Home base.

Griffen's best friend..Marley mmmm-something Hartman. Can't spell or pronounce his awesome Hawaiian middle name that translates into something like peace or calm. Unfortunately, Marley and Griff didn't get to play together near enough this trip. I did find out however that Marley sound like a Wookie (Star Wars) when he sees Griff, but can't get close to him. The two dogs are great friends, but Griff chews Marley's cheeks, and Marley is so wound up by Griff. I didn't learn until the morning we packed and left that we could have kept them in the same site, just out of reach and they would be ok. I really should have listened to Tracy on this one.
The Hartmans provided meals, and we were ever so grateful. I made Lexie one breakfast and a couple snacks, even Lucas had and lunch sandwich over at our camper, but mostly we ate at Chez Hartman. Items included, cereal, over-easy eggs, bacon, tacos, steak, potatoes, cauliflower (cooked, not dipped), and an asundry (sp?) of other tasties.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, Susan Sarandon...Who's with me here? Lucas = Jack Nicholson???
Griff is a true picnic table dog. Every time we are at one, he wants to be on the table. This also happens to be the table I finished the last Potter book, "Deathly Hallows" at.
So, Griff talks Lexie into a higher altitude.

Under the Sea...

Jack and Jill came tumbling down? No broken crown, but Lex did come tumbling after...
Oooh, the Iredale! From the home of the Beatles, the Peter Iredale shipwreck. A piece of Liverpool England stuck in Oregon sand. Also, I believe a tetnus shot waiting to happen.
Lexie is now in charge or a great sand repositioning project.
After a brief stint of wondering what sorts of squishy things she is traversing over, Lexie loves the ocean. Bonus! Her best friend in the world at her side. A dish made in heaven. Oh to be young again!
I can do nothing but **SIGH** heavily when I look at this picture. I just love it.

Wave runners.
Bizzare but cool?
We didn't get to the beach until 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening, but it was still warm enough for Lex to get in her suit and splash. The next time we went to the beach, I didn't bring my camera, but Lexie and I went shoulder high in the water to "Booty" the waves as we call it. That is, I held Lex in my arms with the water chest high, and when a wave would come, we would turn our backs to it and let it carry us forward. Shellie, Ally, and Sierra also had a blast with this. Lexie told me on the way home that it was her favorite part of the camp trip.
I had the not-so-brilliant idea that I would walk partway back to camp because we had to make two trips to the beach so that Griffen could get a beach walk too. Griffen loved the waves, but drank to much salt water. Those who read this who have taken their dogs to the beach may understand what this means, those who don't, and want an explanation, can email me and ask. I dare not type it here. Anyway...the result of the walk back was that 200 feet from the nice breezy open air of the beach, the costal rain forest starts, and so do the mosquitoes!!! I was eaten alive. Scarred for life, he he he. With my hair in a ponytail, I looked like an epoleptic horse, swishing my ponytail this way and that, batting my face, my arms, and my torso with my hands to dissuade their proboscisesesses. Even now as I type this recountanance, I'm getting a little buggy and scratching at imaginary itches. Right before Tracy caught back up with me in her van, I caught sight of these two young ladies. Even though the thought of standing still in a see of blood thirsty, winged creatures was hideous to me at that moment, I couldn't help but to stop, pull out the camera and snap a couple shots. Now, I wonder, do the mosquitoes torment them? Must not.
Looks like a mom and child. How pretty!

Everyone loves a parade.

Lexie gets her hair painted green for the parade.
Lexie and Lucas in the Jeep. Lucas spotted the camera and became semi-invisible.
Parade preparations.
Lucas is not happy with the driving arrangements. He really want to drive.
So, Lexie lets him...For a while.

Under the tree...

Lucas begins to drive in the parade. Now Lexie is upset because she wanted to drive.

Lucas is ok for about five minutes...then...
After a short stint with Lexie behind the wheel, Lucas decides to walk. Lexie prefers not to drive in a straight line, but rather zig zags a bit. Lucas has been saying all the while, "No Lexie, keep going this way, don't turn the wheel like that!"
After Lucas' semi-dramatic departure from the vehicle, Lex decides to add more drama, by purposefully driving straight into a tree!

Steve and Tawny watch the parade.

Post Parade.

Lexie parks her car so she can hoof it.
This is the most beautiful outfit. Lexie's Grammy's friend from work, Thoa (pronounced Twa) brought it back from Viet Nam as a gift to Lexie. Thank you Thoa!
Lucas' Grandpa gave her a blue Tootsie Pop. We had much discussion over what it tasted like.
Dancing angel!
Post parade exploration.

Reckless driving

Lexie is quite cute it my favorite hat! Friday, Shellie and two of her daughters arrived. Kaitlin (sp?) and Lex became quick friends.
Lexie is wearing her "I love Santa" shirt because the family camp theme was Christmas in July.
Another Thelma and Louise? Brad Pitt, aka Lucas just left the back of the jeep.

Later that day, Kaitlin got pulled over by Oregon police. NO JOKE! Apparantly kid cars are not allowed!!!!

By the light of the Silvery Moon.

Lexie climbs the rock wall at the campground playground
Playground. 36 years old and I played tag for the first time in more than 20 years. I finally tagged the girl on the left of the rock wall, but not before realizing my age.
When I saw the glorious moon sifting through the trees at our campsite, I grabbed my camera and walked out to the main road to get a better look.
Moonrising over the Ft. Stevens campground.
She is so beautiful.

Hey there...

