Happy Independence Day!

This is our third annual Fourth of July with Kris and John, and it's a tradition I hope we keep up!  Two years ago we went to Walla Walla for the holiday and last year we went to the beach.  We actually ended up staying in the same house in Otter Rock where we stayed last year.  It's a good location, affordable, and we can take the dogs.  Perfect!

All packed up and ready for the road trip! 

The beach where we stayed is a little town called Otter Rock which is about 10 miles north of Newport on the Oregon coast.  The beach is just a few blocks from the house where we stay; to the right is Devil's Punchbowl and to the left is a nice beach that is not very crowded.  It's perfect for us because Randy will let Bailey off leash to run, Trey can dig, and I can read my book.   As you can see, we had glorious weather on our first day at the beach - not too cold, not too hot, not too windy, and really really sunny! 

A man and his dog 

A boy, a beer, and a book...

three of my favorite things in one of my favorite places. 

As I look back at the Fourth of July post from a year ago, the pictures and stories are almost identical to this year.  I think that's because our vacation from a year ago was so perfect and we basically wanted to replicate it.

Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Newport called Cafe Mundo 

We also really like an Irish pub in Newport.  We got to sit outside and enjoy the sun.  And play Pokemon, of course.

One of our favorite beaches is at Yaquina Bay State Park in Newport.  The beaches are gorgeous and there is hardly anyone there.  Trey LOVES the sand dunes.  The dogs can run like crazy, and it almost feels like we are there all by ourselves.  Just fabulous.

The light washed us out, but all four of us are

 resting on the couch before going to see fireworks.

We were going to go into Newport go see the fireworks, but decided to go north to try Lincoln City instead.  Randy and I do not like fireworks enough to deal with the crowds and traffic, so after we had dinner with Kris and John in Lincoln City and said goodbye (they had to drive home for work - boo hoo), we turned around and parked on the side of the road just south of the town to wait for the fireworks.  We had beer in our cooler and Hedbanz to play.  It was a little further away than would be ideal, but none of us Clarks care enough about fireworks for it to be a problem.  The only real problem we had was where to pee...

Overall, it was a really nice weekend away.  We love spending time with Kris and John (you don't even want to know how many wine bottles we went through), and we love the beach.  I hope we can do it again next year!

Moving into summer

In my mind, summer doesn't really start until Trey's birthday is over.  It's such a rush to wrap up the school year and get ready for his birthday that I feel like I finally get to settle down once we celebrate and have his party.  This year was no different except I had a few other tasks to get through before I felt like I could relax.  Nevertheless, we transitioned into summer quite nicely and have had a really good time.

I saw this on the wall at the rec center where Trey has his first camp this summer, and I really liked the message, especially with all of the nastiness going on in the world.

This is the first time since we have known each other that Randy and I have been home together over the summer.  He is working on his business from home and I had summer school, so we had to figure out our time so that we could both get our work done while keeping Trey entertained.  I signed Trey up for some half day camps which he enjoyed (thank you Tualatin Hills Parks and Rec for being so wonderful) and got Trey out almost daily for play dates or adventures.

We have spent a lot of time with our neighbor friends (aka soccer friends or kindergarten friends or tee ball friends) and started the summer with an idea for play dates at the park every Wednesday morning.  That only lasted for a few weeks before we all got busy, but it has still been fun to have impromptu play dates where we can walk to each other's houses or meet at the school and the kids can play while the moms chat.

Playing at the park with Ryder and Bryn

Checking out what the THPRD nature van brought to show the kids

I think Jennifer was just as into it as the kids.

My sweet six year old

Summer also meant my last term of coursework.  I had four classes to take over an eight week period, and to say I wasn't looking forward to it is an understatement.  What I was looking forward to is getting through this part of my program, and I am now officially done with coursework.  80 graduate credits in 15 months while working full time was one of the hardest things I have done, but I made it!  I continued to have to multi-task through the summer so I could spend time with my kid AND get work done, but I have had over a year to practice that.  

Reading about research while eating sushi

Trey and I have spent a lot of time at the library this summer (stay tuned for a reading round-up) and he did the summer reading program for the first time.  If we counted the hours by my reading aloud to him, he could have finished it in less than two weeks, but I made him read to himself in order to fill out the chart.  His favorite things to read to himself were graphic novels, but we have found some other good ones to read together.  

Post-library trip and I couldn't get him out of the car.

Random DQ trip with the cousins

Camille's birthday is on July 1st, and we enjoy celebrating with her every year.  This year she chose to go to Enchanted Forest for her party, so I was able to cross this off of my summer to do list AND celebrate with Camille!  Win-win!  Happy 6th birthday to Camille!

One of the camps I signed Trey up for was Super Hero and Monsters, which he seemed to enjoy.  I love Tualatin Hills Parks and Rec's camps because they are 2-3 hours a day (at least the ones I choose), cheap, and fun.  One afternoon while Trey was at camp Randy and I headed to the Fireside Grill, one of my favorite spots in the 'burbs, for some work time on our laptops and delicious RPM.

One summer night we went to a Star Wars themed Hillsboro Hops baseball game with our tee ball friends.  Trey was more interested in the bounce houses and running around like a maniac with his buddies than anything to do with baseball, but I was more interested in sitting in the sun and chatting with my friends than baseball, so I guess we are two peas in a pod.

Trey and Owen, who I couldn't get to stop moving for the picture.

Trey has spent a lot of time with Sunny, one of his BFFs from kindergarten, this summer.  One afternoon they decided they wanted to go on an adventure with no adults please.  Randy followed them around the neighborhood and the schoolyard, so they kind of got what they wanted, but not really.  They also wanted to go to McDonald's by themselves, but that is a few miles away and not quite an option for these independent six year olds.

We have spent a lot of time in Julie and Tim's backyard this summer so they boys can play and cool off in their variety of water pools and toys.  On this night, I was sitting at the patio table working on the computer while they were having a water fight.

I love how Julie is using Grady as a human shield

 to try to prevent Tim from getting her at close range.  

As you can see, they have a wonderful backyard.  

It's no wonder why we spend so much time there!