Fourth of July

This post is a little late coming, but here it is anyway. We spent the fourth of July in Star Valley at my parents' cabin. There wasn't enough room in the inn, so Zach and I were relegated to sleep on the lawn in a tent we got as a wedding gift. It turned out really great!

The sunshines on Star Valley.

Swift Creek.

At the top.



Lydia puts her fears behind her.

A wicked goosing!

Mama Bear protecting her little one from teenage boys.

After the Jackson Hole fireworks show.

Flash envy.



The kids love Zach.

Sophie's Second Birthday

We celebrated Sophie's second birthday with what was supposed to be a slip'n'slide party, but turned out to be a water fight party. No one was brave enough to bring out a camera during the fight, so here are the activities that happened after.

I made Sophie a doggy birthday cake. She really seemed to enjoy it.



Grandpa didn't want Sophie to feel left out of the water fight so he dunked her in the pool.



Sophie got a lot of toys for her birthday. She got a little overwhelmed, but later that evening she started to play with each of them.



Proudly displaying her new collar.

With Dad.

I threw this one in for good measure. Sophie likes to sleep like this during the afternoon.

We got crabs.

Friday, the last full day we had in Oregon, we drove down to Netarts Bay for a morning of crabbing. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We had a little seal friend who kept stealing our bait. We were warned that the red rock crabs were aggresive and Zach experienced that first hand when one pinched his finger!

Getting ready to drop the first trap.

On the far left is the head of our bait-stealing seal friend.

Don't know what this was about.



Red Rock Crab. Super aggressive.

The only two crabs we caught of keeping size. They ended up fighting and one ripped the other one's claw off.



The competition.

Don't worry. The crab got the last laugh. Zach was playing with the joint and it squirted goo onto his jacket!

Quiet contemplation on Cape Meares.

Octopus Tree.

Inside Cape Meares Lighthouse.

We rented bikes to cruise around Seaside.

Trying to ditch Zach. I'm not fast enough.

Lewis and Clark Saltworks. L and C would evaporate ocean water here to gather salt for preserving foods, etc.

Forts of Fancy

I am playing catch-up from end of our trip to Oregon. Thursday we went to Fort Clatsop and Fort Stevens. Fort Clatsop is where the Lewis and Clark expedition stayed for the winter among the Clatsop Native Americans. Fort Stevens was used during WWII. It was really cool. Some of the buildings made me feel like I was in a 007 video game.

Fort Clatsop.

Zach gets comfy in the captain's quarters.

The canoe landing.

"A rowing we will go..."

Interesting specimen.

The beach at Fort Stevens.

This ship wrecked on the beach long, long ago. It was left there and all that remains is the iron or steel (?) hull.



The local fauna.

Fort Stevens.

Zach was too busy goofing around so I had to take my own picture.





Clatsop Native American Longhouse.

Looks like I have a thing for tall guys. Outside the Bigfoot Cafe in Seaside. (This one is for Lydia.)

Big foot, big...

Downtown, Dogs and Donuts

Today was pretty mellow. We headed to Portland for the afternoon and hit up Powell's Bookstore and a few other shops in the Pearl District. For lunch we went to Por Que No? and totally enjoyed it! Another visit to Voodoo Doughnuts resulted in four grape-ape donuts, one pink lemonade bismark and a voodoo donut. We ended the day with a trip to the dog park with a fairly sedated Chloe and fairly excitable Will.

A cool poster on Mississippi Avenue.

Andrea's usual position in the car.