These Days

While I do miss my boys terribly, and we don't quite feel complete as a family, there is a much needed feeling of simplicity in our days now that they are gone. These past two weekends have been nice. We have followed the sun to Hood River and picked strawberries both weekends up in the Mt Hood area.

There was a wedding that Bob and I were supposed to attend together, but because the boys (our baby-sitters) were gone so we opted to have Bob take Elizabeth instead because neither of us felt comfortable leaving our girls home alone for several hours at night. Sarah and I headed out to the ocean because she wanted to build sandcastles. We stayed for the sun set which was one of the most beautiful I have seen in Oregon.

Sarah is signed up for a horse camp that begins in a couple of weeks. It is Monday - Thursday from 9 am - 4 pm. The parks and rec department out here are providing transportation to and from the camp and they are also providing Sarah with a guide to help her navigate the camp. I am very, very excited for her, but also a bit (okay, a lot) nervous about it. There are only 11 kids ages 9-13 per week which is awesome. I am hoping that this camp will help Sarah to come out of her shell. She is so excited about it. It makes my heart feel full when I see her excitement.

The week that Sarah is at the camp Elizabeth and I are going to plan a bunch of day trips. I plan on taking her to the zoo, a movie, possibly bowling, and maybe a couple of other things. It will be nice to have that time alone with just her.

The four of us are headed out to Olympic National Park to camp for 4 nights/5 days next week. I am so excited about this trip. We are going to be camping on the ocean at Ruby Beach. The little bit of research I have done about the area has shown me that this trip is going to be epic.

Three weeks after we get back from Olympic National Park we are going to go to Redwood National Forest to camp there for 3 nights/4 days. That is also going to be mind blowingly amazing.

I am really excited for these next 6 weeks or so. I love traveling and seeing new things.

This view never gets old.

This gull followed Sarah around almost the entire time we were at the beach. When we went for a walk - it went for a walk with us. When we sat on the beach - it stayed close by. 

Building her sandcastle.

I thought this rain cloud was going to ruin our evening as it made its way across our stretch of the beach. It did rain for about 10 minutes, but other than that it just passed right on by. 

Flowers we cut from a upick farm on  Mt Hood