4th Annual Friends Beach Trip...

We will make a million memories with our little Nelson family of four, but I know some of my girls' fondest memories will be trips taken with friends. We just got home from our 4th annual trip to Long Beach with our dear friends. The playing and relaxing were both top notch, but it is always a time to look back and recall the girls from years past. As a new little one reaches milestones we are constantly saying "remember when"... our little girls are growing up (too fast if you ask me).

This year we spent day one in Astoria and day two was beach play time.

(Lots of pictures to come... they are too cute)

Goonies 25th Anniversery

Captain Kylee

Down the lighthouse ladder

My monkey


What a "Crew"

Tightrope walker (I have a pic of her on this at age 3)

Kylee never "tired" of this swing...lol

Riding the trolley

Napping on the trolley

Just like her friend

Big girls getting an italian soda at the bar

Ewww!

Finding treasures

The morning beach trip was REALLY cold!

Back in the afternoon for fun in the sun

These girls created a mermaid villiage

Little Buckaroos

There she is :) Over the next few years we'll be remembering her first walks on the beach

Happy Father's Day to the Best Daddy in the World!

Seriously, could they be any cuter!

Harvest Has Begun...

Yeah!!!

I know it's not much... and I am having to compete with a strawberry stealing magpie. I love gardening!

Today I am inspired by a quote I ran across on another blog... "Bloom where you are planted". That is my mantra for the summer. There are so so many daily blessings present in our lives, its just a matter of seizing opportunities for joy. Enjoy every moment... even when the magpies are stalking your precious berries.

My Helper...

Mom: Kyndra can you please help me clean up for Bunko tonight?

Kyndra: Oh yes, can I please, please, please clean the toilets?

Mom: Um, sure.

Life's little pleasures???

Grocery Triatholon...

Now I know why I have turned down two recent requests to join friends on either a marathon or a half-marathon. All this time I have been in training for a triatholon and this morning I completed it with my Barbie toting, pj wearing, chocolate doughnut eating team... aka Kyn & Ky.

Three hours forty-five minutes later and a lot of blood, sweat and tears we have Race Car Cart Cycled our way through Safeway... heads held high, smiles on our faces, feeling pretty good... Sprinted through Albertsons... starting to breathe heavy, legs burning, getting antsy for the finish line... and finally the worst and final leg BARELY keeping our heads above water in the swim through Walmart... a lot of switch backs due to the crazy remodel, trouble concentrating, heads hanging low, weren't sure we were going to make it.

But, make it we did and I am cozied down for a day of HGTV and the girls are ready for a day of Barbies and Roly Poly (potatoe bug) ranching. I did just get a report that "Big Guy" Roly Poly may be ready to see the light. Time for another funeral and burial. I will console the mourners and put away the 20+ bags of groceries during comercials.

Wag More, Bark Less...

This has always been one of my favorite bumper stickers. I saw it three times at the beach this weekend. It was Tony's annual "Reach the Beach" ride for the American Lung Association. It was a good trip for the most part. The friends were great, the beach was great, I'm told the ride was great, the shopping was great, and the taffy was great. The rough parts resembled many we have been having lately. Melt down city or what we have officially decided is rooted in being too busy or overscheduled. We have tried everything in our bag of tricks to wag more and bark less, but we finally realized we needed to restructure. We are slicing and dicing our schedule to bits. No more this and that every night. Our little sweeties just need to "play". No more rushing around everyday. I know my anxiety level is being absorbed by their precious hearts and I can't take it anymore. I have never liked to be busy. There is no sense of accomplishment for me in maintaining a juggling act. I did a lot of googling today and came across exerts from the book The Overscheduled Child - Hyperparenting and I quickly ordered it... paying way too much to have it on my doorstep tomorrow. When I read the blips on why we may overschedule like: wanting to give your kids all the enrichment you never had I should have handcuffed myself and locked the key to mommy timeout. I have told myself this a million times. I was more so struck by the list of ill effects and noted that my sweet Kyndra is suffering greatly from all of them. I'll let you know how the book is and how we do with scaling back. We informed the kids of the cutbacks today and all was well. I am beginning to take some deep sighs, but there is a ways to go for the total exhale.