Tracy peeks her head in through our "GriffenDoor". The name comes from the fact that Griffen loves to keep his head (perfect fit) sticking out of this door while he's in the camper. The Potter Pun is delightful. Movie Night! Lexie and Lucas watch a DVD with popcorn and chocolate milk. Roughing it!
Friday, Griff and I walked from camp to the registration office to turn in our reg forms for the last night. Beautiful day, great walk, happy dog.
This is the after effect of the Astoria Aquatic Center. Four pools 200,000 gallons of 88 degree water (89 degrees in the kid pool). Dana found this place and then took us all there the next day. There is a water play fountain, an awesome hot spa, and Lexie and my favorite, the lazy river. We must have drifted through it at least a dozen times. We will go back there.

More activity

Peter Rabbit constantly comes out of his burrow.Peter is moving to another campsite.Griffen is interested in Peter, but wary? Rachel tells the girls of the rabbit, and the chase purues. Slow, but steady.
The girls watch at Peter nibbles.

You got to keep 'em separated!

This opportunity I have through the DVRC to be taught how to do play therapy with her once a week for 30 minutes are awesome and should really help with all this. I have determined that I am not at all comfortable with her staying there more than a weekend. For the last couple of weeks Lexie (and I) have been having a lot of allergies. She gets nasally and snores, I sneeze and snore. So… When Patty called me the first day Lex spent at her Dad’s concerned that her throat was closed up, I assumed she was interpreting Lex’s allergies as something viral. I told her about the allergies and also gave her Dr. Miller’s phone and asked that they take her in if they were concerned. I mentioned liquid Ibuprofen for pain/fever. That was pretty much the last I heard of it. Then I told her that Lexie had told me about Gramma Betty and Frank fighting. I said that I didn’t want Lexie’s confiding in me to be jeopardize by telling Frank and Betty this, but could Patty somehow convey to them how badly this affect Lex and that ultimately she doesn’t want to go over there because of it. Then we got off the phone. Wednesday night I came in from walking Griffen to the phone ringing. I just missed the call but saw that it was Betty’s number. I called back to get a busy signal. I called again and it rang and rang for many minutes (no answering machine) I called Patty’s house (one house up the street) and left a message. She called me back and said that Frank and Betty were arguing again, that Betty just drove off, and that Frank had Lexie in his car (yes he finally got his license and somehow has a newish Ford Focus, even without a job) Then she said that they had pulled up in front of her house and could she call me back. When she called back, she even referred to them as the blind leading the blind. She made it really clear that she never ever wanted Frank to think that she had confided in me, but she was concerned that he had picked up an old habit, and asked that I talk to him and see what I thought. She said that me talking to him might calm him down. Yech, blech! So I call and Betty answers. I let her know that I heard they were arguing again, and she tells me that they left Lexie’s shoes at Coleen’s farm in Molala. My guess is that the argument broke out about not wanting to go back out there to get them, get new one’s and why could Rachel just drive another pair over (hence the call earlier). So it turns out that Betty went to the store to get her some more shoes. So she passed the phone to Frank and I was subjected to a half hour or more of painful conversation. The upshot is that he seemed about as reasonable as he ever was, and I am resolved to keep a close eye on his behavior I called Patty a couple days later and she said things looked much better, she said Frank had called to ask her what foods she thought Lexie might eat as he was concerned that she wasn’t eating enough. Primary Care giver, my ass! I gave her some suggestions.. It may well be that we end up back in court, because I have serious issues with his ability to care for Lex. As long as it’s only the weekend and Patty’s up the street, I feel ok, but here’s what happed when I picked up Lexie Sunday night. We went to McDonald’s with Lucas and Tracy. I could hear right away what Patty had mentioned a week ago and it was quite clear it was not allergies. We looked down her throat and her swollen tonsils were touching! (Later I spoke with Patty who told me that she tried and tried to persuade them to take her to the doctor but they wouldn’t do it). I was livid (still am pissed) I didn’t sleep as well as I should because I kept waking up to her having a hard time breathing. I scheduled a doctors appointment the next morning 9:15am. She has strep! She’s had it all week and they never took her in. Now Lucas will probably get it too! I called Betty on the way back to work and told her how upset I was. She tried to pass it off that Lexie would say she was fine. I told her that she is a child, they are adults and faced with hearing her breathing at night and her voice and seeing her throat, they should have made the decision, not left it up to her! No wonder Frank called asking about food Lexie would eat, how could it be comfortable to eat with those monster tonsils? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! So now she is on antibiotics, and I am grateful that she will only be with him for two days at a time. Yesterday, she told her Grammy that Grandma Betty’s house is a dump. She said it is because she doesn’t take care of it. Big sigh. Last night her Dad called and talked to her. I left the room and when she came out 10 minutes later, she had tears in her eyes and said she wanted Daddy to move back. I asked her if she understood that that wasn’t going to happen and she said yes. I asked her if someone had asked her to tell me this and she said her Daddy did. I said that now she had done what he asked, and we knew the answer was always going to be “no” that we could get on with the evening, maybe watch some My Little Pony or Sponge Bob.
Lexie and I are going to do our first play therapy session tonight. The biggest goal of this is to empower her not to take on the emotional issues that are flung at her at her Dad’s and to vent/express herself in child language…play!

And now on a lighter subject...

Found an absolute gem last weekend! Woke up Saturday and Griffen and I drove to Jenkins' Estate, about five miles from my house. I hadn't been out there since my first wedding back in 1991. It hasn't lost any beauty, and I'd never know you could hike around so much there. Griff and I wandered for an hour and still didn't see it from every angle. We'll go back.