Steidlmayer Blog: August 2015

Clay's birthday is Wednesday, August, 5th, but my parents wanted to come up the weekend before on Sunday, August 2nd, and so we decided to have a mini early birthday lunch for Clay. I'm hoping we'll celebrate again with Luke's parents, and then we'll be in Tahoe on Clay's actual birthday, so I have a feeling this is going to be a looong drawn out birthday week for Clay. He's already taking after me!

All week Clay has been excited about his tractor cake. I am VERY proud of this one. He said the little guy in the tractor seat was, "Grandpa."

Are these guys twins, or what?

Yes, I'm recycling this birthday sign from last year. But, it's such a great sign, it was be a mistake not to reuse it each year!

I made the most amazing lunch, if I may say so myself. My sister, Annie, sent me this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/curried-chicken-salad-recipe.html. I didn't have chutney, so I chopped up some green apples, and then added some siracha sauce for some heat. Other than those changes, I made it exactly as described. With the sandwiches, I prepared a watermelon, mint, and feta cheese salad. Yes, it was all delicious.

Clay has been waiting for this birthday, blow out the candles, moment for months.

He did it!

Until the next Clay birthday celebration...

River Monster!!!!!

Clay and I left our work week on Wednesday for a long weekend in Redway this July with my sisters and mom. Luke and my brother-in-law, Michael, met us in Redway on Friday, and then Matt and his whole family came up on Saturday. Redway to me is all summer and about family. It's usually pretty hot up there, and the only activities are hanging out by the river and enjoying the beautiful redwoods with good company. Clay loved the chaos of his cousins. The river was really low, so that was a bit disappointing, since the algae blooms were very visible and apparently bad for you. But, neither Clay nor his cousins seemed to notice and they were always wanting to swim in the river!

"Mr. My Turn", also know as Clay, saying, "My turn! My turn!" The yard is humongous up in Redway, and ladder ball is a fun one with the kids.

This is Clay on the first day up in Redway. We ran down to the river, now a small tiny trickle, and he ran into the water with all of his clothes on. He was VERY excited.

And then he and Alex took off their clothes. They both love the water!

A vacation isn't really a vacation without an appetizer hour with fancy cheese and crackers.

Maile was very proud of herself and her fire skills. I guess this technically means she was very proud of herself and her ability to remember and then light a duraflame starter log.

Finding Smores sticks!

We drove through the Avenue of the Giants, up north of Redway where we found these amazingly beautiful and huge redwoods.

My mother took this photo. It's a great picture of the leaves. :)

We visited Annie's apartment in Arcata and saw where her boyfriend, James, works. He's a fireman, and so you can imagine how exited the kids were to see a real fire engine up close!

Even Annie was excited!

And Maile was excited too!

Maile got to try on the fireman's jacket.

My mom got in the action and tried on their oxygen tank.

Michael came up on Thursday night.

My friend Jess and her husband Dave, and their dog Sandee, had coincidentally just hiked the lost coast near Redway. They stopped over on their way home and spend an afternoon/evening with us. It was really fun to catch up with these guys and finally meet their sweet dog.

Many campfires...

Luke, Clay and I took a short day trip over to Shelter Cover. We got to see these amazing tractors haul boats up the sandy road out of the water. You can see the tractor right behind us. It was really fun for Luke and I to see this, and so you can imagine just how much fun Clay had with the whole ordeal as well.