Sandboarding...Take Two...

Over the break, Nick made sandboards in our garage.  He is so amazing!!!  We took them out last Monday.  It was a lot of fun, but the sand was so wet that we wouldn't move.  We found some steep dunes that we could go down without stopping after a foot or two, but we couldn't get much speed.  That was good for me since I'm scared to go fast, but Nick was disappointed.  I also discovered that sandboards make good sleds!  I even took Stevie down with me a couple of times.  The dogs love it, because they get to run around off leash and they get so exhausted from running in sand.  We love that they are exhausted!

We tried to go again today.  It hasn't rained since Thursday or Friday, but the dunes were still too wet to do anything but climb up them, which is not an easy task.  I think we're out of luck until it dries out more...sigh...I was really looking forward to the new form of exercise.  We did not take pictures today, but here are a few from our first attempt:

Sledding with Stevie.

Here I go...

...and this is me falling.

Here's Nick going down the big one!

And now he's running back up, that crazy boy!

I even have some video!  You lucky viewers!

Eventually, I'll get some more exciting footage and hopefully have some better stories to tell.  Until then, you'll just have to read about our other adventures!

Salut!

Ashley & Nick

Working Part-Time=Time for Hobbies!

Lately, I've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting.  It took me a while to find hobbies since I haven't had time for them in ages.  I made almost all of my holiday gifts this year.  The only exceptions were two gifts I bought for my cousin before I decided to make them.  My embroidery machine is amazing and we are creating some fantastic things with it.  Nick has figured out how to turn his drawings into embroidery designs that we can then transfer on to fabric and clothing.  I have also become a much more adept at knitting.  Now when I see a cute hat or scarf in a store, I just think of how much fun it would be to make it myself.  I am finding endless free patterns online and I'm excited to have more time for new creations.  I don't want to post pictures of everything here, but here is the link to the Facebook album I've created to showcase my projects.

I Like to Make Things

Enjoy!
Ash

Birthday on the Coast

It's been a busy couple of months and I have a lot of pictures I haven't posted yet.  Nick and I took a mini road trip for my 28th birthday.  We drove South on 101 until it got dark.  Our first stop was at a little yarn shop in the tiny town of Langlois.  I wanted to buy some natural/local yarn, but it was uber expensive, so I skipped it.  Next we stopped at a little wetlands boardwalk in Port Orford.

There wasn't a lot there other than mud, but we got some pictures of the hat I knitted for my sister.  We headed on through Port Orford and found this beautiful lookout.

After Port Orford, we made it to our only planned destination...the Prehistoric Gardens!!!!  What could be better for a birthday adventure than dinosaurs?!

We kept driving south until we got to Gold Beach.  I've never really been south of Bandon before, at least not that I can remember.  It was extremely exciting to drive until we saw something interesting.  I think those are some of the best adventures!  We stopped in Gold Beach to watch the sunset just south of town.  First we stopped in town at the mouth of the Rogue River.  We saw this old fishing boat.  Nick wanted to play on it, but for some reason I didn't think that would be a good idea.

We found this beach that was not sandy like most beaches.  It has millions of rocks and pebbles instead of sand.  There were some interesting and beautiful ones that we brought home to put in our aquarium.   We secretly wanted to pan for gold, but we didn't have the proper equipment...sigh...

 The final beach we stopped at was probably the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.  It was not a large beach, but there were over a dozen huge rock formations in the water.  We imagined climbing on them if the tide was lower.  We decided this is where we would watch the sunset and end our adventure.

 I would like to go back to this beach someday when we have more time to explore.  This was the best way to end an amazing birthday adventure!

Cheers!
Ash