Rockaway Beach with the Florence Family

Mel, Sam and Jimmy met me at the beach.. The Florence family was spending a week at Rockaway Beach. They live in Boise so we don't get to see them too often. The Florence family has been around ours since Sara and Abbie were about 5 years old.

Now all grown up leading different lives we still stay in touch with this special family.

These are some of my favorite pictures of the couple of days we spent at the beach.

I don't know why,, but I love this picture of Jim walking in the sand.

The more I see it ,, the more I like it!!

This is Dominic and Abbie.. One of the rare moments Abbie isn't making a face at me or some other gesture. Below is Paige. Dom and Abbie made her. :) I think they did a nice job.. she is just like Abbie, spunky and beautiful!!

Here is Fred and Jana.. Some of the best people I have ever known.

Sam and Jimmy got buried in the sand by the guys..

Mark (Ellies's husband) and all the girls.

Another of my favorites! My grandson Jimmy is getting so big and so handsome!!

Ellie and Mark are mom and dad to the twins. I cannot tell them apart so I just call them the same name. "MaddyLiv" Meet Madeline, and Olivia. They were so beautiful and so fun to play with!!

Fred cuddling with MaddyLiv

Ellie.. :) She is just as pretty as her girls are!!

My Melly!!

Paige after marshmallows.

This is Phylis and Nate. When she was little she was always Princess Philly.. To this day she still is.. She has grown up a true beauty.

I think this is another of my favorites.. I think I might just have to blow this up and frame it for the wall.. This was just pure happiness at flying a kite.. who cares if your britches are falling!

Mel and Jimmy checking out the tide pool..

My 2 handsome grandsons!!

It was so beautiful out there and the weather was great!

We had lots and lots of food and Mark (Ellie's husband) did alot of cooking. He is a stinking good cook too!!

Here are Mel and Jim up above and Paige below.. I love both of these pictures!!

My Sammy!!!

Here is the only picture I am in... Rene' (me) Jana, Phyllis, Abbie, and Ellie.

Fred cuddling with Sam..

We went clamming and everyone got some!! I really was the queen of rocks!! That is what I mostly got,, rocks! We got over 120 clams of different types. Of all of that catch I contributed 4. Yeay me!!

All 4 of some of my most favorite girls,,, Mel (above)

Abbie

Ellie

And Phillis

The rest of camping with the kids..

These are more of Camping with the kids..

We were in the Columbia Gorge at a campground called Peterson Prairie.

It was a really pretty and we got to do and see lots....

****Don't forget you can enlarge any of these pictures by just clicking on them.. then hit backspace or Esc key to go back to normal size.. ****

I loved the trees and flowers. Check out the bee in the one below..

I have no idea what they are called but they are really pretty!

The deer were all over this campground. They came right into the campsite.

We fed them frito's and they liked it...

Jim and Sam.. and one of the few pictures of me...

Below was the ice caves. You walked down a flight of stairs and you could feel the cold at about the forth stair.. The kids had a blast but it was wet and cold.

I played with the boys and my camera .. again :)

I guess I forgot about this one. Wally had my camera.

Big dog from the campsite next to us.

I love this one.

Boniville Dam

This is the upper part of the dam. We saw the fish ladders and the dam itself.

They have a window so you can see the fish that travel up the ladder. There were several different kinds of salmon, chad, and trout not to mention other fish that I cannot remember.

Love this picture!

More flowers. They were so bright and pretty.. I couldn't resist!