What we have been up to

What a busy month July has turned out to be. For the fourth of July we did our semi annual tradition of going to Newport. We crabbed during the day and then met the Sanchez family on the beach to watch the fireworks. It was colder than it has usually been, but we still had a lot of fun. Last week we did another traditional trip and went to East Lake. The first day we stayed at Grandma Susan's house. Then on Wednesday we headed up to the lake. It ended up being the longest we have ever camped with the kids (four nights).

We love this lake because usually it is warm enough to swim, but the first day it was really chilly, especially the first night. I don't think Ken and I got hardly any of sleep.

The big activity of the summer was learning to skip rocks.

We had a lot of laughter on this trip bonding with the family. I have to be honest. Now that I am a mom camping is a lot of work. It can be very stressful. You have to let go of not wanting your kids to be dirty (having a lake helps). You have to be prepared to not get any sleep. In the past camping has not been fun for me. Yet I came to realize that it is fun for my kids and really fun for my husband. So I changed my attitude. I figured out what the most stressful parts of camping were for me. In my family growing up a big tradition was cooking. When we woke up in the morning we had a big breakfast, then we cleaned up, then we started lunch, then we cleaned up, then we cooked a big dinner and then we cleaned up, and then we had dessert. At first I tried to keep up this tradition, but the fact of the matter is I am married to a husband who's idea of breakfast and lunch is a couple of granola bars. He doesn't enjoy cooking and therefore the result that I was in charge of the cooking while he was fly fishing, and with little ones this didn't work. So he would come back to camp in the evening and he would find an unhappy mom with grouchy kids. As a result on this camping trip I made all of the food ahead of time. At dinner all we had to do was reheat the food. It was wonderful to eat when we wanted and in a quick amount of time and then as a family go down to the lake and camp.

The kids also had a blast feeding the squirrels and chipmunks. Any pictures taken of animals were by Midge. She said that the animals kept reminding her of her pet hamster, Snuggles.

Evie did really well on the camping trip considering camping isn't easy for little ones. What is it about little ones refusing to stay in their sleeping bags.

Ken took Midge and Leo out in the boat. It was fun until they were 10 feet from shore and Leo started screaming that the sharks were going to get him. Ahh good times.

Our poor little Midge did not feel good the entire trip. She was exhausted and had the achy cold feeling. She was such a trooper, and I am so proud of how she tried to be with the family. She even ended up taking a several hour nap in the middle of the day, something she hasn't done since she was 3 years old.

Another picture by Midge. There is a squirrel in there.

We had a little duck that kept following us around. Little Miss wanted to catch him so bad but he just kept swimming around from her.

Our Midge finally having enough energy to try swimming for a little bit.

Another part of camping that is stressful is the lack of personal time each day. I told Ken that I needed to have some time each day. During the afternoon he would take Midge and Leo and I would take Little Miss in the stroller. I would turn on my ipod that had a book I had downloaded on to it, and then we would walk. I had a towel over the stroller and it was tilted back. The first day I walked over an hour until Little Miss fell asleep, but by later in the week she had gotten used to the schedule and would fall asleep within a few minutes. We got a reputation in the campground because people got so used to us walking around, and with little Miss's feet sticking out of the bottom of the stroller. It was a nice relaxing time for myself to rejuvenate.

What a cutie!

On Friday afternoon the Swendsons joined us. Leo, Midge and Little Miss immediately hooked up with their kids. Midge loved that Shelly made her an anklet, and Leo had so much fun telling them all his funny experiences. The first night he was sitting in Shelly's lap and talking to her and then he started drifting into random topics. Finally his talking wound down like a toy and he fell asleep in her lap.

On Saturday the kids had a great time building a fortress with Andrew.

Nancy and I were able to sneak away for a short time and take a hike to see the Obsidian Falls. It was amazing to see the impact of the volcanos on the geography.

You could find these natural arrowheads.

One thing that surprised me was these purple flowers that would grow in the cracks in these desolate conditions.

When we got to the top you could see Paulina Lake with Mt. Bachelor and South Sister in the background.

I was so glad Nancy and I were able to take the trip. It was great to talk with her and get her wisdom on so many of her life experiences.

Evie was so frustrated that she didn't get to go out on the boat. She would cry from the shore when the big kids pulled away.

This was hilarious. Andrew wanted to go fly fishing. He didn't have waders, so Shelly helped him make these homemade garbage bag waders. They worked fantastic for about 5 minutes. He would be willing to make you your own custom deluxe pair for a small fee.

The whole Gang

Little Miss and Midge loved the Swendon's trailer. Midge wanted to know when we could get one.

The boys caught quite a few fish.

Andrew and Eric taught Leo to use a plastic spoon as a catapult and he loved it.

