Night Out Day

August 4 was Night Out Day. It was also Great American Outdoors Day. To celebrate, Nichole, Jr., Jet, and I went for an evening drive up to Cascade Springs. 

It was beautiful. I hadn't juggled there in years.

On the way up, Jet made up his own song he kept singing over and over and over. "We're going to Cascade Springs. We're going to Cascade Springs. We're going to... we're going to... we're going to Cascade Springs!" He's adorable. He even sang it while shaking maracas.

Pioneer Day

We didn't do a lot for Pioneer Day, July 24, either.

Lucky helped put up flags and Jr. Jr. helped take them down.

And the walls came tumbling down

There goes Mr. Humbug there goes Mr. Grim

C is for cookie is good enough for me.

To you! To you!

It's time to light the lights.

People talking without speaking.

All that glitters is gold

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh. 

R.E.S.P.E.C.T find out what it means to me. 

Never gonna run around and desert you. 

For the good of all of us

Usta!

Back there is my hairbrush

Cause you're his cheeseburger. 

Can't touch this

And I don't think I'll be coming back again, oh noooooooo

It's the circle of life.

Waffle king. 

But baby it's cold outside.

But I'm still happy just me and my poodle. 

With someone to give and someone to HEAVY CAKE!

Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na BATMAN! 

Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles

I made a fool of myself. 

Your granny lied

Our friendship will never die. 

Is like barbecue

Just imagine how much cooler I'll be. In summer! 

 

O.K. So we didn't do much for Pioneer Day, but apparently the boys wanted to share plenty on my blog. They got a hold of this post and after reading, "Jr. Jr. helped take them down," it made Lucky think of, "And the walls came tumbling down," and he and Jr. Jr. started putting down random song lyrics because... why not?

Have I mentioned I love creativity in my family?

So... we didn't do much for Pioneer Day but we had plenty to say.

We did watch fireworks set off at the mall with our neighbor. No personal fireworks again. Still too many fires.

 

Oh wait. While looking through pictures I remembered I got out in nature to do some juggling and Jet and I danced in the kitchen that day.  

Pacific Northwest Trip 2026- Part 12

Tuesday morning we headed to the coast.

We stopped to see the sea lions at Cape Arago then headed to Shore Acres. 

Nichole got pictures of the sea lions. 

We had a lovely picnic in the mist and wind.

We spent some time in the botanical garden. 

Look at the teeny tiny leaves.

I got to take pictures of and with the monkey puzzle tree I grew up visiting when we would go to Shore Acres as children. 

My parents headed home so they could make dinner. The rest of us headed down to Simpson Beach. Because of the weather, we thought we might not even dip our toes in the cold Pacific Ocean, even though it's tradition. By the time we got down to the beach, though, the weather was beautiful and we spent more than a little time with our feet in the water. 

 

Beach! 

 

Make me a mermaid! 

Sand Angel! 

And of course we got juggling pictures and videos.

 

We had an absolute blast. I love the ocean. I love the Oregon Coast. 

Pacific Northwest Trip 2026- part 11

Monday morning, Jeremy and Marcus headed to another fair in California and I went for another morning walk, this time by myself.

I walked to the covered bridge that used to be the scene for so many pictures in the past- when it wasn't closed and you could actually reach it. Several of my nieces/nephews got senior pictures there.

I then walked down the road to a walking trail in the area. 

I got my juggling pics and videos.

June 29 was National Waffle Iron Day. Here's how I figure celebrating works sometimes- rationalization. My dad grilled hot dogs for us to have chili dogs. I figure that the grill has a lid that you close just like a waffle iron has a lid that you close. Boom. Celebrated.

After lunch, while Jr. and Jr. Jr. were playing frisbee, 

Jet, Nichole, my mom, and I celebrated National Camera Day by going on a "color walk" photo hunt. It's one of the activities for library Summer reading. Pick a color and take pictures of everything you see of that color as you go. We let Jet pick the color. He picked green. It's Oregon. We didn't take pictures of everything we saw.

When I showed him we could attach his camera to my selfie stick tripod, we was very excited and used it for the rest of the walk.

At one point, my mom showed Jet a line on the road where cracks had been filled in and he followed her following it.

This shows you're never too old to have fun.

 

When we got back to my parents' house, Jet said, "Let's do a family picture." I think he's been around me... and my mom. He set his camera up on the tripod with the timer and got his picture. 

Then when we got inside, he wanted to get another family picture with everyone so I just had everyone gather around Grandpa so he didn't have to move and Jet got his picture(s).

He really wanted to use the remote that goes with my selfie stick tripod, but I let him know it doesn't work with his camera. I let him take a few pictures with my phone on the tripod and he was happy.

Later while we were playing another game, 

Jet set up his camera on the tripod again and took more family pictures.

He even photobombed his own selfie. Did you know you could do that?

Jet certainly celebrated National Camera Day. It was terrific.