Seizing My Day

This is my sista

KK

she funny.

We may or may not be mocking these fairy sunglasses at this moment

what on earth was that designer thinking?

I apologize if you like said fairy sunglasses….

I am sorry… really I am…

I don’t know why they made us laugh so hard! =)

anyway…

KK and I spent a LONG time in the car Friday..

just to spend 2 nights in Depoe Bay Oregon

before we spent a LONG time in the car on Sunday …

We stopped at Cannon Beach long enough to put our feet in the sand

and mock fairy sunglasses

before driving the rest of the way to Depoe Bay …

We arrived kinda late on Friday …

It didn’t seem crazy at the time we planned it… but that was a LOT of driving!

next time I think we would stay longer or go some where much closer! 

Saturday We played on Agate Beach Oregon

not to be confused with Agate Beach California

Beautiful!!  look at that sand!

yet there was not a shell nor an agate anywhere to be found!!

just beautiful  sand ~ under a sea of fog ~ which lifted as we were leaving!

The lack of shells & agates was odd for a beach called Agate beach!!

Funny!

Then we visited The Devils Punchbowl & Otter Rock

both of which were beautiful!!

Definitely worth stopping to admire and play if you have the time!

odd though

not a devil nor an otter were anywhere to be found there either!

snicker snicker  =)

I am hopeless!!

We saw a crazy man feeding these crazy squirrels

which you could pet if you were dumb enough to do so

We watched a wee fight break out between 2 squirrels

while a boy was petting them by the peanut bag

he could have lost a finger!!!

*shudder*

wild animals are exactly that

wild

don’t feed wild animals people!!

We fed a raccoon at our back door once…

Big mistake!!  just sayin!!

anywho…

We spent the rest of our afternoon shopping in Depoe Bay

the shops were a little too touristy

We didn’t come home with any treasures… =)

It was a lovely getaway with one of my sisters…

though next time I think we won’t drive so far!

I think we spent more time in the car than we did ‘playin’ …

oops!  =)

and I realized I thrive on exploring

I think I need to learn how to relax more!!

maybe?

what do you think KK??  =)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do you all do to “relax”  … especially when you are away for a few days?

do you prefer to explore or lay by the pool with a book?   or something like that?

curious minds want to know!  =)

Is that you have Fun plans every other weekend!!  =)

Last week I was here

with my babies and my man!

And this weekend

I will be somewhere down here

with my sister!

No KIDS!!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Have a great weekend!  =)

See ya all Monday!

Jenn~

Because of this BEAST

I will never ever EVER walk barefoot in my backyard again!

Ever!

*shudder*

I will wear boots.

Big, Knee high, leather, work boots.

with Steel toes!

IF I even GO in my own back yard ever again!

Bad bad kitty!

brought this home yesterday!

I mean as if dead bird parts are not horrible enough to deal with!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!??

Nana proudly brought that horrible slithery reptile to my back door!!

*shudder*

I thought maybe it was dead

since it did not move the entire time I freaked out!

I may have screamed like a little girl

ran around like a chicken

cried for my mommy

sucked my thumb

and made an absolutely frantic idiotic display of myself in front of the neighbors

and my children

where on earth is my man when I NEED him!! ??

how could he go to work at a time like this??

*cough, cough*

After I acted like a raving lunatic

I bravely poked the darn thing with my shovel

and it did NOT move

therefore I figured it was dead

safe to pick it up with the shovel

and HUCK it into the woods behind my house

like we do with all the other dead critters we “receive”

there are perks to having scary trees that blow in the wind behind your house

anywho

Look at those injuries (if you dare)

surely it was dead right?

Alright!

I guess maybe he IS looking right at me

with those beady little creepy eyes

planning its attack…

creepy snake!

anyway yesterday I was NOT rational

I was terrified!

I was trying to save my babies from the horrible slithering creepy reptile

that the stupid cat drug in

so I figured he was dead because I wanted it to be dead!

that would have made the whole thing less horrible!

So I picked the darn twisted thing up in the shovel

and you know what it did?

stuck out its tongue at me

and slithered right off the shovel

at which point I really flipped my lid

and dropped the shovel, screamed like a little girl, and did the “I am freaked out dance” before I jumped onto the steps of the porch waving my arms like a lunatic… screaming the whole time of course!  I nearly peed my pants and cried all at once!   or something like that!

and then I asked my daughter for the camera again

(she had been holding since I took the “I thought it was dead” picture)

So ~ I sucked it up

stepped off the porch

and tried to capture his picture slithering around

sticking out his tongue at me

before I bravely chopped the sucker in half with my shovel….

which I never got the chance to do

and I would probably NOT be able to bring myself to do anyway

but it seemed right to try to kill the creepy slithering creepy snake

But the slithering little sucker got away!!

right after I snapped this picture

right after he stuck his tongue out at me!

it just disappeared in that small patch of grass

and now…

he lives  under my patio

I am sure of it!