Eric, Bro. Swendson, and Ken fishing at sunset.

Bye all and thanks for a great trip Swendson Family.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Ken and I were able to have a great night tonight with our little boy. Our home teacher has season tickets to the EMs baseball team. He wasn't going tonight and asked us if we wanted the three tickets. We thought it would be fun to just take Leo. We got a babysitter. Leo was so excited he got dressed up in his baseball hat (given to him by DJ Hunter - a player on the UofO Ducks baseball team, and family friend) and his baseball jersey. He kept wondering if DJ would be playing tonight, but I told him this wasn't a college game.

We had great seats right behind the home plate.

Leo did great watching the game until he started getting tired about 1/2 way through.

Ken was giving him plenty of guidance on the rules of baseball.

At one point Leo started getting really restless so Ken took him out for a walk around the stadium. They had a vendor set up that would allow people to throw the ball and see how fast they were throwing. Liam wanted to do it and threw 33 mph! We thought that was pretty amazing because a kid who looked 12 had thrown right before him and had thrown a 42.

Since we were in my old neighborhood. I thought it would also be fun to show Leo the college house I lived in "the old blue house". The landscaping had been updated, and I had seen pictures on the internet when it was on the market a few years back. It looks different, but it was still fun to look at it and remember some old memories. For example the small windows on the east side of the house on the second floor are the windows I crawled through to get into my roomate's room after she locked her keys in her room, fighting over the one phone or dirty dishes left in the sink, playing minature golf in the backyard, carrying my own roll of toilet paper to the bathroom because everyone refused to buy anymore, or the time the roof caved in just minutes after I had left my sun room (ah good times!)

Liam of course was not impressed at all. He simply wanted to race to get to the ball game.

Midge's new cut

Our little Midge is a very determined little girl. She knows what she wants and when she makes up her mind she goes for it. For several weeks now she has been begging me to get her hair cut. I kept telling her she needed to think about it because once you get it cut you can't change your mind.  (Of course part of me was stalling because I was trying to get used to the idea of her hair being cut more than she was.) I kind of thought she might forget about it, but she kept bringing it up. I finally told her I would make an appointment. She was so upset I couldn't get it for the day I called. We went in today and cut it, and she loves it. When we came out she was jumping up and down. She said it felt so light and free, she said she felt like she didn't have any hair at all. I am really excited that it is cut now because the length was always a battle to brush. She was tired of the tangles, and I was tired of the arguing. I like the fact that she can still style it and pull it back if she wants. 

When we got home she took her new haircut seriously and decided to host a fashion show with her brother. Her is her brother's creation. We title it "Wild man meets inner athlete"

Here is our little glamor girl.

If you compare the pictures from the fire station Midge lost a good 6 inches of hair. She was shocked to see her hair on the floor when we left.

Personal Tour of fire station

Our home teacher is a retired fire fighter. His grandson was in town and arranged for them to have a personal tour of the new fire station in our neighborhood. He invited our kids and his companion's grandchildren to come too. 

The firefighters were so awesome with the kids answering any questions that they had. Even the far out ones and with a lot of little kids there were some crazy questions. 

This is Sergeant Little. He was so patient and sweet with the kids. They had just gotten back from a training exercise where they had been out in the hot sun for 5 hours. They hadn't eaten lunch, they were tired, hot and sweaty but they took so much time with our kids. 

The firefighters had them pick up their equipment. The kids were shocked how heavy it was.

At this point my camera battery ran out and I was so sad because of course this was when they had the kids operate the hoses. The kids had a blast holding them, turning the nozzle to create a variety of spray and of course using it to spray mom. I got some great pictures on my cell phone, but of course I can't for the life of me figure out how to now get them off my cell phone. The firefighters also let them climb into the ambulance, go upstairs, and even see their personal bedrooms. It is a really nice fire station and we love the firefighters. Midge wants us to bake something for them and take it too them as a thank you.

First Lost Tooth

Leo lost his first tooth yesterday. For several weeks now it has been loose. Midge swallowed her first tooth, so she has been reinforcing to him the need to be careful.

In the morning I took the kids to the free movies at VRC. In the middle of the movie he screams out it is really loose, and Midge confirms it is hanging by a thread. 

When we got home for lunch it was so close I kept telling him he should just pull it out. He was too scared and even started crying a little. I told him not to worry it would come out when it was ready. Sure enough he started to walk away, and then swung around with the tooth in his hand.

He is so excited he keeps showing everyone.

Unfortunately the tooth fairy did not come last night. Ken and I were awoken bright and early with complaints. We told the kids that they had stayed up too late last night (Midge was still up at 11:00 when Ken and I went to bed) and the tooth fairy will not come if children are not asleep. Hopefully the loud fireworks won't affect their sleep tonight.