Holiday Weekend Adventure: LaPine State Park

Thank goodness for holiday weekends.  I really needed a break.
We went to central Oregon this weekend and stayed at LaPine State Park.  It's a really nice park, it's just unfortunately 4 hours away.  We had a camp site that backs right up to the Deschutes River.  So, we did quite a bit of hiking along the river on Saturday morning.

Why yes...that is Levi's robot grabber in the picture.  He insisted on having it while we hiked just in case "someone needed rescuing."  He calls it his "rescue grabber."

On Saturday afternoon we met up at Lava Butte with our friends, Mark and Mindy, who recently moved to Bend.  Levi really loved walking around in the 7,000 year old lava flow.  He has a pretty big obsession with volcanoes.

Love the view of Mt. Bachelor in the background of this photo.  Have I mentioned how much I really love central Oregon?  The smell of Ponderosa Pine gets me every time!

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was Levi making a "camp fire" and roasting his own marshmallows.

And of course he was very excited to help daddy build the real fire.  This was all that remained of the two marshmallows daddy roasted for him!

Overall a great weekend.  Levi's last day of school is Friday and I have 13 more...
Summer is almost here!

He's Here!

Baby Elijah arrived this afternoon!
He was born at 1:13pm.
Weighed in at 8lbs 4oz.

He's wonderful and handsome!
My sister, Tricia, is doing fine.  Pretty exhausted but very happy about this amazing little guy she has in her arms now!

FYI-Elijiah is yawning here not crying...it's really hard work coming into the world!

Now Levi gets to be the big boy cousin who teaches his little boy cousin how to arm pit fart.
I'm sure these two are going to have a lot of fun together!
It was a quick visit tonight since the new family is pretty tired.  I can't wait to get some more snuggles with this baby boy later!

Congratulations Tricia and Travis!

Welcome baby Elijah!

Mom's Day!

I sure am one lucky Mommy.
So happy I get to be this silly little boy's mom.

Levi's really big right now on being a "rescuer".  So when we saw this mask at Target yesterday we had to get it.  Not sure why he's so into rescuing...maybe because of the fireman who visited his class a few weeks ago?  The mask was definitely the best $3 I've ever spent!  He loves it!

Levi sure has done a great job making me feel loved and special today.  (With some help from Grandma)

Levi and Gabe also let me stay in bed this morning while they made yummy cinnamon rolls!

Now we're waiting for dinner to finish...Gabe made one of my favorites!

We got our garden all planted and some weeds whacked down this weekend.

Also had a fun little picnic at the park today.

Someone is really close to being able to ride a pedal bike all on his own!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Another beautiful weekend

We have been blessed with some amazing weather the last few weeks.  It's felt more like late July than early May around here.  Loving it.  But it does have me worried about what June will bring.  Blessings come with curses in the Pacific Northwest!

It was a great weekend for racing.

Although, the racing didn't end well.
I got a phone call this afternoon from Gabe.  They rolled out on stage today and are done for the weekend.  So disappointing!

And a perfect weekend for doing a short photo shoot at the Hoyt Arboretum with two (almost three) of my favorite people.  Baby Elijah could come at any point...although his "due date" is May 19th!
Here are a few of my favorites.

Wish Travis wasn't out of focus on this one...guess the 50mm lens I dropped really needs to be replaced!

And a perfect weekend for finally getting the pea plant Levi planted in a pot at school a month ago, in the ground.  It sure needed it!  We definitely waited too long since it was trying hard to grow one little pea pod in a tiny little pot.  Hope it survives!

Since Daddy will probably be home early tomorrow, we'll have to get an early start on planting some pea seeds so Levi's little plant won't be all alone!
I am so thankful for beautiful weekends.  And that my husband will be making it home safely!

Weekend Adventure: Silver Falls

We spent the most glorious, amazing, wonderfully sunny weekend camping at Silver Falls!  (Can you tell I really enjoyed the weekend and really don't want to go to work in the morning?)
It was the first time we've taken our trailer out and it hasn't rained and poured.
We had an awesome time.
We enjoyed a campfire.
Saw lots of native wild flowers/plants.  Lots of trillium, native bleeding hearts, and salmon berry blossoms.
Used our new mini charcoal BBQ twice!

Walked/rode bikes around the campground.
Hiked to a few waterfalls.

Really enjoyed playing in the sun!
(Levi discovered his monster trucks could fly off the picnic table with a little help from some parachutes.)

And I have to share this photo because it shows the stubborn kid who shows up every once in a while.  He refused to smile for the camera!  And really didn't want to hike.  But after the hike under South Falls decided it was really cool after all.

We sure are looking forward to some more beautifully sunny weekends for camping adventures.
Who's ready for summer?

So No To Palm Oil

I was "reminded" by a friend, and loyal reader (thanks Mike), that I never did a post on Earth Day.
Honestly, I didn't totally forget.  I just haven't been feeling very inspired lately.
We did some much needed yard work last weekend.  Pulled out invasive English Ivy and wild blackberries.  That counts as a good deed for the Earth right?
I know...pretty lame!

So, it hit me this afternoon!  (As I used pretzel sticks to consume large amounts of delicious Nutella.)  Palm oil.
It's the second ingredient in my wonderful Nutella snack.
Here's the problem.
The world consumes lots of palm oil.  It's in food, it's in cosmetics, it's in detergents.  And most of that palm oil is not grown and harvested sustainably.  Unfortunately, the world's obsession with this vegetable oil costs the Earth, and more specifically...the orangutan.

