Happy Hawaiian Birthday Will

This year Will is spending his birthday on a cruise ship around the Hawaiian islands! He is on his big 12 year old trip with Grandpa and Grandma. Today they board the ship for their 7-day cruise! Although I will sort of miss not making him his favorite meals and special birthday dessert, I am so excited for him and am sure that this will be a birthday he will never forget!

Have a great birthday Will! We love you and can't wait to hear and see all about your trip when you get home!

Aloha Will

Yesterday we headed down to Portland to deliver Will to the airport for his trip to Hawaii with my parents. Since they had to be at the ticket counter 3 hours early it meant having them there at 6am. So we decided we'd better spend the night.

We spent the day on Wednesday shopping around town and using gift cards we got for Christmas. We all had lots of fun buying books at Barnes and Noble and going to lunch at Costco. I can't believe the hot dogs/pop is still only $1.50! We also got to go see my dad's new fence at the creek property and having pizza for supper with Grandpa and Grandma. We did not have so much fun replacing a headlight in the van (ok, only Chris and my dad did that) or getting up at 5am. :o)

packin up

at the airport

After taking the travelers to the airport we headed to Grandma Ide's for breakfast. Yes, she got up really early so she could make an egg bake for us when we got there! After breakfast we just hung out for a while and tried not to fall asleep.

trying to stay awake

Then we headed out to see the cousins. First to the Dorrs to have lunch and then to the Rohrer's to see Amy and Ada. We also got to see their house for the first time! It's beautiful! They have such a great backyard and all the work they've done on the house looks great!

Charlie and his hat

"Come play with me Andy!"

Fun with Ada (she has the cutest expressions)

Before taking Grandma home, she treated us to supper at the Olive Garden. Yummy! We were all stuffed! Yes, even Zack and Andy couldn't eat another bite!

A thick fog settled in and made the interstate a parking lot, so we decided to kill time by stopping at Harbor Freight for tools and then to Goodwill for just stuff. We got lots of really good deals, but even good deals add up fast! LOL But the greatest thing we bought was a set of mutes for Andy's drums! They are truly a beautiful thing!

On the way home we talked to Will in Hawaii. The flight was a little bumpy the second half, but he didn't get sick. PTL! They were greeted with leis and 80 degree weather on arrival in Honolulu. When I talked to him he had just gotten out of the pool which he told me was colder than the ocean that he had swam in earlier. Then they were headed to a restaurant for dinner where you could eat surrounded by sting rays in a big aquarium bubble over the dining room! I am pretty sure he is going to have a FANTASTIC time in Hawaii!!!

On Location At Fort Stevens

Today was another full day of shooting movie scenes. This time it was at Fort Stevens state park near Astoria. Again God blessed us with glorious weather, but today was much cooler and windy.

We met the rest of the crew at the battery at 10am. They had spent a rather chilly night in a yurt at the campground and hadn't been warm since.

Zack and Andy headed to the shoot and Will, Chris and I went exploring...

West Battery built in 1897 (most of the filming was inside here)

Joel as a scary guard (only Chris doesn't look scared)

inside the "cell"

Zack in "costume" and armed

as you can see there are TONS of fun tunnels,

stairs, doorways, steps and ladders to explore

as well as big guns...

army jeeps

and more batteries

(this is Battery 245 and is the newest battery)

they also did some scenes in here

how could you not enjoy exploring a place with room names

like "shell room" and "air compressor room" or "latrine"?

we decided to try going to the top of the Astoria Column

to enjoy the spectacular view, but it was closed AGAIN!

(they are replacing the stairs)

We were kind of disappointed, so we went to Fred Meyer's

and bought a dozen maple bars!

lunch break

after lunch Will went to help out with the movie

and Chris and I decided to explore someplace warm...

the fort museum

we learned tons of cool stuff about the fort!

(it was the only military base attacked in the

continental US since 1812? it was shelled by a

Japanese sub in 1942)

each of the concrete pads and chimneys were

where the barracks were at the fort

this is the original earthworks fort that was built,

I believe, before the Civil War

it was surrounded by a moat

inside the original fort

exploring a Clatsop indian long house


packin' up and ready to go home

The boys had a really great day of shooting and gots lots of good work done today!

Birthday Bike

We took Will out this afternoon to pick out his birthday present. He badly needed a new bike. His knees hit the handlebars on the old one, making it difficult and uncomfortable to ride. Chris and I looked more than once at bikes, but just didn't know what he would like. So we decided to let him take some out for a test drive and decide what he wanted.

He finally chose the one with the big knobby tires and the shocks on the front wheel, better for riding in the yard.

I wanted to take some pics at the store, but I forgot the camera... :o(

Sorry it wasn't a surprise Will, but I hope you enjoy gettin' around on your new "wheels"!

Lily Marie

Today we got to go meet our friend's new baby! Lily Marie was born yesterday at about 6pm. Her mom was beginning to fear she would never come, but like all babies, she came when she was ready. And when she was finally ready, she came fast!

Susie looked great and Lily is so sweet! I think she looks a lot like her daddy.

JD will be a great big brother

Lily came back a little sad from her ultrasound

We'll see ya soon Lily! God's blessings on you, your big brother and your mom and dad!