First Day of School

Jillian is now a junior at RA Long high school, while Bridget is in 8th grade, and Tor is is in 6th grade, at Monticello middle school. Here are the obligatory first day of school pics:

Boys Weekend 2024

Just before the start of school, Papa Ken invited the boys down to Skamakowa for the Boy's Weekend. The boys (Tor, Andy, Jace and Paxton, supervised by Papa Ken, Uncle Richard, Cousin Jesse and Dad) stayed busy doing jobs for Papa, with the biggest one being clearing out the path to the top of the hill. A log that was teetering over the highway needed to come out, so we used a come-along, which Tor helped operate:

In between jobs, Tor found a stick shaped like a golf club (he has luckily brought along a golf ball). He hit it pretty far:

Tor also wanted to help out with splitting wood. He got lots of practice swinging the axe:

Dinner was hamburgers, baked beans and potato salad, with S'mores for dessert. Then we settled in around the fire pit:

The boys stayed up talking around the fire until about 10 pm (Jace was in his tent):

We slept outside under the shelter, and got up around 7:00 am or so (Tor was last up). Then, we had breakfast of pancakes, potatoes, eggs, sausage and bacon. After a few more small jobs, we packed and headed home.

Golf with Bowen

Tor invited his buddy Bowen to go golfing at the Mint Valley par 3. They played a round like usual, then started hitting the ball with their drivers across the entire course (no one else was there).

Afterwards, Bowen came over to our house to play nearly everything they could think of.

Half-price Yard Sale

The kids got to run the Sunday version of the garage sale, with everything half off. Jillian and Bridget ran the counter, taking money and bagging, while Tor organized. Mom and Grannie were also around to help.

They ended up earning $393, which they split amongst each other. Then, we boxed and bagged everything up for a lady to take away. Plus, Kenny paid us a visit:

Annual Yard Sale

The kids contributed a lot of stuff, mostly clothes, for the annual yard sale in Castle Rock. Jillian and Bridget helped Mom with keeping things organized and helping customers ... plus they also helped keep Kenny and Rory entertained when they visited.

Per tradition, we ate Papa Pete's Pizza at Grannie and Papa's for dinner with the family.

At the end, a thunderstorm rolled through, and we hid under the gazebo.

Bikin' Round Ocean Park

We rode bikes to the library, and stayed for over an hour there:

Tor wanted to keep biking, so we dropped the girls off at the cabin and rode around Ocean Park, then went all the way to Nahcotta. It goes much faster now that he's bigger, and on a bigger bike:

Jack's Ice Cream

Colleen's Coffee House is still temporarily closed, so we had to resort to Jack's for our post-beach ice cream:

Quick Beach Stop

It took a while to get moving in the morning with some tired kids, but we eventually got going at 12:30 pm, heading to a nice, sunny beach. Now that both of our 4-wheel drive rigs are out of commission, we had to park at the approach and walk a ways to our spot:

The ocean water was a bit cool, but not so cold to keep Tor from doing some surfing (thanks to Jillian pulling him). Tor did biff it once, getting soaked:

... and Bridget took the lead in building the moat (with some help from everyone else):

It was so nice, we could have stayed much longer, but we had other things to cram in on our final full day.

Frite & Scoop

The Sharps were in Astoria to shop, so we met up with them at Frite & Scoop for an afternoon treat:

Thrn, we browsed the Astoria shops, including antiques and art displays.

Coffee Girl

We had been meaning to go to the Coffee Girl in Astoria for some time, and finally found a moment to do it. It sits out on a pier, and the seating area is right on the water (with no guardrail!):

Good coffee, and good pastries, too.

New Deck

Dinner was hot dogs and s'mores from the fire pit. The kids ate on the new deck that was just built:

It's been overcast but decently warm at the beach. We had gone to Jack's to rent a movie for the evening show, but Redbox is GONE! So sad. Yet another tradition for these kids that has evaporated.

Clam Chowder

This was our one and only beach trip this summer, due to a packed vacation schedule. As soon as we arrived at the beach cabin and unpacked, we made a beeline to Oysterville Sea Farms to have a bowl of clam chowder (since they are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday).

We had initially bought two bowls, one each for Mom and Dad, but the kids were "tasting" so much of ours, that we had to buy another bowl.

Grand Champion

Bridget and Handsome entered 7 classes at the Clark County 4-H Horse Show on Wednesday, and came away with 7 Grand Champion blue ribbons!

Lots of family and friends came to watch her:

She won Showmanship, Hunt Seat Equitation, Hunt Seat Disciplined Rail, Western Equitation, Western Disciplined Rail, Bareback Equitation and Trail, and she'll go to the Washington State Fair in Puyallup in September to compete in all of theae classes.

She'll be joined by her Royal Riders teammates, as well:

Staying Busy

The Nintendo Switch ran out of battery, so Tor had to keep himself occupied at Bridget's 4-H Horse Show in other ways, including going through the kid jumping course:

Once again, he scored the free ride pass and went on several rides with Rowen, a third grader who is learning horse riding from Aunt Dany:

Royal Riders

After the Open Horse Show, Bridget spent the next couple hours helping her Royal Riders teammates (and parents) setup their horse stalls. It was one of the best looking 4-H stalls in the barn!

The horse barn is open to all Fair visitors to come see the horses and visit with the 4-H riders.

Clark County Fair - Day 2

Sunday was the English saddle for the Open Horse Show at the Clark County Fair. Papa Ken and Bev, and Grannie and Papa Bob, showed up to watch:

It was very hot in the arena, so Bridget got to take off her jacket while riding. She did very well again, earning 3 blues and 2 reds:

At the end of the day, she had won the 11-13 High Point, receiving a trophy and ribbon.

Clark County Fair - Day 1

Now that Bridget is a member of the 4-H group Royal Riders, she is spending about a week and a half at the Clark County Fair. She spent Thursday doing Groom Squad, and Friday doing Horse Judging, and then participated in the Open Horse Show on Saturday. Kenny and Rory came to watch:

Bridget did very well in the Western saddle winning 5 blue ribbons:

Jillian and Tor were there, too, and Tor was thrilled to borrow someone's ride pass and go on a bunch of carnival rides. He also checked out some of the Fair displays: