Purple Power

Today is the one-year anniversary of our friend Katie's diagnosis with colon cancer. I've got the date on my calendar, and I've been thinking about what to blog. But this morning, she wrote a post on her caring bridge site and I thought, well, that's better than anything I could say. So, wear purple today, think of Katie today, pray for Katie today, and enjoy her post on everything that she's thankful for: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katietinnea

more ashland - july 6

July 6, a trip to Lithia Park and a lucky encounter w/ a facepainter on the way back to the car.

it was a really slow walk to the playground. the path is long and winding, and the kids took frequent sit breaks in the middle of the path. but that was fine.

:) a little static.

on the big kid swings (the baby swings were occupied)

it was REALLY hot! Daddy helped us use the water fountain several times.

We encountered this girl doing free facepainting on our way back to the car. How cool is that? Ethan went first.

I love the pic above and this one because both my kids are trying to keep an eye on the face-painter!

the girl said, "all done!" but kaylee did not feel she was done. "Nose? Nose? E-E nose, Kay-ee nose?" translation: but you painted Ethan's nose, what about mine? So we all laughed, and Kaylee got to choose purple paint for her nose.

it's hard not to itch your nose... or your whole face for that matter.

kisses!

Our nanny Lauren texted Blake and I this picture today. :D

Ashland Trip - the 5th of July

So you may have noticed that we spent the 4th of July mostly driving. I mean, of course we had cute red white and blue outfits for that day, but we saved the real 4th of July outfits for the 5th of July. (it totally makes sense.) Anyways, here are some pics from the 5th of July. :)

this truck was at the house! the kids loved it and were sad to leave it. pushing it around the wrap-around deck was awesome.

playing washers at the house in the backyard.

lunch at Callahan's Lodge

it was really hot!

Aron would toss the ball, and Blake would toss Ethan so that Ethan would do a header with the ball. Ethan loved it.

after lunch everyone went home and napped. or, at least I did. when I woke up, a couple of my mom's cousins and their families had stopped by. Pure coincidence, they were in Ashland that same day, so they stopped by the house to say hi to everyone.

not only did the house have a dump truck, it had a small tricycle. pretty awesome. the kids couldn't reach the pedals, but they sure loved being pushed around!

duplos. who doesn't love duplos? my mom bought some and brought them to Ashland.

:)

Ashland Trip - driving down

My sister-in-law Alyssa and her parents organized an awesome family trip down (or "up" for some people) to Ashland for the 4th of July. On the trip were Washingtonians Dana, Blake, Kaylee, Ethan, Aline & Dennis (aka Nana & Gramps), Darren (Uncle Darren, who technically lives in NY, but that doesn't count), Shawni & Kris (Alyssa's parents), and Aron (Alyssa's brother) and Californians Evan & Alyssa and Grandpa & Donalee. Most of us all stayed in one house all together, and it was a great trip. Everybody saw some plays and people rotated babysitting so that Blake and I could go to some plays too.

We split up our drive down to accomodate the kids' sleep schedule and it looked like this:

Tuesday:
Dana goes to the dentist and then to get her stitches removed in downtown Redmond. Blake gets the oil changed and takes the kids to a park to wear them out.
We drive to Portland (3ish hours) during what is normally nap time. They actually slept the majority of the time and we didn't hit tons of traffic so that leg was a success!
Meet up with my parents and uncle darren (or uncle durn as the kids call him) at the Portland Zoo. The kids were so surprised to see Uncle Durn! Spent the afternoon/evening there checking out animals and even riding a train.
Then we found a quiznos for dinner and hit the road again at about 7:30 (pretty close to bedtime). The kids slept the entire ride to Redmond Oregon.
Pulled into our hotel, Kaylee peed on me as we sat in the lobby and blake checked us in (she has an amazing ability to pee out of the side of her diaper somehow).
overall - a success!

Wednesday, the fourth of July
Breakfast at the hotel and then we visited with Blake's grandma diana and his aunt wendy who live in Redmond Oregon. Grandma Di excited everyone by buying a few small fire crackers which Blake set off in the street while the kids watched. You know, at 10am. We had lunch there and then as nap time approached and we started getting fussy it was into the car and off to Ashland!
We arrived in Ashland with a few moments to set up the pack and plays at the house and then we handed the kids off to my parents and headed into Ashland w/ my brothers and Alyssa and Aron for dinner and our first play.
again, not a bad day!

Now here's the part you really want - pictures!

looking down on some bears

proof that I was there too

uncle durn was trying to show them the water. they were not sure.

it's always exciting to get to wash your hands at the petting zoo

the goat was trying to eat the zoo map in Gramps' pocket

kaylee was really not pleased about that and let Gramps know

Ethan saying "bye goat" as in, "do not get any closer, you're just fine right there"

getting on the train

fireworks with great grandma di and great aunt wendy

kaylee bringing daddy another firework

ethan did not want to sit w/ great aunt wendy

but then, he didn't want to sit with daddy either!