First Day of School (2015)

Here's our annual first-day-of-school picture of the girls. Portia is in Mrs. Black's 3rd grade class, while Bianca starts ninth grade (but technically she still has to go to Timberline Middle School one more year, so it won't feel much like high school).

 It's going to be another great year!

A couple weeks on the Oregon Coast

After Bianca returned home from Indiana, we spent two weeks on the Oregon Coast, as a final hurrah before school started. I don't think I mentioned that in February, Eric and I bought a little vacation rental house in Lincoln City, Oregon, that we use a management company to rent out, but part of the allure is that I want to have a reason to get to the beach more often. So even though I couldn't take all the time away from work (I worked half days remotely), and Eric had to get on some calls as well, but we made it work. We were finally together for some good family time. First, here's the cute little house we bought:

It sits on this little island that's completely surrounded by the canal that feeds into Devil's Lake, as well as the D-River (the world's shortest), which then feeds right into the ocean. 

In fact, we can kayak right from our property and we got two kayaks that came with the house when we bought it.  I love the bright, beachy kitchen!

Another plus for us was that the house came completely furnished, including the pictures on the wall, sheets on the bed, TV, and plates and cups. Of course we had to buy some extra stuff to get it fully stocked for renters, but it was the perfect house for us. And here in the cozy living room is the pellet stove, which runs warm and is super efficient. One of my must-haves was a fireplace or stove, so this house ended up being perfect for us! Not too big, but just comfortable for our time at the beach.

We brought Tigger and Skippy (who loved exploring outside all night long—we joke that he was fishing in the canal).

And we spent TONS of time at the beach. Portia wanted to go there at least 3 times each day and since we're less than 5-minutes walking, we went—a lot! She liked building little sand cakes and she'd always scoop me a little chair and pillow with her shovel so I could be comfortable while she kicked in the waves or played in the sand.

We also walked along the beach. It was cold and windy (as usual) which I don't mind at all because then I can make a fire and warm myself—even in the middle of August!

Usually, Eric and I would work in the morning, while the girls practiced (of course we brought instruments since we were there for two weeks). Portia liked playing out on the deck for the group of ducks who hung out back there. I worked out here a lot too.

We went to Siletz Bay often and saw the harbor seals. We also saw whales on three different occasions. It still makes me so happy every time. And Portia and I saw something one day in the waves I still can't explain.

I love the fog and mist we had most days. It makes everything so beautiful. We also took a lot of day trips. One of our favorites was to Neskowin.

We went kayaking several times.

And since Eric and I celebrated our anniversary while we were there, we went to Blackfish (quite possibly the best seafood restaurant I've ever eaten at). Yep, that's my salmon and Eric's plate in the background.

One more pic of our house (on our little island) as seen from the beach.

While we were there, we got a call from HGTV and got to come back much sooner than we thought—during fall break to film for the show we're going to be on! Here's a little sneak peek:

And here we are, finding our first glass float on the beach.