1 month

Malya is one month old now. She has mastered several things already. She is great at getting my attention and uses several techniques like; crying (or maybe screaming as needed), moaning and groaning, squirming, rooting, wiggling and making the cutest faces imaginable. She is a great cuddlier and I really think that cuddling is her favorite activity....I enjoy it too! She is also good at sleeping, a little better during the day (in the moby) but she only wakes up every 1-2 hours all night long after going to be between 11:00 and 12:30... (okay, we still have a little work to do for night time but she is only 1 month!) .

Did I ever tell you how cute she is? Cuz she totally is you know (even when she is crying!)

Going home...or maybe not!

As we were driving home today I told Kevin that the vacation didn't feel complete to me. I'm fairly sure that is because I had mastitis on Friday and spent nearly 30 hours in bed with a fever of 102+. Kevin (the wonderful husband that he is) quickly turned the car around and we set a course for Longbeach!

I was thrilled to get a few more hours of vacation and so was the rest of the family! Washington state beaches are very different then Oregon's. Our beaches are state highways with speed limits and all (although I couldn't tell you what the speed limit is...we just enjoy driving on the beach). We also have horses! I can't tell you how excited I was to see the horses, but I can say that there was a bunch squeals from the back of the van. "Can we ride them mom??!!"

This was a big year for Austin. He was able to drive the Go Karts! No more riding in the passenger seat, he has moved up to the captain chair. They went racing around the course at record speeds. Austin told me several times since then that the only thing he wants to have is a Go Kart and he is willing to give me all of his money and his Christmas presents as well as birthday gifts. I only wish it would be that easy!

time to rest

After this wonderful week filled with so much activity our children are exhausted! We are bummed that we have to go home tomorrow but are thankful for the time that we were able to spend with our wonderful friends and family.

pool time

Swimming in the pool has been one of our favorite activites this week. Daddy loves throwing the kids up and I love watching them laugh and giggle while he does!

This week has been wonderful pool practice time. Not only has Austin been able to practice and become a stronger swimmer but Emma was able to learn how to swim on her own.

Loving the sand and the shopping

We hit the shops this morning looking for the perfect keepsake items. There was an awesome toy store and we spent over an hour hunting and looking at every single thing that they carried. Emma chose a bag of marbles, Kadin got another set of keys and a new phone (that makes a ton of cool noises), and Austin decided on a new boat that he can use in the pool, or the ocean, or the lake, or the bath tub. I was really impressed by all of their great finds.

While we were walking down the boardwalk we came across a cool train yard. The kids begged to take a ride and at just 2.00 per child we couldn't say no. And the race was on!

Since the weather report shows that it is supposed to get cold and possibly rain tomorrow we used this as possibly our last chance to enjoy the beach. Kevin was the only brave enough to swim and he really enjoyed body surfing for a little while. And although I really wanted to get some pictures, there was NO WAY I was going to go out far enough to get them.

Cannon Beach

A couple weeks ago we found out that both the Crawfords and Starrs would be at Cannon Beach the same time we would be vacationing. Since Cannon Beach is close to Seaside (about 15 minutes) we decided to join up. And today was the big day. And just for fun lets review of how many people make up these 4 families.

Currey's-6

Finnestad's-7

Crawford's-8

Starr's-4

We have 17 children between us, and they all really enjoyed playing together!

I must say that it was one of my favorite days so far. I absolutely love the pictures that I was able to capture.

Running and jumping in the surf was one of the funnest activities. The waves were huge! Some must have been at least 10 feet. There were a few surfers and know that Kevin was wishing he could join them. Since we didn't have a surf board (or wet suit) he raced the waves with his kids. Hand in hand with Kadin they laughed and giggled each time one would come at them. Austin ran so fast that the water could hardly keep up with him. And Emma was thrilled to jump until she was too exhausted to continue.

We did a little rock climbing, hunting in the tide pools, kite flying, sand playing, and we also had some time to rest, eat and visit.

We were able to get almost all the kido's into one picture (only missing the 3 babies), and most of them are even looking at the camera! I think that is some serious photography skills (okay, to be honest there were 4 moms all taking pictures at the same time. I guess one of us was bound to get a good one!).

A great day that was topped off by one of the best bubble baths in history. Note to self- only add a very small amount of bubbles to a jet tub!