

The two of them left early and Zach, Olivia, and I then drove down to meet them for some breakfast after they got back in.

Coming back

Zach always feels the need to get in on every picture

Thomas was excited to tell me about all the wildlife they had seen. They saw a bunch of birds and tons of seals. Spense told me that Thomas has said, "Dad, I don't ever want to forget this moment." Yes, that made me feel like chopped liver!

Ready for some food

Zach loved the pancakes

Olivia then got her own special date when she went to the Sounders vs Crew game with Spenser in the afternoon. Loving both teams meant that she wasn't disappointed at all with the result.

Showing her support for both teams

Great Wolf

Thomas and Spenser's birthday celebrations never seem to end. Last night we checked into Great Wolf and enjoyed a few hours in the water park before climbing on the bed for a movie and some popcorn.

This morning Spense and I got to wake up and celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. The day was every bit as romantic as we would have wanted! We do plan on doing something in a few weeks, but since we had promised the kids that we would make it to the Lodge this was the only weekend that worked out for us. Luckily, we both feel secure enough in our relationship that we don't need to do anything fancy. Hopefully, when the kids are grown and gone we will be able to do something then!

These two were little fish in the water. At times I was scared by Zach who didn't want to be constrained by a life jacket, but wanted to play in water that really was too deep for him.

I didn't get to do a whole lot of sliding around in my large state so I had a lot of time to sit and watch the kids. They scream and fight at home like most siblings do, but they really enjoy spending time playing with one another. Both Thomas and Olivia are super sweet with Zach too because even when I know they would rather be off doing something else they are more than willing to stay and play with him in the little kid area. I hope that they are always that way.

Pausing for some lunch

At around 4:30 p.m we decided that we had all had enough (well Spense and I had anyway) so we got changed and headed home.

Zach who had been pretty tired since after lunch and had been content to sit on my knee a lot wasn't however ready to go. He wanted to go back up to the hotel room and hang out. It was a sad time for him! A few minutes after we had him buckled into the car he was asleep. When he woke up a little later I thought that he would be over the whole thing, but the first thing he said was, "Please let's go back to Great Wolf. I want to go back." Poor little guy!

Braces

It has taken Thomas' teeth about 3 years to come in after that nasty bike accident back at the beginning of first grade. The top two have been coming in a little crooked and he has been quite self conscious about them. Since I got braces he has been asking if he might be able to do the same and Venn agreed to put a couple on for him for a while.

As we drove over the office I think that he was trying to wuss out a little, but I convinced him that it wouldn't hurt and he would be glad he did it. I am also looking forward to being able to tell him how "funny" he looks in them, like he's constantly told me over and over again.

Before we begin

He wasn't keen on the taste of the bonding material

He wouldn't let me take any pictures of him with

his mouth open afterwards. Silly boy!

Birthday Cake

After hearing Thomas tell Grandma Elaine during a skype session today that he hadn't had a birthday cake yet I started to feel a little guilty. To be honest we had spent so much of the weekend out of the house there really hadn't been too much time to bake one. I had also hoped that we might be able to pick up cupcakes from Cupcake Jones down in Oregon, but after our busy day that hadn't worked out either. So, I pulled out the faithful Betty Crocker and made some chocolate frosting as requested by Thomas.

It was certainly nothing fancy, but washed down

nicely with some milk and ice cream

Long haired little brothers think that they
get to get in on the action too

I guess that everyone needs to make a
birthday wish and blow out those candles!

Long Beach Kite Festival

Every year on the weekend of Thomas and Spenser's birthday they hold the Washington State International Kite Festival out in Long Beach and this year we decided to make the drive. I had looked into spending a couple of nights there, but by the time I had made any real decisions the place that I had been looking at had been reserved. 

As we left home it was shaping up to be a beautiful day. The temperature in the car was already reading 84 degrees and so I didn't think about taking jackets with us. After our trip to Port Townsend I know that I should have learned my lesson because as we pulled into Long Beach I could see how windy it was. The Washington/Oregon Coast might share the same coastline as California, but they are definitely worlds apart! We all just had to suck it up and we made the trek down to the beach to eat lunch.

As we got onto the beach and pulled out the blanket I wondered how we were going to manage to eat anything that wasn't full of sand.

While I trekked out to the bathroom, Spenser found this garden oasis up in the dunes. It was definitely a world away from the windy beach and at times the sand was even too hot to stand on and when we got too warm we just had to stand up and feel the breeze.

After lunch the kids decided to brave the ocean. The boys never took their shirts off, but had fun splashing in the very cold waves.

It was fun to watch people flying their kites. There were 

some pretty cool choreographed routines.

Spense was more worried about whether or not a rouge

wave would hit them than paying attention to the camera

Spense braving the water

Olivia loved the waves. She is quite the water girl.

Yes, she got sand EVERYWHERE!

When we had all had enough of the cold and wind we changed and headed out to Cape Disappointment State Park, which I had discovered while researching the area. It was a beautiful area. We forced the kids into getting out and making the walk down to the lighthouse since we had come so far and it was definitely starting to get a little chilly. 

The area was named in 1788 when English Captain John Meares missed the passage over the river bar, and so called the nearby headland Cape Disappointment for not having found the river. In 1792 the river bar was successfully crossed by American Captain Robert Gray who named the river "Columbia" after his ship. The Lewis and Clark Expedition then arrived around 10 years later. 

Making our chilly walk

The North Head Lighthouse

North Head is the windiest lighthouse area on the west coast, and the second windiest in the nation. We definitely discovered that that was true! The kids were just excited to find out that they weren't running any tours of the lighthouse because the staircase had become dangerous. 

We all ran back to the car (well not me so much) and drove across the park to the other lighthouse and the bunkers. None of the kids wanted to get out, which I couldn't totally blame them for, so we sent Spense on a little hike with the camera. 

He found this beautiful coastline

He was also able to see Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

The Cape Disappointment lighthouse was built in 1856 to warn of the dangerous river bar known as "the graveyard of the Pacific." It is the oldest functioning lighthouse on the West Coast. 

In 1862, during the American Civil War, Cape Disappointment was armed with cannons to protect the mouth of the Columbia River from attacks by Confederates or foreign fleets.

The installation was later expanded to become Fort Canby in 1875. The US Army constructed Fort Canby along with Fort Columia and Fort Stevens, to defend the entrance of the Columbia River from enemy warships. The US Army manned the fort from the mid 19th Century through the end of World War II. Spenser reported that they were in much better shape than the ones we like to visit in Port Townsend. 

After our short history tour we picked up something to eat and made the drive home. It was a fun day and will definitely be worth an overnight trip in the future. I will just be sure to pack some warmer clothes now we know just how windy it can get.