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!

Jog-a-thon

Danica's school did their jog-a-thon last Friday. They sure got lucky on the weather. It was a beautiful day! Each grade only jogs for 1/2 hour. Danica's time was 1:00-1:30. I got there just after they had started. She ended up completing the 14 laps that she needed in order to win her water bottle (she says that Mira has chewed her old water bottle so she needs a new one). Melissa ran a few laps with her, and I did a couple of laps too (at a very S-L-O-W jog, and I was not the one holding us up).

 She did actually *run* for a little bit.

Her principal is helping her get the bark mulch out of her shoes.

 Melissa did several laps with her.

Sometimes some "persuasion" and encouragement was needed.

 I did a couple of laps with her, too.  All three of us did the final lap, which is why there are no pictures.

That reminds me....I still need to pay up on the pledge I made!

Roadtrip 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

Good fences make good neighbors?

 

Clay said he wanted a picture of the dogwood tree in our neighbor's backyard AND the blossoming tree behind it AND a blue sky. That's a lot to ask for. But it finally all came together this afternoon when I got home from work. Trouble is...our neighbors are out of town. They have a low metal gate at the entrance of their backyard, which I could have climbed over, but I thought that would be kind of weird, so I got our ladder out of the garage and put it in our backyard near the fence, and climbed up on the ladder and took a couple of pictures looking out over our fence -- then I moved the ladder to another spot for a picture from a different angle.

And somehow I thought that would look less weird than simply climbing over their gate???

:-)

Wedding Pictures - Part 1

Some wedding pictures for those of you not on Facebook (click on them to see them bigger).

Saturday, March 19, 2011.  Neil and Mandi's wedding.  What a wonderful day!  

Siblings (the groom's sister and the bride's brother)

The nieces looked like little angels.

Mira was trying very hard to be patient.

The youngest "bridesmaid" wasn't happy about posing for pictures.

They're taking pictures of Mira (if you hadn't guessed).

She is pretty cute, after all!

Sisters/friends.

There were 12 weddings at the temple that day, so we had to spend a little time waiting around for the good photo spots to become available.

The temple was beautiful, and we even had a bit of sunshine.

Clay's parents, Jean and Mac.

And here are some of the ones taken by the professional photographer (just copied off her blog -- the ones Neil and Mandi will get from her won't have her logo on them).

 Welcome to the family, Mandi -- we love you!

:-)