Pacific Ballroom Dancing

A couple weeks ago the girls and I, along with my friend, Kim and her girls had a "girls night" out. We went to the mall to help Kim's daughter find a dress, ate dinner out and then went to see the Pacific Ballroom Dancing. This isn't something I would have thought of going to (or know about), but Kim told us about it and thought it would be a fun night out......and she was right! The costumes and dancing were incredible! Some of the songs took Kim and I back a few (or several) years......the first song/dance was "The Hustle". It was great!
I wasn't sure if the pictures would turn out very good, since the room was dark (except for the stage, of course), but they actually didn't turn out too bad. The first picture is when they were doing "The Hustle"!

Camping at Ft. Stevens, Oregon

Our home away from home.


Camping isn't "camping" without smores!



Now THAT'S a cannon!



We thought about leaving them there - but they got out!! RATS!!!


Amanda's first "car".



Iredale Ship that wrecked over 100 years ago.


Over the Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to go camping. One of our favorite places to go is called Ft. Stevens, which is near Astoria, Oregon. It is such a fun place to visit. There are old military bunkers that are so much fun to look through. This last weekend they had a History Day Hunt. There were pictures of how things looked when they were built during the Civil War and used during the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. We've been there several times, but this was the first time they had displays set up with pictures, timelines, etc. It was incredible to look at pictures taken during the "active years" to compare with how it looks now. The girls absolutely loved learning about some history in the Pacific Northwest. There are also miles and miles of bike trails. We had a good time riding from the campsite to the various military bunkers and to the beach (where there was a shipwreck over 100 years ago). Part of the ship is still on (and under) the beach. We had a lot of fun spending time as a family and being in the outdoors for a few days.

HOT, HOT, HOT.......

Yesterday (Saturday) we hit record "highs". Our normal temperature for this time of year is in the mid 60's - but yesterday the temp was in the 90's!!! Of course, yesterdy Samantha also just happened to have 2 games (fastpitch) and the games were at 10:00 and 12:00! When we were leaving for the games (at 9:45) and the temp was already ,more than 10 degrees higher than the normal - we knew we were in trouble. Samantha and her friend, Amy, took the ice packs from the ice chest and put them on their heads to try and cool down in between the games. Amy's parents brought big umbrella's to sit under, so they took them over, too, before hitting the ballfield again. I was able to get the greatest picture of Sam sliding in to Home Base - so I couldn't resist adding that picture, too. Between all of us, I think we used about a gallon of sunblock! Even though it was hot, it was still great to see the sun out again. After we got home from the games, the girls ran in the sprinklers to get some sort of relief. The houses around here don't have air conditioners, so Andy and I just sat around "vegging".