Birch Bay Anniversary Week

DeA has put up with me for 21 years. To reward her perseverance, we went on a week trip to Birch Bay. Why Birch Bay? Because it is only 20 minutes from Chocolate Necessities, the "best chocolate place ever" according to DeA. We got there on Sunday evening, and after unpacking we went for a walk to stretch our legs.

It was a relaxing week with few plans and lots of down time. 

And walks, lots and lots of walks by the beach with pretty sunsets and beautiful DeAndra.

Oh, and ice cream. There was a little bit of ice cream.

We drove up to Canada one day to do a temple session in the Vancouver (Langley) Temple. DeA was impressed with how quiet the temple seemed.

Chocolate was a major theme of this trip, and a main reason for the destination. Costco sells chocolate chips in Canada that aren't available in the States.

"I texted the group that the temple was quieter than Moses Lake so that your dad will tell the old guys there to be quieter. You know it's a problem when your dad is the quiet one"

Burger with a side of poutine, I never want to hear other countries tell me that the US is the unhealthy one.

This was the first restaurant that we visited with the kids that began their obsession with Ricky's All Day Grill.

More walks

I like walks with Schnoogies.

And another walk.

This was from an almost six mile walk through the state park. It was fun.

DeA randomly decided that she wanted coconut shrimp for dinner. She gags when trying to eat fish sticks or fish and chips, but wanted shrimp. We found a great little food truck up in the marina in Blain and she ate about 2 coconut shrimps, so I'm still not sure if she really liked them or not.

Many of our walks were so long that they ended up being night walks.

I read a lot and she did a lot of whatever this little gem art thing is called.

A lunch at Cafe Rio on the way home seemed to be the right way to end the trip. 

 

Teenagers showing their mom love

There are few things that I cherish as much as family prayers with everyone together. The kids cannot help but antagonize and tease DeA and she loves every second of it.

She bonked her noggin' and has quite the goose egg.

She said it looks like a Klingon from "Star Wars"

We finally had a lazy Saturday and DeA and Jens enjoyed a slow morning. Eventually we got down to the basement to work out.

Jens has been worn out with early volleyball practices and did not make it down to the basement.

They love showing DeA memes and trying to figure out if she laughs because she understands them or if she laughs so that they will think she understands them.

 

Mariners Game!

The Mariners had a BYU night with jerseys, we had to go. We met Rock in Seattle on our way home from Lincoln City and rode the train into town together.

It was a normal, stinky train ride.

We had pretty good seats on our BYU/Mariners jerseys were sweet.

These was the kids' faces through most of the game, it seemed like it was going to be another crappy M's game.

But then, after a walk, a bloop, and a walk-off homerun they looked like this:

DeA wasn't quite as excited, she thought that they only tied it and were going to have to go into extra innings and she was ready to go.

She was a lot happier when she discovered that it was over and we could go.

I think the Mariners have won like five total games since this one, and I'm posting in the middle of September, so, yea, they are biscuits.

 

The Oregon Coast

We wanted to take one last family trip this summer to commemorate Rock's graduation. Unfortunately, he forgot to get work off and we had to take the trip without him. Ryker and Jens left about a week early to spend time with Gpa and Gma Judd. DeA and I left after work on Tuesday and made the critical stops at Cousin's and Sharon's in The Dalles.

"I think I want to open an ice cream shop like this"

The beach is lovely and the kids got wet as soon as we met them there.

DeA got to wear her sweatshirt in August, so the beach trip was already a win.

The kids decided that it would be our nightly tradition to play Parcheesi. DeA loved/hated it.

No shoes, no shirt, no trip to the grocery store, so Ryker borrowed his mom's sandals.

No trip to the Oregon Coast would be complete without a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

It is pretty popular. Like crazy popular, how are there that many people that come here on a Wednesday morning?

DeA likes cheese and ice cream, so this is like her mecca. 

Ryker didn't need to take the walking tour because he already knew "enough" about how cheese is made.

Jensley was sad that the cows were miles and miles away and weren't available for petting.

Triple cheese pepperoni pizza in the factory cafe hit scratched the itch that had been hitting Ryker.

Three flavor sampler is the way to go on the ice cream side.

The Jens.

At this meal, the term "biscuits" was coined. It's when something is more than buns, it's biscuits, because the restaurant biscuit was so bad that buns doesn't even describe it anymore.

The kids were confused why DeA said that she loves going to the beach, but never wanted to go on the beach. She likes the essence of the beach, but doesn't like getting dirty and sandy. Jens likes both of those things.

The look of someone who likes going to the beach, but not on the beach.

The look of someone who "loves" to play Parcheesi.

The look of someone who "loves" her husband on their 21st anniversary.

That's better

Jens agreed to come to the ghetto gym that is still stuck in the 1980s. She said it was "something".

I like beach fires, but this beach was almost complete devoid of driftwood and bundles at the store were like $10, so we had a baby fire.

DeA took the gun show on the road.

She loves the beach, she just wants to look at it and smell it, not be on it.