Moving to the Country...

Well, we're here our new place in the middle of nowhere, about an hour form Portland and a very curvy 20 minutes from Longview, WA. We are now officially country folk- and loving it! I first have to give a HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks especially to Coleen my SIL for her countless (and continued) efforts and then to Dan, my FIL for his huge amount of work, and to my parents for driving 7 hours out here to stay 4 days to paint the place for us (they are so amazing I could never thank them enough), our awesome friends who helped us move, and everyone else who have supported us thought these looooong 6 months it's taken to finally make this become a reality.

First off, the kitchen where I spend a LOT of time since my kids like to eat just about every hour.














My driveway. So unless you have an SUV I guess you wont be visiting :-).












Quin's room My MIL framed some adorable Brigatine Ship prints for me for his room from Paint and Ink.


























Chloe picked out bubble gum pink, but with all her stuff in there is is actually really cute. I still have a lot of work to do on it.


















The bath in the master, it was trashed all around it and we almost got rid of it but Jake and the crew fixed it all up in Bamboo and no it's one of my favorite things in the house. Chloe took a bubble bath in it last night and had the time of her life.














Dining room, I love the splash of color.















Moving Day!













My FIL's future studio and shop. He is living in the basement right now since the studio is trashed and the shop needs some work. Oh, and he has a doberman so between the road, the doberman, Ralf and Bela out 140 lb St. Bernard I think we'll be safe out here. What do you think?









Oh, and the very best part is the view of the Columbia River. There are huge ships that go by every day and you can sit on the deck and watch them go by. Then they come by again heading out to the ocean usually empty or with a huge load of wood, cars or whatever from "Port""land". I do have this zoomed. We are about a half mile uphill from the river.


We are just loving it so far although the guys have been working from 7-midnight every night with the massive amount of repairs, painting and setting up to be done and Jake has been commuting the hour back and forth from cleaning the other house and work.

Oh, and did I mention the amount of mud, the millions of thorny blackberries the have taken over, the filthy carpet, the amount of repairs to be done? Oh and I didn't even show the rooms that still haven't been unpacked because they are still stacked with boxes, LOL. Okay... we still have a bit of work to do on this place. :-)

Mid-week visit to Lincoln City

We decided since we stayed home for the 4th of July that we would take a mid-week trip to Lincoln City. It was a great getaway and the beach couldn't have been more perfect this morning. The kids loved digging in the sand. Chloe is a born beach-babe. Quin liked throwing sand down our shirts, but I don't think he's quite the sand lover that she is!

Fireworks and Fun in the Sun!

We had a blast BBQing with just our little family last night. Afterwards we joined our neighbors and had a blast shooting off fireworks til 10:30. Quin was up until 9:00, he loved every minute of it. Chloe and Avy loved doing sparklers.

The pool pictures are of a really hot day last week. Quin fell right after this shot and decided he hates the pool. Oh well, maybe next year.

Chloe went fishing on Saturday with dad and Grandpa Dan and caught 4 beautiful rainbow trout! We fried them up and they were delicious!



They also had fun playing in their Fort.

Easter 2010

The kids woke up at 6:30 am and headed downstairs. Chloe's voice went up about 5 decibels when she discovered her Easter basket. She got the Princess and the Frog DVD and some other cool things and tons of chocolate eggs hidden all over. She dug right in. The more candy she ate the louder she got. Quin was happy with his Puffs, so easy to please. We watched the movie, had Papa Dan over for brunch and homemade Strawberry Rhubarb Peach pie, yummy! Now it's nap time, except the kids are too hopped up to actually sleep.

Crazy kids...

I haven't updated in a while so here are some recent pics.

Happy Turkey Day

What a great tie of year to take a minute to say thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family. We are so lick to have all of you in our lives. We had Papa Dan and Aunt Coleen and Marci and Bo over for Thanksgiving. The food was all fabulous. Quin loved the mashed potatoes and Chloe loved the pumpkin pie.

Our Fave Little Getaway

Several times each year we head over to Lincoln City where we head over to Chinook Winds Casino and Resort. It's a modest accommodation, but you can have dogs and order the best fish and chips room service. We usually head out to the beach for a couple of hours until our ears are chilled and cheeks are red from the whipping wind of the good ol' Oregon Coast. We watch sunset and order room service. It's affordable, kid friendly and only 2 hours away (not to mention there is a Coldstone Creamery right across the street). Here are some pics of our last visit. The sunset pics were taken right out our window.