The World's Happiest Family

Elliott's favorite plane has always been the P-38 lightning. I don't know why. 

Since this is an operational hangar, you can get up close to these aircraft. If you ignore the oil slicks, it is amazing to see them this close. 

This is a German BF109 - Elliott calls it a "bad guy airplane"

The boys were most excited to see the PBY Catalina. This is the seaplane that Papa Rick's dad flew during WWII. It is a rescue & observation aircraft and pictures don't capture the overwhelming size.

Elliott is about the same height as the tires. 

A few cockpit shots.

The air museum is housed in a WWII blimp hangar - it is only one of a handful still in existence.  Yes that is a ginormous airplane in front of the hangar. It is supposedly the largest wood structure in the world.  

During the war they could fit 9 blimps inside. 

Our newish tradition is to go to Cannon Beach over a long weekend in the Spring.  The morning is amazing, all of the clam diggers come out looking for pacific razor clams.

There were hundreds of sand dollars in the low tide sand.

Many of the older houses are made with cedar siding that silvers after years of being in the salty air.

The beaches are famous for the rock formations.

Andrea's favorite artist Cassandra Barney was also in Cannon Beach. We were excited to meet her and see her new book which you can see here or purchase here. I surprised Andrea by getting her a painting from here spring unveiling.

I was totally sick that week - I had laryngitis but I had been planning to get her this painting for Mother's Day. I wanted to surprise her so while Andrea was schmoozing with Cassandra, I spoke with the gallery owner about purchasing it. I could barely speak with my hoarse raspy voice. Turns out that he is hard of hearing too - made for a funny comedy routine of him not hearing and me unable to speak up. All the while I was trying to not tip off Andrea about the purchase. At the end one of his assistants walked over to interrupt Cassandra and Andrea and ask Cassandra to take it down and sign it "To Andrea." I was waving and "yelling" with my whisper voice to have her stop. Fortunately someone dove across the table and intercepted her message.

I made the purchase and we left for lunch and left to explore the town and shops. Her actual unveiling was in the afternoon. When we got back, we took our places to the side as the gallery filled up. Cassandra began her unveiling, discussing each picture in turn. The crowd oohed and ahhed as each picture was revealed. Finally when she got the the last picture, Cassandra told a little story about the background of the picture. The she pointed to Andrea and asked the audience if the heroine in the picture looked like her. The audience murmured in agreement, then Cassandra said "Maybe I should change the name and put Andrea in it..."  Andrea was totally blushing at this time and had this strange "what in the heck is going on" look.

Finally Cassandra said "Andrea this is yours" and motioned for her to come forward in front of the audience. Everyone applauded and Andrea was still in shock for hours.

The first thing Andrea said about the painting was that it reminded her of my favorite Van Gogh painting, "Red Vineyard"

I think Elliott has been waiting for this day for the past year. Ever since Collin began soccer he has been begging us to play. We keep telling him that he can play when he is 4.  Well, he is 4. This is his first practice. I think he is prending to be hit by an invisible ball in the first pic.

He has the eye of the tiger.

Michael is coaching him. Telling him to "suck it up" and "be a man"

Collin Mitchell: Season 3

Watching Collin right after Elliott's game helps your realize how much they can learn over a year of practice. It was fun to see Collin motivated by the larger field and faster play. He began kind of slow, but picked up the pace as the game sped up.

This is the face I make when I am coloring Easter eggs. (If you look closely Collin makes a brief appearance)

Easter Eggs!!!

One of the great things about children is how happy and excited they are - They are just hard boiled eggs with food coloring hidden in a back yard, but to Elliott they are the greatest thing in the world.

Michael thinks that children are for his personal entertainment. So he was really mean with how he hid the eggs. The only things that looked like eggs from the back door turned out to be a rock and a golf ball. So after the kids were disappointed by those, they got to the work of finding the real eggs.

Isabel has blossomed in her big sister role. She is always looking out for Elliott.