Life returned to normal for a bit when Katie and I got back from Mexico.
And, normal is a good thing.
It was the second week of August and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower was viewable from our location. It was clear and there was no moon. The perfect conditions!
At about midnight (or after), the kids and I went outside and laid out on our front lawn.
We watched for about an hour and saw a half dozen meteors or so.
Oh yeah. Ralph came too.
Later that week, we hit the pop-up drive-in to watch Guardians of the Galaxy.
For those keeping track, Katie had me try the salted caramel cupcake this time around.
Mmmmmm.
Don't worry. The kids had plenty of their own snacks/sweets to eat.
Guess who got her own cape for her birthday?
It matched Ralph!
We headed to the Renaissance Faire for Katie's birthday.
I don't know if COVID had something to do with it, but there was a HUGE line to get into the fair.
SO. MANY. PEOPLE!
And, most of them, were not wearing masks.
I mean that's okay.
We were outside.
But, still.
It was creepy to be in a big crowd.
It also didn't help that it was super HOT.
Yikes.
First up, the kids got themselves some root beer and birch beer.
There was quite a long line to purchase.
Ahhhh. Frosty.
Ahhhhh. Refreshing.
None for Daddy.
I had brought an umbrella for shade, so we huddled under that as we strolled through the fair.
We stopped for a minute to watch a guy juggling flaming axes.
Next, we headed over to the axe throwing.
Huzbend was on official picture duty.
Katie gave it a try.
Nice form......
Look at that axe fly!
My turn.
I threw it too hard.
It bounced off the target.
Darn.
Mikey's turn.
He had a good throw, but it also bounced off.
I don't think any of us got a hit.
We spent a bit more time walking around.
Eventually, we got tired of the hot and of the loads of people and left.
There was a huge back up of cars trying to leave.
It took forever to get out of the parking lot.
While we were at the fair, Katie got herself a cute set of octopus ear cuffs.
Since it was her birthday, she got to pick dinner.
She picked chicken shwarma.
After dinner, it was time to open presents.
Ralph was excited to watch.
While upside down, of course.
Thank you for all the wonderful gifts!
Including:
Books.
Engineering sets.
Shirts with cool stuff on them.
Video games.
Earrings that a character in the Demon Slayer anime wears.
Ravenloft Dungeons and Dragons books.
And finally, life would not be complete without receiving a plague doctor mask for your birthday.
It's what every teen wants.
Katie decided on cheeZecake (I did not spell that wrong) and apple pie for her birthday desserts.
Happy 15th Birthday!!!
Because I lost track of time, an actual birthday cake that I ordered special for Katie's birthday arrived late.
She didn't care.
She was so happy to have a special bakery decorated cake just for her.
I even got a hug.
Seriously.
I should buy her cakes more often.
It was red velvet cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting.
It was okay for an everything free cake.
A break in the action in the middle of August allowed the opportunity for the kids to have another week-long virtual summer camp.
Mikey took a Python programming language coding class that focused on arcade-type games.
Katie took a camp that taught her the basis of Arduino which combines both software and hardware.
Here are a few examples of projects what Katie did that week:
Mikey's middle school was supposed to have a Back-To-School event mid-month, but COVID cases were rising. It was deemed unsafe.
So, they switched it to just a Picture Day.
He wanted to fix his hair before his photo.
But, it soon turned into a hamming for the camera session.
We'll have to wait to see how the pictures turned out.
On Friday of that week, Mikey got his second dose of the COVID vaccine.
When we arrived for his appointment, they had just emptied the vial of vaccine they had been using.
They had to take a new one out of the freezer to thaw.
We had to wait 30-45 minutes for it to be ready.
Finally, he got his shot!
Second dose done and only two weeks until fully vaccinated.
Phew.
The day after that, Katie got her THIRD dose of the vaccine.
Because she is immunocompromised, she was allowed to receive a booster shot.
Being Age 15 in Washington state means that you can get your Learner's Permit for driving.
And, that is just what Katie did.
We got her permit and signed her up for Driver's Ed.
We discovered that her high school parking lot was a great place to practice driving.
On this particular day, a blue heron helped teach Katie to be aware of pedestrians.
He got in our way quite a few times.
I took Ralph for a walk.
He got yelled at by a squirrel.
That weekend, we participated in a community clean up event at the middle school.
Mikey found this bug that I had never seen before.
It was pretty big.
Actually, I found out that it's the largest beetle in Western Washington.
Meet the Ten-Lined June Beetle.
