Summer???

Summer is half over and it feels like it's just getting started. This weather has not been the best! My flowers are confused, my strawberries really don't like it and my tomatoes might decide not to ripen at all. We on the other hand, have been busy busy as usual!

4th of July camping was a blast!! Ashlyn is a little camper, she loves it! She had so much fun playing with all of her cousins. They got dirty, they stayed up late, they ate junk food, it was pretty much pandemonium! We're still recovering. We got home the Tues after the 4th and had to go right back to work. Our weekends have been full ever since. I think our next available weekend is sometime in mid-Sept!

Ashlyn and I went to the zoo the other day. She loves the animals! We have a zoo membership so we go for just a couple of hours and see the animals we can see and then we go home. We don't have to feel like we have to see the entire zoo in one day. A couple of hours is about all Ashlyn can handle, then its nap time!

Grammy and Grandpa came up a few weeks ago and stayed with Ashlyn so Jered and I could go out with some friends. She got to go look at guns with Daddy and Grandpa and she thought that was pretty special. She stills talk about it even though she fell asleep and Daddy had to sit in the car with her most of the time!

We did a weekend trip to the coast last weekend. Jered had to be in Astoria Friday afternoon and we decided to make it a whole weekend trip. It was so much fun! We drove over Friday, dropped Jered off at his thing and then me, Ashlyn and the dogs got checked into the hotel. We relaxed for a few hours, I read a book and Ashlyn ran around on the balcony until he was done. After dinner, we sat in the hot tub and since it was raining, it felt fantastic! Saturday we drove down the coast to Lincoln City. We stopped in Seaside and Ashlyn rode the carousel and we did bumper cars.  She laughed the whole time on the carousel, she thought it was the greatest! She liked the bumper cars too but towards the end of the ride she got a little scared when they got bumped a little too much.  We had seafood lunch in Cannon Beach, walked around a little bit then headed south again. We stopped in Rockaway for some delicious smoked fish, then headed on to Lincoln City. As soon as we were checked into our hotel there we walked down to the beach and it wasn't two minutes on the beach before both dogs and Ashlyn were wet and sandy! On our way to find some dinner we saw a sign for a wine shop and since we cannot resist a wine shop, we had to go in. They were having a drum circle and Ashlyn got to play a few different drums. It was pretty cool! It took her a little while to warm up, she's so shy with people she doesn't know. But once Jered got in there and played a little she really went for it! We had more seafood for dinner because when you're at the coast you might as well eat seafood, right?? Before we left on Sunday, we had to walk on the beach one more time. We were unsuccessful in finding any tidepools but both Ashlyn and the dogs got all wet and sandy, again! It was quite the hike down to the beach from our hotel and Ashlyn walked up all the stairs all by herself both times! We had stop a couple of times to let her legs rest but she did it! We drove home through McMinnville and Dundee so that we could stop at a couple of wineries. We bought some great wine and when we got home and put it in the wine fridge Jered informed me we needed to buy another wine fridge because ours was full!

We had an especially busy weekend this weekend. We went to a bbq at Sam & Eli's new house on Friday night and Ashlyn was up way too late. Then Sat night she stayed with Grammy and Grandpa so Jered and I could help some friends with a wedding. One of my cousins stopped by my mom's house with a bunch of little kids so she was up late playing with the kids. Two nights in a row of her being up late does not make a happy kid. Sunday we went for a bbq at Papa and Grandma G's for Papa G's 80th birthday and she was not the happiest kid. What a pill! She didn't want anything to do with anyone except me or Jered. She napped for a little while and I think when she got up she was in an even worse mood! Oh the toddler stage!!

A few pictures to tide you all over for a while:

 Ready for camping!!

 Jered with my cousin Traci sitting round the campfire

Me and future cousin Luke

 I'm TWO!!.....Peace Out!!

 Riding bumper cars with Daddy

The carousel was FUN!!

Rolling down the hill at Daddy's softball game!!

ps. 

these are all cell phone pics b/c I can't find the cord for my camera to download the camera pics. Its always something isn't it?

Soon.....I promise!!

OK, so I know its been weeks since I last posted! We got our camera in the mail yesterday!! Its really been a bummer not having our camera, cell phones are great but really not the same. The good news though is that we got an even better camera as the replacement!! When we got back from Hawaii with our not so waterproof waterproof camera, I sent the manufacturer an email. Since we had just bought the camera they said to send it back and they would send us a replacement. Well a couple of weeks ago Jered got a phone call from the manufacturer. They said that unfortunately they didn't have our exact camera in stock and their shipment from Japan had been delayed and they weren't sure when it would get here. BUT they had the newer model of our same camera (which happens to be about $200 more than what we paid for our original camera). Would it be ok? Haha!! Jered told him that yes, he thought that would be fine. The guy said, "Well Mr McGrath the other thing is that we don't have this model in blue like your original camera. Would it be ok if you chose between orange or red?" I mean seriously! They sent us a kick-ass camera that costs WAY more than what we paid for ours and they're worried about the color! Jered said he guessed we'd be ok with orange :) We'll be taking all sorts of pictures and video, I'm so glad it got here before our Honeyman camping.

Now on to Ashlyn.....she is graduating from the Ducklings and moving on to the Twig room as of July 1. She has been visiting a lot lately and is really enjoying herself. She gets to play on a bigger playground, "that's MY playground Mommy!" she always says when we pull into the parking lot. Lately though she's been telling me she's going to stay a Duck, I tell her "Honey you'll always be a Duck!!" She's very sure of herself too. "No Mommy, I'm not a Twig, I'm a Duck!" She also refuses to believe her best friend, Natty Bo (Nathaniel) is not going to be a Twig. If they haven't seen each other in a couple of days they run up to each other and give big hugs!! Every day we hear about Natty Bo. Natty Bo did this, Natty Bo did that. I've been trying to remind her that Natty Bo is going to be an Acorn and not a Twig but that she'll see him on the playground. She always tells me, "No Mommy, Natty Bo's not an Acorn. Natty Bo's a Duck!" When I tell her soon he'll be an Acorn she tells me, "No Mommy, Natty Bo's gonna be a Twig!" Its gonna be hard for her to be away from Natty Bo.

