Mom and Dad's deck

Just a quick look at the progress being made on the deck...what a difference!!1

Nothing is better than summer time at the beach!

Hello-
After an initial block from internet usage out here on the Oregon Coast...we are back in business.

So, the Swanson clan is in Gearhart (minus Jon and Jill and kids who are in Omaha :-(). We arrived last Saturday and could almost feel the relaxation hit us. We have done plenty of reading, watching movies, walking on the beach and playing games. This place is such a gift to our family as we have made it a traditional vacation and time together. The only bummer is that the time here goes by way too fast!!!!!!












Other highlights from the week:
*Astoria's Farmer's Market
*Seeing elk up REALLY close!
*The weather has been great...sun every day, eventually.
*Dad caught 2 salmon. Unfortunately Scott and Matt came home empty.
*Mo's clam chowder
*Hot tubbing
*Seeing the Dark Knight in the Seaside Theater...along with what seemed to be all of Seaside High School student body.

What did we do today?

On today's schedule we decided to go putt-putt golfing. Unfortunately, Jon and Jill's air conditioning is on the fritz so we wanted to go somewhere cool. This little course was inside the mall. It was pretty neat and the boys had fun striking the ball every which way but in the hole. Avery chose to beat the tiki statue in the middle of the course with her golf club. Too funny!


On the way home we stopped by the local HyVee grocery store. It is much like a Safeway. Anyway, this was the scene of the safety spot that my parents found in the middle of the big storm that hit Omaha when they were here. The story goes that sirens started alarming while my mom was shopping. Everyone was told to go to the beer cooler for protection. The problem was that my dad was out in the parking lot waiting for mom in the car. As she went out to wave him down to come inside, he thought she meant for him to pull the car around. Meanwhile, the clouds were black overhead and the winds were swirling. Mom "freaked" out and finally succeeded in getting dad in the store where they hid out in the cooler for 10 minutes or so until the storm passed. It should have their name on it for the amount of laughter the story brings our family but...we thought this picture was fitting.

More Fun at the Lake

To relax after Popcorn Days we decided to spend most of Monday at the lake. We swam and played and took one more spin on the Jetski. The highlight of the day was when Uncle Jon caught a fish in the net for the boys to inspect. You would have thought he caught a shark by the excitement! I think my boys would have spent their entire time in Omaha at the lake...they just loved it there.

More Pictures from Popcorn Days

Here they are....the award winning float!

The kids loved the rollercoaster. I think their smiles went from ear to ear.

Waiting for the parade to start in front of Grandma Dollie's house.

Believe it or not...the square dancing tractors. It was a pretty amazing performance.

Avery is showing her support for the red, white and blue.

Popcorn Days

What a weekend! The boys and I just had a great time in Schaller, Iowa to celebrate their annual Popcorn Days event. We arrived at Jill's parents' farmhouse Friday afternoon and prepared for the kid parade. The kids were on a float that showcased making popcorn in 1883 and in 2008. Luke and Avery were from the past (an indian and a pioneer girl) and Ryan and Andrew were from the present...using the microwave. They did just an amazing job and won first place in the "float division". The only challenge was that it was so HOOOOOTTTT. It was just miserable and I think I sweat off 5 pounds. Anyways, as the sun went down it felt a LITTLE better. We cooled down while Ryan and Luke took part in the pedal pull after the parade. They had to pull weight with a little pedal tractor. It was so funny. The native Iowa boys were much more trained then my little Oregonians. After the pedal pull we hit the carnival rides and food booths. It was fantastic fair fun. My boys were on absolute cloud 9.

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful morning. A storm had come through and cleared out the humidity. The skies were blue and it was very comforatable outside. We hit the road by 9:00 so we could get to town to see the big parade. We had prime seats in Jill's Grandma Dollie's front yard. The parade was a neat display of small town community. We saw tons of farm equipment and 4 wheelers and trucks pulling floats. The highlight for the boys was the amount of candy that was thrown at them. Could this day get any better? After the parade we hit almost every event possible. We hit the high noon lunch, we swam at the pool, we rode more rides, we watched a drumming concert and played on the playground. One final highlight, to end our weekend, was watching 8 tractors square dance. I know that sounds crazy...but it was incredibly entertaining. I took a few video clips to prove its' existence.


We had such a good time at Popcorn Days. I asked Ryan what he thought of everything and he just sat back, sighed and said..."It's just the good ol' days." What a funny comment but so true. Being in a small town, sharing their favorite celebration was really special. It was fun to visit Schaller again, 8 years after Jon and Jill's wedding. Barb and Jim were great hosts and I appreciated meeting Jill's grandmothers, aunts and friends. It will definitely be a highlight of our trip to Nebraska.

