Kim's wedding

We arrived home this afternoon from Newport. My cousin Kim was married below the Heceta Lighthouse on the beach - it was a wonderful day and beautiful wedding! We left early Saturday morning and got the hotel in Newport, but our room wasn't ready so we visited with my sister and Chad for a while. Then we all got ready and headed off to the wedding; which we then realized we weren't really sure where the wedding was. We were told it was about 45 minutes (depending on who you asked) South of Newport - I think we made it with seconds to spare! That includes turning around once or twice and a quick stop for Jamie to buy a hotdog. (Because we all know how Jamie can be if he doesn't eat!! Grouchy doesn't even begin to describe him.)

Congratulations Kim & Danny!

Zeus was in the wedding too.

T, Chad & Mia were a floor above us.

The view from our room.

I was up by 8am and read out on the deck, listening to the ocean. I finally woke up Jamie & Makena at 10am (sleepy-heads) to get some breakfast and walk on the beach. Moxie loves the sand! It was a little 'hike' up and down to the beach tho.

Why I smiled today

"Why I smiled today" - We received our first delivery today from Organics to You (http://www.organicstoyou.org/) - a farm fresh home delivery service. It's a local business that delivers local fruits/veggies & now groceries right to your door - weekly, biweekly or monthly. I found the website while I was looking for gift baskets...and was interested right away! I can't get to New Seasons as much as I'd like to, and I think this is going to be less expensive anyways. Especially now that we have the Vita-Mixer! : )

Moxie was even impressed with the delivery guy - I think she liked his Afro.

Malibu Raceway

I took my Girl Scout Troop to Malibu Raceway today. They drove for 10 laps and then played in the arcade for a bit. This is one of the activities that they wanted to spend their cookie money on. Yes, they still have cookie money - I'm trying to make it last until next season!
It was a bit hot out, but as usual, they dealt with it great. Jamie drove too (and got a cute little purple car & helmet) he says that he beat them every single lap. : )

"Why I smiled today" - other than watching the girls race each other around the track; Jamie took us to dinner at my favorite restaurant Lil' Cooperstown. (We finished up our gift certificates - thanks again Dylona & Jason!) It was nice enough by then to eat outside and we had a great time out there! Makena seems to be 'catching up' on her smarty-pants comments from the last 3 weeks...she's been throwing them out all day! She thinks she's pretty funny.

Why I smiled today

Jamie made a deal with Makena 3 weeks ago. He told her if she could go 3 weeks without being a smart ass or arguing, he would buy her the Tablet that she has been begging for. It's a drawing/design tablet that connects to her laptop. When she draws pictures on it, they will then transfer to her laptop automatically. (Or it's something like that...I don't really know much about it.) Well, she did it and he brought it down to her this morning. She's been smiling and drawing ever since! Maybe I can get her to post a drawing on the blog sometime - since she has yet to post anything! : )

The Monster

Jamie has been looking for a backhoe for a while now and it's finally here. (Oh joy!) We've named it "the monster" as that's pretty much what it is. Our floating dock will be here in about a month and then we'll be able to get The Monster over to the island. Jamie can't wait to get it running and dig!

Walden Island - Day 21

Sunday was pretty much another play day for us as the weather continued to be beautiful! Jamie and I took the boat out for a while - I then drove as he went out on the knee-board. There weren't many boats out so I wasn't too nervous about it - although I dumped him (pretty hard) the first time. It's those 'sneaker waves'...I swear. : ) We also took the wave runners out for a while - until I ran out of gas. Thankfully there is a reserve tank! The lake has now taken a pair of Jamie's sunglasses as well as my favorite bandanna...I was bummed.

Jamie did do a few things on the shed, but it was just to nice out to work. Moxie and I layed outside under a tree for a while and watched the birds. I found a couple of bugs in the tree. Something we have plenty of out on the lake - birds and bugs!

The Throne

We finally have a working toilet! Jamie got everything hooked up for the toilet on Saturday evening. It sits 2 feet off of the ground (notice the little foot stool), so it feels like you are sitting on an actual "Throne"! : ) It's quite a bit different than the small portable one that we've had the last month - that one sits about 2" off the ground - and I like the new one MUCH better!

Walden Island - Day 19 & 20

Day 19 was really just getting up to the island. Then on Saturday (Day 20) I moved the 'kitchen' area to the other side of the shed so that it was closer to the fireplace. It gets a bit more sun over there now too. The weeds on the other half of the property got cut down (we have a kid that mows for us) so it's a bit more open.

