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Fall Happenings

 We finally got around to camping the last weekend before school started.

Amazing Boise foothills thunderstorm

 First day of Junior year.  Yikes!

 First Day of Sophomore year

First day of 6th grade/middle school

 First day of 4th grade.  Only one left in elementary school :-(

 Day 2 Outift "I'm proud to be an Americorn" It's all about unicorns now days/again.

Levi joined the cross country team.  Turns out, he is super fast!

 After his first race in almost 100 degrees.

So far Levi loves 6th grade.

He rides to school in a pack of about 10 boys, he ran for student council, losing gracefully, and just got his first customer in his raking business.

Big First! 

Reagan's first dance. This is how he asked her:

hoco=homecoming, marigolds=her favorite flower

And this is how she answered him:

Homecoming 2019

Liberty tried something besides dance this year!  

 Conference Bingo, always a big part of the fall around our house.

 Cade got into the audition choir at school and this was his first concert and first time in a tux!

Cade told me before the concert that he would be using one of his "talents" in the concert. I thought it might be his Elmo impersonation or the piano.  Boy, was I wrong.  His choir sang "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor" and at the very end, right on cue, my son, BURPED-as loudly as he possibly could.  He did not need a mic, we heard him in the very back of the auditorium. I was so shocked I just sat there with my mouth hanging open while the audience erupted with laughter.  I was torn between horror and humor, but he was pretty proud of himself, so in the end humor won out. 

And little Miss decided to be the only one of my children to take after her father....and get glasses.  She is over the moon about them!  She thinks it's the greatest thing in the world.  Thank goodness!

Oregon Coast Part 3

Our first stop on Day 3 was Devil's Punch Bowl.  

 This punch bowl like cavern fills up with water like a punch bowl when the tide is in.  We got to see it at both low tide and high tide this day.  Here's low tide.

We went over to the Inn at Otter Crest and went down to Otter Crest Beach to be able to get inside the punch bowl.  It was SO cool!  Alli and I had never done it before!

 Inside!

 

 

 We found several caves in and around the punch bowl.  Alli and Levi were in HEAVEN.

 We love Otter Crest Beach!

This cave was totally filled in with water at high tide later that day.

Lots of Lighthouses!

Next up was another childhood memory, the Sea Lion Caves.

I loved it as a kid and so did my kids!

 The sea lions are hard to see down below on the rock cliff, but they are there-about a hundred of them.

 While watching sea lions we also got to see some whales!  Closer and better than I've ever seen them in my life! Levi was so excited he didn't know which to look at. Below is a video of the whales.

Cool/beautiful example of rock erosion out along the coast.

Below is me (on the right), Dad, Alli and Derek on the same statue 30 years ago when I was almost the same age as Liberty!

 We rode the elevator down into the caves and watched the sea lions in the cave for almost an hour probably.  It was took dark to take any pictures but Levi loved it!  It is fascinating to watch the sea lions fighting and playing and eating and sleeping.

This picture of the same lighthouse is taken from a lookout inside the cave.

Some gnarly trees on the way to another beach.

 

Devil's Punch Bowl at sunset and high tide.

 One of the caves from earlier and the whole Otter Crest beach under water.

Then it was back to the hotel.  We were totally wiped out but we'd had a great day and an amazing trip. 

 We took this picture of Liberty at the hotel, which happened to be named the Liberty Inn, on our way out of town. She will remember this hotel because of its name.  I will remember it for different reasons.

We drove all the way home in one day.  Thank you, Alli for going with us and making it a much more fun trip than it would have been.  We should do it again in 30 years!