Homage and Farewell To Summer

I had wanted to write a post about our wonderful trip to Oregon and Washington, but now summer has passed me by.  Farewell and see you next year.  I will detail a few highlights.

COUSINS, lots and lots of cousins.  Cousins are special and I wish we all got to see them more often.  I live too far away.  I found my dream house in Chehalis, WA.  It had a windmill, cute old-fashioned barn and looked like gnomes could live there.  It was painted light blue with red trim and of course my picture is terrible.  

We went to Seaside, OR and almost froze to death.  We showed up in bathing suits and everyone else was wearing long pants and sweatshirts.  We did a quick change in the car.  It was freezing.  The town had the best bumper cars.  I was slamming into old ladies, my kids and terrified strangers - a blast.  We met up with a friend, who did the teacups with the boys.  I won't do any hurler-rides.

Mount St. Hele

We raced from there to a fun wedding in Salem, Or.  The kids got to go for a ride in their uncle's tractor, wished I had climbed in.   Other cousins took us to a dahlia farm, absolutely beautiful.  Acres of bright colors.  We also had to check out a dead gopher.  We had a really long drive up to Bellingham, but listened to Ellen's summer reading.  She was required to read "Moon Over Manifest",  all four of us really enjoyed it.   Since weather was hot, we were able to see Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and spent a day sledding on Mt. Baker. 

The tide pools in Bellingham were a huge hit.  The water was like glass.  We found giant purple sea stars, crabs and a dead bull shark with only part eaten.  Bellingham has a really nice farmer's market, many unusual items.  I wish I had taken a picture of the woman in the blueberry booth, container after container of big, fat blueberries.  I was grossed out by the girl selling washable menstrual pads.  They were cute, but eww, a little too back to basics for me.  The market was loaded with artisan cheeses, chocolates and roasted nuts.  I bought locally dyed yarn in a bright green color. Ned got to celebrate his birthday with a big cake.

The kids as usual had many great quotes and I wish I could remember them all.  Here is a quote from each.

As we drove by a Christmas tree lot, Ian asked if I thought the owners were Jewish?
During the wedding Ned points up to the front of the church and says, "is that a piano or a coffin?"

Ellen was doing a book of scratch off hangman.  I asked her what the word was and she said, "dared evil."  What, is it really two words?  "No, one word, daredevil," she notices.

We are now into school, which seemingly has brought never-ending rain.  Never-ending rain has brought never-ending traffic, floods, downed trees and power outages.  Summer is really over, our pool is closed.