Halloween 2011

This year the day before Halloween, we went to the children's party at my work. I was in charge of taking all of the portraits, so needless to say Nick wanted his picture taken several times.

At the party Nick got his face painted with a ghost! He loved it!


I even got a chance to pose for a few pictures with Nick while he proudly displayed the ghost on his cheek.




The next day, Curious George (that is what Nick decided he was for Halloween) and I went trick or treating. We went in our neighborhood and met up with some other boys that he goes to school with. He loved going around to all of the houses getting candy. He got so much candy in his pumpkin that I had to carry it! Happy Halloween!

West Oswald/Last Day

Earlier in the week some of our family had gone for surfing lessons at West Oswald Beach and they told us how amazing the walk down to the beach was, so naturally we had to check it out. The walk down to the beach has all of these huge trees that are lush and green - quintessential Oregon!

We all had fun posing by and in the different trees and tree formations. It's seriously crazy how big some of the trees are.

This was one of the most interesting beach experiences that I have ever had. It was incredibly foggy when we got down to the beach and there was not much visibility. There was a really cool overturned dead tree on the beach.
Nick decided that if I could climb up it, he could too. He seriously has no sense of fear...


Later that night, Gr'Auntie Becky spoiled all of the boys with ice cream sandwiches.
Nick, Andrew and Jeremy are seriously so cute together! Nick loved handing out with them, playing with them and trying to be like them.

The Nelson/Rudin/Hansen clan, and of course Nick is not looking at the camera...
The last night that we were at the beach, we had a bonfire. It was super foggy that evening, as it had been earlier in the day at West Oswald. Nick loved playing in the sand in his PJs.


He especially loved rolling in the sand... he didn't mind that it got all over him, his clothes, etc...
Thank you to our wonderful family for an amazing visit! We cannot wait to see you all again soon and spend more time catching up, hanging out and just plain relaxing!

Oceanside

Vacation is always fun, especially the lazy mornings. The second morning we were there, Nick decided that it would be a lot of fun to lick my face... he really enjoyed this activity.

Later that day, we drove down to visit Uncle Fred, Heather and Abuelo in Oceanside. This is one of my favorite beaches that I've been to on the Oregon coast - it has these huge rock formations that jut up out of the water. There was unseasonably warm weather while we were there - it was probably in the mid-80s. There were also great tide pools on the beach, which Nick and the rest of the kids loved.
The brave members of our family put on wet suits and went boogie boarding in the ocean (I was not among the brave... brrrr!)
Nick loved being pulled on the boogie board by Cheyenne... okay he just plain loved Cheyenne, she was so great with him.


Cousin Jeremy got in on the boogie board action too and enjoyed playing with "baby Nick" as well.
Nick is seriously a beach bum, at the age of 2.5. I see a lot of beach vacations in our future, which is fine with me!

The Hansen clan at Uncle Fred's house in Oceanside

Portland 2011 Part 2

If I didn't emphasize it enough in the last post, Nick LOVED to hang out with his cousins. They were like 3 peas in a pod!

Our first morning at the beach Aunt Amy was gracious enough to take Nick and the boys to the beach. Despite the fact that the water was cold and it was a little cool that morning, Nick loved walking and splashing in all of the tide pools and the ocean.
He explored all of the neat things at the beach - the sand, the seaweed, the seashells, and of course the water!

All of the boys love to use the Ipad. This was one of the ways that we kept Jeremy and Andrew quiet during Nick's nap times.
We also got to enjoy beautiful sunsets several evenings! Here are Marilyn and Richard posing for us.

Portland 2011

This September we finally made it out to Portland to see Eric's side of the family. We were originally scheduled to go last Thanksgiving, but Eric's eye troubles delayed that. While the visit was delayed, we got to enjoy much better weather and we headed to the beach! We were fortunate to get to spend almost a week with the Hansens/Rudins/Nelsons at the beach!

Nick loved the beach. From the moment that we arrived, until the moment that we left he loved to explore the sand, water and everything that the beach has to offer.


Nick also loved to spend time with his cousins. He definitely looked up to Jeremy and Andrew and whatever they were doing, he wanted to do as well!



This was just the beginning of all of the silly, crazy and incredibly fun good times that we had in Portland/the OR coast this summer!

Fourth Part 2

It was so great to spend some quality time with family this past weekend. Even though we're older now, not much has changed in our family dynamic. Muffin still falls asleep on the couch for an evening "nap", Peter and I are still goof balls. All in all it made for some funny pictures.

Nick enjoyed snuggling up with Grandpa Muffin on the couch to watch some golf. The TV is probably what kept him still long enough to get a half way decent picture.


Nick had so much fun playing with Grandma. He enjoyed getting to spend so much time with her and indulging in all of her treats!

Happy Fourth of July!!