Seaside and Cannon Beach

This last weekend Steph, Trev, Chris and I took a little weekend get away to Trev's parents placein Seaside. It was so fun. The weather was supposed to be yucky and rainy, but we were happily suprised to wake up on Saturday to the sunshine. It was about 70 degrees all weekend. We went down to Cannon Beach during the day and walked along the beach and played in the tide pools by haystack rock.

We drove down to Seaside late on Saturday night. Chris didn't get off work until 10:30 so we didn't leave until around 11. Around 1:30 or so we were in the middle of no where but getting close to Seaside. We got pulled over by a cop, who apparently was just bored. Trev was driving but luckily didn't get a ticket. However aparently he doens't have the best luck with the law. On Saturday Chris and Trev took the canoe out to drop the crab trap so that we could have some crab for dinner. After dropping the crab they were "pulled over" by a cop. Apparently it is against the law to canoe without life vest. When asked for their ID's Chris showed the cop his Military ID. They thought they were off the hook when the cop thanked Chris for his 3 years of overseas service... but no such luck. They were issued a ticket. And to make matters worse, when they went back that evening (with life vests on) they found that we hadn't even caught a single crab. Grrr....

Despite the run ins with the law we had a great time, playing at the beach in the day, eating some not so good for us food and having another trip to the beach once it was dark for a beach fire. It was a nice getaway for all of us and I was happy to spend the time with such great friends.

My Child the Dog

I've debated whether or not to post this story, as it may make you question my parenting skills. Yet you probably already do, and I kinda do myself.....

First you need to know that we have been trying to "potty train" William. We all know he is completely capable of it, but he's so stubborn that he hasn't decided to completely give into the idea of being a big boy.

A few days ago I was trying to get Will to let me change his diaper. We had taken off his wet one but he was running around refusing to lay down for me to put the new diaper on. He said "Decko diaper." I replied, "No, Decko doesn't wear a diaper because he pees outside. If you want to pee outside then you dont have to wear a diaper either." (Yikes, this is where I went wrong, I didn't think he'd actually go for that.) But of course he jumped on my screw up and said, "I go pee outside." So I decided, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for him to get used to the sensation of peeing by going outside. (I had read online that this is actually one of the ways you can potty train boys but I hadn't really thought it was a good idea.)

I took him into the back yard so that no neighbors would be watching. It was raining outside so we stood on the edge of the bottom patio and I told him to pee on the dirt. He concentrated really hard and started to pee. When he stopped I said "ok lets go inside." He said, "No. I pee more!" He stood out there for a few minutes, concentrating and peeing a little bit at a time. When he was done I said, "Ok, now come in side." He of course responded "No, I need poopoo." I said, "NO!" Blake, who was sitting at the computer desk and laughing at the whole situation said, "You can poop outside if you go out on to the grass." We didn't think he'd go out there because of the rain, but before we new it he was out on the grass and didn't even flinch as the rain came down on him. I figured, no big deal, he wouldn't actually do it, because it didn't seem like it'd be easy to poop while standing. Well sure enough, he did it. Blake and I laughed so hard we were almost crying. He was out there for a good few minutes. When he finally came inside he was so excited. As I took him upstairs to get cleaned up and diapered up, he made sure to announce to everyone "I poopoo outside!!!"

We are now running into the problem that he is even more determined to NOT go potty in the toilet, because he figures if he doesn't want to go in his diaper then he'd rather just go outside. Grandma hasn't let that happen again though. lol.

Little Si Hike

This last Sunday I was restless and wanted to get out and do something. It was a nice but overcast day. Steve and I decided to take Will, Mickayla and Decko to Hike Little Mt. Si in North Bend. I didn't have any expectation of us getting all the way to the top, but figured it would be a good active thing for all of us. Will did pretty well and walked about half of the time and was carried about half of the time... that is until the last 3/4 of a mile or so. This happens to be the part of the hike that is just about straight up. And to make matters worse he decided that he no longer wanted to let Steve take turns carrying him, but that he only wanted Mommy. Mickayla wasn't to thrilled about the last little bit, but I figured we were that close so we might as well get to the top. I promised her it would be worth it. I about died carrying my almost 35lb kid up the last part of the mountain. But it was a great view at the top. Luckily I found 3 suckers in my packpack with the water, so that kept Will, Mickayla and Steve happy for most of the way back down. Oh, also I must say that for being the lazy dog that decko is he did great. He had so much energy and was running back and forth from person to person and was just happy to be outside. It was a great work out for all of us.