Our old standby!

There I was, sitting on the couch watching kids' TV (PBS) when an ad for OAKS PARK comes on! I sat and thought a moment about what day it was, and when I realized it was Toddler Time Wednesday, I shot off the couch and sent the kids to wake up their Dad! We were goin' to OAKS Park! Sadly, we didn't get there as it opened, so we had to wait in that loooooooooooong line for awhile, but then we hit the first ride we saw...the Tilt-a-whirl! With Brian on one side and me on the other, we really did have that thing whirling around and around and around...

Here's proof! The kids are holding on for dear life while Brian and I are trying to keep it whirling!

Next, Cait-o and Cody hit the "big slide" with Brian.

Get ready...

Go! (I'm not sure but it doesn't look like Brian and Cody are all the way on the rug like they're supposed to be???)

Caitlin is now brave enough to go on that mini roller coaster. I think it is quite bumpy and jarring, but I'm always willing to have a ride on a roller coaster.

Here's Cody ready to roll on the roller coaster with arms raised. (It took Caitlin until almost age 5 to finally get up the nerve to ride this again, but Codes seems born for adventure.)

Caitlin has always loved this frog hopper. Look how big she seems sitting in the middle seat! Cody is over on the far (stage) left.

Up, up and away!

The lines were rather long when we were there, so we hit this airplane ride since it had a shorter line. Caitlin kept aiming at me.

Doesn't she look like she belongs in some tough girl movie?

Me and Codes - hanging out.

The second time around on the roller coaster, Caitlin wanted to ride with her Dad in the "pink" car. Cody and I were right behind in our favorite color "blue" car.

The final picture...good ole' Chipper, the chipmunk. The kids thought he/she looked awfully cuddly, but weren't sure how to go about getting a hug. They settled for a paw rub instead.

CAMPING TRIP!!!!

This was our first (of many) camping trip! We got to go with our family of campers - John & Brenda, Josiah, Sam, Caleb, Lee & Claudia (John's parents), Uncle Deacon & Aunt Hilary with Mackenzie. It was loads of fun! This is John cooking some kielbasa on night #1. Don't you love his new grill?

Here's Codes taking a brief moment to get off his bike and play with the toy cars we brought for him. That kid acted like the bike was just an extension of him.

Here he asked Uncle Deacon to "ride with me." He scooted up on his bike and told Deacon to get on with him. It was very cute.

Cait-o couldn't get enough of her bike either. Here she is taking a bike ride with Caleb. Caleb, by the way, was a star and was always up for taking his cousins for a bike ride. (So were Josiah and Sam! Thanks you guys!)

Here's Cody - tearing it up on the road. Next time we will probably try to find a camp site in the back part of the park. We were right near the exit so every few moments someone was driving out of the park. It was a little scary with our two munchkins.

Here's the gang hanging out. We finally had to put Abby in the camper. If you know Abby, you know that she barks at EVERY LITTLE THING. We even got a complaint about her. Doggone dog.

Here's Cody on our bed. We found out on this trip, that what we thought were queen sized pop-outs were actually KING SIZED. It was a wonderful discovery (except that the fitted sheets I brought were only queen sized). I had to go buy some king sized ones because our mattress pad covers are not exactly soft and comfy.

Here's Caitlin getting comfortable with her pets. She had a really great time and did NOT want to leave. (Of course she always wants to stay "one more night" regardless of where we go. She's probably going to have wanderlust like her Mom did - and still does.)

Here's me roasting a twinkie. This wasn't the amazing treat I had hoped, but I think once you pass the age of 20, you might not like twinkies in the same way you once did. I am a s'mores girl down to my core!

Here's the back side of the camping trailer. It was SO much nicer than having a tent. We also got to bike ride around a bit and walk down to the lake. All in all it was a fabulous trip and we are eager to go camping again!

Rare indeed!

With Brian mainly working swing shift, and me mainly working days, we don't get too many of the family dinner nights. When we do, it is a rare treat for us! Even though the weather has not been cooperating as of late, we still managed to eat outside (a bit chilly, but warm enough for us to last the 20 minutes it took to eat everything). Here's Cody eating his new found favorite "bone chicken." He really enjoys the chicken with my parents old sauce standby...

I LOVE this stuff. Store brand barbeque sauce just doesn't seem the same. This is simply Hunts tomato sauce, some olive oil, some balsamic and a little bit of Lawry's season salt.

Here's my little Caitlin, who is not fond of anything tomato based (don't ask me why...makes me wonder if she's mine). She does love these new tortellini pasta we found at Costco. It is quite tasty. Brian has to bribe her to eat the chicken. Seems she thinks the only kind of "good=delicious" chicken is the rotisserie kind. (She would have loved Boston Market.)

Tuesday...sick as a dog...

It's true. I was sicker than I can ever remember feeling. I woke up with a headache, body aches, a fever and a sore throat. I really wasn't up to doing much at all, so I called in sick to work and proceeded to spend some time reaquainting myself with illness ~ my own. Sooooo, my sweet little daughter set about making me some "get well soon" cards. She did such a wonderful job that I had to post them for you. (Thanks to Brian who took the shots!)





Our fridge serves as a grim reminder of that fateful Tuesday day when Mom "wasn't really watching us" (as she told Brian on the phone after I made her go call him because I was feeling so awful). Just so you know, Cody was just as sick as I on this day. He and I were laid out and poor Caitlin had to just play by herself. Truly, I wish this every day, but on days when you are sicker than sick and just need a little help with the kids, I sure wish my family lived closer!!!!

What do you do when Mom has sore hands and feet?

