Well, "Sun" of a Gun

This girl likes her some sunspots!!

Another Caleb Cute

Caleb is cute.  I think most everybody who knows the lad would agree with that, but I will admit, I am biased. 

He apparently does not care for the fact that Mom works.  Why?  Dunno...  You'd have to pry that out of the boy yourself.

So when Mom was compiling a list of things to do for the day, Calebber kept trying to get her to add "wrap mah birthday present" to the list.  She would not, stating that she did not need it on a list to get that done. It would be fun.  

So he added garlic and one other item to Mom's list that she did not see until she was at the store.

His last item:  "Stay home forever" with some creative spelling.

I love my boys!

Vacation 2015, #14 - Oregon Lighthouses

Back to last years vacation when I need this years the most!!

Well, maybe not the most, but I'm in need of one and while I plead with God that it's not a LONG vacation, I could certainly use a good one.

In this post, we find ourselves somewhere on the Oregon coast, I really can't remember where at this point, where it is beautiful.  I'm guessing there are few places on that coast where it isn't absolutely gorgeous.

Not sure that needs a caption...

This is up inside the lantern room at the top of the lighthouse.

One of my favorite pics thru the red glass in the lantern room.  That's Rob and Caleb just left of center and the overall reflection you see is me in the main glass holding my cel phone camera.   See it?

Little Calebber is on the other side of the red, if you can spot him.

That's the "wick" and respective spiral glass bottom, with a shot of a person heading down the spiral staircase in the background.

A shot from the walk-way around the base of the lighthouse...  obviously, a terrible place to live.

The hike back up to the parking lot where we find our exhausted van waiting for more driving!

This is, apparently, at Cape Meares.

A short walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse.

You'd swear it was penguins out on that rock but what looks like snow is this birds "output" and a bird guy/specialist who was taking photos told us what this bird is.  Hint:  "not penguins".   Oh, and I have no idea what the heck the feathered things are anymore...

Mobile Chaos Unit in various states of joy.

The second lighthouse that we visited without really visiting.  It was getting a bit late in the day and this photo is zoomed in quite a bit.  It was another LONG walk to get there and I believe the silly thing was closed for some reason.

and so it was...

Sickness, Sickness Everywhere!

In sickness and in health... ugh! 

We have been sick!  Caleb started the ball rolling with sniffles and a bit of a cough.  This is the boy who has never been sick in the time since we've brought him home!  Well, to be honest, that's not entirely true...  he has had the sniffles before with plugged sinuses that you could hear when he talked.  But that was only one time and lasted for about 2.5 days!

This time it got worse to the point of him ASKING for medicine!  Yikes.

So, on a fine Monday afternoon, Momma took him to the doctor and the boy had gotten the flu.  I was home with him Tuesday thru Friday of last week.  Thankfully, I have a job where I can work from home as needed and a boss who always says, "family first".

Then on Friday, Robby stayed home with us as he "produced" evidence that he wasn't right.  Double yikes!!

I have been in and out of this whole mess with lesser variations of everything the boys can drum up.  Sunday night, Robby gets a little worse while Caleb gets better.  Monday, we're all off to work and school and all seems okay with the world.  

Tuesday, Robby fights going to school and obviously has a sore throat, but plenty of energy to talk non-stop and be mouthy in his usual way.  He looks and feels BAD Tuesday afternoon when I picked up the boys.

Wednesday, Caleb is fantastic, Robby stays home but seems better than the previous day.

Thursday Robby seems fantastic, didn't even mention staying home even though Daddy clearly was.  Not too mention, I left work a bit early on Wednesday when I was sure I could get home without a stop at a gas station... if you know what I mean.

About 12:30 today (Thursday) I get a call from school.  It seems that Robby passed out in music class and in the process, hit his head.  Now rest easy, there are no signs of impact or lacerations or concussion or anything else.  That part is fine.   But he did hazard a trip to the urgent care clinic to find out that he does indeed have strep throat.  

Good for us all...   So, I'll be home again tomorrow with the lad.

On with the pictures, shall we?

The day prior to sickness befalling our place of dwelling.  This is how Robby and Juno the Beast watch tv together.  It's not very lady-like, but she must be comfortable because she always comes back for more.