Growing into a giant slithering reptile

who will slither up my leg  one day while I am walking bare foot in my grass

*shudder*

SEE now  I will have to wear boots with steel toes for the rest of the summer

or use my neighbors back yard

because I will never EVER step bare foot onto my grass again

Ever.

Until next week.

ever.

So there.

I confess.

I fall apart at the seams when there is a small slithering snake present!

so why ?

why is it that I can hold this?

without fear?

Go figure?

I might have gotten a little worried when it started wrapping around my leg there…

Apparently I am not afraid of giant pet snakes

but don’t come anywhere near me with a small slithery looking snake

Thank you very much!

There you have it.

I’m a chicken!

sometimes.

=)

What is the worst thing your cat has brought home?

that is if you have a cat

or had a cat

maybe your neighbors cat brings you things?

do you want to know what my cat is doing now?

how can she lay around and pretend like NOTHING happened yesterday?!

=)

Jenn

Have you ever seen a 30 some odd foot high ox?

or

a 49 foot 2 inch Paul Bunyan?

Facts:

My nearly 5 foot tall children are standing on Paul’s boot.

Paul is nearly 50 feet .

The tree pictured below is nearly 300 feet

The worlds tallest tree which fell in 1991 was 370 feet

The current worlds tallest tree is 360 some odd feet

It is also in the Redwoods

but we didn’t see it to my knowledge

We did walk on the fallen worlds tallest tree

before we saw this Paul Bunyan

and this giant tree

which  is 300 feet

that is 6 of those Paul Bunyans stacked one on top of the other

the same Paul Bunyan that my children are standing on.  =)

Perspective!

Crazy, eh?!

You can find Paul about 11 miles  outside of Crescent City CA (I think)

At The Trees of Mystery

where you can walk a trail and view some funky tall trees

before riding this up up UP into the forest

for the low low price of $43 dollars for a family of four

(or something like that) =)

even on a cloudy day

it is a fun little adventure

for the scary ride into the deep dark forest!

WAY up in the Sky!

did I mention scary?

don’t let those semi smiling faces fool ya…

they were scared too!

my heart stopped every time our cable car rolled over the support Poles

the poles holding the pully thing

At the top there is a small board walk

but the view was less than spectacular

on this particular cloudy coastal day

not even worth showing you ~ I swear!

We did spy this beauty up there

it is a fallen tree with 5 or 6 trees growing off of the fallen trunk!

New Life sprouting off of old growth ~ Crazy!

If my memory serves me correctly

the Redwood trees do not depend on a root base for growth!

Amazing.

Crazy.

Oh. Speaking of Crazy.

on our way up the trail to the sky train we saw

The wedding cathedral trees (??)

people actually book real weddings here

they get married standing in front of these 300 some odd feet high cathedral trees!

I don’t get it…

odd.

I wonder how much dough it costs?!  =)

hello … google?

it was however worth the $43 some odd dollars we paid

to go into the Trees of Mystery

We enjoyed it.

and Paul even winked at me!

Really!

Just before we went to the Trees of Mystery

We were at this lovely beach…

It was only $8 to visit

and I love love loved it there!

Though the trek down was a little unsettling…

Agate Beach in Patricks Point State Park

was beautiful!!

seriously

those who come down the scary trail

only make it about 20 to 40 feet down the beach

before they sit

and and start to dig in the sea of rocks

looking for agates

pretty stones

beautiful rocks

Everyone just sits around on the sea of rocks and digs

it is so funny!

I am not sure why I did not take pictures of the groups of people digging!

Everyone leaves with pockets FULL of rocks

Hysterical!

I had to be dragged off the beach by my family!!

I LOVED it!

2 hours is how long we stayed

if even that ~ it was tragic!

I would plan a whole day there next time.

we didn’t explore much down that gorgeous coast line

*sigh*

we had to hike up the unsettling trail backwards

with an extra 25 lbs in our pockets.

Fine… maybe not exactly 25 lbs.

well now THAT is just embarrassing!

*ahem*

We did find a few true agates ~ I think?

I need to Go back there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

are you done hearing about my trip yet?

because tomorrow I have the MOST beautiful place to show you!

Our world is plum full of incredible places to see!

Blessings~

Jenn

The Redwoods ~

are big trees

crazy big trees

soooooooooo big

you can drive through it  =)

Soooo  big

when you are 4 foot 8 inches

or 4 foot 4 inches

you have to jump really high in the air to touch the top

of the bottom of the tree!  =)

I live in Washington

We have trees

thousands of trees

but these are seriously BIG trees!  =)

you can go in them

IN them

and look up a couple hundred feet

and see a hole made by lightening

that caused the inside of the tree to burn away

yet there is plenty of tree left to make a cool room in it

that you could host a small dinner party in if you wanted to!

it even has a door in it!

