Walk down memory lane

The kids and I went to Ocean Shores yesterday for the day and I haven't been there in so long. When I was younger we used to go all the time. It felt like every weekend we would head down and my Dad would help work on my Grandma Dee's house that she was building and Stefanie and I would run to the park across the empty lot next door. Stefanie and I would take turns sleeping in the bathtub while they were working on the house and we would get to do so many fun things. I remember complaining all the time about having to go and now when I think back on it we really had so much fun. We would rent mopeds and sometimes get to ride horses on the beach. We got to go bowling alot because there wasn't much else to do and we always went to the kite shop. We went clam digging at the crack of dawn and my Grandma would make clam chowder and fried clams while Grandma Dee would make pork chops and chilli. We would laugh at how someone had to hold the rabbit ears covered in foil to get the tv to work and how if the wind shifted the wrong way the fireplace would fill the entire house with smoke in record time. We loved to stay at the Gittchee Goomie because the rooms were two stories and we liked the Polynesian because it was a really nice place. We would go for breakfast at a funny restaurant and gift shop on the corner and we would eat dinner at the Homeport because it had a good salad bar for my Dad. Needless to say it doesn't look the same at all but I still had a great time telling the kids about everything as we drove around all day. Welcome to Aberdeen!!!!!!

This was a pizza place at one point that I remember stopping at on the way home sometimes. It is a Mexican place now.

We would stop at McDonald's alot on our way to the Ocean to use the restroom and get a snack. It was the only thing that was there back then. Now it's just stuck in the middle of a busy shopping center.

This is the bar that we used to have to stop at on our way into town to pick up my Grandma Dee. It is a run down condemned building now. We thought that was pretty funny. It doesn't look the same at all!!!!!! :)

Welcome to Ocean Shores. About the only thing that still looked the same.

The restaurant with the salad bar that my Dad loved. We ate here pretty often.

The only grocery store still. It looks exactly the same except that there is a strip mall right next to it now and a McDonald's across the street.

Here is where we used to rent mopeds. Megan really wanted to do this but you have to have a driver's license. I think that maybe my Dad and Curt used to rent these and then drive them down to the beach for all of the girls to ride because I know we were riding them well before we had driver's licenses.

The Shilo Inns is in the place that our breakfast stop used to be and a cute little gift shop. It is a really nice hotel but just not the same.

We spent a lot of time at this bowling alley. I think back then it was only .99 cents to play a game so it was cheap entertainment. I don't think the whole strip mall was attached to it then. I guess it is growing up.

The family fun center. They had bumper cars and an ice cream shop.

The Sands hotel. We stayed here alot because it had a good sized pool. It looked a lot nicer when we would stay there. It is just kind of scary looking now. :)

The local pizza joint. They had tasty pizza.

The Polynesian Resort. How funny to call it a Resort. It was a nice place though and it still looks pretty good. I think they kept it up better than the Sands.

This used to be the Gitchee Gommie. It was a fun place to stay. I always remember getting crab and my Grandma standing in the kitchen all day cracking it while we all ate it as fast as she got it done. I am not sure that she ever got to eat any of it. This was a great doughnut shop at one point. We would get up early and go down for hot doughnuts with lots of sprinkles. It doesn't look so good now.

My Grandma Dee's house. We had a lot of fun in there. Who ever bought it has sure done a nice job keeping it looking nice.

The Jetty. We spent a lot of time climbing those rocks and playing in the freezing cold water.

We dug up alot of these clams at 4:00 am. That was never the highlight of my weekend but I sure did love the clam chowder that my Grandma made with them. It was soooooo good.

This was not there when we used to go. We just found this on accident. It's a movie theatre with new movies. How fun would that be on a freezing cold winter day?

We had so much fun and the kids were laughing at me all day as I told them about all of things we used to do. They both want to go back and spend a weekend and do all of the activites so we are planning a trip this summer to re-live my funnest childhood memories. They might be sorry by the time the weekend is over!!!!!!

