7 Things we learned in Lincoln City - by Linz

1. Mike and Becky are great with kids....i.e. will be amazing parents!

2. Kids love kites. (and so does mom)

3. Kids also love sand. (Mom likes it better on the beach than in the house)

4. Quicksand can be pretty fun.

5. "Blogger friends" are much more fun in real-life!

6. The eight hour drive TO the beach is much easier than the eight hour drive HOME from the beach. (No photos of tired/grumpy kids to document this portion of the "vacation")

7. Vacation with three little boys (while extremely exciting and fun) is hardly "vacation".

(Again, no photos)

Morning Hikes - by Brad

For the last three weeks, I have been getting up an hour early to hike the hills behind our house. As I have mentioned before, I feel that it is a waste to have beautiful hills right in our backyard and not utilize them. Therefore, I decided that before sitting at my desk all day, I needed to work my legs a bit.

Anyway, there are two main peaks on the hills. Castle Rock (on the right) and Chopper Peak (in the middle).

It takes about 25 minutes (at a pretty good pace) to get to Castle Rock from my back door. It's about 750 ft higher in elevation than our house. I can make it to the top of Chopper Peak in 35 minutes. Chopper Peak is about a 1,300 ft higher than our house.

This morning, I hiked around the back side of Castle Rock and as I came around a corner I heard coyotes howling from the other side of a big ravine. I watched for a while and then I saw three coyotes pass along the trail up to Chopper Peak about 300 yards away. I managed to get a picture of them, but I don't have a telephoto lens and my batteries were dying, so it didn't come out that great (view larger for blurry dogs)...

I also found one of the neatest wild flowers I have ever seen. I did a little research and found out that it is a Sagebrush Mariposa Lily... yeah it sounds pretty girly for me to like, but oh well...

Mr. Wizard - by Brad

As a kid, one of my main influences into science was probably the television show Mr. Wizard's World. I was a little saddened to read that Don Herbert passed away. It brings back memories. Now I have to track down the series on DVD.

Thanks Mr. Wizard.

TWINS! - by Linz

We are the proud aunt and uncle of twins! My sister, Amy, gave birth to two tiny beautiful girls Saturday night. Madelyn Grace was born just before midnight and Maisy Olivia was born just after midnight. Twins with different birthdays...how cool it that?

Toes, Air Compressors, and Garbage - by Brad

Lindsey sent me an email yesterday describing the silliness of our boys. I decided to steal her experiences and blog about them.

Ever since Wesley learned to talk, he has been thinking up funny little wordplays. He has a dry sense of humor that makes his serious personality pretty entertaining. Yesterday Wesley went up to Lindsey, sniffed her feet, and then said, "hmm, you smell toasty... your toes smell toes-ty."

Then shortly after this, as Lindsey took out her blow dryer, Elliott asked, "What are you going to do with that air compressor for your head?"

As Lindsey continued to fix her hair and put on makeup, Elliott kept asking, "how come you do that... what's that for... why do you do that?" After a few questions, Lindsey asked him why he asks so many questions. To this he answered, "because I don't know all about girl stuff."

Well, I haven't posted many pictures Spencer. It must be because he's the third child and is somewhat overlooked by his two older brothers who keep us busy and entertained with their antics. Spencer is actually much more smiley than his brothers were. Wes has always been serious, and Elliott's cheeks were too fat to smile much. Anyway, here is Spence swinging on our back patio.



Last weekend, the temperature was bouncing around 100, so Lindsey got out the kiddie pool and let Elliott and Wesley play around for a while.



Elliott enjoyed splashing around, and I enjoyed trying to take pictures of the water in mid-air...

I like this one because it looks like Elliott is trying to "use the force" to manipulate the water...

Lindsey snapped this shot of the boys on the front porch watching the garbage truck driver do his thing...

Sleeping II - by Brad

Like I've posted before, I like sleeping pictures. Here are a couple of our boys from the last few nights...

Elliott has been having trouble staying on his little bed lately...



I am not sure what the story behind this one is, but maybe Wesley was tired of listening to his brothers...

This was probably the funniest one. Elliott managed to crawl under his bed...