The moment Cohen had been waiting for...the Anderson family Water-fight!

After an amazingly couple of days at the beach and camping, we spent Friday preparing for my grandmas 85th surprise birthday party and hanging pool side. Well, hanging out in the blow-up pool my parents bought in preparation of Cohen coming to visit.

It started out innocent enough. Cohen would splash Auntie Harmizzle....Auntie Harmizzle would splash Cohen. All in fun!

It was a bit of a slaughter at first since, Grandpa was the only one with the water gun. However, when it was empty he handed it to Cohen and then ran inside to get the second one. Grandpa was kind of cruel since he filled up the water guns with freezing cold water from inside the house. He also went in and out of the house to shield himself from the return fire.

Pretty soon both Cohen and Auntie Harmizzle had the super soakers, but that didn't deter Grandpa and Grandma! They had the little water guns that you just suck up water really quickly. It didn't have a lot of volume, but the quick reload made Grandpa and Grandma very formidable foes. Cohen was having the time of his life!

Then something that happened that no one expected.... (See pictures below)

1. Cohen and Auntie Harmizzle were putting up a good fight!

2. Cohen appeared to be covering Auntie Harmizzle while he reloaded her gun.

3. However, in a surprise move he handed his super soaker over to Grandpa!

4. He then returned to Auntie Harmizzle and asked her to give him the second (now fully loaded) super soaker. 

5. It appeared that he was going to take Grandpa on all on his own....

6. But then he quickly ran to the other side of the pool and yelled, "Come on Grandpa!....Let's get Auntie Harmizzle! My little Benedict Arnold asked Auntie Harmizzle to fill up his gun and then used it against her! It was absolutely HILARIOUS!

Seaside + Long Beach + Campfire = Perfect Summer Day

After a surprisingly restful night's sleep, we headed to Seaside to go to the outlet malls and out to lunch. We ended up at Pig'n Pancake, which historically has been a family favorite of ours, but this time it was a total let down. The service was horrible and they messed up Grandma's order....TWICE! I think we will need to find a new favorite Seaside restaurant.

We then walked toward the beach and stopped at the carousel for a quick ride and then to a shop to buy Cohen his first kite! We only spent a few minutes flying the kite in Seaside. We deiced to head back to Long Beach to hang out on the beach since we could drive the truck on the sand and therefore don't have to walk to long distance to the water!

Long Beach was basically empty, which was totally nice. Cohen only flew the kite for a few minutes and then handed it to Grandma, so he could dig in the sand. Grandma just tied the kite to her chair. Of course, it ended up flying off, but luckily it didn't get far and Auntie Harmizzle could retrieve it. It was a lovely couple of hours at the beach with the fam!

After a great beach trip, we headed home to build a camp fire. Cohen had been asking nonstop about when we would be building a fire to make smores! The timing was perfect cause when we tried to start the barbecue to make burgers, we realized we were out of fuel, so we ended up cooking everything over the fire. Auntie Harmizzle didn't believe it could be done, but it could! Both the burgers and the corn were delicious.

We quickly moved on to dessert. Cohen opted in to eating a deconstructed smore and seemed to quite enjoy it. Grandma made a smore with a reese's peanut butter cup which looked divine! I will log that one away for next time I do smores!

We then moved on to making Fire Pies (a creation of our friend Kelly. aka Mele). Basically, you take biscuit dough and wrap it around an aluminum foil ball on a stick and cook it over the file. Kari then put pie filling and whipped cream on top. I decided to give it a try but instead of putting pie filling in it I put fresh peaches. It was delicious! It took a while to cook the dough, but it was totally worth it!

Oh, and we drug these two water guns to the beach (on Cohen's insistence) and didn't even use them once. Just posed with them :) Luckily, they got a lot of use when we got home and Grandpa started an epic watertight.

Cohen first "camping" trip and a day at the beach!