A day at the ocean

Megan, Alex and I headed down to Ocean Shores today to go to a memorial service for Heidi's Uncle. They had a nice family get together (we crashed it) at a house that they rented and then all went to the jetty to spread her Uncle's ashes and spend some time there. It was a really nice day.
It was a pretty nice day out. It was windy but I think you get that at the ocean no matter what.

Alex and Jacob playing with Ranger.

Megan and Heidi all ready to go.

Heidi and Jacob. He is getting to big!!!!!!

Megan and Alex when we got to the beach.

Alex and Jacob up on the hill.

Megan and I out in the breeze.

We climbed up the rocks to watch them spread the ashes.

Megan was the official photographer so she has her camera in all of our pictures. She got some really good pictures so I hope they enjoy them.

The kids made a teeter tooter and used Alex as the weight in the middle. It was pretty funny.

Jacob and Jeff when we are getting ready to head back to the house.

We went back and had some lunch and talked to everyone for awhile and then headed back to the beach to fly some kites.

Alex had been asking to buy a kite all day so he was really happy to hear the Jeff had 3 of them.

After the beach we went back to Heidi's hotel so the kids could swim.

They had a lot of fun swimming around.

We had so much fun with everyone for the day. It was a nice service for all of them and we had a great time getting to see everyone and play around all day long.

What to do with the hair?????

Megan is having all sorts of problems deciding what to do with her hair for the 9th grade dance. We have tried a couple of different styles but none have been what she wanted so we are trying some more today.
We started with the curlers. They look so pretty.

To much curls she thought.

Then we have the side twist. It was cute but still not what she was thinking.

This is a side brade. It looked cute but needs some more practice. I didn't think I did to bad for a first attempt but we would have to work on it some. It still wasn't her favorite though so we are changing our plans. More practice shots to come!!!!!

Alot of dresses

I took Megan shopping for her dress for the dance today. I don't think that she thought I would buy her what she wanted so we took Olivia and Gillian for her back up.
Gillian and Olivia waiting while Megan tries on the first 100 dresses she found.

This one was a big no no.

We all liked this one so it made the maybe pile.

This one was my favorite but I got out numbered.

This one was the winner. All three girls thought it was the best one and Megan really liked it so it is what we went with. Now to get some shoes to go with it and we should be good to go. I guess it would help if we found out the actual date of the dance also. I will keep you posted.

Dance time!!!!

I guess Megan is going to the 9th grade dance with a boy!!!!! She was planning on going with a whole group of people but now she seems to have a date. I am not sure Mike is to happy about this. :)
Megan went to her friend Gillian's house after school today for a sleep over and Jake just happens to be Gillian's neighbor so he posted these signs on her garage. I found out about this when I got onto facebook and Gillian had posted the pictures. Nice!!!!! Megan tried to tell me it had just happened but I know she is wrong. Needless to say she wants to go dress shopping tomorrow so I guess that's the plan. Good thing she already found a dress that she likes so it shouldn't be to much work.

Mother's Day

As everyone knows, Sunday was Mother's Day. We didn't do to much around here for the day.
Mike made breakfast for everyone. We had all sorts of good stuff. He took this beautiful picture at the exact time that he said to turn around so it is a really nice one.

Mike and the kids bought me a new radio for the car. The radio that was in it was pretty fancy with a tape deck but I don't own any tapes anymore so they bought me this really nice CD Player. Mike put it in for me and it sounds great.

I got some really beautiful picture frames from the Keyes family but they were both broken. I think that I can glue them back together though and make them look perfect. They had the cutest pictures of me and the kids in them from their visit last month.

Megan and Alex are both getting so big. They are getting to that age where they really don't care to hang out with me so much so I spent most of the day watching tv, alone. The good news is that as soon as either one of them wants something I become their best friend!!!!!!

Alex and I in the morning before he decided it would be more fun to play with Conner for the day.

Megan and I were having some camera issues. All of our pictures were fuzzy. I think we were to close to the camera or we shouldn't have let Alex take the picture!!!!!!

We went to the cemetary and down to Marilyn's in the afternoon and then we got to go out for dinner at the Black Angus and go watch Mike's bowling league. He had record scores for the night so I think we were his good luck charm and the kids got to bowl a couple of games so it was a fun time.