Outdoor Adventure

The West Coast Wagners headed to the South-Central part of our state this weekend for an outdoor adventure with my brother and sis-in-law. After accidentally venturing past our destination (navigating never has been my forte), we arrived at Thompson Reservoir to camp for the weekend. As you can see, we really roughed it in our tiny tent (a.k.a., the Taj Mahal).


My bro and SIL had fun taking the Little Miss on a "treasure hunt" as we all tried our hand at geocaching. We successfully located a few caches, with the Little Miss displaying her "frog" find below.

Hands down though our girl most enjoyed taking care of "Sage" (a.k.a., the world's most-patient-dog). Here you can see Sage trying to recover from all the walks and hugs.

We concluded the last night of our adventure with the real reason we trekked all the way to the middle of nowhere to camp...dinner at the Cowboy Dinner Tree. Even though it's in a very remote location, this place is well known by all the locals in Central Oregon. You would never know from the outside that it's a restaurant but the food does not disappoint. You have your choice of top sirloin steak (more like a roast since it's a 26 - 30 oz cut!) or a whole roasted chicken. That's after eating a fresh green salad, yeasty buttered rolls, cowboy-style baked beans and a baked potato. Needless to say, no one leaves without a very full doggy bag to go!
My brother and I camped regularly with our family when we were kids so it has been a lot of fun to get to share that experience with the Little Miss. We are looking forward to next year's camping adventure and are sure enjoying this outdoor family tradition!

Annual Family Camp-Out

This past weekend the Little Miss and I headed to the beautiful Oregon Coast for the annual camp-out with my dad's side of our family. This year we stayed at Beverly Beach State Park, a campground and beach that my family frequented as I was growing up. We had a great time with aunts, uncles, cousins and their families. We enjoyed visiting, playing games, and eating...and eating some more.

Since Mr. Wagner is still away, the Little Miss and I shared Papa and Mimi's tent. Mason, my cousin's daughter, was such a sweetie and kindly took to our girl, constantly giving her piggy back rides, making crafts and playing on the beach.

The Little Miss adored playing in the ocean and kept Papa and I busy chasing the waves. It took the two of us taking turns to keep up with her youthful energy!

The only thing missing from the weekend was our dear Mr. Wagner. We sure miss him and look forward to his return!

A Long Awaited Milestone

For the sake of keeping it "real", I have to confess that I accomplished a new milestone today. Before I tell you what that may be Dear Reader, I must first ask you to reserve judgement. In my defense, I'll blame my parents. In actuality, they were looking out for my well-being by keeping me from accomplishing this when I was younger (and instead assigning the chore to my older brother). They knew that I had a tendency towards clumsiness and wanted to prevent any potential mishaps, including the loss of life and limb. Now...what is the great milestone that I accomplished today for the first time EVER? I mowed the lawn!!!

(Oh, there you go...judging, judging, judging. Now it's your turn to confess!).

No worries about what others may think about how long it's taken me to accomplish this feat because most important of all, I made Mr. Wagner quite proud. While he's in the great country to the north of us working away, the Little Miss and I have been tending to the house and yard. Though he didn't ask, I got the sudden urge this morning to try my hand at the lawn, wanting to leave it as well-kept as possible for my hubby who has worked hard to keep it looking so nice. Mission accomplished!

(Do I have to admit that it's not like I had to operate a high powered gas mower? We have an easy-to-use manual mower but that's besides the point. Bottom-line is that the lawn is cut and my digits are not!).

Family 4th of July Getaway

We hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend. The West Coast Wagners celebrated with a weekend getaway to visit family in the central area of our state. We spent most of our days relaxing and enjoying BBQ's with burgers and brats. On Saturday, Yours Truly was treated to a special afternoon massage outing while Mr. Wagner recovered from a long mountain bike ride.

Our 4th of July started off taking Papa downtown to watch the Pet Parade, a long-standing local holiday tradition. As you can see, the Little Miss sure enjoyed having two of her favorite men as dates.

While there were about a zillion dogs that walked in the parade, along with bikers and hikers to boot, Yours Truly is super proud of the fact that the Little Miss insisted her favorite thing to watch was the horses.

That's my girl!

Happy Independence Day!

We hope that you and yours have a very nice 4th of July!

Summer Fun

Finally, summer weather has arrived! We took advantage of the sunshine and had a fun-filled weekend. Friday started off with a Mom and Kids Outing with Joani and Janelle, along with our little ones. The "super moms" biked over 20 miles, pulling our kiddos in their matching Chariots. Best part was stopping for lunch at a favorite local farm and restaurant where we filled up on fire-cooked pizzas, organic salad greens and fresh baked potato donuts.

Saturday brought more beautiful weather so the West Coast Wagners headed north to the city. What a gorgeous downtown view! The boaters were out on the river in masses and Yours Truly tried not to be too jealous of all the people getting ready to water-ski.

We spent a couple of hours at OMSI, where Mr. Wagner and the Little Miss had fun playing scientists. I dare say our girl may be engineer-minded like her daddy!

After OMSI, we headed to our friend Abby's 2nd birthday party. We topped the weekend off with a couple of visits to the pool and a BBQ in our backyard with good friends. We're so glad summer has finally begun and are looking forward to more days of fun!

Happy Father's Day!

10 Reasons I (the Little Miss) have the best Daddy in the whole world:

1) He knows my needs, even in the middle of the night when Mommy is sound asleep.
2) He loves and protects me like no other.
3) He prays with me every night.
4) He gives me a few chocolate chips every day when he gets off work (shhhh...don't tell Mom).
5) He likes to tickle my tummy with his hairy face.
6) He takes me on "dates" to the Home Depot and lets me sit on the tractors.
7) He has pulled me up a mountain with his bike!
8) He gently washes my hair every time I take a bath and even though he wouldn't want me to tell you, he does actually know how to braid.
9) He treats me like a princess.
10) He's going to help Mommy paint my room green soon...Isn't that right Dad?!