first real vacation

We just got back from 5 glorious days at the Oregon coast for Chris' birthday. I had originally planned on surprising him with the trip - I even worked out the time off with his boss - but then Chris got sick and I was worried about him not being able to go, so I spilled the beans. DAMN! You all know how much I suck at surprises, and almost pulled this one off.

We had amazing weather for the first few days. Seriously it was amazing. In the 60's, sunny, no wind. We were on the beach in t-shirts and no shoes, and not wishing for our booties, jackets, hats, etc. The boys had a great time running around, yelling, throwing rocks, eating sand, feeding the caca-birds (seagulls), watching Riley poop (Skye was very interested in this!), and just having some quiet fun family time. Grandma Foxley, my mom, came for a few days and that was so great for the boys. They love her and love spending time with her - and I appreciate the extra hands.

Chris got to do a 14 mile hike from Arch Cape to Manzanita, and was a very happy boy. Last big hike before the 40th hit. I look forward to the days that we can do parts of hikes with the boys. Forrest loves being outside - he has since he was just days old. He wakes up, looks outside and says "side, side, side" or "walk, walk, walk". More than once we caught him trying to sneak out the door and outside when we weren't looking. Skye will tell anyone who asks that the water at the coast is "brrrr, cold", he had the unfortunate experience of falling face first into the tide our first moments on the beach. We were running from the waves and I told him to run, and he turned and ran straight out into the water! Needless to say he took a digger in the soft sand and went down like a log. I cracked up, but he was not amused. It did keep him out of the water the rest of the week.

Forrest really is his father's son. There were times on the beach that he just wandered around singing to himself in his own little world. More than once we'd see him lie down in the sand, put his face right up to it and just look at it. He wasn't doing it for anyone to look at, just taking it all in. I had to keep a close eye on that one, I'd look away for a moment and find him 30 ft away either walking or running towards something that only he could see. Or he'd be off trying to catch the crows on the beach, and didn't understand that he wasn't going to actually get them. It was so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. There is an internal sweetness to this little boy that makes me feel so grateful to be his mom. He can be a holy terror and make me want to poke his eyes out for sure, but there are other moments that the sweet babyness comes out and I just pick him up and kiss him as many times as he can handle it. I figure I better get those kisses in before he thinks he's too big to be kissed by his mama.

Skye did really well with the transition from our house to a new house. As long as we tell him we are all going together, and he is coming home with us, there's not an issue. My favorite surf shop owner gave him a woody replica - that would be a surf truck by ford! - and he not only held that thing all the way home from the beach, but slept with it as well.

Now Forrest is sick, running a temp and we are taking it slow today. It's hard to see your little one feel so punk. He was really warm last night, but I figured it was b/c the heater was up to high - it was really warm in his room for a while - but he was still really hot when he woke up today. Now he's sleeping and I hope we'll burn through whatever is plaguing his little body soon - he is not a fun sicko!