Because we care about the Earth, and the orangutan, we are going to be much more careful to avoid palm oil.  (and find out who's doing a responsible job by growing and harvesting it sustainably)
Guess the first step is no more Nutella on our next Costco run!

Educate yourself about palm oil and what you consume!  Here are some resources to check out!

Weekend Adventure: Belly Acres

We took off early Saturday morning to meet Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey down at their property for a beach camp-out this weekend.  It was a great test of how our little trailer does in the midst of some serious April showers.  The weather was pretty typical of spring at the Oregon Coast, but the company was great!

We couldn't do much in the way of playing at the beach or digging in the sand.  Too cold and windy.
But we did get some time to hunt for agates between (and in the middle of) some rain storms.

Levi is getting a lesson from the master rock hunter.

Our time at camp was spent huddled around the very important camp fire.  Our coats still smell like camp fire smoke, even though they were the first thing I washed when we got home!

Thanks for always being such wonderful hosts, Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey!  We can't wait to come back in the summer for more rock hunting and some crawdaddy catching.

(And Levi had a very special guest from school who got to join us on our adventure this weekend too!)

Spring Break: Kentucky Adventures

This was the first stop on our grand Kentucky tour.
Since most of the cave tours are fairly long and strenuous, we signed up (with hesitation) for one that was rated moderate.  We were very hopeful that Levi would be up for the 500+ steps in, around and out of the cave.  It was pretty awesome.

Sawyer and I already agreed that when he's old enough, we're doing the 6 hour spelunking trip.

We spent most of our time in Kentucky in Lexington.

We rented a house right downtown with the hope that we could walk to parks and restaurants.  The not-so-spring like weather we had sure put a damper on that plan.

The snow didn't keep Gabe and Ryan from doing what they wanted most while in Kentucky.  Bourbon country to be exact.  One day we all went to these two distilleries.  The kids got to have a sample at one...root beer.  Levi's loved it!  Then the following day, the big boys hit up a bunch more.  They should be getting their t-shirt to commemorate their journey, and bourbon tasting, in 4-6 weeks.  This is what Levi though about the yeasty smell of bourbon being made.

"It's stinky!"

I was hoping Heather and I could take the kids here while the boys were off sipping bourbon.  After all, Kentucky is knowing for it's love of the race horse.  But the snow did keep us from that.  Instead, we found an indoor gym so the kids could play and have some fun!

On our way back to Nashville...we had to make a few stops.
I insisted we visit Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

Inside this commemorative building, is a replica of the cabin the 16th President was born in.

Pretty neat to this nerdy history teacher.  I was thankful everyone else was willing to tag along!

We also made a stop Kentucky Down Under for the kids.
The highlights were probably:
-Getting attacked by hungry lorikeets

-Getting to pet a kangaroo

We had a great time!
And of course I'm ready to plan our next great adventure.  Levi has his heart set on Disney's Cars Land this summer.  Not sure we'll be ready for another road trip in June...

Spring Break: Nashville Adventures

There are many highlights from our spring break this year.
It's always bitter sweet to go see the Morrison family.  We love them, and have a great time with them, but I always leave wishing Levi had his only cousins closer.  That's why it's so important that we make sure we try and see them as often as we can!
When we arrived, Savannah and Sawyer had a pretty big list of activities for us to do during our stay.

We did start it off with rollerskating and swimming.

Levi's not really sold on the whole rollerskating thing.  But honestly, for being 3&1/2 and his first time, I thought he did a really great job!  He's almost cracking a smile in the picture right?

We made a trip to the Nashville Zoo.

But our favorite times were spent just playing together.  Savannah and Levi made an obstacle course in the back yard for us to play in.  The kids put on a magic show.  And the grown ups played lots of games and had lots of laughs after the kids were in bed each night!

This is Levi making Sawyer "disappear".

It was great to watch the cousins playing and having fun together.

Levi sure does wish he could be just like his cousin Sawyer!  Sawyer even taught Levi how to "arm pit" fart. (Or at least Levi thinks he can do it just like his cousin.)

Love these three crazy fun kids.  (When they aren't arguing in the car on our drive to and from Kentucky...which I'll be back to share about.)

I'm hoping these three will be back together again really soon!

Best Easter

Or so we were told on the way home from Grandpa and Grandma G's this evening.
Lots of hidden eggs were found today.

Lots of treats were eaten.  Specifically jelly beans.  They are someone's favorite!

Lots of smiling faces.

HAPPY EASTER!

(We got in late last night after being delayed in Kansas City.  I'll try to post a full report about our adventures in Tennessee and Kentucky later this week!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Levi and his friends at school must have been talking a lot this week about St. Patrick's day.

This week we've been informed that:
"If you don't wear green, you'll get pinched."
"There's a pot of gold at every rainbow."
"Jack, Reece and me were talking about how to trap a leprechaun and my idea was glue!"
"Leprechauns give you gold."

We were really hoping to celebrate with some corned beef for dinner tonight.  But New Seasons was out when we got back into town this afternoon!  So, Irish soda bread will be the extent of our Irish meal festivities this year.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!