Crazy!

and this tree

has a giant growth on it

I forget what these giant growths are called ~ anyone???

aren’t they creepy weird?

the base on this tree alone is massive

never mind the giant mass!

yikes!

I asked my 6 foot tall man to stand next to this creepy huge mass

on this massive tree trunk

to add perspective

then I tested him

and asked him to touch the creepy mass!

because I am weird that way!  =)

it seriously creeped me out ~ ew!

but it did fascinate me too!

and Look at THIS tree …

that fell to the ground once upon a time

(I would not have wanted to be around when THIS tree feel to the ground!~)

remember my man is about 6 feet tall!

Look at the base of this obscenely large tree!!

just lying around in the middle of the Redwood forest

here are my almost 5 feet tall kids

more than 6 feet high up

standing in the center of the root base of this tree!!

AWE!!

and it isn’t even the worlds largest tree!!

Here is my family standing on the crumbled trunk of what used to be the worlds tallest tree ~ 370 some odd feet high ~ before it fell in 1991.

Can you imagine the sound?

The rumble?

Amazing!

this is a shot about half way down the 370 foot tree

the kids walked the entire length of the tree

can you see them??  =)

Are you tired of looking at these amazing trees yet?

I can not tell you how many massive trees we stood in like this

in a crack

in the trunk

of an obscenely large tree

I started saying “yeah yeah… you’ve seen one giant tree you’ve seen them all”  =)

but I didn’t mean it ~

They really make you stand in awe

complete and utter amazement

that they grew from a seed once upon a time!

The scary trees that blow in the wind in my back yard

pale in comparison!

Each massive tree made me feel so tiny.

Each massive tree gave me the feeling of total AWE.

Awe:  the overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration; a mixed feeling of reverence, fear and wonder caused by something majestic!

They were just trees.

but

Trees made by the same God who created me.

The same God who cares about my every breath.

The same God who loves me unconditionally.

The God whom I stand in Awe of ~ all He is and Does and has done and will do ~

in my little life.

Nature always brings my heart into a place of  awe with God.

Just think … Even when the Giant trees fall…

They give back to the earth and to the animals.

The fallen tree has a purpose.

In the same way my life has a purpose.

Even when I feel like that fallen tree.

or the hollowed out tree.

or the giant tree with a massive growth on it.

or the giant tree still standing in all its wonder.

They are all uniquely made by God ~

and they all have made millions stand in awe ~

of their beauty and wonder and mystery

uniquely their own.

I know God can and does use us more than He uses those amazing trees ~

to bless those around us.

to feed the earth.  =)

If we feel hollowed out, fallen or lumpy ~ God can and will use those things or times in our life to reveal Himself to  others ~ in his perfect beautiful plan ~ just as we are!

Those trees have no idea how beautiful they make the world ~

they are just trees.    =)

xo Jenn

PS

Yesterdays post was photographed on the  Southern Oregon Coast and Crescent City California!  =)

I was here

and here

looking at this

with this guy

and these guys

wait a second !!

who are these guys??

and how did they get there?

I was with THESE guys

leaping

jumping

dancing

there is something about the beach….

*sigh*

a week ago we were here

The weather was a little cooler than we expected

but we didn’t mind

we found some castles to play in

and logs to crawl walk through

Can you guess where we were on day 1 and 2 of our road trip??  

I’ll give you one clue… it was on the coast!  (ha ha ha ha)

well that was an easy clue

I am afraid I am not very good at this

another obvious clue, eh?

ok these babies won’t help you at all…

but aren’t they sweet …

This baby might give you a clue..

but don’t mess with his mama or his papa!

We are soaking up God’s beautiful creation

and all the creatures that come across our path!

Bliss!

I will be back soon I promise!

See you later this week!

Blessings!

Jenn~

a few young ladies

a mom or two …

will do

a few blank  canvases

paper

scissors

ribbons

buttons

a little paint

all being transformed

with a little help from the magic collage pauge

these little ladies

now hold priceless works of art!

Happy young ladies!

After 3 busy crafty fun filled days…

I am one tired momma!

oh ~ but it didn’t stop me …

the days fun was not done!

a little parent child soccer scrimmage game anyone?

the coach with his daughter…

aka my hubs with my daughter!  =)

The last game of the season was Monday night…

for the league Abby plays in …

One of our mom’s suggested we play parents against soccer girls instead of an end of the season “pizza” party… SO brilliant!  Good to be out and active instead of eating all that cheese!!  right?  right…

I scored a goal on the soccer field for the first time in my life tonight!!

does it count if I scored it against a bunch of 10 year old girls??