There is sickness...  The boy on his second day of feeling absolutely miserable.  I took his picture and he said, "Daddy, no facebook.".   So, I'll put it on the family blog instead.

Sick boy and his dog that Friday evening after missing school.  This nap and the subsequent overnight rest seemed to be his turning point.

This is the boys and their new haircuts.  It was taken before school this morning and quite frankly, looking at it now, I can tell that Robby is a little pale, but the lips and eyes still have color unlike when he normally gets really sick.

Couple of hams...

Winter, Spring, Sum... Winter, Spring...

With a winter storm bearing down on our lovely state of Iowa, I figured that it would be decent of me to post a quick pic of the first Spring that we had, which ended a few days ago. 

Those are our two plants of chives that were left over from last year.  Note, I used them all last year and they were cut flat with the ground.  I did not till them up in the Fall, figuring that I'd see what happens.  Well, THAT is what happens!  This pic was taken in the first week of March so they had grown up to nearly six inches from the Fall-cut height.

Now all we need is some Cheddar-Tater soup!

Vacation 2015, #13 - Oregon... It's Supper Time!

This was a "bucket list" item for dear ol' Dad!  I had heard of this place, called The Pelican, from a magazine article in a fine publication called All About Beer.  The photos in the mag were fascinating and beautiful and the real thing did not disappoint!  It is located in Pacific City, Oregon and is purt 'near in the ocean.

We opted to eat out on the patio since it wasn't crazy windy and our food would not be extra crunchy due to flying sand.

I thought we had more photos of the entire crew, but this seems to be the lone survivor (well, and about 3 more that look almost identical).

And I know that everybody that looked at that first picture was dying to know more about the beers!  So here 'tis!  That Tsunami Stout was the stuff legends are made of!  The other varied in quality from pretty good to one of them that was not very good at all. 

That group of three peeps just to the middle/right of the photo is Lesley, Robby and Caleb.  The three of them could be at the ocean all day for several days in a row.  Me, not so much but it would help if there was a brew pub this close at EVERY stop!! That magnificent rock is called Haystack Rock.

A bit closer...

Caleb wanted to climb the big sand dune that was somewhat near the restaurant, so me, being a good dad who had just grossly overeaten, said, "sure!".   Oh man, that little spider monkey took off up that thing on hands and knees like he had a motor!  I did great at first...  bout the first 100 feet.  I was disassembling!  Caleb was encouraging me constantly saying, "C'mon Daddy!  You can do this.  You're doing great."  pppppttttthhhhh...

That's him waiting up on that ridge for me.  I finally told him that I couldn't go any further and he obliged my big, over-sized butt.

Even in my hyperventilating state, I had the good sense to turn around and snap a picture before sliding back down the loose sand (which is really fun, btw!).  You see that long, gray-looking building on the left of the photo in the greenish area?  The Pelican restaurant resides at the far end of that, with a wide swath of sand between the hotel and eatery.  I was a bit shocked at how far we had gone and how far we have to go to get back!!

This was from where our van was parked.  I included it as I didn't want to say goodbye!

This was back on the beach by our campground when Momma, Aunt Molly and the boys walked over to the beach to watch the sunset over the ocean.  Me?  I was back at the campground, getting a fire going, repacking the van and sorting the beers that I had purchased for myself and for trading with a cousin of mine...

And so be it!  Another fun day on the West Coast is "in the books".

Vacation 2015, #12 - Oregon, Octopus Tree

Here we find ourselves at the Octopus Tree at Cape Meares Oregon. Do we know how old the tree is? Nope. We'd have to chop down the gorgeous specimen to obtain at least a accurate guess. 

However, it is believed to be so old that then original Indians of the area used it to house their dead in it, in canoes, so it's possible that it's an old burial site.  

Is it really? Who knows...   What we do know is that it provides some beautiful sites!

Beautiful site, #1!

I took this shot for some reason... what was that reason?   Who knows?

That big rock, with it's tunnels, out in the ocean.

The octopus tree...

The actual tree.  It's beautiful in person.  The pics do NOT do it justice.

Those two guys who light up my heart!

A lovely shot of the path from the previous pics back up to where the Mobile Chaos Unit's vehicle was parked.