Yikes, I did it again! I'm so bad at updates. Especially in the summer when there's no school and we aren't on any kind of a routine or schedule.
We went camping to Thompson Reservoir over Memorial Day for our first camp trip of the year. We ended up having to cancel three over all. One for COVID over Spring Break, one for hay season, and the last one was because of all the smoke. So much fun and love our camping crew. It was a little dusty on some of the rides, but the kids didn't mind.
Kids and the Dads went on a kayak trip on the lake. Moms made lunch at met them at the end destination.
Our camp
Hatchet throwing competition. These kids are so versatile. They are amazing shots and hatchet throwers.
Firewood for the week.
We celebrated some Birthdays while we were there and enjoyed a lot of desserts.
Swedish log. I had seen this on Pinterest and always wanted to try it. It was really cool and burned for quite awhile too.
No caption needed!
My tired little puppy.
Look at the dirt on these cute faces.
Abelscievers for breakfast.
One of many dusty rides.
More of the Swedish log.
Shooting completion.
Mom and Dad put their water slide in the river for the kids this year for the first time in years. They had a ball on it. May have been a little much for Quade, but he still gave it a good try.
We are so lucky to be able to get equipment to make our project so much easier
We bought an enclosed trailer to make day trips to the coast with. We took the kids several times in the spring with Austyn's new quad. And plan on using it a lot more this fall for more day trips.
We were so lucky to find all these. I bet we could have found more if the kids hadn't of gotten hungry.
Our new trailer.
Jordan and Quade fixing it up.
Hay season was another success. The kids look forward to that all year long. And they have become quite the little helpers.
I think Quade hitched a ride on every piece of equipment this year. And he did a good job of talking everyones ears off while they were trapped in the cab with him.
Kids got to go up in top of the barn.
Twins
More twinning
The whole crew and their hats.
Love this!!
Fathers Day we went and painted mugs for Jordan. I found a really cute place to go in Cottage Grove and they turned out so cute.
Cookies for Daddy on Fathers Day.
Jordan went on the Gambler 500 again this year. He had a different car from last year. As usual he had an amazing time, but unfortunately broke down towards the end. And I had to go on a recovery mission.
The guys.
Rescue mission.
Our summer camping trips have morphed into week long trips at a time. We just love it! Always wanting to leave one day earlier and stay on day later. We did all of camping on the dunes this summer in Coos Bay.
Trip back from swimming at the beach. These crazy kids played in the ocean more than I have ever seen anyone.
Beach princesses
Crabbing in Charleston. We took a quick trip to the docks in Charleston to crab for the day and although we only caught one crab, we had a blast messing with the seals and sea lions.
Played so hard he fell asleep eating his dessert.
Movie time.
My cute little merboy.
We would ride our quads to go get ice cream. Highlights of the trip for sure.
Picnic by the "majestic" river.
Messy faces
Frog hunting was a real interest for Quade this year. We spent hours in our paddle boat trying to catch a frog. From hooks, to nets, to our bare hands. We finally caught one late one night and then they fried the legs up the next day.
4th of July was pretty cool this year despite everything being cancelled. We had just gotten home that day from camping and only had bought a few small fireworks. We went to my parents for a BBQ and my Dad found a ton of old fireworks. Like the really big ones! It was such a fun surprise when we were just expecting a few little ones.
I was able to finally get some cattle. I've been wanting some for YEARS. I found the best cow calf pair over in Redmond that we picked up in late July. Stella and June! They are adorable and super great! I tried to AI her but she didn't take so I'll try again early next year. I just love seeing them out in the field. Makes my heart happy.
This is Stella.
This is June.
Trailer ride home from Redmond.
Kayaking this summer was a blast. We ended up getting a bigger one for Quade and made numerous trips down the river.
These kids are so good at kayaking.
Went on a 5 mile hike up at Silver Falls. It was so pretty even though there wasn't a ton of water flowing. It was a bit long for the kids and I but totally worth it and the cafe food at the lodge was amazing.
They were so hot that they dipped their heads and hats in the water to cool down.
Quade has been enjoying trapping some Grey Diggers with my Dad this summer. They've caught several and he just loves it. He has also been into fishing this summer and we caught the crap out of cat fish this year.
This particular night was our best one. I think we caught 10 or 11. So fun and exciting.
We were able to play 4 1 hour sessions of softball and baseball in August. It was great to let the kids play and do something that was slightly normal. Quade is doing football now and Austyn will be doing Volleyball in October.
Our 11th Anniversary was this month and Jordan took me to Cannon Beach. We both had never been there before and we were so excited to see Haystack Rock. We had an amazing room with the best view. The weather was amazing and it was great to be just the two of us. We make a bad habit out of not making time to spend together without the kids.
Got a nice surprise in our room when we got there.
View from our room.
We walked home from dinner up the on the beach and there were about 15 campfires on the beach. It was so pretty.
Jordan was able to go on the Holiday Farm Fire up the McKenzie. It was a little strange with him being so close and not able to come home at night. We got to go see him twice, which was really neat. He stayed there for 8 days at Thurston Middle School. I remember being really nervous about the last one he went on. It was his first conflagration and we didn't know what to expect. But this time we kind of new a little bit more and it was very interesting to talk to him every night and see pictures he would send of what he was seeing up there. I guess it's a little different when I'm familiar with the area he was working in. He would find animals and feed and water them on the properties of where he was patrolling.
The smoke was incredible here in the valley. I have never seen anything like it. So scary looking at times. The kids amazed every morning when they woke up. But we aren't house people, so staying inside for a week was torture on us! We did get some company for a couple of days though. That helped keep our minds off of being stuck in the house.
This was a fire that happened over by the lake. It was pure craziness with fires this summer. I'm hoping that's all over with now.
This was Jordans task force by the Goodpasture bridge up the McKenzie.
The kids started school this week and so far so good. It's a crazy schedule that they are on and Quade is suppose to go back to in person school on the 5th. I'm not holding my breath on that one. We got our new fiberoptic internet so it can support their live feeds for school. It is a little more organized than last spring when we did distant learning, so that's good.
Hope everyone is surviving all this craziness in the world right now. I can't begin to express how grateful I am for where we live. We are so sheltered out here from everything that is going on right now. I've never loved our little bubble more than I do now. I think that's it for now. I will TRY to do a better job with more updates. But I think I say that every time. Will be posting Austyn's Birthday Blog soon.
