Tom's #60

Grandpa Tom turned 60 yesterday!

So we went south to help him celebrate the momentous occasion.

He had a music gig here, so we enjoyed the music and helped harvest the hops crop too!

They "pay" the hop harvest volunteers in beer (or boysenberry lavender soda...if you're Levi).

It was super fun to be with Tom on his birthday.

And we picked a lot of delicious Cascade hops.  Next year, when we go back, we can brag about drinking the hops we harvested.  And Levi will enjoy more yummy fruit soda!

Blackberries on the Alsea

This weekend we met Grandma Winnie on the Alsea River to camp.
We pulled in very late on Friday because traffic was CRAZY getting out of town.  It took us an hour to get from our house to Wilsonville.  That's a trip that should take about 20 minutes!

So after some breakfast, we got our first glimpse of the campground and the river.  We quickly figured out why the campground is named Blackberry.  And Levi shoveled these into his mouth after throwing lots of rocks in the river and catching a really big crawdad.  (Actually, Gabe jut reached in and picked him up...But Levi did carry him around on a stick for a little while before we let him go.)

Blackberry campground is 15 miles inland from Waldport.  So the weather at camp was nice.  The fog on the beach was a different story.  It was dense but it wasn't windy or cold...can't have it all when you visit the Oregon coast.

Levi was determined to pick up every single piece of dead crab he found in the sand.  Such a typical boy!

Waldport is a pretty tiny beach town (population about 2,000), so we drove up to Newport to have some lunch and check out the sealions.

Other highlights were definately all the little inch worms we found falling from the trees all over our campsite!

And who doesn't love a great s'more?

Certainly not this kid.

It was a great last camping trip of the summer.
Literally...I have a two day conference tomorrow and Tuesday, and a planning meeting in the morning on Wednesday.  I'm really not happy about going back to work.  Sure wish summer could last forever!

#4

There have been some serious birthday festivities happening around our house the last few days!

Levi invited a few friends, and some family, over to celebrate with him on Sunday.  (Lots of friends weren't able to make it, so it was a small gathering.  I think that's unfortunately how it's going to be for this kid since he has a summer birthday.)
But we still had a "blast".
Lots of balloon rockets were shot off (and are now stuck on the roof)!

Lots of pinata smacking!

Candles were blown out, cake and ice cream consumed!

And of course lots and lots of presents!
It was a fun (and exhausting) afternoon.

Yesterday, Levi and I took our first (and probably only) trip to the aquarium.  (It wasn't very good.)  Levi does love looking at the jellyfish and he spent a lot of time "petting" the sting rays.

Since the aquarium is around the corner from Gabe's work, we met him at the park down the block and had lunch.  And of course, the boys had to shoot off the cool new rocket blasters Levi got for his birthday.

We ended the day with more presents, and taking Gramma and Grampa G out for dinner at Levi's favorite restaurant.  (Since Gramma's birthday is TODAY!)  There had to be more cake and ice cream too!

Awesome celebrations for a really awesome kid!

We are excited about the adventures year #4 brings!

lazy days

Levi and I have spent the last few weeks slowing down our summer pace.
I felt like July was packed so full and flew by!
It was time to relax a bit...

So the last few weeks we've had a few play dates, baked multiple batches of these with figs from my friend Jen's tree (obviously they are my new favorite dessert of the moment), had a sports class in the morning where Levi got to try lacrosse for the first time, spent a lot of time making a rocket piñata and jet packs for a special kids 4th birthday party, met Gabe for lunch at his current favorite burger joint, and had a morning soccer camp.

And here are a few photos of highlights from this lazy week of summer.
*Getting a tux fitting at guys night:
Levi and Gabe are going to be in Gabe's friend Bryan's wedding in Illinois in September.  So Levi got to tag along for guys night which included a tux fitting and then dinner at Red Robin.

I'm not sure what's with the Blue Steel Zoolander face.  It must just come out the first time you put a nice suite jacket on!

*Getting to meet these two sweet little guys:
Our friend Jen had her twin boys last week and we got to meet them on Tuesday night.
Meet Braden!

And Caden: (He's the one on the left...sleeping.)

The thought going through Gabe's mind in this photo is: "Oh, thank God we only had one!"

I can't believe how tiny they are, but they are healthy and keeping mom and dad up at night.  Just like all newborns should.

The next few weeks we'll keep enjoying our last moments of summer!

Catching Crawdads

Getting into Indian Creek and catching crawdads with Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey, is definitely one of the highlights of the summer!

The daddies seemed a little less plentiful this year, but we did catch some of the biggest daddies ever.
Plus, the weather was perfect!

First crawdad caught!  Daddy caught him in the bucket because Grandpa Tom was still bringing the nets down from the truck.

We had a great day on the creek.  After just 2 & 1/2 hours (with a break for lunch and beers) we caught 269 crawdads.  Which Grandpa Tom made into some delicious crawdad cakes (think crab cakes...YUMMY!)

Levi took the kissing of the crawdad tradition to a whole new level this year.

I'm not sure why this live crawdad is hanging out in Levi's mouth, or why Levi thought it was a good idea.  But I am certain he wouldn't be so brave if that crawdad had come out of the creek and not the ice filled cooler.  They're pretty slow when they are almost frozen!

Thanks Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey...we're already looking forward to next year.