Mervyn's is filing for bankruptcy.

There were some great deals!

Did you know..

you can freeze avocados?





I'd never even thought of it. Why would you? Avocados don't last very long at our house. I never had the need until my sister moved away from me. Off of the block we've shared since my babies were 9 months old. To another neighborhood. Far, far away. But I'm not bitter. a few miles away to a house that sits in the middle of an avocado grove. Can you imagine having your own avocado grove? Yum!! They harvested so many avocados that she had to find a way to save them. And like always, Google came to the rescue. You can freeze avocados. You just mash them up a bit add lemon or lime juice (about a tablespoon per avo) and seal them in a freezer bag. They come out perfect, bright green and ready to make guacamole. So when we're freezing in January, we can make guacamole.

Is it so wrong?

That for the last week "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has been going 'round and 'round in my head? School's back in today-Yippee!!!

And so it ends...

Entering Oregon going south was not as much fun as it had been 3 weeks ago travelling north.

We took the same route stopping in Eugene and Sacramento. I lost the desire to take many pictures on the way home.




This long stretch of California should be known as appetizer alley.
There were tomatoes. I stopped counting these trucks when I got to 50. That's a lot of salsa and Bloody Marys!

Onions-brown and white.


Some type of nut trees. Maybe pistachios.



And wine. What more could you ask for?


Certainly not this!!!!

Welcome to Los Angeles-blah!

Coming to an end.

Our wonderful vacation was quickly coming to an end.

We went the town of Langley.








































This is the most beautiful rose bush.

Thousands of mini climbing roses.

We went bowling when the newlyweds got home.




























Check out that old woman's form!















As usual Kieran has his own technique.













Fine dining. The menu at the bowling alley.

















































Baby seagulls on the roof of a building.




This was a weird log flow that went by the house one morning.



I like to take pictures of what I looked at every day while on vacation.







































































You talkin' to me!?!



The Fort. We hope some other kids found it when we left.

Clam Obsessed

Ever since the great mussel harvest, Paul has been clam obsessed. He longingly looks at the tide. Is it low enough?







Child labor.









He knows where the clams are!



The corner office always has the best view.
Maybe the Internet has clamming tips?

...later that evening.

We went down to "our" beach with our bucket and harvested a few mussels. Penn Cove Mussels are famous. They're at our local Costco. It was so fun to get our own dinner. Once we got home Paul scrubbed off the barnacles and removed their beards. I cleaned and steamed the mussels in a little butter, garlic, onions and white wine. The kids loved watching them pop open when they were ready. YUM!! The mussels were really good. Kendra and Kyle ate tons. No doubt those are my genes. Kieran refused to even try one.

Coupeville

We stayed in town today and just relaxed.

The Knead and Feed for lunch.

Testing the temperature of the hot chocolate?

Whipped cream please!

PB and J on home made bread.

No scurvy for Kieran.

Do you think they'd give me a job?

A little dance practice.

It's not hard to practice when it's so beautiful!

Ebey's Landing. So much open space!

Multi-tasking.

Davis Block House at Sunnyside Cemetery.