Back to School Celebration

Our back to school celebration this year took on a Medieval theme. Sienna, Tristan and Conlan were all starting school again and this year cousin Caydon will be starting kindergarten this year. Everyone came dressed up and we had some fun games and activities for the kids. We started off the celebration with everyone pulling a sword from the stone and getting their "new" name. Some of the names were: Sir Laughs a Lot, Princess Drool, Lady Ga Ga of Dyva. Then we rescued the damsel in distress from the fire breathing dragon. The kids launched marshmallows with a catapult. Then we had everyone visit the falconry and make origami birds. Then we went on a search for the holy grail and everyone got a goblet to decorate with jewels. Feasting and merriment commenced over lunch and we completed the day with a dragon cake. Whew...what a day!

Audra was the Princess of Darkness and Steven was the Frog Prince

Grandma the jester
Bree was the Princess Sleepy Head

Here is the whole gang minus Emmalina

Swords in the Stone

Aislinn pulls the Sword and gets her new name

Conlan was Sir Laughs A Lot

Tristan takes aim at the dragon

The ominous dragon guarding the princess

The Holy Grail has been found. Let the jewling begin.

The Dragon cake

The origami birds in all their glory

Aisy found some pretty red shoes to wear of Aunties!

Beach Party

The long awaited beach party finally arrived and we could not have asked for a more perfect day! We hope everyone had a great time, we sure did! It was fabulous to see so many friends and family. Once again, we did a horrible job in taking pictures (we were having such a great time that we just forgot), but here are some to give you an idea of the day! We had such a fun time we are going to do it again next year!

Grandma Barbara and Aisy girl taking a break from their sea shell search (say that 3 times fast)

Audra and Evelyn

Shane and Caydon

Nikki and Rory

John and Damara

4 generations: Great-Grandma Barbara, Grandma Roxanne, Jenna, Aislinn & Damara

Sashy, Grammy, Shane & Con

Conlan, Tristan, Chad & Patrick sculpted Titanic 2 and won 2nd place for the sand sculpting contest! Way to go guys!

Sailors and Sirens

Matt, Bry and Demi

Aisy Feeds Demi

Aislinn has been Mommy's little helper with everything. It is only natural that she would want to feed her sister too. She is pretty good at the task, not to mention super cute too! We were finally able to capture it on video for your viewing pleasure.

Oregon Trip

We spent a week up in Oregon with Bryan's family and had so much fun we didn't want to come home. We left the 112 degree heat for the wonderful cool temps in the 60's and 70's. It was fabulous! It was a great bonding time in the car together, but we are not ready to do a 20 hour drive in one day again anytime soon. This country is so beautiful and we got to experience so much of it. The week was super relaxing and we were so happy to get to spend time with family. We stayed with Bryan's Dad and Stepmom on Blue Lake. We spent the week waterskiing, fishing, catching crawfish, chasing the pesky squirrels, visiting OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science Institute), getting some delicious vegan fare, pedicures, birthday celebrations and the gorgeous weather. We made it home safe and sound and hope to be able to make it up there again soon!

On our way up through Northern Nevada

Daddy's Toy

Papa Gary and Con prepping the ski boat

Gaga Sandy and Aisy enjoying a moment

Bryan helping Con get ready for skiing

Con's first attempt at water skiing

4 generations of the McCoy men

The McCoy women

At OMSI exploring

Aislinn getting her first big girl pedi

Happy Father's Day Daddy

We started the day off with some breakfast in bed. Okay so it wasn't exactly breakfast, more like smoothies. We had brumch reservations and we didn't want to spoil our appetites. We headed to the Urban Tea Loft for some yummy food and wonderful tea. Then spent the day at the pool. It was a great day! Happy Father's Day Bryan! Our kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful Daddy! :)

Conlan, Aislinn & Bryan on the lazy river

Damara & Jenna hangin out at the kiddie pool

Camping

We took a family camping trip this past weekend. We went camping with Jenna's family (Mom, 2 sisters, nieces, nephews, and Audra's boyfriend and 4 boys). The kids outnumbered the adults, there were 12 of them! We headed up to the refuge of the cool mountains, and it was a wonderful escape from the summer heat. We got to the campsite Friday afternoon for set-up and spent most of weekend enjoying each others company and relaxing. So nice! Although not the best night's sleep for the McCoys. Roughing it on the hard, rocky ground is not something we want to do again. That will be remedied for next time with a nice big air mattress. The group took several hikes, went to the local waterfall, and had a nice big campfire complete with s'mores. We all were curious to know what was prowling around our campsite at night. We could hear something moving around outside of our tents, but no one was brave enough to check it out. When we checked in with the rangers they told us that bears, mountain lions, javalinas or elk are all around the area. We were all keeping our fingers crossed that they were just elk! We packed up on Sunday and headed back to the heat and home sweet home! Here are a few pictures from the trip. We did not get that many, because we enjoyed ourselves so much that we just forgot to take them.

Audra and Jenna got to steal away an hour from the kiddos to take a sister hike. While on the hike they came across some very large footprints, so they changed directions not wanting to meet up with whatever it was that had made those prints!

Tristan hears a who. This weed looked straight out of Dr. Seuss.

We made a fairy house with the 4 younger girls for Tinkerbell and her friends.




Bryan and Steven making us an awesome campfire.

Aisy, our little gypsy girl. She spent all weekend barefoot and covered in dirt. That's our girl!

Damara Gets a Taste of the Good Stuff

Happy baby got her first taste of pureed veggies. Even though Demi was not a big fan of the peas (neither are we) she smiled and was so excited to be eating something different than milk or rice cereal. She has been trying all kinds of different fruits and veggies every few days and is doing really well with all of them. She is well on the path to real people food soon enough. She is growing up so fast!!

Demi, before the peas

And after...