Happy birthday to Me:)

It's my BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday to me. Because we believe in the power of positive thinking, and lately there have been a LOT of stressful moments in our lives, I am posting some happy pictures that we have taken over the summer in honor of this special day. Also because I've been promising photos from this summer for several weeks/posts now and Caitie is on her way to my mom with Chani and Mark so I actually have a free moment or 10 to do this. I'll be heading to Newport as soon as Ryan gets home from work because I don't want him to have to drive the 2 1/2- 3 hours alone at night after a long day at work.Caitlin, Ryan, Gioia, Rob, Ian...Dads and their kids on a nice walk. This is one of my favorite pictures from this summer. Rob called us on a Sunday morning around 7 am (which in my opinion is an un-God-ly hour to be awake on a weekend) to invite us to go on a hike/walk before the heat of the day. So we got up and met Rob and the twins on the trail. Caitlin walked all two + miles but complained nearly the entire way. She's more of a water sports kid than a tail blazer. After all that hard work hiking it was time for some real fun...bring on the water slide! Ryan's answer to the lack of shade in our campsite... a 20x30 foot tarp. It worked really well until the wind picked up in the late afternoon/early evening. Just behind Rob are our cots that we slept under the stars on.Before we left Ryan said that if it was hot (it was over 100 degrees) that he was going to take a camp chair down to the river and sit in it while the rest of us played and swam around. Of course safety comes first so Ryan and Caitlin practiced floating down the river until Caitie felt really comfortable and learned to trust her life jacket. Rob and Ryan really worked with her on leaning back and kicking her feet up.We bought big inner tubes at Les Schwab Tires and then floated down the rapids. Me, Ryan and Rob. That was so much fun! When it was time to get out, Ryan and Rob navigated the river just fine and landed exactly were they were supposed to. I, on the other hand, kept floating until I abandoned my tube and swam upstream. Then when I could finally stand up I was in a big patch of river weed. Rob and Ryan nearly fell over laughing at my reaction because I didn't know what I was standing in and sort of flipped out a little.... Whatever- it was gross.During the month of July we spend a ton of time in the swimming pool, we had swimming lessons, and a pool party and friends over to beat the heat, and new water toys. We named this one Shamu and it was a BIG hit with everyone who came into contact with it. The best part about this big toy was its little price. Only $6.00 at Freddy's.Lucas and Caitlin are too cool on the boat Mark and Chani rented for the day at Lake Billy Chinook at the end of August. They went "cabining" for the last weekend in August at that lake and came home after one day due to lack of sleep. Caitie was sad and missed mommy, Chani and Mark were very uncomfortable on the too short beds provided in the cabin. Have I mentioned that Caitlin is part fish (just like her mother!)? She is happiest when the sun is shining and she's either in or on the water. Driving the boat with Uncle Mark was pretty special.I really love these two photos. The top one of Caitie makes me think that I should let her pay for her own college education by signing her up with a modeling agency because she's so beautiful and the bottom one of Lucas is just so adorable. I love these kids so much. I wish I could post some pictures of my nieces, Amelia and Gabrielle too but I haven't seen them all summer. They spent 4 weeks with their dad and the times they were home, I wasn't able to go to Newport to see them. I am really looking forward to seeing them tomorrow though!For those of you who don't know my mom...She is INCREDIBLE!! She is amazingly strong, generous, compassionate, intelligent, and super loving. My dad refers to her as the epitome of all that is motherhood and I would have to agree. This last set of photos were taken at the State Fair where my mom took Caitie despite the fact that she hadn't slept much or at all the night before due to severe "tummy pain". My mom is a trooper that's for sure! She made the day stupendously fun. Caitlin loves face painting and tattoos! The more the better as far as she's concerned.Art is serious business you know. Cathy and Caitie went to the artisans village where they glazed a pot that was already pre-fired and ready to go back into the kiln. Apparently Caitie is "so over" kiddie rides, unfortunately Grandma doesn't do fast rides and especially not fast rides when she's already feeling sick. Its sad, but the fact is I'm glad Caitie feels safe enough with Grandma Cathy to give her the same attitude that she gives me when she doesn't like something. I should want her to be respectful and polite at all times when she's with other people, but I'm *generous* enough to want to share some of the glory that is a 5 year old going on 15.Grandpa Claude was working in the Oregon State Parks booth when Cathy and Caitie went, so on his lunch they went to the Horse Barn (one of Caitie's favorite places) to watch the shows. Caitie and Grandpa have a very special relationship. She likes to "tell on me" to Grandpa if I do something while driving that she doesn't think is safe enough-like driving with my knees or one handed. Once Ryan started to drive out of the driveway without putting on his seat belt and Caitlin started "calling Grandpa" by shouting at the top of her voice "GRANDPA, GRANDPA! DADDY'S NOT BEING SAFE!" then she laughed uproariously for a really long time because she "Got Daddy in trouble with Grandpa". She's such a funny kid!We've had a really busy summer and I'm sure that if I spent even more time sorting through all the photos I could find other specific events to share but I feel like these ones offer a fairly good representing. Lots of camping/boat/tubing trips, the state fair and the swimming pool about sum up the past couple months. Despite the aggravation of ongoing and newly diagnosed medical issues, despite desperate search for short term child care without notice and despite of all the other less overwhelming stresses we've dealt with as a family, this summer has been pretty fun. It's good to keep the focus on all the fun things we did and to think about all the fun things we're going to do again soon!