Our favorite animals at the zoo...

This lion was absolutely incredible. He sat right up at the window...almost looking us in the eye. I can see why they are 'King of the Jungle'

This is the endangered Siberian Tiger. It was also right up in the front of the exhibit...close enough that Luke wanted to "pet" him (thank goodness for the 2 inch sheet of glass)

Since it was sooooo hot, this polar bear was spending all of his time in the water. He was actually doing the backstroke.

Ryan and I were able to watch this Grizzly Bear be fed. He ate apples, cantelope, corn and oranges. He just used his claws to rip open the orange and suck out the juice. He did not touch the rinds. Ryan really enjoyed watching this bear.

Finally, we saw our first sloth. This guy moved about as fast as I was by the end of the zoo trip. He just meandered along the tree branches...just loving life in the rainforest.

A Day at the Omaha Zoo...

We have been waiting to see the Omaha Zoo since Jon and Jill first moved here. We knew it would be one of the highlights of our trip. It is one incredible zoo. We saw lions, tigers and bears...OH MY! My favorite was the gorilla exhibit. Ryan's favorite was the shark aquarium and Luke's favorite was the lizards, snakes and crawly things. Both boys were so excited that they could hardly contain themselves. They would run from one exhibit to the next yelling, "MOM! You have to come see this." At one point, Luke came back to me and said, "MOM, there is something really special over here." It was a fun day...and by day I mean we walked the zoo from 9:30 until 4:00 with just a few stops for snacks. Not only were the boys exhausted, I was a little wiped out myself. I had to take a nap because I actually think I suffered a little from heat exhaustion (It was 90 degrees with like 290% humidity so we were smokin')
The pictures are:
1. The boys in front of one of the large male gorillas. He was as fascinated with the kids as they were with him. He loved to have his picture taken and would almost "pose" for each picture.

2. Jon and the kids in front of the sun bears who were taking a nap way up in the trees.

3. One of my favorite exhibits was the rainforest exhibit where Ryan, Luke and I are at in this picture.

4. Ryan and Jon are coming off of a rope bridge in the rainforest.

5. Outside of the gorilla exhibit the kids hopped up on the gorilla statues for a picture opportunity.

First Days in Omaha...

We are here and we are having a great, great time!! We arrived on Friday night...watching all of the fireworks out of our plane window as we arrived. The boys were so excited to fly and were so well behaved. It made the trip very enjoyable. When we arrived at the house Andrew was so excited that he had waited up for us to get there. The boys were just beside themselves, screaming and hollering and laughing. It took a while to wind them all down (and to convince them that we could all play the next morning) I think the adults were just as bad since we stayed up until 1:30 talking and staring at baby Alex. He is a pretty cute little dude.

Saturday we headed to the lake house. Jill's parents own a pretty incredible house by a small lake outside of Omaha. The boys swam and swam and swam. I even jumped in and swam myself. I think swimming 1/2 mile in the lake is A LOT different than swimming in the pool. I am very glad that I am getting a chance to practice before my big event. So...after a very fun day we were all in bed early. I think Luke fell asleep before I finished tucking him in.

The last few days we have just tried to stay cool. It is hot and VERY humid. We have gone to the movies, strolled downtown Omaha, run through the sprinkler, etc. I am so glad to be here spending time with the Swansons of Omaha. This weekend we are heading to Schaller for Popcorn Days. I will be sure to add some pictures of that adventure in my next blog.

Simple fun in the sun

This past weekend was a scorcher!! Saturday hit 102 degrees which is just a bit too hot for me...but I'm still not complaining. I absolutely love being out in the sun. A couple days before, we took a quick trip to the fountains in Lake Oswego to cool off. We fed the ducks in the lake and then the boys had a blast in the water. I thought that these pictures captured it all.

Dunking contest

This was just too good not to share! So, we had some friends over for dinner. He is actually Ryan's football coach who Matt helps. Before they left we were all out playing basketball in our front driveway. We got going on a game of HORSE where you have to shoot it from where the person in front of you just shot from. Well, the stakes got high when it became a dunking contest!!! Now, all of you know that I am not known for my jumping abilities....nor my grace. I can sink a short jumper very nicely but my knees started to shake with the ol' dunk challenge. So check out these pictures. Matt is all up in the air doing a reverse jam slam. Pure beauty...except for his belly hanging out. Then, check out me. I don't think I left the ground--even though I swore I had. I'm lucky I didn't hit myself in the head with the ball. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a very long time!!!!