After a whirlwind of a summer…it is back to school time!
(Enter crying face emoji!)
I am FOR SURE the saddest!
Partly because I am sending Scout to his first year of middle school which makes me a bit sick. But more partly….because I have three different schools with three different schedules. (Enter crying face emoji!)
Scout and Dash are sporting their BYU backpacks. And the girls got backpacks from Brett this year!
These two are solo this year at Bergeson. It was kind of a sad sight.
But then they met up with tons of their good friends at school, and it became a happy and good sight.
Scout was stopped by his beloved Mrs. Komine for a quick hug. Scout is not going on in Mandarin, but will be tutored on Tuesday nights with a group of ex-peers in Mandarin. He is excited about an all-English school, and that he will still see some of his old buddies from Bergeson.
After dropping off the Bergeson kids, I dropped Scout off at “walking group”. This walking group is saving us this year! It is a bunch of kids who live within walking distance of Niguel, and they all meet up and walk to school together. I know most of them, and really like them, so I am glad that Scout has a crew of kids he will at least recognize at his new school.
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Pippi and I went to her T.K.’s orientation…and as soon as we were done, we headed to pick ups.
First was picking up Navy…where Pippi ran right to Navy’s line and hung out.
And then we finished our day picking up Scout, where Dash ran out to tell Scout every detail of his day.
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This year we will wake up at 6:30, and drive into the house at just before 4:00….where we will then start in on homework.
I already miss summer.
How cute are my kids for church!
Especially with summer super-long-since-last-boy-haircut hair!
Even if they only get to sit on the couch in the foyer for the first 15 minutes, because we are our regular 5 minutes late.
Pippi came in asking all sorts of questions about death today. She has asked many in the past while, and it must be a topic on her mind as of lately. She also must be concerned about Nonnie, because she constantly invites Nonnie to take walks with her around the neighborhood to keep her healthy. (Nonnie declines and tells me to stop Pippi from asking. I tell Pippi to keep asking!) Today, she wanted to know about me, and how long I will live. I told her when she is an old granny, I will still be around to be her mom. That answer must have worked, because then she played baby with Navy.
Every time Seth’s family comes…it is bagels in the morning, beach in the afternoon, Golden Spoon in the early evening, Jacuzzi at night.
And that is the ritual.
Today was a little different, because baby beach isn’t usually the beach of choice…but that’s where we went.
And that’s where the boys got in trouble for pier jumping by a crabby old man.
Then…it was Golden Spoon.
Where each kid gets a small of their choice — but toppings aren’t in the cards for them.
Leave it to my kids to bring their own individual cups of all sorts of toppings — free of charge to Seth!
Nice solving of your problem kids!
Pippi was amazing on our CYOA. She literally hung with all of the big kids effortlessly. She was rad. But every few days or so, she did ask when we would be home. She really missed the comfort of her home with her things. So now that we are back…she started where she left.
Welcome to the world of Make Believe. Where Pippi reigns, and her stuffed animals are her loyal servants.
And so it begins.
Scout helped me volunteer at registration to see what it is all about, and he was awesome. But when we were passing out packets to little boys, and huge men all in the same grade, I got sick to my stomach. Scout…rock it. Remember who you are, and act well thy part.
When we realized that we were down to no time left on our vacation before we had to have Scout back for middle school registration, we knew there was only one place we HAD to stop in California. Fort Bragg is known for their sea glass, which is why we reserved three hours for sea glass hunting on our last full-day morning. Well, three hours turned into five hours, and the rest is illegal history!
When we got there, it was amazing. In every handful of mini rocks and sand, there were about 20 pieces of sea glass.
We were so excited, and hunted for a few hours.
The sea glass was amazing.
We each had water bottles we were filling with our share of glass. As we looked, a girl told us that she had been two coves down, and it was even better. We wrapped up, and headed over.
You had to climb down the hill to get to the “better” cove.
So know, every handful contained 50 pieces of sea glass! It was magical. It was insane. It was perfect.
We hunted for another few hours.
When we filled our bottles, Navy started filling her swimsuit.
Then Scout removed his sweatshirt with a great idea. He always takes a summer treat home to Seth and Cade, so he decided a sweatshirt filled with sea glass they could pick through would be the perfect gift! After he filled it, Micah took it up to the car. On his way, there were a few people inquiring Scout about his bottle filled with glass. Scout played dumb (we kind of were at that point). Then Micah (who had walked really far to the car with a very heavy load) said, “Scout…just get in and let’s get out of here!
