Camping Trip to Lakeside

We had a great trip to the coast the weekend before Labor Day. Libby and Jaime have the ability to reserve a campground through Jaime's work and invite friends to camp. This place was awesome. Quiet, hook-ups for our trailer, kitchen, showers, bathroom, beach and playground. Cooper had so much fun playing with all the kids and running around. We stayed an extra day we were having so much fun. Sharon and Cooper went kayaking one afternoon. I went kayaking with Emory and Libby also. We took a day trip to Bandon, OR. Cooper played on the beach a lot and generally ran around a lot.

The weather was gorgeous! I haven't been to the sand dunes area of the Oregon Coast in 11 or more years. It was awesome! We had a great trip.

More Swim Pictures

I took a few more pictures on his second to last day of swim class. He was super chatty with the teacher, Otter. He is doing really well with the classes and we signed him up for more in the fall.

Otter taught the kids about being safe in the water, they practiced with the flotation devices for awhile then did some more floating.

Crazy Dance Party

We had a dance party today!

Jamison Square

Erin and I took the kids to Jamison Square Friday for some splash park fun. I don't prefer to go to this waterpark because it gets super crowded and it is in a pretentious part of town. We had a great time though, it was fun to people watch and we had lunch at a nearby burrito joint. The kids lasted in the water for about an hour, they had a blast.

Berry Picking

Libby and I took Cooper, Emory and Larkin berry picking on Monday. It was a hot hot day out in the fields but we all had a great time. We decided we wouldn't go back to this farm in the future. It's hard to find a u-pick farm open on Monday. We are going to do it again soon, maybe out in the Gorge where the weather is a bit cooler. We picked a lot of blueberries, the blackberries were not consistently sweet or ripe.

I forgot to bring hats for the kids so we used umbrellas from the car and lots of sunscreen. There was a play structure at the farm that the kids enjoyed before and after picking berries.

Here they are in the field.

Larkin was busy running through the fields on her own and picking the green berries.
Here is our blueberry bounty.

Swim Class

I took some pictures of Cooper's swim class on Thursday. He is doing really well, getting way more comfortable in the pool. He will put his face in the water now. He has one more week of swim class and then we are going to sign him up for the fall. He continues to ask if we are going to the "shark slide" pool. The community center has swim classes that he took last year and they have a shark slide. It took him awhile to warm up to this pool, with no shark slide and deep water. They use step platforms for the kids to stand on in the pool, they call it Strawberry Island. He is enjoying himself and he is getting way more confident in the water.

Funny pictures

It's been a long week with some ups and some downs. I've decided Cooper and Larkin are both in a developmental stage. Cooper is at the year mark and Larkin is at the half-year mark, which means lots of behavior issues. My three likes this week are: 1. Cooper's ability to comprehend and respond to all sorts of questions and comments, 2. the great 80 degree sunny weather, 3. berry picking. My three dislikes are: 1. the constant fighting between Cooper and Larkin, 2. cleaning up puppy pee, 3. Sharon working away from home.
Here's hoping tomorrow goes well.
Cooper and I took some great pictures today.

Sharon's Birthday

We ha a party for Sharon on Sunday. It turned out to be gorgeous/hot day. We barbequed chicken and had a good southern b-b-q. Great party, wonderful friends.
The only pictures I got were of Sharon opening her gifts with two helpers.

Cooper and Luke

Two best buddies. Luke comes up to Cooper when he gets hurt. Luke also loves to sleep with Cooper on his bed. I let Luke cuddle until I go to bed and then put him in the kennel.
Luke sleeps all night now, no more night wakings to pee :) This week he woke up twice puking and then ate it :) Ahhh labs, they are so food obsessed. He is a good boy, we love him so much.

New Bed

We finally put Cooper's new bed together! We bought him a loft bed with a space underneath to play. We put it together before our vacation but were sent two of the same pieces so the bed part was put on hold. We finally finished it last night and bought a mattress from IKEA.
He likes it a lot but it is too high for him to climb in and out at night when he has to go potty. We decided to keep the mattress on the floor at night and then put it in the bed during the day so he can climb up and down and play on it. Last night, I woke up at 5:45 to let the puppy out and Cooper was sleeping in the dog bed and Riley was sleeping on Cooper's bed :) He picked out the green sheets (his favorite color right now).

Pictures from the weekend

We had a fun time on the beach and it was Luke's first time at the ocean. He had a blast playing with Riley and Cooper. He was exhausted by Sunday.

Ocean Shores, WA

We spent the weekend visiting Oma and Grandpa in Ocean Shores this weekend. The weather was pretty great, mostly sunny skies and warm. We went to the arcade Saturday and played miniature golf plus air hockey and of course the truck driving game. It was Cooper's first time at mini golf. He didn't want any help hitting the ball and had a good time after having a tantrum on the third hole.
We ate great food, spent some time at the beach and swam at the country club pool. It was a short visit and lots of fun!

The Beaver Dam

A few funny things

I wanted to document some of the things Cooper said during his birthday party. We had a great birthday party, the bouncy house was a huge success. However, Cooper was a bit overwhelmed throughout much of the party. He asked Janet if she would take him out front, "just the two of us where it is quiet." He wanted to snuggle with Mommy and/or Mama because "it is too loud." I thought we would have him open the presents after his friends left because he was overwhelmed but he didn't like that idea. He wanted to open the gifts while his friends were there so we did it while everyone was eating. He opened several gifts before the kids realized what was happening. He is very much a one-on-one kid, he doesn't like the group atmosphere. It is great to know this about him and maybe next year we will have a smaller gathering.
At the end of the party, when we were home, he looked at Sharon and I and said, "Mommy that was a pretty cool birthday party."

This week Cooper had a Nature Detectives Camp at a nearby preschool. This is an outdoor camp, M-F for four hours. My mom was still in town on Monday and Tuesday so we had some prime shopping time while Cooper was at camp. Wednesday he had a hard time in the beginning of camp because Nona left to go home and Mama was gone in the morning for work. He ended up having a good day, I called and spoke to him on the phone. We had his final day on Thursday because we are visiting Oma and Grandpa in Washington this weekend. Each morning Cooper informed me that he didn't want to go to camp, today was by far the worst of it. I brought him anyway and he seemed to enjoy himself. I think he enjoyed himself once he was there and it definitely wiped him out. They played some great games, made a treasure map and fairy houses, Cooper's was a small beaver dam.