Just some cute little faces and poses...

The cute little boy next to the stroller is cousin Micah, the rest of the faces are ours. :-)
Zac is 22 months, he'll be two September 1st, and Ty is 3 months.

Uncle Rick's Burial & Memorial

Jeremy's uncle passed away last Wednesday, and yesterday was his burial and memorial service. Uncle Rick was Phil's brother, and lived in Gresham with his wife, Aunt Betty Jo. He will be sorely missed! His burial, memorial, and the reception afterward were a beautiful celebration of his life, and a wonderful time together with family and friends sharing memories of Uncle Rick.



Just a few pictures, a snapshot of the day...

Zac, lookin' so fancy and hansome!


Jeremy was one of the pallbearers, with his brothers and cousins.


Jamey, Jacob, Jeremy, did they plan that?


Ty with his Great Aunt Merrie, Nancy's sister.

Zac's Swimming Lesson

Zac has started swimming lessons at the Sandy Pool. They have a Little Marlins class for preschoolers, and cousin Madison has been going once a week for quite some time. We finally made it down there, and we've gone the past three Tuesday evenings. The class is held in a little tiny pool, and the kids do activities that build confidence in the water, and they also learn some pre-swimming skills.

Well, to be truthful, Zac is pretty unsure about these lessons and activities. That was this week. The previous week he mostly just cried, and the first week, he barely even got in the water! When I did finally convince him to get in that first week, he tried to walk across the pool (waste-deep for him), lost his footing, and fell under the water--so scary! Since he really was not participating in the activity with the teachers, they didn't see him and were across the pool anyway. I had been right there working with Zac, so at this point, of course, I just stepped right into the pool to retrieve him, jeans and all. (My involvement doesn't always keep me as dry as some of the parents, I guess.) Zac was a little shaken, but he did get back in, and a few minutes later when class was over, he didn't want to get out! :-)

Anyway, we keep trying, and he is slowly gaining confidence. He loves the water, and loves going swimming with me in the pool or lake, loves swimming in Nani's kiddie pool, etc., but he is pretty shy to let some strange person drag him out into the water. Understandably. We've already seen him improve in just three weeks, and I'm pretty sure he's gonna LOVE swimming lessons before too long.

Seaside continued ...Geocaching

Of course, we had to do some geocaching while in Seaside, as well as on the drives to and from Seaside. It's so nice that Jeremy now has something to do instead of sitting in the car while I feed Ty on the longer road trips--I think he secretly hopes that we will have to stop, so that he can have an excuse to search for nearby geocaches! :-) Anyway, Joe shares Jer's love for geocaching, and Emily and I even got into it a little! I was thrilled to get to traipse through the dense forest as we hiked in search of one of these hidden caches, feeling so light on my feet, NOT PREGNANT!!! ...And with no little tykes, since Emily was in the truck with the sleeping babies. Yay--it's been too long!!!


The view from one such geocaching hike--we got up pretty high, and could even see our resort across the way.

Seaside

On Sunday we took a FABULOUS mini-vacation to Seaside with our friends Joe and Emily Knapp, and little Katelyn. We had a one-night stay at the Worldmark/Wyndham resort, in the PENTHOUSE SUITE!!--eight floors up on the top floor!! It was such a nice time, we were all blown away by the huge suite and beautiful view. The pool was tons of fun, too. It was a short stay, and we missed Zac (the suite had a maximum capacity of 6, so Zac stayed the night at Nani and Popi's), but we were all so blessed to be able to relax and enjoy such luxury and beauty.

Our van is being worked on, so Jer's dad let us take his truck which seats six. We piled in, I sat in the middle of the front, and Emily sat in the middle of the back. The babies were the most comfortable of us all, I think! :-)


Just one of the incredible views from our patio.


Living/dining room & fully-equipped kitchen. Very nice!

The suite had three bedrooms, each with a bathroom. It was seriously huge!

The view from our room, amazing!

okay... for even better pics of the resort and the suite, please refer to Joe and Emily's blog, since they have a really nice camera, and even more important--they are both great photographers. :-) http://haveaknapp.blogspot.com

Grass!

We finally have a yard with grass! It's so pretty! Thank you Phil (Jer's dad), Joe, and Jeremy!!!
So far, we have a "side" yard. Front yard and back yard remain on the project list. :-)

Yesterday, my sister-in-law Mandy, nephews, boys and I escaped the HOT weather with a trip up the mountain for a picnic at Timothy Lake. We had a most incredible time! The shade and the water were absolutely perfect! We spent about three hours up there, I think. Poor Kaleb wasn't feeling well most of the time, but he was a great sport, and even managed to have a little fun, too.

Chidren's Museum

My sister-in-law Mandy and my nephews Kaleb and Micah came to stay with us earlier this week, and we all had so much fun! On Wednesday we visited the Portland Children's Museum for the first time, and we all LOVED it! What a great place to play and imagine!


Builders Zac and Micah


Zac driving the ambulance, complete with a walkie talkie and real buttons that even make button noises!


Pretending to be Daddy! Zac LOVED this, of course!

Digging and dumping, another favorite!! (Zac and Kaleb)

Face painting -- really, Mom? I can color on my face?

No, Mom, I didn't eat the clay.

Okay, well maybe I ate just a little!

Micah and Zac playing with clay

Sweet little Ty, such a good sport, sitting most of the time in the stroller while Brother and Cousins played.

He was so excited to lie on the floor for a bit, while Zac and Micah played with trains and blocks and drove the bus.

Micah and Zac trying to be kind and take turns driving the bus.