I know some might argue that this wasn't a "real" camping trip, but it was for us! :) My parents own a small lot of property in Long Beach, so we brought their travel trailer down and spent a couple days. Cohen, Auntie Harmizzle, and I slept in a tent while Grandma and Grandpa (Anderson) slept in the trailer. I was worried about the tent being a disaster, but we totally were comfortable out there and Cohen LOVED it!.

Cohen was such a big helper setting up camp. He helped Auntie Harmizzle with the tent and helped Grandpa Anderson carry all the firewood. Cohen took it upon himself to decide if we had enough firewood. He kept telling Grandpa we needed more. :)

After setting up camp we spent some time at the beach. This was such an experience for me (because I have been away for so long). I couldn't believe that they actually let people drive out onto the beach! It was amazedly convenient so we didn't have to lug the chairs and toys for miles. I also couldn't believe how cold it was! Cohen and I had just gone to the beach in New Jersey where the water was so much warmer and it was hot!

Grandma and Auntie Harmizle were so amazing and got down and dirty in the sand with Cohen!

Big Wheel Bike, Blueberries, and Trains!

Last week Cohen I headed out to the Pacific Northwest to visit family and go to my grandmas 85th surprise birthday celebration. It was a wonderful visit, but very very busy. It was nonstop go go go since the moment our plane landed.

For the first morning, before we left for camping for two days, Grandpa Anderson gave Cohen his big wheel bike. He has been talking about a bike for months now, so Cohen was thrilled beyond reason! He rode around the house (it totally reminded me of the Bobby's World Intro), but I think he had the most fun riding outside and in the garage.

After a quick ride on the bike he ran down to grab some blueberries with Grandma and then headed up to Grandpas shop to see the much-anticipated train display. My dad has been working for months on his model train set in anticipation of Cohen coming. Cohen was so happy to watch Grandpa run his trains.

Grandpa also gave Cohen a very special present, a train. This is just not any old train, it's the first train my dad (Grandpa) had (given to him from his dad...my grandpa)

Washington Trip January 2017: Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

After Burgerville we headed to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge for a little walk. I lived in La Center for over 5 years and never once went to this park. It was so fun taking Cohen and walking around. There was a big bridge at the very beginning that went over some train tracks. Since Cohen is obsessed with trains, we spent some time there waiting for a train. Luckily a really long train with some oil cars went by when we were leaving. Cohen was one happy little guy.

While walking my dad would walk ahead and hide behind a tree. Cohen would then say, "Where's Grandpa" and then go and try and find him by walking around the tree. It was really cute and I think both Grandpa and Cohen enjoyed it.

You will notice that Cohen has a sticker on on his forehead. My cousin Jamie gave him a Good Dinosaur book for Christmas and it had a bunch of stickers in it. Cohen LOVES dinosaurs and decided to put one of the stickers from the book on his forehead. Well, it was on there for over 24 hours. He bathed and slept with it on and refused to take it off. We luckily go most of it off on the second day in the second bath. Kids are so much fun!

Washington Trip January 2017: Burgerville!

A trip to Washington would not be complete without lunch at Burgerville! Even better that I got to go with the fam! :) Before we left I told Cohen we were going to go get "the best burger in Vancouver." Jeff of course perked up and asked where we were going. When I told him we were going to Burgerville he was deflated. Of course he jumped on his computer and started the quest to find the best burger in Vancouver. After some research he found Crave Grille. So, we had Burgerville for lunch and Crave Grille for dinner. We all LOVED Crave Grille! It was a really good burger. 

 Two burgers in one day!

Washington Trip January 2017: Can I have a s'more please!

Grandma always has fun activity for Cohen to do while we are visiting. After our long day at the zoo Grandma had Grandpa :) set up his camp stove so we could make s'mores. Cohen really got into the whole fire thing (luckily auntie Harmizzle gave Cohen a proper lesson on how to be a pyro the night before). I don't think Cohen even ate a s'more, but he did have a lot of chocolate.

