A Scrap of Life

Sorry I've been bad at posting lately. As always, life gets in the way of blogging. And lots of life has been going on lately. Life is definitely keeping us busy.

The good news is that I am DONE teaching summer camps for this season. YEAH! Now summer can actually begin and maybe I can get some stuff done around here ... like cleaning the house! LOL

On the other side of the coin, life is still busy, busy, busy. I'm just about ready to head off to take Chase to National Youth Leadership Training for Boy Scouts. He is soooo excited that he was chosen by the troop leaders to go to this week-long leadership camp but even more than that, he's excited to learn how to become a better leader and scout.

On a similar note, Chase held his Eagle Scout project a few weekends ago. It went remarkably well. I can't wait to blog about it and share pictures, but that will have to wait for another time.

For now, here's pictures of some things I've missed posting.

Chase and Carissa tested for their first belt rank in Taekwondo. They started 3 months ago, when Tristan moved to a new dojang. We've all been so happy with the move and with Master Maye and the kids are all enjoying it. Here's Chase doing forms,

doing some sparring,

and breaking boards.

And here's Miss Riss getting some pointers from her sparring "coach" (the kids coach for each other, giving each other pointers on how to do better while sparring),

kicking some butt in a sparring match,

and breaking boards.

Here are the two with their new belts (white with black stripe) and their instructor, Master Maye. They were supposed to be doing their fighting faces here. LOL

We also went to Newport for a few days of rest and relaxation. We had a great time. Here's Carissa with a what's left of a HUGE smores... we found these giant marshmallows that make a double-size smores, but they are also a huge mess. See all the marshmallow in her hair? Oh well, it's awfully cute to be covered in marshmallow. My late best friends daughters, Jayde and Kaitlyn, came with their grandma to come visit us at the campsite. Jayde and Chase are the same age and were having some fun together. Jayde decided to wear Chase's hat

so we thought it only fitting that Chase should wear Jayde's headband... with a little "help" from Dad.

Chase and Tristan participated in the "gummy bear challenge." They are working on actually remembering their boy scout knots (they do them but forget how a day later). So we held this challenge to see who could finish knots first. Chase won one round, Tristan won the other. And since the winner got gummy bears, they were happy to participate! LOL
We took the kids to Yaquina Head Natural Scenic Area and to this place - the lighthouse near where I grew up. It was windy and a bit chilly, but fun anyways. This is my favorite pic from the trip, the kids walking up to the lighthouse.

A trip to Newport isn't complete without a trip to the Marine Science Center. Who can beat free? We were bummed to miss the octopus feeding, since we've watched it online via their live web cam. Guess we'll just have to watch it online for now and go see it in person another time.

While looking through the exhibits the kids climbed behind this one and peeked through the glass. See their faces in the background? We stayed at South Beach State Park and went to the beach there, which was beautiful and calm in the morning. Brian's dad kept walking with the boys

and Tucker had a hey-day running around and chasing his floaty toy in the surf.

This, I think, is one of my fave pics of the boys together. They're always doing this - hanging out with one another. They still are good friends and I love that about their relationship!

Well, that's all I've got time for now. Off to NYLT we go...