August 31st

It's the 31st, and the kids know what that means ... ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Bridget always gets waffle cones, and this one was a whopper.

Black Panthers

Tor started practicing with this year's U-11 boys soccer team, the Black Panthers. He has the same coach and several teammates returning from last year, plus some new ones ... but most importantly, his buddy Bowen is on the team. He's looking forward to being the "playmaker" on the team ... dribbling and passing to teammates for shots on goal.

First Day of School

The kids started the 2023-24 school year this morning. Jillian is a sophomore at RA Long High, Bridget is in 7th grade at Monticello Middle, and Tor is in 5th grade at Olympic Elementary:

PTO Pool Party

PTO President Mom got together with the rest of the PTO staff at Tracy's house to discuss the upcoming school schedule ... while kids (and husbands) jumped in the pool. This is Bridget trying a front flip (she said it "hurt"):

We were there for 3-1/2 hours, nearly all of it in the 90°F water. Tor had lots of boys to play with, including his future classmate Parker (left):

Woodcutting and Hoverboard

Rick came to get some firewood from trees that Uncle Dan had cut down. Papa's job was to pull the logs up the hill to flat ground.

Meanwhile Tor and Bridget came to play. Tor immediately got out his hoverboard gift from Aunt and Uncle to race up and down the driveway.

After Tor relinquished the Hoverboard for a few minutes, Bridget took rides and then got creative by using a scooter with the Hoverboard. We visited Aunt Julie. Then went to Aunt Robin's where they found all the old toys downstairs to play on. Summer is coming to an end too soon!

 

Return of the Wii

Tor couldn't wait to finally start playing the old Wii again. Dad had it stored away at his school, and after picking up an old flat screen and setting it up in his library office, Tor got back to playing his old favorites, including lots of Lego games:

He also brings his basketball so he can take a break from gaming to shoot around in the gym while Dad is working.

Campfire S'mores

We invited our neighbors (and their friend Sonja) up to the cabin for s'mores, after we had our own classic dinner of make-your-own pizzas. The kids had to roast marshmallows, and put the s'mores together, all by themselves. They did a pretty good job at it:

The kids ate their treats, then headed into the cabin to play "It's in the Bag".

Seaview with the Neighbors

Neighbors Hazel and Ila were camping in Klipsan, and visiting the beach at Sea iew, so we joined them there.

It was still foamy even down in Seaview, but the kids still played in it.

Still Foamy

Went to the beach again this afternoon, but still no luck with the ocean. In fact, the slimy foam seemed even thicker than before. That didn't stop the kids, though, as they played chicken with the waves, and scooped it into the bucket.

Today was the windiest and coolest, so we had to spend most of our time in the dunes. Tor worked on a little fort:

... and the girls caught some rays:

Seaside

Today was our get-away travel day. The kids slept in late (10:30 am), so it was a slow start, but we started in Seaside, walking the main strip, grabbing some ice cream, and visiting the beach:

... followed by touring around inside the Carousel Mall, playing some carnival games, and riding the carousel:

Afterwards, we went to the outlet malls where Tor picked up some new school shoes, followed by Costco for pizza dinner.

Game of Life

Our second evening wound down with eagle's nest for dinner, the Game of Life for fun, with Tor (and Dad) winning ...

... then Bridget, Tor and Dad went on a long bike ride looking (unsuccessfully) for a couple more geocaches. Finally, we watched High School Musical 2.

Gross Foam

(Almost forgot to mention...) The kids would like to have waded into the water tonight, but there was so much of the slimy, yellow foam on the waves and beach that it was pretty gross. It was like this everywhere up and down the beach:

Jack's for Ice Cream

We forgot to make enough time for Colleen's ice cream, so we settled for Jack's. Dad made a beeline for home in order to be able to take a porch picture before Jillian inhaled her ice cream bar.

Cliff Jumping

We trekked to the beach and found it to be fairly warm with no wind. The tide was way up, so we took no chances and just parked on the approach. Poop River was dried up, allowing us to walk to the south side and do some cliff jumping.

