Danica's book

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Mira Turns Two

She's not a baby any longer -- Mira is now two years old.  Melissa is following the family tradition that she grew up with of making birthdays into rather low-key family get-togethers.  We started off at Chuck E. Cheese's to let the girls enjoy some simple rides and games.  Mira hadn't wanted to get up from her nap to come, so she was a bit quieter than usual.

The carousel was cute but not too exciting.

Race car driving with Daddy.

Going up.

Going down.

Melissa was very competitive that night.  There was basketball against Rob...

....Water guns against Danica.....

...and Skee ball against Danica and Clay.

We thought the simulator was one of the better deals because it was one of the longer "rides" -- but not terribly scary (it didn't even have seatbelts).

Mira took the opportunity to do a little relaxing.

Despite the strange expression on her face in this picture, this actually was one of her favorite rides.

Just before leaving, they checked out the blue screen (to pretend they were on television).

Danica looks pretty scary with the green pointy teeth she chose with the points she won on the games.

Then we headed back to their apartment to open gifts and eat pizza.

The chalkboard is also one of her gifts, but it was too big to wrap.

She's really into monkeys right now, so we got her some Curious George coloring books and stickers, to go along with the big Curious George she got from her family.

Anything in there?

She loved all her presents, including this Elmo DVD.

Now that she has her own Curious George, hopefully she won't keep trying to steal Grandma's.

Mira is happy to share with her sister.

This "quiet book" will be very helpful at church.

Her Rice Krispies Treats "cake".

Danica appointed herself as the official cake cutter.

George is borrowing Mira's highchair and hat.

Danica (the artist in the family) made a birthday card for her Uncle Neil.

Here's the inside, which she thought up and wrote all by herself.

Since we had to wait for the pizza to cook, we ate dessert first -- the birthday "cake" and a very yummy dessert that Mandi made.  I was almost too full to eat the pizza by the time it was done, but I'll never turn down a piece of pizza!

The Swimming Lesson

Danica invited us to her last swimming lesson of this session.  It's great to live close enough to participate in these small moments in a grandchild's life.  We have been so blessed!

The classes are separated into both 

swimming abilities and age levels.

 To be able to advance to the next level, she needed to be able to float on her back while kicking.  Even though she was able to do it when Melissa took her to practice, she didn't do it in class tonight.

 Her swimming teacher was very 
patient with the children.  

Danica seemed comfortable with him.

 They are just finishing up the lesson.

 She's saying "hurry up and take the picture, Grandma.  I'm cold!"

While Danica was getting dressed, Clay and I took Mira outside to the playground. 

She insisted that Clay push her from behind, not in front.  (She likes swinging much more than Danica did at that age).

This is rather uneven, wouldn't you say?

 Clay always wins the race.

It's a good thing Clay has the excuse 

of his grandchildren so he can go down the slides...because he'd look pretty odd doing it all by himself.

Danica is apparently not afraid of heights.  (She got in trouble for bouncing the other children right after this picture was taken, so her time on the playground was very brief).

Newport 2011

It has become our tradition (3 years makes it a "tradition" -- right?) to go to Newport for our anniversary.  Since Memorial Day weekend always falls near our anniversary, it works well for an extended weekend out of town.  We stay at the Newport La Quinta because we can get a good deal there since Clay works at the Eugene La Quinta.  We had a lovely "spa" room (large room with a spa tub and a fireplace).  And even though we've been having cold, rainy weather all spring, we actually had some decent weather for the weekend.  Not very warm, but at least we didn't get rained on until we were on our way home late Monday afternoon -- which was much better than I had anticipated.

Overlooking the beach at Yaquina Bay Lighthouse at sunset.

Clay at the park at Yaquina Bay Lighthouse the next morning.

Yaquina Bay Bridge

We discovered that there is a cute little shopping area just a block from the hotel.  We could see one large store as we turned into the hotel parking lot (kind of an antiques/souvenirs/junk store), but we didn't realize that there were numerous other little shops behind it. We particularly liked the glass-blowing shop where you can actually watch the guy making his glass pieces.  I was tempted by several things in that store, but when we went back to buy me something on Monday just before we left town, that particular store was closed.  I guess it's just as well, because I didn't really "need it" -- I just liked it.

This little shopping district had a bunch of odd (fake) "creatures" and displays, and those places where you can put your face through and have a funny photo taken (what are those called anyway?).

This is a "Sharcow" -- quite bizarre -- I can't give any better explanation!!

Clay likes to live dangerously!

Avast ye landlubbers!  Arrrrgh!

Wow -- I haven't been 
this skinny in years!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

On the path to Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Cobble Beach below Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Even though we arrived at low tide, we were told that they are experiencing the "highest low tides" in many many years, so there weren't many tidepools uncovered.  Clay was disappointed -- we enjoyed looking at them last year when we were there.

We climbed the hill to the east 
of the lighthouse and got a 
different view of the area.

Looking north from the hill 
above the lighthouse.

On our last day, we checked out "Historic Nye Beach".  We didn't actually go onto the beach -- we just looked through several of the stores in the little shopping district there.  We were also amused at the birds lining up on the posts.  There is definitely a rule of "seniority" to post-standing -- we watched younger birds get pushed off by older birds claiming their territory.

 All in all, it was a fun trip to celebrate our 33rd anniversary!