After playing around with the dying June beetle, Mikey was recruited to bring snacks and water to volunteers.
He was much more effective at that job than at weeding and bug wrangling.
He put his marketing skills into action.
"BIG SALE!
Snacks 100% off. Today Only! Want one?"
When he was done with that, he helped write welcome messages to the incoming 6th graders using stunningly inclusive language.
Katie busied herself spreading gravel, raking leaves and helping spread bark mulch.
She did A LOT.
Meanwhile, this is what Mikey was doing.
That afternoon, Katie got a bit crafty and created this amazing set of clay figures.
They are even more amazing when you realized just how TINY they are!!
ROAD TRIP!
We were going to spend the last full week of August at the beach.
Rockaway Beach, Oregon to be exact.
But, first.
The drive down there.
It's a long drive. Not quite as long as the Redwoods, but still long.
The perfect time for a nap.
Ralph agreed.
I was delegated to the back seat again.
And quickly became a pillow.
Mikey eventually woke up and unfortunatly, so did Ralph.
His breath is NASTY.
(Ralph, not Mikey's)
We arrived at the rental house around dinner time.
After "moving in" and eating something, we hit the beach for sundown.
The breeze was brisk at the beach.
Ralph and I stayed up on the bluff while Mikey and Huzbend went down to fool around on the sand.
Katie followed.
I can honestly say that I really like visiting the beach in Oregon.
It is never crowded.
It's not super hot.
The sand is nice and the waves are pretty great.
Also, the vistas are pretty dramatic with all the fog.
This is where we were staying.
It was right on the beach.
The kids and Huzbend did a few post-dinner races.
Katie gave him a run for his money.
Mikey had nothing left.
Too much laughing and giggle had stolen his breath away.
Run!!
After their jaunt on the sand, it was time for a little relaxation...hot tub style.
A little path from the back of the house led down to the beach.
Ralph was done.
No hot tub for him, so he was ready to come in and lay down.
Early the next morning, Ralph and I were up and out of the house for our morning beach walk.
The moon was still up.
As the sun began to make its way up, Ralph was ready to get his crazy on.
The jellyfish were out in force this morning.
There were lots of big bloppy ones.
Go, Ralph, GO!
Ralph loves his chance to be a free range puppy.
The only downside is that he gets easily sidetracked by smells and he is much faster at moving in the sand then I am.
I really have to keep an eye on him.
I love the early morning walks.
The beach is empty except for me, Ralph and the creatures that live there.
Ahhhhhhh. Oooooooooo.
Wow. Almost full.
As we walked back towards the house, I was able to see the Twin Rocks in the distance.
Ralph entertained himself by barking at this seagull and crow.
The crow nimbly hopped the other direction.
The seagull could care less.
A few million hours later, some other family members woke up.
After having a little breakfast, they headed down to the sand to build some stuff.
I woke Katie up before I went down to see what they were up to.
She decided to stay back and watch some Food Network.
Mikey went to get some water to assist in their sculpture.
Huzbend was busy building...something. Maybe a fort of some kind, I think?
There were moats built as well.
Look at that sandy drool.
Mikey was busy working on this big hole.
Here is the finished product.
Th entrance (to the left in the picture) had a big skull door.
Ralph loves to lie on the beach and soak up the sun.
He wasn't ready to go inside yet.
But, it was time for lunch.
For some reason boiling water caused a whole bunch of fog to appear in the house.
Whoops.
After lunch, it was time for some boogie boarding.
Water temp = About 56 to 57 degrees.
Video of the crazy kids doing their thing.
Ralph patiently waits for his hoomans to return.
If I let him go, he would chase them down just to be near them.
The waves are just too big for him to navigate.
As you can see, the waves are a pretty good size.
And, they go out until about waist deep or so.
Too deep for Ralph.
He is not the best swimmer.
It took a bit of time for everyone to get their boogie board mojo back.
You have to time it just right to catch a wave.
Huzbend didn't do too bad.
Katie was able to get a few.
I guess the sea gods were shining on Mikey this trip.
He caught the most waves.
This turned out to be the warmest day that we had while visiting.
It was 72 degrees and sunny all day long.
I wait with Ralph on the warm sand for my hoomans to return.
I also take pictures to keep myself busy while waiting.
There is only so long that they can stay in the water.
It's surprisingly longer than you'd think considering the 56 degree water temp and shorty wetsuits.
It's a good sign when they are all smiling when they exit the water.
"Hello, hoomans."