This girl has a memory like a trap door! She still remembers us dropping off the coffee pot at Goodwill. We drove by there the other day and we hadn't been that way in a while but she said, "Mommy that's where we left the tea pot for other people who need it." One of her new favorites is Home Depot. Jered has taken her a couple of times with him to HD and now when we drive by every morning she tells me, "That's Home Depot! Me and Daddy go to Home Depot!" Yesterday morning she told me, "I love Home Depot and Daddy loves Home Depot too!" She still loves to see the boats when we go over Marquam bridge and now she nows that the river is called the Will-am-it River! She also knows where everyone lives. She knows Gma and Papa Mac live in Canada. Papa and Gma G live in Woodburn and Gma K lives in Woodburn too. She knows everyone that lives in Monroe too. Its so cute to hear her list them all off. Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle Keith and Macy and Bailey and Melody and Kourtney and Ashley and now baby Paisley and Gpa Terry and Gma Tracey. I'm telling you she doesn't forget anything! We were driving down to Woodburn on Sat for dinner and she wanted to know if we were going to see Aunt Kari and baby Grace. When I said no, she said "oh they live in Washington?"

A couple of nights ago she had to have a timeout after dinner. She yelled at Jered so she had to sit on the timeout chair. She is SO stubborn! She sat in that chair for probably 15 minutes before she would say "I'm sorry". There was a definite power struggle going on between one tiny little girl and two grown adults (who totally wanted to cave by the way)! But the adults won (yay for us!!) and she finally said I'm sorry and then got lots of hugs from both of us. The next morning she saw the chair and she said, "Ashlyn got a timeout" I asked her why and she told me "because I yelled at Daddy, but then I said I'm sorry"! Ha! If only it had been as easy as that sounds!

She loves camping! We did our annual Kacalek camping trip Father's Day weekend at Breitenbush and she had so much fun!! Her and cousin Nolan played and played and played! They were so cute and they played so well together. It had been a year since we'd seen them last, sad I know, a whole year, but the kids played together like they were the best of friends. We've been telling her that we're going camping this weekend too and she wanted to know if Nolan was coming too :)

This weekend is our annual Ballard family camp trip, so no Nolan but there will be lots of other cousins for her to see and play with. She's super excited to see Bailey and Macy! She told me this morning, "Macy will play with me at camping Mama? and Bailey too?" We are leaving after work on Thurs afternoon, driving to Florence and staying till Tues. I can't wait! I'm ready for a good relaxing time. Is there anything better than sitting round the campfire, drinking a glass of wine/beer/whatever and eating a smore?

She is growing up so fast! But not so fast that she wants to pee on the potty. We are struggling with the potty. She wants nothing to do with it! Mommy on the other hand, really wants her to be potty trained. Oh well, I'm letting it go for now (or at least I'm trying to let it go). When she's interested, she's interested.

So lots of pictures to come after our camping trip!! Happy 4th of July and a great big Happy Birthday to Papa Mac!!

Another post with more Hawaii pics.....FINALLY!!

 On the airplane, waiting to take off for Hawaii

 

 Still waiting and still excited!

 taking a nap on the airplane

 we made it to Hawaii and I went swimming at Waikiki beach!

 Mommy and Daddy at the USS Arizona Memorial

 Cheese

 on the boat ride over to the Memorial

 with Mommy and Grammy

 with Grammy and Grandpa

 I'm pointing to where Grandma and Papa Mac live in Canada

 Mommy and Daddy on the submarine

 I don't think Daddy's supposed to be up there

 We're on the big ship..the Missouri

 Sitting with Mommy in the captain's chair

This is Spouting Horn on Kauai

 with Daddy at the top of Waimea Canyon

 walking up to the look-out that is the picture above

 Old Koloa Church in Koloa Town. 

I think the sign said it was built in 1869

 Our table at the Luau

 waiting for dinner

 Grammy and Grandpa.....Grammy with her eyes closed of course!

 Hanalei Church...Mommy loves old churches

 In front of the pretty flowers at Kauai Coffee Plantation

 It rained on us a little bit while we were there!

 Mommy really liked the tree in the background.

It had really pretty pink flowers on it

 This was our Mother's Day dinner at Duke's. 

It rained that night a rain like we'd never seen before!

We got soaked running for the restaurant from the car,

I thought it was pretty fun!

 At the restaurant. I had a PB sandwich but Mommy

had the best Seared Ahi she said she'd ever had.

 The Waimea River in the background

 Mommy and Grammy

 The waterfalls were pretty dirty b/c it rained a lot, especially at night.

We're all squinting b/c it was so bright outside!

Some Hawaii pics

Hawaii was great! Our camera wasn't as water-proof as advertised so I don't have as many pictures as I'd planned. Here are a few from my cell phone:

 The top of Waimea Canyon. The drive up was beautiful, but by the time we got to the top, it was all fogged in. It was still beautiful!

 A new friend for Ashlyn at the top of the Canyon

 Too cute

 Date night....and umbrella drinks, YAY!!

Hanalei Bay on the North Shore

Easter pics....

 Riding on Grace's car

 trying for a photo-op but it didn't work out as great as Mommy wanted it to

 wearing a princess crown

 look at all my Easter baskets!

eating all the M&M's