When Jamie and Rick got back from Seattle, all they wanted to do was get in the lake! Franklin has now decided that he loves the water and the wave runner - Moxie still doesn't want to swim. Jamie did make her come out, and she wasn't very happy with him, but it cooled her off.

As I was walking around the property, I noticed a small rose bush under the arbor along a pathway. It's not actually on our property (the owner now lives on land and only her sons come over every so often) but it's just at the corner and I knew she wouldn't mind me clearing out the blackberry vines. She owns the largest amount of property on the island and used to have beautiful rose gardens everywhere - now they are so over grown with the blackberry vines because she doesn't come out. They even take over some of the pathways...so I cleared those out too. At one point I even had to get the chain saw out to cut through some of it!

And here is what Moxie looks like at the end of the day...it's not even dark out yet tho!

Thanks again Rick for bringing your camera!!!

Enoying life

We got here a bit later than we had planned last night, so we didn't get much more done than unpacking the truck...and loading it all back up the "hill". Now that I only have a splint on my foot I can walk and pack up a little bit more - Jamie is still watching me all the time tho. Just a couple more weeks and I should be all healed! It sure seems like it's been forever!

Rick arrived around 8am and Jamie brought Franklin over. You can literally see a smile on Moxie's face the minute she sees Franklin coming in the boat. Then they run and run and run. They are now both basking in the sun - after drinking bowls of water. Jamie and Rick were off to Seattle by 8:30am - Jamie bought a backhoe so they went to pick it up. (Unfortunately the thing is going to have to sit in my driveway until we can get everything needed to float it over to the property. And, it's not a little thing!) Yes, Jamie likes to buy things...ALL kinds of things...I knew that when I met him. : )

So now I'm sitting outside enjoying the beautiful sunshine and listening to the birds. I can see a couple of boats and wave runners out on the lake - I'll have to wait my turn. I moved a few things around this morning and then cleaned up inside the shed a bit. Since the guys will be gone another 3 hours or so, I thought I'd get on the computer for a bit and then do some reading...maybe throw in a nap there somewhere.

Hopefully we'll get the toilet in today or tomorrow as well as finish the wall inside of the bathroom. We've already made another design change in there (more on that later)...the "fun" of building.

OH - couldn't believe it yesterday when we were on our way out. I realized that I had forgotten my camera!! I wanted Jamie to turn around and go back, but apparently that was not an option. So...I called Rick and asked him if he'd bring his for me to borrow for a couple of days. I don't know what I was thinking!?!

"Why I smiled today" - I woke up at 3am to an amazing sky full of stars! We don't have any window coverings yet so it was just like sleeping under the stars.

Goin to the lake

Our composting toilet came in yesterday, so Jamie & I are heading up to the lake today to install it in the shed. We don't have water running to the property yet, it doesn't have to use electricty and composting toilets are a huge benefit to the envorinment, so I can't wait to see how well is does! After much research, we purchased a Sun-Mar Excel self-contained unit from a local dealer. The toilets are then built back East and shipped out. You can find info at http://www.sun-mar.com/.

WHAT is a composting toilet you ask??? A composting toilet is any system that converts human waste into an organic compost and usable soil, through the natural breakdown of organic matter into its essential minerals. Toilet waste is over 90% water content. The Sun-Mar evaporates this liquid and carries it back to the atmosphere via the vent system. A Sun-Mar can evaporate up to 2 gallons per day. That’s a lot, when you consider there is no flushing water to bother with. By evaporating liquids, your Sun-Mar is ensuring that no pathogens or nutrients escape to pollute your lake, river, stream or groundwater. Zero output means zero pollution. We will probably use the same type of thing in the house once we get it built...years from now. : )

"Why I smiled today" - because it's Friday and the weather is beautiful! You can't beat a nice, sunny day in Oregon! (Okay...well...maybe a beautiful day in Washington on Silver Lake is just as good!)

The "Crew"

One of our neighbors on the island sent a few photos from July 4th. After we went tubing, we visited them and then later watched fireworks from their boat dock.

It's Tuesday!

Another beautiful day in Oregon! It's been above 90 degrees all day, but with the breeze it's been nice enough to just sit outside and enjoy...yep...and cold beer!

"Why I smiled today" - because Makena & I were hanging around the house all day in our pj's. I actually took a shower at 4pm and had to run some errands - Makena is still in her jammies! (It's not all that unusual for her in the Summer tho!)