The cold water was exactly the reason we found a place with a hot tub.
Weirdly, the place we were renting reminded me of my childhood home on the East Coast.
Here is a look at the inside.
Ralph was taking a break from the sun and sand.
Huzbend and I also took a break before dinner.
The kids had a Zoom Dungeons and Dragons session.
Everyone slept well that night.
Except Ralph who is just too big for his own good.
He keep getting up from his bed to spin around to get more comfortable and ended up banging into the wall multiple times.
Eventually, it was time to get up to feed him and take a walk.
We found these cute little foot prints at the bottom of the path to the beach.
I let Ralph wander away to sniff things and to do his business.
He likes to walk in the deep sand for some reason.
More smells I guess?
We happened upon someone's breakfast.
That someone was not happy.
"Stoopid dog."
"Detective Ralph on the case!
What can I sniff out today?"
"Oh!
Interesting find!"
The poor sea star was just all alone on the beach.
Was he dead?
Nope.
His tube-like feet were moving around.
See?
I felt bad.
I decided to find some sticks and gently move him into the water.
I didn't want to touch him and get my hands all yuck.
Ralph was very accomodating and did a very nice "sit and stay" while I tended to the sea star.
He didn't even try to eat it.
Shocking.
We moved on.
Ralph gets excited about every single puddle on the beach.
He runs into them, splashes around and then tries to drink them only to realize that it's salt water.
It happens over and over and over.
It's like he has short term memory loss.
We finally made it back to the house for a little breakfast and relaxing.
Day two of sand building.
Mikey was not very enthusiastic.
I think he wanted to build something extravagant, but it didn't work.
He was demoralized.
"Meh."
They pivoted to building forts that they could hide in.
Huzbend vs. Mikey.
Mikey got invested and started to dig his hole.
Hmmm.
Not sure that's gonna work.
Huzbend was proud of his hole.
He even built a berm to keep himself safe from projectiles.
Mikey also built a "wall".
Hmmmm.
After building forts, it was time for a little tackle frisbee?
To be honest, I'm really not sure what's going on here.
I was busy cuddling with Ralph's sun soaked warmness.
We headed back to the house for lunch.
Katie was awake and watching Food Network.
There were some interesting finds on the beach this day.
I found this guy.
He's a sand crab.
And then there was this amazingly red and bloppy jellyfish.
He was hard to miss.
I tried to identify him.
I believe he's a Lion's Mane Jellyfish.
I'm glad I (or Ralph) didn't touch him.
You would think that seeing this red bloppy guy washed up on the sand would make you think twice about getting in the water....
Not these three.
This is the face of someone who just laid down in 56 degree water.
Katie had much more luck catching waves this day.
Here are some videos of said "wave catching".
After I took pictures, Ralph and I sat down to relax and wait for them to freeze.
Check out the sand attached to the drool at the corner of Ralph's mouth.
EW.
It was a sunny/cloudy sort of day.
When the sun was out it was super warm and burny.
So, we hid out under an umbrella.
Besides watching the kids and Huzbend having fun in the water, I enjoy watching the pelicans that fly over their heads and dive into the water behind them.
These happen to be brown pelicans.
They are very entertaining.
This is the view from where Ralph and I were sitting.
After they were done, it was hot tub and relax time.
Check out the freckles!
Ralph was happy that his people were out of the water and close by.
A little pre-dinner lounge and....
...Triple G.
Of course.
That evening Mikey played Zoom Dungeons and Dragons with his friends.
It was the last full day on the beach.
Once again, Ralph and I were up early to explore.
For the first time, I noticed this sign.
Huh.
I tried not to think about it the rest of the day.
Gulp.
I let Ralph do his wandering and his sniffing.
At one point on this walk, Ralph had just finished pooping.
I made my way over to pick it up.
When I looked up, he was nowhere to be seen.
TOTAL PANIC.
I called his name and he came trotting down out of someone's backyard.
Sigh.
Time for the leash to go back on.
This day was pretty mild but also very foggy and damp.
As you can see, we had the beach to ourselves.
The misty fog cleared up a bit after breakfast and we were able to convince Katie to come on down and build something in the sand.
Huzbend and Mikey were working on a joint project.
And Ralph...well, he was being Ralph.
The sun made a very brief appearance.
Ralph soaked up as much heat as he could.
Sadly, the sun quickly disappeared behind the grey.
Contemplating how to finish the sand project he was working on.
It was very labor intensive.
Here is Katie's finished product.
