Great Big Family Adventure Part 2

From Cannon Beach we headed to the Newport area. On the way we did a little outlet shopping and stopped at the town of Tillamook. Here are a few highlights.

Dawson was thrilled to find an Optimus Prime costume at an outlet mall. He had been saving his money to buy one for a long time. At Walmart in Canada they retail for about $35, but he was able to get his for $5, great find! Here's a picture of Optimus catching a few zzz's before heading out to fight the Decepticons!

Say Cheese! A tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory!

Tillamook Air Museum, housed in a rare World War II blimp hanger, the largest wooden structure in the world.

(picture borrowed from National Parks website)

Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR

Great Big Summer Adventure Part 1

Here is part one of our 14 day family adventure. Our first destination was Astoria, Oregon and our final stop was the Red Woods Forest in Northern California. We had a fantastic time together as a family taking in the sites of the pacific coast line. We started the journey off a bit apprehensive not knowing how the boys would do sleeping in a trailer for that many days, but much to our surprise they did really well.

Happy faces excited and ready to roll

The Walmart parking lot, our campground on travel days. Hooray for free accommodations and 24-hour Super Centers (which by the way have SO much more selection then Canadian Walmarts)

Shipwreck Beach near Astoria

Baby's first day at the ocean. He took it in with all 5 senses!

A day trip to Longview, WA to eat at this restaurant. Dave had watched a show on the Food Network that talked about this restaurant and it's famous giant cinnamon buns. They did not disappoint.

Took us a week to eat through this baby!

Fort Stevens- Astoria,OR

On one of our trip to the water we met this family of raccoons

Hunting for star fish

Treasure found

Cannon Beach, by far one of our favorite beaches
This is how Cooper spent most of his time at the beach lying in the sand building roads with his machines. Needless to say he was always covered in sand by the end of the day.

Stay tuned for more to come!

We're Back!!

1 great big family adventure, 2 birthdays celebrated, 1 new nephew, 1 wedding, 2 family reunions and the list goes on......

We have been SO busy this summer that blogging has taken a backseat. But now we are back and can't wait to show you what we've been up to. So stay tuned there will be more posts to come!

True boy of summer: raspberry stained cheeks, fingers and clothes, dirty toes and a half eaten crab apple in hand.

A Family First

Yesterday, Dawson embarked on a new adventure, kindergarten! It was a day full of first for our whole family. First lunch packed, first rush out the door to make it to school on time and first day with only 2 little ones at home with mom. Dawson loved his first day of school and is eager to go back on Friday. For Dave and I it was a day of mixed emotions, as we are so excited to see Dawson grow and mature, but can't help but think about how only 4 short years ago he was toddling around our house in a diaper.

Dawson is attending a christian school that is a part of the public school system. He is in a class with 14 other students. His teacher Mrs. Donelda Shultz (Three Hills friends you will remember her as Donelda Urquart) is his teacher! Donelda and I have been friends since we were 12, so as you can imagined I was thrilled when we found out he was placed in her class! We feel incredibly blessed that Dawson has the opportunity to attend a school that supports the same beliefs and teachings that we try to live by in our home!

Here are a few pictures from yesturday:

Dressed and ready to go

Dawson with his friend Emiko

Showing off his locker

Lunchbox note

Hello and Goodbye

This week we said hello to summer (finally)! The kids have enjoyed afternoons in the pool and even a trip to Sunnybrook farm.

This week, we said goodbye to Dawson's preschool teachers and friends, with a family BBQ at Fort Normandeau. Hard to believe in just a few short months Dawson will be starting real school.

Dawson with Teacher Zaina and Teacher Jo-Anne

The whole class

Dawson and his good buddy Finn

running, running and more running

Little brother had fun watching all the action

Star Struck

Several weeks ago, Dave took the big boys to Calgary for the Flames used hockey equipment sale. The boys met and had their picture taken with Brendan Morrison and Olli Jokinen. Dave said the boys were star struck as they have never met a real NHL player before.
Showing off their new jerseys

Dawson has a little room to grow in his jersey

9 Months Old

Wow, can you believe our little man is already nine months old. 6-9 months is my absolute favorite baby stage. It's when we get to see their little personalities developing, they interact with others and they are starting to move and explore their world.


Here is what Nixon has been up to the past few months:


Weight: 17lbs, 6 oz
Height: TBA
Teeth: He now has 4 teeth (cut them all in month 8). On the top he has cut his two lateral incisor teeth first, so it looks like he has fangs!
Little Mover: He has just started to crawl, although rolling is still his preferred method of getting to what he desires. He dislikes sitting, if I put him in the sitting position on the floor he wiggles until he is lying down and then just starts rolling.
Food: He loves feeding himself. He has outgrown his sensitivity to dairy and is now able to enjoy things like cheese, yogurt and milk. Yesterday he was feeding himself little pieces of grilled cheese sandwich, which he enjoyed immensely.
Favorites: He love playing with his big brother's toys. In fact he's quite displeased if you give him a baby toy.
Signing: He has started to wave hello and goodbye sometimes. We are starting to work on some other basic baby signs, as we did with the other boys.

We are so blessed to have yet another beautiful, healthy little boy in our family. Here are a few pictures I took of him on his 9 month birthday. I know being his mommy I'm a bit bias, but I think he is such a cutie.

Vampire Baby

Our Easter Adventure

Over the Easter weekend our family, along with Dave's parents, took a trip to visit Dave's Grandparents. It was a lot of travelling for only 2 1/2 days of visiting, but the boys did great. They are little road trippers in the making! (which makes their dad very happy because he loves road trips). Here are a few highlights of our trip.

6:30am- all loaded in the van and excited to head out on our journey.

Lunch and time to run around at the train museum in Revelstoke

Grandpa Andrus and Nixon at the museum

On the Saturday afternoon ,we went to Dave's grandparents condo for a visit. Grandma Andrus had a Easter egg hunt planned for the boys, which we decided to do on the lawn outside the building. We all loaded up into the elevator to head down. The elevator door shut, but not all the way, and the elevator would not go down. We pressed the help button but no one answered. After ringing the alarm for a while, one of the resident heard us and went to find help. The resident was on the phone with elevator maintenance company trying to solve the problem, but they were not having much luck. So there we were, 6 adults, 2 preschoolers and a baby (who was screaming by that point) trapped! Dave had sent a text to his cousin Eric telling him we were stuck. Eric sent a text back asking if we needed help. Dave replied and said that someone was working on it, but that text never went through, so Eric called the fire department. They were able to pry the door open and finally we were free after almost an hour of waiting. The firefighters then invited the boys to come down and take a look at their trucks. It was the perfect ending to what was a bit of a stressful event for them.

Dawson getting a lesson on fire safety

Finally time for egg hunting!

Sugar high????

Great Grandma & Nixon

Great Grandpa and Grandma with the boys