Beach Trip!!!

Team Trials are over!!! That means that the Null family actually has spare time to have some adventures! First item on the agenda? BEACH! It was a rather impulsive idea, being that I thought of it on Tuesday and we went Saturday. We had a BLAST!! Annika is still talking about it and asks when we can go back to the "beesh"

The night before we left the forecast said Seaside was going to be overcast, rainy, winds at 13mph and 60 degrees. So we did what any normal Oregonian would do and grabbed an extra jacket.

We left the house first thing in the morning and when we stopped to get gas in North Plains, Annika was screaming she so was excited.

The car ride was about an hour and a half and Annika did awesome! She read through all her books and started to get antsy when we were about 30 minutes away. Luckily we made it to Seaside without any major drama and headed straight to the aquarium!

We didn't get any pictures but we got to watch the seals jump around and bark. Other people fed the seals but Annika had no desire to touch the smelly fish. Smart girl! Then we went to the touch tanks and Annika was more interested in splashing the water than actually touching the sea creatures. So we didn't stay there long.

When we were heading out we saw a small crowd around the octopus tank. We headed over to see what was going on and the octopus was going crazy! I've been to a number of aquariums and I have never seen the octopus actually MOVE. I have been able to see a tentacle poking out from behind a rock. but this Octopus was swimming all around the tank and trying to jump out. I wish I got it on video.

After the aquarium we headed to the beach and built sand castles!!

This was father/daughter picture attempt #3. I can never get her to look at the camera long enough!!



Annika and her castle (it's very small but it's there I swear)


Our castles (Left to right): Annika, Daddy, & Mama.

After the beach we went to grab a bite to eat
Cheers!!

See? We DO give her juice! it's only once in a blue moon, but we do let her have it.

After lunch we ran over to the Merry-Go-Round. I was a bit weary because when we went last year, Annika was not amused AT ALL. Luckily this year she loved it! She loved it so much we went on 2 times! We would have gone on a 3rd but mommy was getting sick from going round and round and round.While watching before we got on Annika spotted the black cat and was determined to ride on it
Mama had to ride too

After that Annika wanted on Mama's horse because it was "High up in the sky!"

The only way to get Annika away from the Merry-go-round was to point out the nearby toy store. We went in and she didn't quite know what to do. She wandered around and back tracked almost like she didn't know what to play with first! She made her way over to the books (surprise, surprise) when she spotted an abacus. Jim and I were pretty much amazed when she started moving the balls and counted to ten in English first, then in Spanish, then in Korean, and then she counted up to 5 twice in German. She must have played with it for 10 minutes! When I finally said, "lets go buy it so we can take it home with us" she said no, put it back and grabbed a Dora book instead. Maybe when we go back in late August we can buy it (if she's still interested).

After the toy store we wandered our way back to the car and headed home. Annika passed out shortly after reaching the highway.
The day was absolutely magical and we get to go back here in 3 weeks for my birthday! We will be going to Newport instead of Seaside. But I love Newport. It's cold and windy and there's only 2 days a year where it doesn't rain, but I still love it :-)

Hello Rainy Oregon!

Aaaaaand we're back! Since I majorly failed on trying to update my blog everyday while in Austin, Tx I guess I will give you the short and sweet version!

Day 1

We flew in. The 100+ degree temperature wasn't THAT bad (when we were inside) but I was still thankful to have my Capri's with me. We wandered around and checked out the competition venue, stretched and went to bed!

Day 2

Our portion of the competition started today. The boy we were chaperoning was competing with his 2 teammates in the qualifier. They rocked it and beat the other team earning themselves gold! My Emmi-kins also competed at Junior Olympics and earned herself a silver medal (I'm so proud of her) and Chris (aka SHOW OFF) got his first 2 gold's of the weekend.

For lunch we found this cute little cafe on 6th street that had the BEST gay waiters. really. The guy we got was hilarious and was hitting on Jim, and me, and everyone else at the table. The food was decent but the entertainment was better! He earned himself quite a tip!

Then we stretched and went to bed.

Day 3

Today was our competition day! Everyone put out a great effort but nobody got gold :( But we did get a ton of silvers and bronze. We were THAT close! But it was very interesting to see who kept up with their training and who didn't and what that did to their performance.

That night we grabbed a bite and drinks at PF Changs, they have the BEST Mai Tai's. Then we went and grabbed some dessert around the corner at the Melting Pot! Strawberries, bananas, marshmallows all dipped into warm white, milk, and dark chocolate! YUM! DELICIOUS!

Day 4

Our juniors competed and owned the boy division! we had 6 of the 25 competitors and Chris (show off) and his brother took 1st and 2nd place! Congrats Chris! He gets to advance to the 4th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Cairo, Egypt! I'm so incredibly jealous but life goes on :-)

I also competed in the Senior National Championships. There was 1 other girl in our division and I had to beat her twice (double elimination) and the 1st time through I had all 5 judges voting in my direction. The second time, I had 4 of the 5. So that technically makes me the 2009 National Champion!

That night to celebrate a job well done we all went to Fogo de Chao. Fogo de Chao is best described as a all-you-can-eat steakhouse! Men walk around with skewers of Filet Mignon, Top Sirloin, Bourbon Chicken, you get the idea. You also have a little disc in front of you and when you want meat, you flip it to green and everyone attacks you with their meat. When you need a break or are finished, you flip the disc to red. When you are thoroughly in a "Meat Coma" they pass you the bill hoping you won't notice that they are trying to take your 401K and your first born. But it was so delicious we didn't complain... too much.

Day 5

We flew home. It was pretty uneventful since I took a xanax and slept through the flight.
We are now spending the next month or two doing nothing with our spare time but spending it with Annika. She had been neglected and has been missing out on park trips, ice cream socials, and general family time because we've been so busy with Team Trials prep. I am beyond happy that we can spend lots of time together now! So this weekend... BEACH TRIP!!!