Cannon Beach, Oregon

Last week, Emma and I had a little Kasparek girls trip to the beach with our good friends, the Warthens. Aimee's family has been spending summers on the Oregon Coast for over 30 years and we were lucky to be able to join them for a few days. The beach was gorgeous and reminded me of Maine (including the cool temps!) We had a fabulous time checking out all the sights around this neat beach town.

We took a wonderful little train ride along the coast. Here we are on the train with Lisa, Nora, Tammie, Claire, and Aimee.Emma ended up taking a nap on the return trip. Can you tell she's not in the mood to take a picture with Claire, Aimee, and me?My 2 favorite little train engineers! The following day, we headed to Tillamook, Oregon, home of the famous Tillamook Cheese! We toured the factory and had a great time watching them make cheese.Here are two goofy dairy farmers with the Tillamook cows! On our last day we explored Ecola State Park. Here are Claire and Emma with Cannon Beach in the background.What a great girls trip we had!!! Hopefully we can bring the guys with us next summer!

Emma and Claire had a great time running along the trail finding flowers.

The girls also put quite a few miles on their tricycles riding around the parking lot at the beach house and along the sidewalks of downtown Cannon Beach.

Super Siblings

I thought I'd share a few pictures of the famous Kasparek siblings. Now that Camden is changing from a baby to a toddler (it's tough for me to admit that!), it has been fun watching his relationship with Emma grow. His personality is really coming out and he now knows what he wants (and what he doesn't want!) The days of Emma simply trading any old toy with Camden is long gone-he will protest if he doesn't want to share. He looks up to his big sister and wants to do what ever she does. We're very proud of Emma for being patient with him and being a great big sister!

Sesame Street

It's not every day that Sesame Street comes to town, but we got to see some of our favorite friends perform on Sunday afternoon. The USO is sponsoring a Sesame Street tour of U.S. military bases and Chris was the "go to man" for this big event. He spent months planning for Elmo and gang and is more than happy to have it over with! :) Emma and Camden loved watching the Sesame Street characters singing and dancing, but as you can see from their faces below, seeing Daddy up on stage was the highlight of the show!

Silverdale Whaling Days

One of my favorite things about small towns is their annual festivals. The last weekend in July is the famous Whaling Days in good old Silverdale. We had a fun filled busy day taking in all the exciting events!

There's nothing like kicking off a festival with the Kiwanis pancake breakfast! Camden and Emma loved eating their breakfast outside!

Chris was warming up for A Whale of a Run 4-mile run while we pigged out on our pancakes. Emma did help lead him in some stretches after breakfast.
Chris at the starting line listening to instructions...

What an awesome finish, Chris!! Just over 30 minutes!

All the runners barely crossed the finish line before the parade started. Here are the kids and I ready for the bands and floats!Is this the cutest little American you've ever seen? Emma honors the flag as it passes by.

Camden loved the motorcycles and the bands

After our busy morning, we took a little break and went back to the carnival downtown this evening. Emma was a little skeptical at first about the ferris wheel, but she ended up loving it!

Our little helicopter pilot

Camden's first Red Sox game!

So on Monday I took Camden to his first Red Sox game. The fans around us were kind enough to take a few pictures. The picture of Camden over my shoulder was taken by a very kind couple behind us. The husband whistled during the game and Camden loved it and tried to whistle the entire game. When they left in the 8th inning he actually cried. One of the vendors at the game gave Camden a baseball card and a ball which was pretty cool. Camden loved Cotton Candy, and got a taste of a French Fry from his buddy next to us. He also danced every time the music started, which if you have been to a game, it's the whole game, and he clapped every time the crowd clapped. As you can see our seats were awesome, we were three rows up off the field along the left field line. The greatest thing of the night other than Daddy and son getting to share a memory that Daddy may only remember....The Sox WON!!!

Catching up with an old friend

Last weekend we had a wonderful time when my oldest and dearest friend, Sarah, came up from Portland to visit us. We were born 11 days apart and have been friends since then. I had fun digging up some old pictures of the two of us this afternoon. Sarah's family lived a couple houses away from me for the first 4 years of our lives and we had a blast reminiscing about all the fun times we had as kids! One of the many times we played angels in our church Christmas program...

Let's hope we NEVER revisit the fashion of 1991! Here we are on the first day of 7th grade. High school graduation We hadn't seen each other for 5 years and it was just like a day hadn't past. I Guess that's what great friends do!

Meeting Lily

I left our camera in Seattle, so I have some catching up to do on our blog! Emma, Camden, and I got to meet Miss Lily Grace Holloway last week after saying good-bye to Nana at the airport. Emma brought Lily a Barbie Rapunzel movie in honor of the name she chose for her. :) Emma was quite entertained watching Andy change Lily's diaper and loved holding her, too!

Nana's here!

Nana (a.k.a, my mom, Linda) flew in from Iowa on Tuesday and we're having a great time with her!

Emma, Nana, and Camden had fun at our favorite Silverdale Waterfront Park!Camden took a tumble and bonked his forehead so big sis Emma helped cheer him up.
Ride 'em cowboys! What a great horse you have!

Mom, Emma, and I are ready to shop! Camden had to peek his head in, too! :)Hanging out in our new pool.

Camden didn't mind the cold water at all!

Emma is holding on tight!

A stylish new hair do...

Harstine Island

The holiday weekend fun continued on Saturday with a trip to Harstine Island. Despite some rain and a little girl who started feeling a bit under the weather, we had fun playing on the beach.

Emma and Claire had to run out to the water's edge to fill up their watering cans.What a great beach swing!
Camden and Chris checking out the sea life on the beach.

Camden's new favorite game is playing peek-a-boo

Where's Camden????

There he is!!!!

Best buds, Claire and Emma, taking a little break on the beach.

Happy 4th of July!

I know I'm burning the midnight oil on this blog, but the neighborhood is still rockin' with fireworks, so who could sleep anyway??? We had a wonderful Independence Day back in the good old U.S.A. this year. The Warthen's invited us to join their annual party at Aimee's mom's house right on Dyes Inlet. We learned that everyone in Washington visits their local Indian Reservation to load up on illegal fireworks, then shoots them off at 10:00 (when it finally gets dark here!) We had quite the show looking out on all those festive fireworks folks in Bremerton and Silverdale.

Chris and Emma hanging out in the yard.Camden with his two biggest fans.
What an awesome sandbox! We need one of these!

Camden, Dylan, Emma, and Claire enjoying some dinner.

It sure isn't the 4th of July without watermelon!

Camden hung out with one of his favorite gal pals, Nora.

Chris has perfected his water balloon toss form. Too bad Chris W. tossed it right back into the water!

Emma is ready to toss (but am I ready to catch?)

What a family!!!

The "warm up" fireworks were very entertaining.

(The fashion police would have been after Camden in his jammies and sneakers!)

Emma wasn't quite sure what to think about the sparklers...

Future Heartbreaker

I know I'm biased, but can this boy get any cuter?!?! :)