Things that make the Nelson Family Wag

Playing outside

Reading books

Creating works of art at the kitchen table

Throwing rocks in McKay Creek

Family bike rides

Gardening

Movie nights

Visiting Friends

There are many more, but these are on the top of our wag list for the near future.

Oh, and I will get caught up on reading blogs!!!

It's Not You, It's Me...

Really, you have been good to me. You will always have a special place in my heart as one of my first grown-up, married purchases. We chose you with care and fell in love with your shiny blue color and Hepa-filter.

My needs have changed and you have worn out... don't worry you will live in the garage permanently attached to your hose to give Gray the quick jobs that she needs. Let's face it , Ken (last name More), we all say no food in the new car, but that just isn't reality. So, you see, you are still needed until it is time to completely lay you to rest.

There is someone new. His name is Dy (last name Son) and he just has more to offer... a bagless canister, a tool wand that is accessed in seconds, ability to gently clean the wood floors, a slimmer, sleeker, lighter physique and the glorious ball technology.

Ken you had left us in complete and utter filth according the the canisters (bagless, that is) that Dy filled from EACH room he entered... uggg!!! The dust and Jazmyn hair was completely disgusting. I've got children now and a little more room for entertaining if I choose. I need someone like Dy in my life... I'm sorry.

Now I am off to spend a leisurely day cleaning. A leisurely day is REALLY hard to come by when you are married to Tony Nelson and he has the weekend off. I have had to give him the hand relentlessly this week as he tried to make plans. I don't want any stinking plans, none, zero, zip. I just want to go about my business of digging out of the mess that being busy leaves behind. He is off on a bike ride in this hideous wind storm hopefully burning off some energy (not so much that he can't mow the lawn), so we can continue to putter. I tried to promise the girls that we would stay home the rest of the day, but he told me I really shouldn't promise such a thing.

Now the next someone to get replaced in my life is DELL, but that will be a while I'm afraid.

Happy Puttering!!!

Still Here...

The Nelson family is still here :) A dinosaur of a computer and a few months with obligations every night and every weekend had my plate a bit too full to find the time to wait ten minutes for pictures to download and such. Visiting the blog world had to take a back seat for a few months. Today I sit at my T-Rex (named DELL), coffee mug in hand, with no obligations for this Easter weekend. I am ready to refresh and reflect.

Tony and I were Thing 1 and Thing 2 for a costume trivia night...Fun, Fun, Fun

The girls are enjoying Tae Kwon Doe... they are orange belts now :)

Kyndra loves 4-h. Here she is working on her butterfly pillow case with Anne.



Kylee busy with play dough. She is hearing much better since she got her tubes in and her adnoids out last month.


I got a new bike. I named her blue. The plan is for her to take me on many family bike rides. In other words I do not plan to join Tony's intensity for biking. We are going to ride 14 miles in the Portland Bridge Pedal family ride this August.

Here is speedy Miss Kyndra. Her bike is named Pixie. She has nearly outgrown her with her 3 and half inch growth spurt this winter. She still leads the pack on our rides along the river levee. You may notice Gray behind her. She is our new Suburu wagon that we love. No more riding at my feet in the Honda for Jazmyn the Dog.

Kylee and daddy take up the back of our family pack with Kylee on the trail-a-bike named Blackie. Tony's bike was named Stinger by the girls.

Here stands the magnificent fort that Tony made for the girls. Kyndra calls it her secret lab.

Complete with a pulley for getting items to the top. Kylee really is happy about it... I swear.

Kylee loves messy buns these days. I just think she is adorable with the double bun look. She is growing up too fast.

Kyndra grabbing a rare moment of relaxation during the last few hectic months.

First breakfast of the camping season. We had an awesome time at Silver Falls State Park during spring break.

Kyndra is sporting some serious blisters on her hands from her monkey bar obsession. She loves these things and is getting really good. I mostly love that this was a tough task for her to overcome, but she kept getting up every time she fell to try again. Now she is proudly "skipping bars".

Awwwwww... Love you girls.

All too soon we will be looking at her senior photos... gulp.

This smile makes my day!

Happy birthday daddy and grandpa on a very rainy day camping.

We love our cousins so much!

Swimming lessons are over and we only have a few things on the calender for the next couple months of weekends. The plan is to garden, garden, garden. Tony has made two raised beds and is going to finish up preparations for the garden this week. Yeah!