Mommy/daughter time!

AUGUST

Since I have not been working out here, Olivia and I have had a lot of time together and I love it!  She is such a sweet and fun little girl and is always looking for the next thing to do.  We play everyday and here are some of our favorite things to do:

Always singing to Asia, "Twinkle, twinkle" is her favorite song to sing

Huts with cheese and crackers

Lots of tea parties!!

Playing with our little chunky Asia

Silverfalls!!!

Silverfalls!!!

We try to take advantage of the beautiful weather here in Corvallis so we go hiking a lot.  We took the girls on a hike I really enjoyed called Silverfalls.  The hike we went on was about 2.5 miles and we saw 2-3 waterfalls, but you can go on the entire hike (about 7 miles) which has 7 waterfalls in it.  It is definitely different hiking with a baby on the front and a backpack on the back, but we made it and it was worth all the sweat!!! Olivia likes hiking and we enjoyed singing fun songs along the trail.  Both girls did great and we look forward to the next hike:

This is our enthusiasm for hiking!!!!

Clamming!!

CLAMMING:

Yes, you heard it right--Adam went Clamming.  He was really excited to get his clamming license and go to a class on it.  Never thought I would see this man not only enjoy eating seafood, but now catching and cooking seafood.  He absolutely loved every bit of it, in fact I was the one that was a little squeamish when it came down to eating the poor clams.  It was hard to have little clam "Pets" as we called them and then eat them after a few days.  Anyways, here it the process of clamming and if anybody wants to come visit I am sure Adam would love to take you clamming!

Step 1-

Equipment: Shovel, cooler, gloves, water shoes

During the late summer the beach is filled with clams.  The best time to dig for clams is when the tide is low, which is particularly in the morning hours.

Our friend Kyle and Jana went with us and it was fun to watch the boys dig for their clams!

There is Adam and Kyle going to town still getting their clams.

With Adam's license he was able to get 35 clams--These are steamer clams

Step 2:

He then cleaned and soaked them in salt water and they were our pets as Livy called them.  They would siphon water in and out and if you watched them closely you could see them move.

They soaked for about 1 day , the salt water helped clean all the sand out and it also kept them alive.

Step 3:

After a day of soaking then you place them in a bowl with a damp towel over them.  They can store for a couple days in the fridge like this.

Step 4:

Place is bowling water for 3-7 seconds, until you see them pop open (that is when they die).  If the clam doesn't pop open, you should discard them at this time, because they are not save to eat.  After they pop open remove from pot as soon as possible.

Step 5:

After you remove them from the pot, you can clean them out and the shells. I did not take a picture of this part, because it was gross to me. Anyways, then you can bake, batter and fry, boil or just eat in a chowder.

Adam decided to bake them with a little cheese, bacon, and salsa....Delicious!!!

WASHINGTON TRIP

SEATTLE

We drove 4 hrs over to Seattle and Bainbridge Island to visit my sister Mary and brother inlaw Jeff. We fit in a lot of fun things, but also did some chillin at their house. We loved seeing them twice this summer and made this transition for us a little better. Love you guys!! here are some fun pictures from the trip!

Ferris Wheel

Soccer Game-Sounders

Ferry to Bainbridge Island while eating yummy fish and chips

 and shrimp cocktail...what a life!

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

feeding the ducks!!

Fairy Dust Trail

This hike was so beautiful and there was even fairy dust on the trail from all the fairy princesses.  

Our stroller went a little off roading, but did great!

Hard to tell... but we came upon a family of raccoons at the bottom of the hike

Gorgeous couple!!!

THE BEACH!!

Yes, Adam is sitting on a log.  The Boys rolled this log in the water then swam it over to where we were set up and we had hours of fun on it.  Mary and I did a little girls chicken fight and then everyone joined in on the fun!  Who would have thought a little wood could provide so much entertainment from the water and from watching bystanders!

All 5 standing for about 3 seconds!!!

Right before they fell

 Crab, they got a crab license and we enjoyed fresh crab that night!

DONUTS

DONUTS!!! that is right, Mary knows how to make donuts and it was amazingly good!

Chillen at the Whyte pod! We loved hanging out with them for the weekend, 

we talked and played lots of games, and ate really good food...they are great cooks!

Thanks guys for an awesome weekend!!! Asia's face shows how much we enjoyed the weekend!!!