I could totally hug this tree!

This is Big Spruce and quite possibly the biggest tree I have ever seen, in person at least.  I mean there is that tree you can DRIVE through somewhere in California.  But this one?  This one is way better.  And I'd like to see some suv drive through this puppy.

:)

It was like something out of a really cool movie.  Not scary like the creepy one in Poltergeist.  So don't even go there.  This one was all cuddly and lovable.  :)  And there were blackberries all around the base of it!  But we left those for all of Big Spruce's tenants.  

Unbelievable.  Can you imagine the lucky person who got to be the first person to ever SEE this thing?  Talk about stumbling across something really fanTAStic in the forest.  

I only stumbled into a couple of banana slugs I decided to name "Ricky and Lucy" and a snake.  I didn't name him.

:)

Reed Girls.

Oh.  And more foggy goodness!

Next time we go, we will plan to explore even more, and then take the drive home that DOESN'T take us through scary backwoods gypsy camps...

We could totally hang at the coast alllll day...

We got up on Sunday and decided we needed to go West!

As in just a little West, out to the coast.

Destination?

Cape Meares...  With a brief stopover at Tillamook for Ice Cream, don't you know...

Addy here wishing she could spot a whale...

Kendall here, wishing she could reach high enough to spot a whale...

Pure Gorgeousness...

Goonies forever...

We live here!  Well...  Not "here" as in "there" on that huge rock-thing, but "here" as in Oregon as in we could drive "here" and not cross state lines all in an hour and 20 minutes or so! 

sweeeeet...

 

I'm going to post a few more pics from our day, but I'll do it in another post.  I guess I can only post 5 or so at once.

Hm.

:)

Addy can totally manipulate...

I have had these "Manipulatives" around for years.  And Addy has found them.  Earlier this morning, she and Kendall got them out and made a HUGE mess, this only being a very small sampling...  My girls always go big.  :)

Ooo...  Addy always loves a good manipulation first thing in the morning.  Especially while in jammies with uncombed hair...  That is when she is most dangerous.

Mayhem needs her coffee.  And like Addy, a wrestling match with a hair brush...

:)

I could totally understand why an elk would be in a truck on the freeway.

I mean it makes perfect sense, right?  An elk's gotta go places too, right?  And the traffic can be such a bear.  Might as well carpool.  Is that thing even strapped in, I ask?

I love it here.  Elk on the freeway...  ROSES (or rather "rose" as in 1 single, solitary rose) in my backyard.  I don't know anything about roses...
or these purple flowers.  I have these in the backyard too.  I don't even know what they are.  Only that they are just a sampling of all the plants/flowers in the backyard that I am in a constant battle to keep alive.  Unlike the ugly fern-like things.  I'm not fighting that battle.
Do  you know we have stuff like THIS to look at here?  And I don't have to drive more than 8 minutes to see it!  And there is this lovely little trail we discovered with Marley's Flat Stanley that leads through this fantastic little green forested area down to this niftly little park on the Tualatin River.  Sweet!  We have a river too??
I hear there is an ocean not too far from here either.  Hopefully we'll get over there soon!

But until then, I have the Battles in My Backyard to keep me busy.

And my children.  I have those too.

I could totally let other people cook for me...

Kendall tried and tried to convince me to drink this.  I wonder what she put in it.  Really.  "Here Mommy...  Driiiiink thiiiiiis..."

"Awe thanks, Kendy-loo.  Hey what's that over there?!?"

(quickly toss drink over shoulder)

"That was delicious!"

My sister should totally make burgers more often for me.  I didn't have to distract her and toss them over my shoulder!

Here.  She is so at peace in the kitchen with dead animal.  You'd never know that she briefly entertained the idea of vegetarianism.  Look at what a meat patty pro she is.

And Rachel Ray?  Thanks for making my sister a good cook.  This recipe ROCKED!  Only we all decided that more smothered onions should be made next time.  Note to g, more onions!

And to this wine I say, "you left me with a yucky taste in my mouth."

But to this wine I say, "I shall fight my sister for the last glass and then steal from her all of her remaining bottles."

Marlborough Region?  I toast you.  

Gillian?  Thanks for dinner.

Rachel Ray?  Thanks for great cookbooks.

Kendall?  Go to time out.

:)

I could totally sit here all day...

Only my feet would get chilly.

So maybe I could just sit here in the warmer afternoons and watch David at the grill.

Making my dinner.

And simultaneously smoking out all of the neighborhood.

The menu for this dinner?

Yummy salmon with the Rub of Awesomeness from Costco.  I just went to a happy place, friends.  And wine, of course.  Wine always plays a very important role in finding my way to the happy place.

My squirrel could totally kick Karen's squirrel's butt.

Meet Hammy.  He's my squirrel.  And he can totally kick Karen's squirrel's butt.  We get a little peek at K's squirrel here (with the creepy glowing eyes...):

thelopezlife.typepad.com

(why is everything underlined here?!?  How annoying!  Note to self:  fix underlining thingy...  Note to self:  Call Karen to fix underlining thing...)

So...  back to the squirrel.  This one here has skills.  Fence balancing skills, vertical climbing skills, branch teetering skills, telling off Mayhem skills, and hop-squirrel skills.  Not too mention  he is totally a trained squirrel assassin.  Totally.  He trains first thing every morning.  I hear him.

I could totally neglect this blog.

And because of that, I make no promises.

None.

:)