organization

Jack has been helping a lot with chores recently. He will scrub the floor, sweep, wash walls, and so on. His favorite job is to Put Things Where They Go.

You may not have known:
Shoes go in the dryer.
Diaper inserts go in the bathroom.
ALL laundry goes in the hamper.
Dish towels go in the bag of clothes for Goodwill.
Pencils go in the knitting basket.

You'll notice there is actually a pretty good form of logic working here! :)

excitement!

Holy smokes! Jack just jumped! Like, both feet in the air, at the same time, and ON PURPOSE! He is soooooooo exhilarated! He had to run ten laps up and down the apartment just to work off the initial surge of excitement :D

Neskowin Beach

Neskowin Beach is one of my favorite places in all of Oregon. We got Jack's new car seat yesterday (his Big Boy car seat!!) so we set out for the coast immediately. Well, as soon as nap time hit. It IS a 90 minute drive!Once we got there it was time for Cheetos. :)

Here's the path down to the beach. It's pretty already!

Look, a giant tree stump! Jack was only too happy to climb on it.

I adore this kind of picture of my guys, especially when Jack is looking so grown up. I just can't get enough of them. :)

Here's his first sand investigation:

Proposal Rock is the big feature of this beach. It's kind of an island, except when the tide goes out. We've never been there at the right time, but we finally were today!

Also there were trees strewn about all over the dang place.

Hey, a stick!

This should definitely come with us!

Razzing some seagulls:

I thought this was really pretty. I love the line of birds. :)

Of course, we had to go over and investigate the Rock more thoroughly, since we finally had the chance to.

I like this tree:

Rock throwing is a Serious Business.

Jedi baby!

He kept trying to pick up clumps of sand and getting confused when they crumbled. I guess it was a learning experience....

Jack ultimately reminded us that we were supposed to be going over to kick the Rock and find out about it.

So we did! What's all this white stuff, anyway?

I love the dubious look as he applauds them.

Probably six years after I first came to this beach, I finally got to climb the Rock!

Jack found the coolest thing on the beach....

a dog!!

Here's another great shot of my guys. And a bonus: two birds flying past!

Don't they look all rugged and independent? :)

Jack would hold Daddy's hand, but only if they walked the way Jack wanted to:

Some nice guy offered to take pictures for us. This was the best one, even though Jack was distracted by a dog. :)

Hey, speaking of that dog, we got to pet it!

The doggy decided Jack could use a kiss.

...and Jack was in love. :)

Well, this must be MY dog, so I can boss it around, right?

I love how happy he is to spend time with his Daddy. There are very few things that can make a Mommy happier than seeing such a happy child!

Here he is kind of tired and snuggling down against the wind:

And lovin' his Daddy some more. Daddy is just so fun!

This is a great little cafe right next to the beach. We like to stop in there, but we didn't this time because we brought a picnic lunch! We had beef stew and sourdough bread, and were far too busy enjoying it to take any pictures. :)

We dropped in on a yard sale that had another dog!

Okay, here is an after-lunch picture. He just got this cup and loves it because he's very good at using straws. It is Hard Work. You can tell by looking at his eyebrows. :)

Taking a little walk after lunch:

This is clearly the best way to travel!

That whole trip actually only took about three hours. But wouldn't you know it, we wore the little guy out! This was the view on the way home:

Tomato Picking Part 1

I have been drafted into service by the exhausted woman working on turning 40lbs of tomatoes into sauce. So, here is the account of our picking experiences today:

Finding tomatoes!

Isn't she cute?

Jack fell asleep on the ride to the farm, so he spent most of the time "picking" from his chair.

"This look ok?"

"Found one!"
(Photographer's note: I love how our stupid camera
thought I wanted the tractor in focus and not M.)

Tomato Picking