Today was the end of an era. Archer Man gave up nursing. Surprisingly, it all unfolded almost exactly the same way weaning went with Quinn. It came down to giving up the final morning one at just shy of 16 months and replacing it with a mug of cow's milk. I'm a little sad my nursing days are done, but most of all I'm so grateful to God that my body was able to feed two healthy babies for almost 32 months! Before I had children, I had no idea how everything would work out in this part of my mothering journey. What a gift!

Since I last wrote, we had the wonderful Littaus visit from the bay area. They just make us feel so loved and I'm so glad our kids can get to know them. 

We celebrated our ninth anniversary by walking to a favorite restaurant for a lovely meal. I love you hubs!!

The kids and I met up with some friends at a creek for some swimming and there were ducklings swimming there too.

We went to our friends' annual Fourth of July bbq. Quinn held about a dozen sparklers and Archer laughed at all the popping sounds from fireworks. 

We had another Sundae Sunday party with roasted strawberry and goat cheese ice cream.

We grew a strange conjoined twin zucchini.

We went camping with a couple neighbor families near Lincoln City. It was our first time in a yurt and it was pretty fun. Archer was mostly into practicing on the stairs, testing out bikes, and climbing into kayaks. Quinn spent most of her time playing ponies with the neighbor girls and picking flowers. 

Today we went to Oaks Park with the neighbors. Quinn went on a ton of rides and had so much fun! I was amazed how brave she was. Archer went on the hot air balloon, carousel, and train rides and seemed to like them.

We had a great time camping at Cape Lookout last weekend with some friends. The weather was perfect, the kids slept decently well, and they all played well together. We celebrated Father's Day there, went for a hike, played in the sand, and hung around the campfire.

There was also lots of smashing faces on mesh, sitting in camp chairs, drawing and pretending, and tackling sissy in her sleeping bag.

Also this week, Archer turned 15 months old! He's still 90th percentile for height and 70th for weight. He's getting pretty confident and quick with walking. He takes Mr. Fox with him all over the place. He still loves dancing and water and is starting to like kicking a ball and playing with cars. Something I hope I don't forget is after he is done eating (tons of) food at a meal, he'll do the sign for all done. If I say, "Are you all done?" he'll do what we call Super All Done and flap his arms like he's trying to fly away. He's got some rad surfer dude hair that's curly when he wakes up. I think I'll leave it long for the summer for the sun protection, but he's already had three mini-haircuts.  He's still just sweet and happy and we love him so much!

We went to the coast last week with Jonathan's family. It was beautiful weather and we were able to play at the beach four different times. Playing in the sand was Quinn's top priority. Archer got his toes in the sand and ocean for the first time. He's been to the coast twice prior, but was asleep in the Ergo both times. He seemed to like it a lot too. It was also nice to get some quality hang out time with everyone. Thanks, Jerry and Nancy for treating us to a nice getaway!

(bottom three photos by Jerry Gowins, http://www.jerrygowins.com)

Summer is flying by! Since I last wrote, we had some friends we met in the bay area come to visit. They are missionaries on the other side of the world and came back for some training. We are both families of four now and we haven't seen them in over two years, but it was amazing how it felt like we just picked up where we left off. It was so good to see them and have our kids play. 

I quietly turned thirty a couple weeks ago. I celebrated by not cooking or cleaning, getting a sweet new watch, some new running shoes, and some treats with friends. I also had Jonathan give me a spontaneous haircut a few days before. We went to Cannon Beach the weekend after and it was a perfect day.

I gave Quinn her first haircut, a tiny trim. She still prefers her hair long and flowing free. We've been hosting some friends for dinner with our grill - still loving that thing! And the routine of lots of playing outside, eating from our garden, and enjoying all the sunshine continues. We had another Sundae Sunday party with blackberry cheesecake ice cream. Such an easy recipe without egg yolks, definitely making it again. And Quinn (kinda) helped pick the blackberries.

Last weekend, Jonathan's parents had us to their house. They took Quinn on her first fishing trip and had her camp in their backyard. She caught two blue gill right away, I hope she doesn't end up thinking that's how fishing normally goes! 

We had a date night last week. We went to a really great place, Prettyman's General, but unfortunately it was a going away party. Our beloved Changs are moving to Amsterdam, waaaah! We are sure going to miss them!

Archer finally had his four month check-up. My yummy little squishable guy is still healthy and right on track. He remains in the 45% for weight and head circumference, but jumped up to 90% for length. He's wearing size nine months for shirts and sleepers! He's chatting, giggling, drooling, and wiggling up a storm. He rolled from back to belly once last week but hasn't since. He wants to so bad! He loves watching Quinn and Shinobi and he seems to like being read to as well. We've also discovered he's pretty ticklish.

I figured I ought to post about our coast trip now, or it will get lost in the mayhem of moving. We had a very nice time. We stayed at a cabin near Lincoln City. The weather was actually fairly clear for January in Oregon. It was great to spend an extended period of time with Jonathan's family.

Lisa, if you're reading this, you'll notice Quinn stayed warm in her little North Face fleece you got her.

Now, we are headed out to get our keys!

We had a lot of fun this weekend in Monterey and Carmel.