I've never heard of it, but I have it. It's a child's problem usually, but not when you have no immunity against it. I have "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease." {My friend at school ~ wise cracker ~ told me to quit putting my foot in my mouth and that wouldn't have happened.} But, honestly, there's nothing like going to the doctor's to hear that you have a disease, right? My heart raced until my doctor told me it was a common viral infection among kids (mainly the young ones - preschool age or so). Caitlin had it this past weekend, then transferred it to Cody and I. {Fortunately, I am the only one with the blisters on my hands and feet.} Walking is PAINFUL (but I do think I could possibly walk over hot coals now), trying to hold onto things ~especially keys, pencils, laundry baskets~ is painful, trying to twist off juice tops is painful, sheesh. Anyway, the poor kiddos and I have been somewhat trapped by this illness for the past week. Today, the kids were able to chill with me and watch Kung Fu Panda, build with their lego sets and they found a little imagination in their old funny hats which I happened to catch in pics!
Somehow, these lucky kiddos escaped the brunt of the blistering part of this, but we all had sick as dogs moments this past week. I think we are on the clearing side now though! Let's hope for a restful and pain free Memorial Day weekend!

Wishes

I was cleaning out Caitlin's school bin. It's really just a hanging wall file, but it works as a catch all for us. Unfortunately, it doesn't get cleaned out enough to really be as useful as I had hoped, especially since Brian will put things in there that I never see, or vice versa. Well, I uncovered Caitlin's secret wish on her pot o' gold St. Patrick's Day art project:

Just a quick post about...love

Just a story for you today. A few days ago, when the sun was out and the windows were down, a nice breeze blew through the car. I felt it in my hair and was so happy to have sun on my face and that fresh wind blowing through the car. Well, Caitlin and Cody were sitting in the back chattering along. Suddenly, Caitlin said, "Mom, I can smell you." Yikes, I wasn't sure how to take that, so I said, "Smell good, or smell bad?" Caitlin responded, "You smell like...(big whiff)...love." Awwww shucks, put that one down for the memory books folks!

Just like my Dad

Our kiddos love tattoos. I can't blame them really. I remember how fun it would be to rip open that pack of Cracker Jacks and get a tattoo as your prize. That was my favorite! Well, we asked Cody if he wanted a tattoo like his Daddy's and he was all for it. He wanted it on his arm just like his Dad. Brian told him to "show his muscles" and this is the photo we were able to snap!

If you are noticing his messy face, that was all staged to make him look tougher in this photo. You know? Otherwise he is always perfectly groomed and ready for pictures - HA!

Here they are showing you the comparison. Cody's tattoo made Brian reminisce about when his tattoo was new and so bright. (By the way, looking at these two side by side, doesn't Cody look more like me?)

The "BEFORE" photos...I hope...

So, we recently acquired this camping trailer from Brian's Dad. It needs some work, maybe more than a little. We would love to be able to use it, but it is going to take some elbow grease, professional cleaning (cushions) and a bit of an overhaul on structure and decorations. However, the kiddos think it's the bees knees and absolutely CAN'T WAIT to go camping in it this summer. I remember the days when summer broke us out of school and we got to put up our camping trailer when I was little. It was amazing...like our own little adventure in the backyard. It would be great to be able to recreate that feeling for our two...but sheesh...it's going to take some doin'. Take a look at the photos, let us know what you think.

What have we been up to lately, anyway?

I know, I get busy with other things, and the blog gets ignored. I will fill your plate with new pictures though. We had a great weekend on the coast - Lincoln City and then down the coast to Florence for the Super Bowl Game.

On Saturday, it was nice-ish, so we headed down towards Depoe Bay to this hidden beach area off Highway 101. The beach there is covered in sand and pebbles, but has some agates that you can find! (Stay tuned for pics from this beach...we went back on Sunday.) {We didn't have our camera out on Saturday, sadly.}

Saturday night, we turned in early. {It's really tough to get both those kiddos down and it makes you get sleepy trying to make them sleepy.} On Sunday, Deacon came up late morning so we took him to our favorite spot. {Even the dogs love the ocean water!}
Casey in mid-shake...it doesn't matter how cold the water, she is in it every time! Here's Deacon and Hil, out enjoying this lovely spot with us!Love this shot, had to add it. =)

MacKenzie came too with her new boyfriend, Mack. (They are both named MacKenzie, pretty funny ey?) He's a nice guy, we approved. heh, heh

Here's Cody playing in the seafoam.

I try to not touch the stuff, but Cody loves blowing these "bubbles."

It's pretty thick stuff, and there was a LOT of it.

Here's Brian posing with Codes. I don't think he had his shoes off on this day or I'm sure this photo would have caught him playing in it with Cody.

Poor Deacon was trying to get a shot with Cody, but Codes must have though "Unca Deacon" was trying to take him away from his beloved foam. Done with the foam and heading off to wash it off in the water. Here's Caitlin, sitting off on her lone rock. I wish we could have caught her walking up to it. She was pretending she was Godzilla or something, tossing all the rocks in her way off to the side. (Can you see the two rocks towards the bottom middle of the pic? She had tossed these aside and tried to pick up the rock she is sitting on. It was rather funny, but she wouldn't reenact it for me to take pictures. Bummer.)Cait-o was brave enough to jump off this log to her Daddy who was standing below. I think her brother is ramping up her competitive nature. She's now getting gutsy like Cody has ALWAYS been. I miss my cautious little girl (sometimes). {Though I'm really proud of her too when she battles those fears of hers.} This is me, throwing a found stick for Casey. I'm telling you, your arm would fall off before this dog would get tired of chasing whatever you throw for her. She SEARCHES for sticks as soon as we get to the beach. She tends to be good at finding one too.

Cody making use of our sand toys.

Abby standing guard??? ha, ha {Doesn't it look like she's thinking, "What you lookin' at?"}

This was a great time. The sun was shining, little wind, and family abound. As Caitlin likes to say, "It was a great, great day!"