Well, my fellas are home, safe and sound. Here are some pictures they took from their hiking/camping trip with all the guys (my dad, brother, two brothers-in-law, two nephews, my man, and my three little fellas.)
They came home with beautiful wildflowers for me to enjoy,
and nasty sunburns for me to keep hydrated!
It’s nice to be missed.;) We sure missed them!
Well, it’s time for the annual hike/camp-out male bonding extraordinaire.
They’re all packed up and ready to go! A weekend of hiking, fishing, kungfu fighting, sleepin’ out under the stars…campfires, funny stories, smelly socks galore…what more could a guy ask for?
Here are my cute little whippersnappers…
I send them off – sweet, innocent little lads; and after a weekend testosterone injection of being solely in the company of their father, uncles, grand-dad, and cousins – they come back to me a tad more in tune with nature, and their manhood. It’ll take me a whole year to get that gruntin’ and scratchin’ and snorting out of their systems… then I’ll turn around in time to send them out again! The male species – such a wonder to behold! I just love it!
Here are some pictures of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was built from 1841-1843, and upon completion, replaced the need for the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse seen here. The lighthouse at Yaquina Head is the tallest lighthouse along the Oregon coast at 93 feet. It’s light shines 162 feet above the ocean and can be seen 19 miles out to sea.
Had I been a lady in the late 1800’s, and my husband a gent of a lighthouse keeper, I would have been happy as a clam to have been stationed here.
This would be the view from our front porch. 
This is how my house would look as I was gathering shells on the beach. 
I would have loved my kitchen!
This is where I’d hang my bloomers to dry, while I heated up a big pot of clam chowder and cornbread biscuits.
After dinner, we’d retire to the sitting room where one of my children would play some easy listening, others would read or discuss good literature, and I’d probably knit some of those glove socks cause I like warm toes. 
As the sun set we’d tuck the kids in their feather beds for the night.
I’d pop some popcorn the old-fashioned way and climb the spiral staircase to the top to help keep my fella awake and on task.
Unfortunate for the 19th century family who did live here, their stay was quite short. This lighthouse was decommissioned in 1874, just three years after it was built, because it had been replaced by a nearby lighthouse built on the rocky shore of Yaquina Head. Over the next century the lighthouse at Yaquina Bay fell into grim disrepair, until local Newport residents banded together in 1970 to beautifully restore the lighthouse and open it to the public. Thanks you fine Newport residents, I sure enjoyed my visit/daydream!
Here are some pictures of the Cape Dissapointment Lighthouse we visited last week, at the mouth of the Columbia River. The North Head Lighthouse was built in 1898 to guide mariners from the North who could not see this lighthouse at Cape Disappointment. Both of these lighthouses warned ships of the shallow waters at the mouth of the Columbia River.
To celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary we took off to the Pacific Coast for three days just to ourselves. We stayed in a condominium in the quaint little town of Gearhart, Oregon (near Seaside) and spent our time exploring lighthouses and old military forts, enjoying walks, shopping antique stores, eating delicious foods in delightful restaurants, and relaxing on the beach.
Here are some shots of North Head, one of the five lighthouses we visited. Other lighthouse pictures to come in future posts.
listen
White Sandy Beach of Hawaii by Isreal Kamakawiwoole
At Lanikai Beach on the Hawaiian Island of O’ahu, the sand is amazing! It’s like fluffy, fine cornmeal when dry;
and cornbread batter when wet.
A perfect consistency for making sand balls – the kind you’d use in a sand ball fight, of course! And let me tell you, the sand balls were a’flyin’!
So were the kids, come to think of it! Especially this little fella:
For you see, he was like a little stealth bomber, sneakin’ up on people bigger than himself at the most opportune moments, then “WHAP!” 
His aim was great, but unfortunately not forceful enough to intimidate anyone.
Here’s the persistant little fella launching yet another sneaky attack on the enemy. 
With the kind of back up power he’s got there, things are lookin’ up!
Uh-oh! Looks like he chose the wrong guy to mess with though…now things aren’t looking so good for the little guy!
If the sand balls were that easy and fun to make, just imagine the sand castles you could build here!
P.S. Don’t forget today is National Day of Prayer…let’s be in prayer for our nation!
Saying goodbye to this:
and hello to this:
was definitely hard to do, but not nearly as hard as saying goodbye to fun times with friends like these:
I don’t have the words to explain how, but the photographer who snapped the above photo has this amazing ability of bringing out the smiles of his subjects. We weren’t the only ones enjoying his technique, I think the fella in the background was pretty amused as well! I wonder if he gives lessons?
We miss them very much.
Thanks girl, for your generous hospitality. We couldn’t have felt more comfortable, nor had more fun!
If you visit Hawaii, you really must get yourself spruced up one evening and head out to experience yourself a Luau – Kalua Pig, hula dancing, and all kinds of lively, Hawaiian traditions.
Body paint
Spear throwing
Canoe rides
Cute kids
Here they are lifting the kalua pig from the imu, an underground pit of lava rocks where they’ve roasted the unfortunate, yet delicious fellow all day.
Down at the beach, we found some more hula dancing while the fishermen cast their nets (in back, on the left) to pull in the Butter Fish… delicious smothered in macadamian nut sauce.
Wahines (Hawaiian ladies) wear beautiful tropical flowers in their hair, around their necks, and as bracelets on their wrists and ankles. If a wahine is taken she wears the flowers on her left side, and if she is single on her right. However, if you see a lovely lady with flowers on both sides…watch out! Flowers on her left and right sides means that she is taken, but looking for better!
Here we are all decked out in flowers and tribal paint.
Aloha!
Candid Reflections 