The Crystal Temple from Steven Universe.
One of my favorite things to do on the beach.
Sit and do nothing and get sun warmed head hugs from Ralph.
Huzbend and Mikey's project was complete!
The built the Ice Court from Six of Crows.
One last photo before heading in for lunch.
It's a SHMOO-BOO.
After lunch and a bit of a break, it was time to suit up to head on out to the waves.
The clouds had rolled back in and brought with them some rain.
That didn't stop them.
It might've been because of the stormy weather, but the waves were crazy big this day.
Here's some video.
"Yay! I caught a wave!"
"Ow.
The water is cold and I scraped my knee on the sand.
Ow."
"That was kinda fun. I think I will do it again."
"Ow.
This is painful.
Ow."
"No matter!
On to bigger waves and boogie boarding GLORY!"
Mikey caught his fair share of waves once again.
Watch out! Dive bombing pelicans!
Don't worry, Huzbend had fun too.
It was getting pretty choppy out there.
Ralph busied himself chasing clam squirts.
He didn't catch one.
"Are they done yet?
It's wet out here."
Mikey decided that he was getting nervous and he wanted to be done. Some of the waves were way over his head and seemed to be getting bigger.
They decided to call it a day and head up to the hot tub.
We had a nice dinner, watched a movie (I can't remember what) and then went to bed.
One more day of early beach wandering.
Ralph was on the sniff once again.
Same log.
The ocean was still choppy.
And it was still foggy and damp.
Ralph sniffed out some other "interesting" things.
Dead birds!
"Aren't you proud of me? I sniffed a bird and it is dead."
There wasn't just one.
There were about 5 dead birds all in the same area.
I did a little research - 'cause that's what I do - and it turns out that these are common murres.
They die out at sea and the waves bring them, in especially where there are storms.
I guess a while back there was a huge die off of these birds and others due to ocean temps rising and thousands drifted on shore all the way up the coast to Alaska.
The high tide wiped out the kids sand sculptures from the day before.
So sad.
We packed up the car and headed home.
Katie was once again was in the front seat and passed out.
That can not be comfortable.
We helped a friend out at a garage sale that weekend and it turned into....
Sleepover time!
Katie and her friend S took over our downstairs.
Mikey and S's younger sister B took over our main level.
It was the first sleepover Mikey had had since COVID.
The next day, S had to leave in the morning to go to work.
B hung around and participated in backyard judo.
This is a game where they try to knock a sock off of their opponents head.
The Monday before school stared, we headed to the Evergreen State Fair for a little fun.
It was the first time since 2019 that the fair was open in a semi-normal fashion.
Mikey quickly pointed out that he was going to eat at this place for lunch.
It was a little early for food, so we visited the big draft horses.
You can't really see how big they were from this photo.
Hello.
Mikey found a horse named Mike.
Even though it was barely 11am, I caved and let Mikey eat lunch.
His food of choice....
A bacon wrapped hotdog.
He went up to order it himself.
I overheard the woman working the grill ask if he wanted grilled onions on his dog.
I almost laughed out loud.
Yeah, right. Onions? Ha.
He said yes.
She heaped on the onions.
He DEVOURED that hot dog.
Onions and all.
Meanwhile, while Mikey was inhaling the bacon wrapped onion smothered hotdog, Katie had gotten herself a bag of kettle corn.
Everyone was happily munching away on their selected food.
Time for me to find something to eat.
I'm not a fan of corn dogs, but I wanted something decidedly Fair-ish to eat.
I ended up settling on a Philly Cheese Steak.
It wasn't the best, but it was quite Fair-ish.
"Can I have another one?"
No.
We found a bench to sit on to watch the International Lumberjack Show.
The show is just a bunch of crazy guys with super sharp axes competing against each other in various tasks.
It was very entertaining.
Especially the race up the poles.
My favorite part of the whole show was when the announcer lady was stalling for time in between contests.
She pointed over at Mikey and called out that she saw a "future lumberjack" in the audience.
Mikey, wearing his bright red flannel jacket that matched ALL the other lumberjacks in the show, turned around and looked behind him.
Everyone laughed.
After a bit more walking around, the kids decided they wanted "dessert".
Mikey picked a frozen lemonade and a mini corn dog.
I guess a corn dog can be dessert?
We found a bench and listened to an Elvis impersonator while Mikey ate.
Katie got some cotton candy as her dessert.
It was great to be able to enjoy the Fair again, even in its limited COVID capacity.
