end of summer and new school year

well we wrapped up summer. generally good. seemed really short and really busy. we didn't get camping as much as we'd like. the weather didn't act like summer until july....so maybe that's why it seemed so short. but we did get some good play days in and truthfully by the end of summer we are all ready for a little more consistent routine.

anyway we ended summer with a visit from todd's dad and step-mom. its their new tradition to come out every labor weekend which i whole heartedly support. we had a super visit. did some hiking. took a ride on the sternwheeler on the columbia river. and just hung out all together.

then it was the first day of school for the kiddos. they both wanted chocolate chips pancakes for first day breakfast.

riley is now a second grader!! (look at him sporting my alma mater on the first day....go jumbos!)

lucy is in her last year of preschool. she continues at little feet preschool MWF mornings.

so even though the weather still feels like summer and is finally gifting us those 90 degree days....the calendar says its nearly fall and we are back in the swing of school life!

yes day

well last week we had our first 'yes day'. the premise being that we as parents frequently say no to our children's requests and so on one day of the year the answer is always yes. we got this idea from a book one of the kids brought home from school and they loved the idea of having a yes day. so we did it the last week of summer and i gotta admit it was really really fun.

we did set a few ground rules such as they had to agree on meals and activities.....and no outrageous requests like 'can i have a pony?' and no unkind requests like 'can i hit my sister?'

anyway this is how our day unfolded.....

can we go out to breakfast and have hot chocolate with whipped cream on top?....yes

can we have a mud fight?.....yes

can we have a water fight?....yes

can i skip my nap today (lucy)?....yes

can we go up to the alpine slides?....yes

can we go on the go carts and the pony rides and the bungee and, and, and the everything?....yes

can we have pizza for dinner and watch a movie and have an ice cream sundae for dessert?...yes

can we stay up late?....yes

(and as was the last page in the book) does yes day have to end?.....yes

we had a great day and now have a new end of summer tradition. lucy said it was her favorite day of the year...maybe even better than christmas.

....coming next blog the end of summer and the start of the new school year!

summer road trip

so we took a fun little road trip last week. limited planning went into it, and we knew only that we would head for the John Day Fossil Beds Nat'l Monument in central oregon. so we packed up our camping gear and it the road with no real itinerary in hand (all part of the adventure todd says). i gotta say we had a great trip and saw some interesting things.

first we started off in the town of fossil, or. where up behind the high school you can dig for fossils. it was entirely plant matter (leaves and such) but the kids really had fun digging rock and then chiseling it apart for the fossils.

then we went hiking through the actual national monuments where they had examples of fossils found in years past....

we found little spots to camp each night...

we also went through an area call the 'painted hills' which were so stunning. i have seen the painted hills in lots of oregon scenic calendars, but had never been to the area. my pictures don't do it justice but you can get a sense.

lastly we ended up in a native american reservation/resort called kahneeta. the kids had been so good tromping through national parks we thought it'd be fun to reward them. so we stayed in teepee and then played all day at the pool which had big water slides.

on the drive home we had two very tired kids.....

it was a fun little summer get away and made me want to explore more of oregon next summer!

happy 40th birthday todd!

so todd's 40th birthday was on Aug 2nd, but the party lasted all. week. long.

we had good friends over for pizza and cake on his actual birthday.

also to 'help' partake in todd's birthday present which was a new kegerator!

i got an old vintage fridge, painted it and then enlisted the help of our good friend josh (who is a brewer at full sail and knows all things beer) to convert it into a kegerator. (mostly i watched as he generously did the work). needless to say todd loves his new friend who lives in the garage. we named him phil (he was an old Philco fridge...so seemed appropriate). already he gets blamed for things like...'aaahh, that's just phil talking'.

then the following weekend we had a big backyard bash....lots of friends, lots of beer, lots of fun. we didn't take any pictures except for this one of the late night crew.

it was a great celebration of a milestone birthday......happy birthday todd!

mid-summer

summer has been busy. no time to blog. but here is a little catch up for the month of july.

let's start with the 4th of july. lucy's pre-school was in the parade in the morning. my family was up from portland to hang out for a BBQ. the only picture i took was this sweet one of riley and my niece ella. my family headed home relatively early so we hit up another party with a giant slip-n-slide....it was AWESOME!

riley played soccer again this summer.....he's really a great little player and more importantly loves it.

we had a little family vacation with my mom and george (i call them mo-jo) and my brother and his family. long walks on the beach, hanging out, building sand castles....it was lovely.

momo and all her grandkids....

.....little ella, she's getting so big.

....sandcastle building

....the three little cousins

we had some slip-n-slide and water fight adventures of our own to cool off on some hot summer days.

oh in BIG milestone news, riley lost his first tooth. he was so excited! (he was the last of his friends to lose one.... he even asked the dentist at his visit in march if it was ever gonna happen). so when it finally popped out he stared at it in disbelief. the tooth fairy brought him a gold sacajawea dollar.

last but not least the county fair came to town. gotta love the fair.....rides and more rides...good times.

in addition to the rides, this year both kids participated in 'mutton bustin'. this is essentially riding a sheep across the area. you could do it with or without help. lucy chose to do it with help.

you had to be under 55lbs and riley just made it, so this being his one and only year he did it without help.

oh and i almost forgot....check out this you tube video. todd (farmer's market manager extrodinaire) pulled off a flash mob at the farmers market....it was fantastic and todd is front and center in the video!

so that's all for now.... coming next blog is todd's 40th birthday...stay tuned!