The Oregon Coast and Lexie's 6th Birthday

On July 18, we headed to Lincoln City, OR to meet up with most of Jim's family. His sister Jana and all her family were there along with Kim and her son Sully and Jim's parents. We stayed together in a house until the 20th. We had really good weather and that always makes for a good time at the Oregon Coast.

The kids went down to the beach a couple of times and just had fun playing in the sand and jumping the waves a bit. They were also able to walk around on the rocks and find sea creatures.

Trying to surf the waves, I guess.

Haden needs to work on his surfing pose. He could take some pointers from Lexie.

My three beautiful girls.

The kids on the front porch of the house we stayed in with their cousin Sully. They spent a lot of time out here eating and just goofing off with one another.

The kids wanted to be in the hot tub all the time--especially Cooper. Now that we have one of our own, I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time telling Cooper we can't get in the hot tub right now.

On Sunday, we decided to go to a lighthouse just up the highway from Lincoln City called Yaquina Head lighthouse. We've been there before when Lexie was just a baby, so we decided it was time to visit again. All the kids went up the 111 steps and took a peek at the view from the lighthouse. After that, we went to the Oregon State University Marine Science Center in Newport where they have an octopus and lots of sea creatures to see and touch. It's a great little science center and it's free.

A picture of the fam in front of the ocean outside the lighthouse.

Yaquina Head lighthouse

Slowly going up the stairs, but we made it all the way.

On Monday, it was time to head home, but the kids hadn't played too much at the beach, so they needed one last experience there. Jim took them to the shortest river in the world--the D river. It's right in Lincoln City and the kids like playing in it because the water is much warmer and there's no danger of getting swept away by any waves. Haden and Cooper had a hard time with how cold it was right down by the ocean, so this was a place that was more fun for them to play.

The D River

All of us together on the deck before we all went our separate ways. We had a really great time together.

We stopped at the Otis Cafe, about 2 miles out of Lincoln City to get lunch as we started our journey home. They have really good homemade bread there and a special spice mix Jim really likes, so we bought some to take home with us. A great end to a fun trip.

Two days after we got home from the coast was Lexie's birthday. Alexis Paige Carey was born on July 22, 2003. She was the first of our last 3 kids to be born here in Richland. She was the smallest of our babies weighing only 8 lbs, 5 oz. However, she has probably grown the fastest. I used to think that Kenedy was my fastest grower, but I think Lexie's got her beat. She was always a very happy baby, but had one fatal flaw. Until she was 8 months old, she threw up all the time--usually very large amounts. She also perfected the art of projectile vomiting-usually all over me. I changed my clothes and hers 3-5 times a day. We did a lot of laundry and scrubbed a lot of carpet during those first 8 months of her life. Despite that, I sure love my Lexie. She is the sweetest little girl. She has a very tender heart and always lets us know that she loves us. When I was in the hospital after just having Calvin, Jim brought the kids to visit. Lexie came up to me after taking a look at Calvin and said, "Mommy, are you doing okay?" Jim said all the way to the hospital, all she wanted to know was if I was okay. She is a treasure and I'm so glad she's in our family.

Lexie with Kenedy and Hallie in the hospital the day after she was born.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lexie and Hallie. Hallie was always so excited to hold her.

Lexie is sitting here on the window sill of our house on Firerock with her favorite bear. When you squeezed it's hand, it sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We celebrated Lexie's birthday this year by going to dinner at Red Robin and then going to Howard Amon park afterwards to open presents and play for awhile. We weren't at the park long since her birthday fell during one of the really hot days we have been having lately. Then, we came home and had birthday cupcakes and ice cream.

Dinner at Red Robin. Yummy!

Cousin Brianne and her husband Nate came for a visit to the dentist after our coast trip. It was fun to have them here for a few days and to help us celebrate Lexie's birthday.

What a lucky girl. Check out that load of presents.