anniversary

Mom and Dad managed to celebrate our 9th Wedding anniversary this past weekend.

Time sure does fly when your having fun!

bikes & berries

After school today we decided to go for a long bike ride at a local natural area.

Lucky for us there were lots of blackberries along the trail...

...the boys kept stopping every few minutes to 'refill their diesel fuel tanks so their engines on their racing bikes had more energy to keep going.' Dylan has the eagle eye and can spy a ripe blackberry while speeding past!

They sure have a lot of energy!

Trip to CA

We decided, totally last minute, to drive down to San Francisco for a long weekend right before school started. The boys have been asking nearly everyday to go camping in the mountains...so on the drive down to CA we camped near Mount Shasta.

They were so very excited to be camping and hiking!

All packed up and ready to hit the road to San Fran!

Grammy Carol took us to the fabulous Discovery Museum right on the bay below the Golden Gate Bridge. The boys' FAVORITE spot? The construction digging area, of course!

They also really dug this salmon river activity...except that they kept taking as many fish as they could possibly carry and hoarded them. When we would ask them to share with the other kids they would chuck them all into the 'river' creating huge splashes!
Dylan was mesmerized by this magnetic shape puzzle thing!
While Dylan was playing with shapes Cole was entranced with painting on these big glass windows.

This 'dude' had the perfect job. First we encountered him in the painting window area...I think he was supposed to be refilling the paint but instead he was using the paint brushes and paint and swirling colors in a circle over and over and over! Then we saw him again with the marimbas and he was just sitting there playing his guitar. He didn't really say much but played his guitar with the boys while they played the marimbas. Then as we left he gave the boys their very first fist bumps...cool.
We stopped at a pier just down from the museum parking lot and watched people fishing and crabbing. Not a bad view!
The family.
Grandpa Charlie was impressed with Dylan and Cole's biking prowess...
...it can be hard to keep up with them!
We decided to head out of Marin and go to the city! We walked around Chinatown and checked out all the cool-odd food being sold on the streets.
And then headed over to North Beach and got the BEST coffee and pastries EVER near Beach Blanket Babylon (North Beach...all Italian restaurants and cafe's). Momma's happy too!!
We also visited Aunt Lesley in Pacifica and she took us to watch surfers at the beach. How did she know that was one of our favorite things to do?!
It was a great trip and the 10-11 hour car ride home in one day wasn't too excruciating! Or maybe I have already blocked out all the memories!

bike riders

The boys just got new bikes and helmets...and boy do they love to go fast! And yes they both picked out the reddish/pink helmets with hearts and birds!

Today we headed over to the elementary school down the street where they got to stretch out their legs and ride out on the open blacktop.

Mom was a bit nervous about having two boys on bikes and one mom for the trip to the school...but we rode all the way there and back with no mishaps and two very happy and tired boys!

muddy, muddier, muddiest

This started as a very respectable activity of painting with paint and brushes and paper taped to an easel under the shade of a tree...then there was paint all over hands and arms, then rolls of paper were laid out across the lawn and hand prints were done over and over, then it was clean up time. That is when the REAL fun began...with water and dirt.

They kept saying that they were wearing mud pants and shirts, and very happy with themselves! What happened to their real clothes?!

They were so very content to play in the mud, with no arguing or fighting, for well over 2 hours (they thought it was funny when the mud started to dry and crack when they moved). Put them in a room with a ton of toys and they will probably be fighting over something within the first 15 minutes!

markets and fairs

Now is the time of summer farmers markets and enjoying the bounty.
Here the boys and friend Jonah are enjoying a Saturday market with burritos made with hand made tortillas.

Summer is also time for county fairs! We just went to the Benton County fair.
We went primarily to watch...

...the tractor pull. Personally I thought it might be a bit more exciting, but the boys loved it.

We got to see all the animals, watch a costume parade of pygmy goats, watch a forestry demonstration of ax throwing, sawing, log rolling and poll climbing, and listen to a country music band. But the highlight was getting to sit on a brand new, orange tractor!

DC Trip - part 2

After a week in DC we headed over to Rehoboth Beach, DE for a week of fun in the sun!

We were with Grandpa Phil and Karen's 7-year old niece, Natalie, for the week. The boys dig older women!

The boys and us had so much fun playing in the surf and sand. They were so very happy that mom found some sand toys that included big dump trucks!

Grandpa Phil's sexy beach attire!

The only bummer was that the boys got sick and we ended up with an ambulance ride to the ER when Cole had a febrile seizure one night. A common (1 in 20 kids will have one) fever induced seizure that does not have any permanent side effects...but sure is scary to the parents!!
So we took it easy for a couple of days and lounged on the front porch listening to music.
Once everyone was feeling better we made sure to hit the board walk and all the fun rides!
The 'monster trucks' (what the boys called them) were their favorite.
We also made sure to hit the beach as much as possible to make huge volcanoes, tunnels, and castles.
We all liked playing in the waves and warm waters!!
Once the boys discovered how fun the boardwalk could be they wanted to go back every day!! Especially once they discovered all the treats you could buy and stuffed animals you could win!
Momma and her boys on a hot night in July.
The family. On the boardwalk at about 9pm...it was 89 degrees with about 100% humidity.
On our last night before returning home, Mom got to go out to a party with Grandpa Phil and Karen!
Once arriving in Portland, while waiting for our strollers, the boys were invited to sit in the pilot seats of our plane!! I kept saying 'don't touch anything' and the pilot kept saying things like 'why don't you grab hold of the steering wheel!'
Happy boys!!