He then called me to come, and as I was walking out, I discovered why the people were questioning Scout:
“Leave glass at sea glass beach”.
Uh Oh!
We all jammed up there so quickly, and we got the heck out of dodge. We weren’t totally against returning the sea glass, but the walk made it prohibitive, and the glaring eyes exasperated the idea of taking that guilty walk.
For the first time ever, we didn’t make the kids clean up before getting in the car, and we jammed straight to a spray car wash.
The kids for the second time on this vacation thought we were being followed by the police, and got a clean getaway. (Remember the Goonies house?) After cleaning up and hopping in the car, Micah showed off his two hearts he found, and I thought I trumped him with my one bigger and better heart.
Mine is the top, he has the bottom two. We all know mine is better, but the rarity of his light lavender one on the right, sold the kids to vote it as number one. (His convincing speech swayed them too.)
All in all…Fort Bragg was a blast.
And its Pippi Longstalking shop was a secret surprise o our way out!
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Now…in one day, it is time for us to be at home.
How sad to call this trip to a close.
Who knew it would be such an amazing trip?
Who knew it would rank with our all-time favorite trips?
All because my dad was sick…and we had to solve our own vacation problems.
If this isn’t making lemonade out of lemons…I don’t know what is!
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Many moons ago, I had the idea of Choosing Our Own Adventure (although Micah tries to claim it was somehow his idea?!)… but it wasn’t in the cards for this summer. I am SO GRATEFUL that instead of going back east for a trip, we decided to road trip our final days of this summer. Beyond being dirty, and wiped out….we are all closer and happier as a family.
And that’s what it’s all about.
I think I say this every single day, but today was my FAVORITE day of our Choose Your Own Adventure trip!
The day started out where we picked to sleep last night. We drove and drove until he finally stopped at a place called Neptune Beach. We camped in our car in the parking lot, and Micah and I woke up at first light. Micah went and scouted the place, and realized it was awesome. After he and I explored it a bit, we got the fearless foursome.
And we were all headed to the best tide pools of our lives. Maybe EVER!
Need I say more?
There were thousands of bright emerald green sea anemones that were as big as salad plates. There were also hundreds of huge red or purple Starfish, that were as big as any I have ever seen.
When we finished exploring the tidepools, we found a pile of rocks.
To a naked eye, it just looked like a pile of rocks. But not to our eyes.
This was a pile of rocks brought up from the ocean alongside agate!!!
We mined for the next three hours! We would have mined for the next three days, but the tide came up, and we narrowly escaped disaster by staying as long as we did!
In our exploring, Micah found the rock that is now next to our front door!
Pretty rad.
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When we finally left the tide pools and agate, we drove on to see a crazy scene.
This car was filled with bashed up people who were drunk and driving the winding road.
Our next 30 minutes of conversation with our kids was all about drunk driving, and the poor choices people make. I guess there is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes.
YUCK!
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Our final stop of the day equaled our Neptune Beach experience. Which would have been hard to do….
…but the sand dunes in Oregon did!
Dash dominated!
Scout schooled!
Pippi persevered.
And Micah Monopolized…catching air and all.
Navy, on the other hand, got PMS or something, and just wanted to stay in the car. After a while we got her out, and she went down once…but didn’t want to do it again. I assume all of the action has caught up with her, but for a girl who would have loved this the most, it was definitely a missed opportunity! Oh well…maybe next time — if there ever is a next time!
Meanwhile…..
Everyone was having the time of their lives, while I tried to catch the action shots!
After all of the sand insanity, they took a quick dip in the lake to wash up for the final day in Oregon.
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Honestly….this day will be almost impossible to top. It was perfect. Literally perfect.
With a zero tide this morning, we knew the sand dollar loot would be amazing. At least the local said it would be! So we parked near the beach, slept, then Micah scouted it out while I got as close to the prime picking spot as I could. It was drizzling/light raining, so we had to have a resounding thumbs up to proceed.
Micah sent me this picture…and I yelled…”hurry up..it’s time to go hunting!!!”
This was our walk out. Dash was the last straggler, because he is the most tired in the morning. I finally got him out, as I was anxious that Micah would pick up every last sand dollar.
