Spontaneous Saturday Fun!

The boys and I were headed to Target this morning when we hit terrible traffic -- not a normal thing in Vancouver. There were orange cones everywhere, police cars with lights flashing and traffic lights flashing red. Then I noticed that there were lots of people walking around carrying chairs.

We ended up in a Safeway parking lot trying to figure out how to get to Target (which would end up being impossible) when I asked a lady what in the world was going on around here. It was the annual "Parade of the Marching Bands". Who knew? The boys had never been to a parade before -- so we parked our car, picked up some snacks at Safeway and found a front-row spot to watch the parade.

We didn't stay for the entire parade -- but the boys thought it was great! Marching bands -- some good -- some needed a little more practice -- old cars, Boy Scout troops, 4-H dogs, Little League teams, old-fashioned fire engines, more marching bands, political officials and everyone was throwing candy!

The boys checking out the action.

Didn't take long for them to get in the spirit!

Yeah for the old fire engines!

Munching on goldfish crackers.

Wiped out!

Sam spent hours outside this afternoon. We pulled out the water table and he scrubbed it up and filled it up with water. That has been the best garage sale find ever!

Our neighbors were staining their deck -- so Sam decided he wanted to "stain" the fence. I found him a roller and gave him a bucket of water the let him go at it!

He was really working hard!

Zak woke up from his three hour nap and joined in the fun.

These dirty boys went straight into the bathtub!

We All Scream For Ice Cream!

We've been working on a "situation" at our house for years. Our "situation" is that our children do not like to eat ice cream. I know. Where did we go wrong?

The ice cream truck goes by our house daily in the summer. We can't get anyone interested in picking out a treat. That's right. They don't eat popsicles either.

So yesterday was a great family day. We spent the morning at the community center swimming. Sam is taking swimming lessons this month so he was able to show us all that he has learned -- and then some! He can swim all over the place using a noodle. He is a fearless jumper. This was Zak's first time in a pool -- and he loved it! Our pool has a water slide and Zak wanted to go again and again!

Our afternoon was spent outside in the yard -- Matthew put in a drip system for the plants -- and then the boys went to the park.

It was pizza night for dinner. Things were going so well, I offered up some ice cream for dessert. And Sam said, "I want ice cream". So, I made small ice cream cones for the boys. Sam tried his and decided that he now likes ice cream. Zak thought it was fun to put his tongue on it -- but that was as far as he was willing to go.


Before we get too excited about our trips to Baskin Robbins -- Sam barely made a dent in his ice cream before he was ready to be finished. I'll guess we'll need to keep working on it -- but it was positive progress!

Sam's Field Trip

Sam's preschool class had a field trip to his favorite place -- The Portland Children's Museum!

He could go to the Children's Museum over and over and over again. The only thing that made the trip even better was getting to ride a school bus to get there!

Emily, Sam & Sarah.

Sam & Mila digging in the pit!

Working in the construction zone.

Sam and Preston were bus buddies.

What a fun class trip!

Working For The Weekend

It was finally time to start working on our front yard! We knew this was our year to start making some changes to our yard, but waiting for two non-rainy days in a row took some time.

We had a local nursery make some suggestions and then we just started picking things we liked as well as transplanting several plants from the backyard. The poor backyard looks more than a little picked over.

It's still a work in progress and we have more we would like to do, but it was a great start!

Sam and Matthew taking out some of the grass.

Zak loves the hose -- he is going to love summertime!

Zak kept trying to climb in the whiskey barrel,
so finally I just put him in there.

Of course, then he changed his mind!

Did you know the inside of a whiskey
barrel is coated with soot? I didn't!

The hard worker and his helpers!

Front yard before...

...and after!

Another before...

...and another after!

Mailbox Makeover

Our mailbox is in our front yard, as is our neighbors. Ours is at least upright, but our neighbors' post was slowly being eaten away by squirrels and was on the verge of collapse. It's not quite the look we had envisioned for our front yard.

After much deliberation and several trips to the hardware store, Matthew decided to build something himself. And he did a great job! I would hire him again.

We're seeing a mailbox renaissance in the neighborhood. Our next door neighbors just replaced their mailbox too!

Sam's ready to take these down!

Helping out.

Our mailman was impressed!

Sam's Silly Spectacles

Sam also loves these new glasses!

He can drink through a straw and the liquid goes through
the glasses before he gets to his mouth. Messy, but fun!

Sam's Spectacular Spectacles

When we left the hospital with Sam, his neonatologist told us to watch his eyes carefully because it was very likely that he would need glasses -- and probably at an early age. Matthew and I already assumed he would need glasses -- due to the horrible vision genes we had passed down to him. The kid didn't stand a chance!

After noticing some changes in his vision, we had a visit with Sam's eye doctor -- and glasses were needed.

Sam doesn't know how lucky he is to be born in this time of eyewear options for boys! His new glasses are called "helicopter glasses" and you can spin the temples around 360 degrees. Very cool! He loves to show them to people.

He looks so cute -- and so grown up!