Red Robin, Mother/Daughter Hike & 3 Generations on a Bike

For Logan's birthday weekend, we took him to the nearest Red Robin, (his favorite restaurant), which happens to be in the same town his grandparents live in.  So it was a fun weekend for all. 

 Logan got a free ice cream sundae and the Red Robin staff sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  He loved it.  Well, he loved the attention.  James & I ended up sharing the sundae because Logan was too full to eat it.  

With birthday dollars from Grandma & Grandpa, Logan purchased more Legos, of course.  What a spoiled, happy boy!

While Grandpa, James & Logan went on a mountain bike ride, Taylor & I went on a hike.  

After following a wide, winding gravel path that paralleled the North Umpqua, we came to this bridge, which crossed the river.

 We had to take a few minutes to check out the bridge and river, of course.  The water was very clear and shallow as well.  

 Then on to the "real" hiking trail.  We had a time limit, not a destination, so we just hiked until it was time to turn around.  

 Back over the bridge.  

"Ah, look at me.  I'm so cute!"

 On the way back to the car, we went down to the river.  

I had such a great time, hiking with my girl.  We talked and laughed and fixed our hair and got in about 3.5 miles.  I can't wait to do it again.  

The guys had a great time mountain biking.  Logan was telling us all about it.  He struggled on the uphills and blasted through the downhills.  Sounds about right.  He also loved having his grandpa on the bike ride with him.  

Logan turns 10!

Logan turned 10 this week!!!  The big 1-0!  

He doesn't like cake, so I made him an ice cream cake out of ice cream sandwiches and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (his favorites).  

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves, here.  Nothing, I mean, nothing, comes before PRESENTS!

So, apparently 10 is not the age where you start to care less about presents.  But that's okay, 'cause he's still my little big boy.

He got a new watch, a "grown-up, not a kids watch," with Indiglo.  He's super excited about that and has not taken it off since he got it.

 He also got a couple of books,

and a couple of Lego toys.  Taylor bought Logan that orange Hot Wheels car, with her own money.  She was just as excited about Logan's birthday as he was.  

 Then he spent the rest of the day playing.  

Well, almost.  We also watched the Lego Movie, went to the library, then out for pizza and we watched some Tour de France.  Logan's been watching it with James this year and they've had lots of fun watching it together.  

I think Logan mostly watches it for the crashes and Peter Sagon.  That's Logan's favorite rider, for some reason.  He has the Green Jersey, which means he leads the sprint competion right now.  

There are several jerseys of different colors, which the leaders of the different competions within the Tour de France get to wear.  The White Jersey goes to the Best Young Rider, the Yellow Jersey to the Overall Leader, the red Polka Dot Jersey to the King of the Mountains, etc.  

Logan has pulled out a tee-shirt in each color (except polka dot), so he can wear his "jersey" each day.  Sometimes multiple jerseys, multiple times a day.   

Anyway, he told us it was the "best birthday, ever!"  I'm glad he thinks so.  I try to make it a special day.  James had the afternoon off, so we were able to spend most of the day together as a family.   

Logan really is a great boy.  He is concerned about others, wants people to be happy and not feel bad.  He is thoughtful and caring.  He's also very clever, has a great imagination and memory. 

 He loves the beach.

 He loves climbing on rocks and driftwood.  

It's what going to the beach is all about, as far as Logan is concerned. 

He also loves to build with Legos, figuring out ways to make Lego sets he doesn't have, out of the Legos he does have.  He likes to think about how things work.  He loves science, reading and going to the library.  He also likes to draw.  He's very talented.  

And we are so blessed to have this amazing boy in our family.  

We love you, our 10-year-old boy!

Labyrinths in the Sand and Low Tide

We love living so close to the ocean.  We go down there as often as we can.  

This past week was a very low tide.  It was -2.1 feet.

Face Rock.  

We were able to walk around rocks that are normally surrounded by water.  

This is the "dog" rock.  The kids can't always climb this rock because of the water around it. 

Logan enjoys the beach, but what he really loves is climbing on rocks and driftwood.  

Taylor wanted to climb too, but had a hard time because her hands were full of rocks that she just couldn't part with. 

Logan discovered a deep tide pool, which was fun to study for a few minutes.  

Taylor is very interested in ocean animals right now.  She says she's going to be a marine biologist when she grows up.  "Well, either that or a mermaid."  

One day, as we walked down to the beach, we saw this fun maze.  

We thought that was so cool.  How unique and clever.

Further down the beach, there were more of them.  This one is a double circle.

We met the man who drew them.  Some of them are drawn freehand, but most of them are laid out with spikes and ropes.  

 I called them mazes and was corrected.  They are called 'Labyrinths.' 

Some of have separate entrances and exits, while others are the same way out as in. 

The kids had so much fun with these.  They were so excited to run around these lines drawn in the sand.  

It was absolutely amazing how a few lines drawn in the sand created these "boundaries" that couldn't be crossed.   We all had to walk along the path, between the lines.  

Two days in a row we saw the man, with his team, drawing the labyrinths.   On the second day, the kids "helped" him.   Taylor just followed him around, every. single. circle. he drew.  

There he is.  And there's Taylor, three steps behind.  

Doing the fancy work.  It took several people and about an hour to complete this labyrinth.  

The finished labyrinth.  

It was quite the attraction.  I've never seen so many people at this area before. 

Taylor thanked the man for letting her follow him around while he worked and he thanked her for being such a good helper.

Have I mentioned that we LOVE it here.   Even on the cloudy days, when we have to wear jackets and long pants to the beach, it's still fun.