Tor jumped right away, Jillian thought about it for just a moment, while Bridget needed a few minutes of self-talk to make the leap:

Driving Practice + Geocaching

It was a two-in-one: Jillian got some driving practice and Tor (with Bridget) did some geocache hunting. Jillian first learned how to put gas into the Ford. Then, she drove out to Nahcotta, Oysterville and Ledbetter State Park with Tor navigating to geocaches on Dad's phone.

We did pretty well with caches, finding 4. Jillian was ready to be done driving by the time we got back to the cabin.

High School Musical

It has kind of become a tradition for the kids to watch all 3 High School Musical videos before school starts. We are watching the first one tonight with some popcorn:

Sunset

After hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit, we made one more trip to the beach to catch the sunset. It happened quick, so this pic was just at the tail end:

For whatever reason, the ocean was super foamy ... we couldn't avoid getting hit by it as it washed in.

While waiting for sunset, the kids played a little bit of football. Mom took on quarterback duties for a couple plays, and threw a TD.

Okie's Ice Cream

We actually looked for another geocache by the cemetery (unsuccessfully) before going to Okie's for ice cream. Jillian ate hers all up on the bike ride home:

The girls went right back to reading their Selection series books ... so Tor and Dad are going to do some more biking.

Next Stop ... Library

Our next priority was to head to the Timberline Library and check out books for the week. The girls didn't need many, since they brought a bunch with them.

About halfway through our stay, Tor and Dad went Geocaching in the parking lot. We found it, though we needed the hints. Then we searched for the Pirate Log Book inside, which actually took awhile to find.

Directly to the Beach

Well, almost directly. After arriving at the beach cabin after 10 pm, the kids slept in a bit (and Jillian had to finish her morning Drive 101 Zoom class). But as soon as we were able, we drove to the beach. Tried driving just a little bit up into the drier sand, but got kind of stuck, and the kids had to help push the Ford out. Eventually found a spot, and tried the water, which was pretty chilly.

The girls spent most of their time chatting about The Selection series of books that they've been obsessively reading for the past week or so:

... while Tor and Dad played some football in the waves:

The tide came up quick, meaning we had to get out of there.

Vista Park at 102 F

The forecast was for it to be HOT, so we planned to go to Skamokawa (with Adam) to cool off in the Columbia River. It ended up reaching 102 F there, but the water was nice and cool, and we stayed in the river nearly 3 hours.

Tor couldn't help himself, splashing his sisters, and then (unfortunately for him) receiving the worst of it back as they teamed up against him.

Annual Yard Sale

The kids were busy all day Sunday running the 1/2-day yard sale in Castle Rock. It was just the 3 of them (with help from Mom and Dad), and it was Tor's first time. Jillian was the cashier, Bridget bagged the merchandise, and Tor organized and straighted things up.

It was super hot (95 F). They made a decent amount of money: Jillian and Bridget each made $134, and Tor made $66 (based on a 40-40-20 split).

Kenny-Time

The kids spent the day in CR at the annual yard sale. It was a very big sale with lots of stuff, and the girls managed to find some school clothes and shoes. Afterwards, we had the traditional pizza dinner, and got to see lots of Kennedy:

Hurricane Ridge

Our final day of camping was spent at Hurricane Ridge. It was a long, steep drive, and we barely got into the park (only 345 cars per day are allowed). At the top, we were amazed at the view of the Olympics:

... and the views of the Strait on the other side:

There were several trails to walk to get a better view, including this one that went even farther up:

There were a couple peaks we made it to. Both felt very high up:

Port Angeles

After dinner at Hook & Line Pub, we walked over to the pier and climbed up the observation tower:

First Beach

The beaches in La Push are numbered, and we went to First Beach to check it out. It was a sandy beach with a large rocky cliff that we walked to.

Tor and Bridget made a dash around the rocks when the waves went out and found a small cave:

Despite it being cloudy on the entire drive, it was sunny and warm at the beach: