Seaside

Even though school has started and we are well into homework and busy weeknights, we weren't quite ready to let go of Summer.  When we found out Linsey's cross country team had a meet in Seaside, we decided to tag along and cheer her on (and play at the beach).

We got there Friday night, just in time to play at the beach and still catch the most beautiful sunset!

Friday was Hunter's birthday, all he wanted to do was hit the waves.  We were able to play for an hour or so before the sun went down, and then we headed to the arcade for pizza and games.  

Milo was terrified of the water, but he loved running around and playing on the beach!

The sun setting was just so beautiful.  I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Saturday, we played at the beach some more.  We just couldn't get enough.

Some of our favorite family friends were at the same meet.  Emma and Natalie have been friends since forever, if you ask them they'll say "friends since Heaven."

While we were having fun as a family on the beach, the cross country team also had a great time!

They did a short workout on the beach and played some team bonding games.  I'm so pleased with the wonderful program this is and especially with the excellent coaches.  This sport has been so positive and it really has been and continues to be a great experience for Linsey.

The races are run Saturday morning and there are 3 different courses - easy, moderate, and hard.  You don't get to choose your race and there's no trading.  You draw a chip from a can and the color determines the race you will run.  Red means hard.  You can tell by the look on these faces (above) that they dread that red chip.  The hard race is actually extremely difficult.

Linsey's white chip means that she lucked out and got to run the easy course.  

Ready to run.

They're off!

We positioned ourselves on a hill where we could cheer Linsey on.  

Even the easy course was still difficult.  They ran up hills, through sand, and through mud.

If you look closely, you can see that several runners lost their shoes in this mud pit, and left them there.  Crazy!  I can't imagine running with only one shoe.  

Here Linsey comes on her last stretch.

In the picture above, you can see Linsey pushing it, trying to catch those two runners ahead of her.

Just as she approaches the finish line, she did it!

We love watching Linsey run!

We Love Seaside!

Happy Birthday Hunter

Happy Birthday Hunter!

This handsome kid turned 13 this weekend.  He is such a great son and we loved spending some quality time celebrating his birthday and watching Linsey race in Seaside, Oregon.

Hunter leaves for school at 7 am, so we had an early breakfast, sent him off for the day and then drove to Seaside shortly after lunch.

He opened a few gifts in our hotel room and then we headed to out for some fun!

Hunter found a giant gummy bear, which he wasted no time eating.

We spent the evening playing in the Ocean and on the beach, flying kites, and at the arcade.  It was a perfect day!

The celebrating wasn't quite over though.  This weekend for Hunter's birthday party he invited a bunch of his friends that also love to play football to meet up at the local Elementary school.  Jared and Uncle Doug helped run a flag football tournament that turned out to be a ton of fun for this group of energetic boys.  They were having such a great time, we couldn't get them to go home.

 One of Hunter's friends gave him this Seahawks hat.  I love how he put it on to play football.

Jared brought the first aid kit just in case, but I'm glad to say this group of boys had a blast, and no one got hurt!

Who would have guessed that I would be the one coming home with an injury, and I didn't even play football.  I hopped a fence trying to take a shortcut from the car to the field and my jeans got caught on the fence.  Sadly my jeans tore wide open (Austin was horrified for me) but as far as I'm aware, no one saw anything.  Austin looked over at the crowd of boys and with panic in his voice said, "Mom, do NOT go over there."  I was able to race home and change before anyone even realized I'd left.  I was so preoccupied with my torn jeans that showed my undies and hardly remembered that when I had fallen, I landed funny on my foot.  It hurt, but not terribly, at least not right away.  Unfortunately, as the day wore on it became swollen and quite sore, so sore that I could barely walk.  

Overall, this birthday was a huge success (I didn't really like those jeans anyway).  We are so grateful to have Hunter in our family.  His silly personality keeps us laughing and his energy entertains us constantly. I love that Hunter is naturally athletic, it's fun to watch him play sports.  I also love that Hunter plays the piano and that he has a sweet, sensitive side to him.  He is very caring about others and especially loves kids.  Toddlers are drawn to him, it's the cutest thing.  

And now, we head into the teenage years.  

I'm still trying to figure out how we got here so quickly.