Stop laughing at me!!  =)

The girls beat us parents by a couple goals… I am sure we weren’t “too easy” on them!!  =)

Alrighty good then…

anyone interested in seeing those tie dye shirts we made?!

yep… had to do that today too!  =)

rinse, rinse, rinsed, soaked in vinegar, washed and dried now!

Beautiful!!   colorful!  cheery!

The kids can’t wait to wear them!

tomorrow I am switching gears for a little beach fun coming up!!

Bliss I tell you pure bliss!

I heart the beach!

I tell ya all about it tomorrow!

ta ta for now…

my pillow is calling!

Butterfly Butterfly

Happy all Day!

Today we sewed Butterflies ~ Adorable ~ simple ~ Darling Butterflies!

A Beautiful Craft I found on another blog

and have forgotten where I found it!!

Oh NO!!

Please Please…

if I found this idea on your blog

comment and I will shout you out!!  =)

*** Update ***  It was Jill from A Pocket Full of Posies ***

That is where I found this Wonderful craft idea!

*sigh*

I am hopeless!

(I think my little chick is a happy camper this week!)  =)

anyway…

the girlys loved doing this project

at our very own Camp Sparkle!

They traced, sewed, giggled and laughed all day!

The butterflies turned out darling!!

I think they  would have stayed all day

and the butterflies would have multiplied!!

another grown up would have been nice to tie knots and such…

I got a little stressed at times trying to keep up with them!!

I will plan that better next time … =)

but we laughed it off…

or maybe eating the Pioneer Woman’s  Texas Sheet Cake made it all better?!

And Then there was Merlin…

well…

you all know he HAD to be involved too!

*sigh*

wanna see what he did today?

he stole a tracing pattern…

no biggie…

we had tons.

but I don’t have tons of this!!!   grrrr……..

naughty puppy!

there are days..

when I threaten to take him back to where we got him…

and ask for an older model!

He also chewed a flip flop (no picture)

and he escaped out the back door TWICE!!

again no picture ~

I was busy looking for him the speedy little sucker!

that is his new trick ~

bolting out the back door!!

grrr……….

these little rascals didn’t help…

they are the ones who left the door open!!

All is Well…

every one was happy and HERE at the end of it all!  =)

speaking of the end.

THE END.

I am tired.

Whipped.

I should be in bed.

no fancy writing tonight (this morning)

Oh ~ yes I am a night owl… a stupid one… =)

really Good night.

The End!

Inspired by Nancy at The Goat and the Kid ~

we are now officially in full swing of Camp Sparkle!  =)

After seeing Nancy’s posts about hosting a fun little craft week which she called Camp Cre8 Sparkle…

I knew right away that I wanted to do something similar while my niece would be staying with us this summer!

What a great idea Nancy!!  Thank you!

My little girl invited few of her girlys

Who are joining us for a few days of fun and crafts ~

of which we started today!

Today …

today was tie dye… Oh My!

the colors

so bright and beautiful!

giggle, giggle…

one of the girlys made a monkey shaped tie dye twisted shirt…

snicker, snicker…

forgot to tell her I love monkeys

mind you …

if she looked around my kitchen…

anywho…

I invited my sister Linda…

Sister Linda was a HUGE help today!

I would not have survived tie dye day without her!!

Thank you sister!!!

we used spray bottles and squeeze bottles

from 2 kits I purchase more than a year ago!!  =)

*sigh* at least I finally got around to using them this time!

while I am confessing my um…

bad habits? weaknesses?  blond moves?

in my not so intelligent moments today

I (we) did not wear gloves that were supplied in the tie dye kit

so my (our)  hands got a little … uh…

colorful !

The kids had a GREAT time

everyone was smiling ALL DAY long

love that!!

see his sweet little grin while he worked!

They all seemed proud of their work

and I love loved all of the laughter

it was a FUN day

and some of us even got a little crazy …

this little crazy was teaching me to rap dance properly

apparently….

or somethin…

=)

of course Merlin HAD to be involved somehow

he did get a little dye on his paws

and tried to pull a few things off the tie dye table

but we were a little too messy to get pics…

so you’ll have to settle for the one of him running off with the container =)

Today… this is what we accomplished…

tie dye city

and a few Happy Campers!

Want to know what we are doing tomorrow?

You didn’t think I was really going to tell you did you?  =)

I will show you what I made to snack on…

any guesses on exactly what it is??

snicker snicker…

I am so mean…

I know…

I can’t  help myself!  =)

busy busy day & a late night right now…

tomorrow about 2 pm PST I will have some free time…

I hope to come visit y’all then!

one at a time of course!

ta ta for now!

Jenn~