Walden Island - Day 17 & 18

It was still cloudy on Saturday morning and ended up raining that afternoon. Jamie did get a chance to get drywall up on the upstairs wall - TeaLee helped him do that. He then took TeaLee and a couple of neighbor kids out on the wave runner. Makena wanted to swim a bit in the rain, but that didn't last long.

Nikki and TeaLee had to go home, so Jamie, Makena, Carol and I spent the rest of the day watching movies inside the house.

On Sunday we cleaned up around the house and headed back home. We aren't sure if we'll be up again sometime during the week, or if we are going to have to wait for a bit. Jamie bought some machinery to dig at the property, so we'll pick that up as soon as we can. We have to wait for our floating dock to come in (more stuff being shipped from the East Coast) before we can haul that over.

Walden Island - more Day 16

July 4 was Day 16 at the lake. Nikki & TeaLee arrived before Dylona & Jason had to leave, so the girls all got to swim and play together for a while.

After taking Makena, TeaLee and Sydney out on the tube, we went back to the house to dry off and get ready for fireworks. Makena was too tired and just couldn't stay up to see any. The rest of us walked down to a neighbors to watch fireworks from their dock.

Walden Island - Day 15, 16

Thursday, July 3 was Day 15 up at the lake. The Flaherty's came up to visit for the first time - Kylah couldn't wait to visit "Auntie Amber's Island" and ride in Uncle Jamie's boat. She also wanted to drive a 'motor home' - which I finally figured out was the wave runner. : )

Jason helped Jamie put the door in and drywall up for the bathroom. We still need to close in the wall under the stairs and get the actual compost toilet in (it's being shipped from the East Coast) and then we'll actually have a bathroom!

We rode the wave runners and took the boat out - Jamie showed Jason how to drive the boat. (I know I'm back tracking a little here...) We were out on the lake for most of the day. Then we went back to the house to make dinner and watch some pre-4th fireworks.

Dylona & Jason had family plans for the 4th, so they left that afternoon. We are all planning to go up again soon so that we can spend more time playing on the lake.

"Why I smiled today" - Kylah was so excited that she could drive me around on the wave runner.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! We can't wait to see the fireworks from out on the lake - we got a sneak peak from some of the neighbors yesterday. Here is one of the many flags proudly displayed on Walden Island.

We played in the lake yesterday with Kylah, Kallie, Dylona & Jason. Kylah went out in the wave runner with me for her first time and drove like a pro. She loved it and got to go even faster on them with her mom and dad...she didn't want to get off! She went out with Jamie again today. Sydney also got to go out on the wave runner and drive herself - she passed her boating test and couldn't wait to get out on the water.

The weather was a bit cooler today, but we still went out to play for a bit. Nikki came this morning with TeaLee and Makena, but Dylona, Jason and the girls had to leave. Makena and TeaLee went out on the tube - it was Makena's first time. They laughed and laughed! Then...we hit a wave from passing boat...and they flew off. They were both pretty shocked at first, but say that they will get on the tube again some day. Hopefully they will.

"Why I smiled today" - I have pictures that explain it all...actually, I have hundreds (literally) from today and just can't post all of them.

We're heading out again.

We are off to the lake again this morning. Carol is on her last few days of her visit. Dylona, Jason, Kylah & Kallie will be joining us today. And then Nikki & TeaLee will be coming up on Friday and bringing Makena up with them. Sydney is also going to be spending the weekend with us - we're gonna put her to work!

"Why I smiled today" - because Jamie decided he HAD to load up the trailer last night, we had to run out at 2am this morning to put tarps (a couple very small ones) over the drywall and door. We had a beautiful thunder storm last night...and there were some pretty big rain drops!

Proud to be an Oregonian!

For those of you that don't live in Oregon & don't drink beer (what is wrong with you??) - July is one of the best months to be an Oregonian! That is because July is Oregon Craft Beer Month!! Oregon is the only state to have an entire month devoted to celebrating the craft brewing industry. How great is that!?! Oregon has SO many wonderful breweries & beers!! And, if you haven't been to a McMenamins and tried one of their many beers, you're missing out on a great thing in life!

My personal favorite from Deschutes Brewery:

I am going to have a "Why I smiled today" on each day that I post on my blog. Feel free to add yours in the comment section!

"Why I smiled today" - because I enjoyed a cold Mirror Pond while Jamie mowed the yard!

Time for dessert!

As Carol was picking out a dessert for herself; Makena and TeaLee were drooling over other items in the bakery. Carol let them pick out whatever they wanted...

Don't worry Nikki, I did make her eat dinner first! : )