The low tide left the coolest scene full of sand dollars and other sea life. I’m talking hundreds of crabs!
Pippi yelled “Holy Moly” (our word for an unbroken sand dollar) about every 45 seconds!
Dash’s loot was an impressive sight…and I am pretty sure he got the fifth most in the family.
Every once in a while, we would come across a live sand dollar making his circle which was pretty cool.
It was awesome!
We searched in the rain for hours! And not one complaint. The kids and parents both were in their happy places.
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As we drove south a tiny bit, we came across “Ecola State Park”. We checked it out, and discovered treaures!
First off…we discovered the most amazing change in scenery. It went from stretches of beach..to this moss-covered forest! It was like it went from A to Z in the matter of 1/4 of a mile.
At the bottom of the mile drive down to the water’s edge, we walked down this walkway to a perfect little beach cove. (Apparently a surf spot in Oregon!)
We weren’t sure what we could find, but we knew there is always something!
And you will never guess…
We found mini sand dollars!
It was party time!!!
At Ecola State Park, it somehow ended up being just me and Dash for a while. We had the best special date.
We found the prettiest tide pools together.
We found amazing rocks to climb.
And more big ones to jump off.
Honestly, this vacation is awesome. And I think it is different for each kid. For Dash, I think it is fun time spent with his family, all while he gets to expend his energy each day to its fullest. Honestly, our 45 minutes together was one of my favorite parts of the day. But another favorite part, was when we met up with everyone else, and they showed us all of their finds, and took us to their cool places!
Next stop…the Goonies rock!
Micah has completed item number 3 on his bucket list!
On our drive, we stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory. We ate lunch, and saw a bit of the factory. I love me a factory tour, but since it was a Saturday, the factory wasn’t going…so it was a so-so tour.
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Our final stop of the night was Lincoln City to find Agate.
Our agate finds were pretty meager, but we made do and figured out other awesomeness.
Like when Micah found this mountain of tires. When he sent this picture from down the beach, that is what I thought it was, but it happened to be a huge rock covered in sea anemones!
The kids explored the tidepools, and found treasure after treasure. And the best part is when our kids became the tour guides for other people asking questions.
Navy and Scout collected a bunch of Starfish for the other onlookers to inspect.
And then the time finally came, when it was time to find a shower, and settle in for the night in an unknown place.
But on our way up the beach stairs, Micah spotted whales that we watched breach a bunch of times.
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We found a beach shower that actually had warm water, and when the coast was clear — we showered up. Micah taking a literal 10 minute FULL shower!!! We set up the beds, put on a mellow movie, the kids fell asleep, and we drove until we found a place to stop for the night.
Our Choose Your Own Adventure wasn’t for the wimpy. In order to survive this vacation — or at least to think it was fun — you had to be adventurous, malleable, creative and most of all… you had to be low maintenance.
See below:
The sleeping of six in our minivan was like a game of Jenga. Ultimately, the best arrangement was…Navy was on the back bench. Scout was temporarily on the middle bench that was pushed all the way back to Navy’s bench. Dash was on one side of the spacious floor space. On the other side of the floor was Pippi — with Dash’s feet in her face. Micah took the passenger’s seat that was reclined to about a 150 degree angle — creating a cave for Dash. After I finished driving, I reclined the driver’s seat to 150 degrees and woke up Scout for that spot, while I took the middle bench. And the crazy part…we all slept like babies.
The northwest coast is in constant fog. So drying out bathing suits was an impossible task. But hanging them all over our car while we were stopped, and then letting them fly in the wind while we drove, took them to a damp level instead of dripping wet. We must have looked insane!!! But I think our bug-covered license plate reeled any looky-loos in.
Our most creative and low-maintenance moment came after a day of filth, where we actually looked for a hotel and couldn’t find one. I went into one final hotel to try and get a room, and when they denied us…I said, “Ok…all I need is a shower. Where can I find fresh water in any way? I needed a pool shower, a beach shower…anything! The ladies heard our story, and were cracking up. We all brainstormed, and then I said, “Hey! Do you have one of those spray car washes?” They did! And about eight minutes later…Scout and I were showering in the car wash.
The others looked on and laughed. Scout and I smelled on and laughed.
And truth be told…the spray car wash came in handy for everyone later on in the trip!
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