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.  

Birthday Visitors & 4th of July

We had some family visit us in the end of June.  They came bearing...

cupcakes!  Yum.  They were vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. They were delicious.  They are all gone, now.  

James' sister and her family came for my birthday.  And to enjoy the coast.  

The kids had a great time with some cousins they hadn't seen yet this summer.

 My sister-in-law and her two youngest children.  

It was a beautiful day too.

Hundreds of these blue jellyfish were washed up on shore.   We've never seen anything like them before, so we looked them up.   They are Velella velella, also known as, "by-the-wind-sailor" and "sea raft."  

It is not a jellyfish.  It is a cnidaria, like the Sea Nettle and Portuguese Man-of-War.  The Velella velella do sting, but they are harmless to humans.  Each velella is actually a hydroid colony of tiny animals that can't survive individually.

They float on top of the water, with their tentacles hanging down in the water to find food (plankton).   The "sail" pushes them through the water, when it catches the wind.  

Occasionally, the wind works against them and they find themselves stranded on shore by the hundreds or thousands.  

The beach is Taylor's favorite place.  She is always so happy when she's there.  

The kids usually come home with "treasures" every time we go down.  

It was so great to see our family and enjoy their company for a few days.  It was very nice of them to come so far.  It's quite a drive, especially with little ones. 

A few days after my birthday is the 4th of July.  We actually bought some sparklers this year.

 I know, I know.  Amazing isn't it.  

I can't remember the last time we had sparklers or if the kids have ever had them.  I'm not big on spending money on stuff that just burns and is then gone.  

But the kids sure had fun running around with their burning sticks and it did make me smile.  

And they each had a "tank" that shot out flames.  That was pretty exciting to watch.  

Then we walked down to a field where we hoped we'd be able to see some fireworks.   

Sunset on the 4th of July.  That's the Coquile River Lighthouse, with the river in front of it and the Pacific Ocean behind it. 

Some unofficial fireworks kept us entertained until the "real" ones began.  I think this picture turned out better than any of the pictures of fireworks after dark.  

The official fireworks started at 10pm and were over at 10:20pm.  They were pretty though and we all enjoyed them.  Then we had a 15 minute walk back home, at 10:30 at night.  I think we're going to do things differently next year.  

Now the holidays and festivities are over and we're trying to get back into a routine, with James going to work everyday and the kids and I accomplishing school and things around the house and walks to the beach.  

Busy, busy, but life is good!