Washington Trip January 2017: Playing with Grandma and Grandpa in the yard

Instead of flying home for Christmas we decided to wait until the end of January (cheeper prices) to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Auntie Harmizzle in Washington state.  Cohen loves his Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Harmizzle and asked us for weeks when we would be going to visit them. We made sure to get there before January 25th, so we could celebrate Grandpas birthday!

On Friday Grandma and Harmizzle volunteered to watch Cohen while Jeff and I had a date night in Portland. Before we left I ran out and took a few pictures of Cohen playing outside with Grandma and Grandpa. He sure loves being outside and I'm grateful that Grandma always has an outside activity planned for him. Cohen was mostly interested in splashing in the mud puddles but supposedly he really got into the bonfire Grandpa made :)

Working in the yard with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson

Jeff, Cohen, and I flew to Washington to visit with my family at the end of May. Dad retires in a few short days and we went out early to help him celebrate. Grandma had something planned for Cohen everyday we were there. Let's just say Cohen had a fantastic time!

Day 1: Grandma took Cohen out to the garden to plant some onions. It was so fun watching Cohen "help" Grandma. I think my favorite moment was when it actually came time to plant the onions. Cohen helped push some in but then grabbed the bag and dumped all the onions out on the ground. He then sprinkled the onions all over. Good times.

Grandpa then pulled out the tractor and took Cohen for a ride. Cohen loved it! He asked to go for rides the rest of the trip.

 I love my parents. They are so good to Cohen.

Dyeing Easter Eggs with Auntie Harmizzle (Grandma and Grandpa too)

Easter came early for Cohen. My mom and dad decided that since Cohen was not going to be with them on Easter, they would just celebrate the Sunday before. Cohen woke up to a Minion inspired Easter Basket! He LOVED the chocolate and books they gave him.

One of the many activities that my family had planned for Cohen while we were visiting them in Washington was dying Easter eggs. It's a tradition for Kari and my dad to dye easter eggs every year and they were excited to have Cohen join in on the fun....well, not as excited as Cohen! I clearly need to do more crafts with Cohen because he LOVED dyeing eggs!

Making Sugar Cookies with Grandma

My mom has talked about making sugar cookies with Cohen before he was even born. Supposedly it's something that Grandma's do with their grandchildren :) Kari and Dad have been making fun of her for wanting to make cookies with Cohen when he is so young, but mom didn't let that get her down. When she was visiting us over Christmas, she made oatmeal cookies with him. He just basically watched, but I think both had fun.

Well, I saw on Facebook that Staci (a family friend from La Center) made sugar cookies with her grandson who is literally the same age as Cohen. I told my mom about it and to not let Kari and Dad bug her about it. So, the first day of our trip to Washington Mom made sugar cookies with Cohen. It was so much fun watching them. Cohen started getting the hang of things by the end, but he really just wanted to eat the dough and play with it. Can you blame him?! I think after a couple more tries Cohen will be an expert! Thanks mom for wanting to make such wonderful memories with Cohen.

Happy Easter!

First, I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Last week I had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family and celebrate my moms 60th birthday (pictures to come). While I was there my parents did a little Easter egg hunt for Cohen and lets just say he really really enjoyed it. My mom worked with him that morning to teach him how to carry his basket and put eggs in as he finds them. What was really cute is that during the REAL Easter egg hunt, Cohen realized that there was something inside the eggs and decided to stop and start eating.  About half way through the hunt he stopped and emptied his bucket out onto the grass so he could start checking out his treasure. It took some convincing to get him to keep collecting eggs, but he ended up getting all of them!

Gingerbread train and village with Mom and Angela

Whenever I visit my family in Washington we always get together with my moms friend Angela. Usually we go to see the Zoo Christmas lights, but this year we got together to make gingerbread houses and a train. It was so much fun watching Angela work! She's just so creative.