Coffee With Elly

Family Camp came and went - a little faster this time, it turns out! Boy, was the weather fabulous the first three days! We went to the beach Monday afternoon to enjoy the sun. The sun was out, but so was the wind, so it was a rather hair-and-sand-blowing-in-the-face experience, but the kids had so much fun playing in the sand and the water. The Oregon Coast is the only coast I know, so I never think of the ocean as a place where you swim . But we were sitting with someone who had grown up going to the Florida coast, and apparently you can actually swim in the water there. Imagine.  See, this is how you dress for the Oregon Coast on a nice day: I have a confession to make: we ONLY went to the beach on Monday. The other two sunny afternoons we spent boating on the lake or playing in the sand in the volleyball court, or just running around playing with friends (that is, that's what the kids did. I never did any of those things..) There's a surprisingly huge

When Phinehas asked me to read him a book this morning, and I agreed, I told him to climb up into my bed and we would read it there. I'd just made the bed and didn't want to unmake it, but he climbed up and, eyes shining, asked if we could cover our feet with a blanket. Apparently, it's not the full "reading with mom in bed" experience, if you don't cover your feet. So, of course, we did. After all, when something so clearly adds much more delight for so little effort, it seems like you ought to make it. :-)

Baking bread on the barbecue doesn't ALWAYS work like a charm: In case you were wondering, the above picture is of my attempt at baking Sourdough French Bread on my gas grill last week. I made the mistake of precariously perching a bagette pan on the little rack up above the cooking surface. It tipped over. I was able to save the round loves they fell on, but the baguettes were toast.

Having fun together. :-) So sad that they have to go to bed before it gets dark! But not for too much longer, school ends a week from Friday! Then I'll probably wish that they "have" to go to bed. ;-) 

Yes, madness struck, and we decided to take our 5 children in our white minivan and drive from the Willamette Valley, OR to Anaheim, CA! The boys spring break was the week before and after Easter, which was late this year. Thus, it fell mostly after the end of Tax Season, when we can actually go places. This won’t happen many years, so we figured we’d better take advantage of it.   On the way we explored the California Redwoods a bit. Also, we spent an evening as guests at a royal tournament. Well, sort of. Medieval Times was a big hit with the kids – and the adults! I’m super glad we did it! We had to switch to a later time, so we were all pretty exhausted by the time it was over around 10pm after a day of travel. But the adrenalin from briefly losing Phinehas was enough to keep me wide awake until we made it to our vacation rental house in Anaheim. The rental house had a pool! The kids were so excited to swim in it that they kept asking to go back to the house  the first two