We spent the majority of Saturday at Point Lobos. I guess the best way to describe it is that it's a state park that fills almost a whole small peninsula. We started on the Southern part which is made up of all large slabs of rock and has little tide pools in it. We headed North from there and the terrain changed to coarse gravel and cliffs and we could see sea lions and cormorants on the rocks below. Then there were paths we could walk down to access sandy beaches and see even more sea lions. Then back up the path and around the curve and the ground was a soft dirt. We saw an adorable baby bunny during this part. At the Northernmost point we saw harbor seals (in the photo below) and tons of cypress trees. It was like five hikes in one! And weather was perfect the whole time, shortly after we took the photo below it was no longer sweatshirt weather.

We ate dinner in Monterey that night and got ice cream down on Cannery Row. As we were walking around, we counted at least eight different people who muttered to the people they were walking with, "Mmm, ice cream, that sounds good." It was cracking us up. But I think the funniest story was the one involving a seagull. We sat down on some benches and there were tons of seagulls around. One was perched right on top of the garbage can. A prime location. It only had one leg showing and Jonathan felt bad for it. I told him that it had its leg tucked up in its feathers, but he looked really close and was convinced it was a one-legged seagull. I told him the bird was probably just trying to get sympathy points, but Jonathan was already breaking off a small piece of his cone and licking the ice cream off so the bird wouldn't get an upset stomach (his words, not mine). He put the piece of cone near the seagull's beak and the seagull snatched it away instantly. Then it lifted itself a foot in the air above us and started squawking in a way that sounded like a laugh. Wouldn't you know it, his other leg appeared! It was completely hilarious.

Sunday morning we went to brunch at a delicious little restaurant called Katy's Place in downtown Carmel. Then we strolled around downtown and went to the beach. The sand was really soft and I have never seen so many dogs on a beach in my life! They were all so happy and well-behaved too. I think Shinobi would have had fun, but he was staying with the Littaus. 

So that was our little Anniversary getaway. It was very relaxing and just what we needed.

We went to Half Moon Bay on Saturday. There was some morning fog so the beach was pretty empty, works fine for us! Shinobi had a lot of fun digging, running, and sniffing. He's still not too sure about the water though.

On Saturday night I prepped some sourdough cinnamon rolls so that I could throw them in the oven Sunday morning for breakfast to pair with some yogurt and strawberries. I wanted to test out the sweetness before adding the cream cheese frosting that the recipe suggests because Jonathan and I can get "sweeted out" pretty easily. They were delicious without any frosting at all! I'm going to have to start making these on a regular basis. A tip I should share is that it's way easier to cut the rolled up log into individual rolls if you wrap plain dental floss around the spot you want to cut and then tighten it until it slices all the way through.

Tonight, we went on a tour of Google. Our friends Josh and Kate invited us to dinner there. Their cafeteria is insane and we walked all around the campus. It was really fun to see where all the magic happens.

We had a great holiday weekend. Jeff and Julia were in town Saturday through Monday so we spent some time with them. We also got some laboring done: Jonathan started his homework for his new class and I put in some time sanding the table. We also watched some college football. I am very excited that football season is starting again.

On Monday, we got up early and headed to Half Moon Bay to bodyboard with Jeff and Julia. It was ideal weather and the waves were just right. It was nearly impossible to miss one. After we had worked up an appetite, we met our home group plus a few others at a popular fish and chip place and then headed to the beach again. Doesn't get much better than that.

Some photos from the weekend:

Two gallons of perfectly ripe strawberries from the farmers market, sliced and frozen.

Tasty cake made with peaches and strawberries for hanging out with the Littaus.

Bodyboarding at Half Moon Bay. So fun!

What a privilege to enjoy such freedom! Thank you troops past, present, and future.

The weather has been gorgeous lately! We have been taking advantage of it by going to the coast, planning doggie playdates, throwing the frisbee, reading on a blanket in the grass, and planting plants in the pots on our porch. My parents arrived Thursday night for a little visit and we were lucky enough to get to eat outside a lot before they left Saturday afternoon.

Jonathan kidnapped me this morning and took me to Half Moon Bay. The water was so clear I could have sworn I was in Hawaii. I think that the ocean and sand are my reset button in life.

Below is a video of Shinobi playing with his new friend Charlie. Charlie is only 4 months old and very playful. They were just starting to chase eachother so I turned on the camera, but Shinobi got camera-shy. Enjoy!

We went to Santa Barbara for Valentine's/Presidents Day weekend. My family went in 2003 and I loved it so much I have always wanted to go back. For a Christmas gift, Jonathan said I could pick a weekend to go.

There was not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky and it was a comfortable mid-70's the whole time. We ate nearly every meal outside. It was so nice. And we stayed at a great little inn (shown below). I took a lot of pictures of the architecture because it is so beautiful; white-washed stucco, red roofs, black wrought iron, colorful tile, and flowering clinging vines and trees. When we have a house one day, I would love to have a kitchen that reflects the Santa Barbara essence.

We walked up and down the beaches and saw a lot of different birds. Jonathan's favorites were the pelicans. We walked to the end of Stearn's Wharf and to the end of State Street. We were strolling around by the harbor and heard a bagpipe playing in the distance and followed the tune until we got to the top of a hill overlooking the wharf. A woman was practicing her bagpipe so we sat and listened and took in the view. It was one of our favorite parts of the trip. 

It was such a nice weekend away after the busy weeks we have had lately.