10 Highlights of summer 2008

Well, I obviously didn't do a great job of keeping my blog up-to-date with our goings on this summer. Today is my last day of summer vacation, so as a tribute to summer 2008, here are 10 highlights from our wonderful summer (in no particular order).
1) New Mexico Trip. I actually did post about this, so I don't need to add any details here. It was so fun, and the boys are such great travelers!
2) Sunriver. We had two Sunriver trips this summer. I love going there! It's so relaxing, yet there is so much to do that you can't help but be super active. The boys and I had a great 5 days in Sunriver in July with Brittany, Rory, and Grandma Dawni. Our days consisted of walking to the village, riding a pony (Owen), playing at the pool, playing at the park, going into Bend, going to the High Desert Museum, watching for wildlife, oh, and Goody's (the old fashioned ice cream shop). This past weekend we went back to Sunriver, and this time Daddy went too! We met Brittany, Pat, Rory, Evan, Renee, Brian, and BrieAnne for a great 3 days. I was sick with a cold, so I wasn't as energetic, but we still had fun!
3) Otter Beach. For those of you that don't live in Corvallis, Otter Beach is the outdoor pool at our city pool. However, it's so much more than just a pool. There are baby slides, a big winding slide, a river current, and lots of other fun water play structures. During the weeks that we were actually in Corvallis this summer, we probably averaged 3 to 4 Otter Beach trips per week. It is SO much fun! I never managed to take my camera there. These pictures are from the Corvallis Parks & Rec website.
4) Ladies and Lads. Also known as Ladies and Babies. Ladies and Lads was a get-away weekend in Tahoe consisting of 4 ladies and 4 lads. The 4 ladies were my friends Caitlin, Lisa, and Trisha, and the 4 lads were Owen, Quincy, Finn (Caitlin's son--one month older than Quincy), and Clayton (Trisha's son--4 months older than Quincy). We stayed at Caitlin's uncle's beautiful "cabin" (and by "cabin" I mean palatial, top-of-the-line living) at Sugar Bowl where we made wonderful meals, played outside in the mountain air, swam a little in some lakes, and even got to go to the Tour de Fat festival (as in Fat Tire beer--my fave). It was so great to get to spend time with these ladies and the lads. I also discovered that, except for the whole polygamy thing, polygamists have got a great thing going. The communal living with so many moms was awesome! We had super delish meals made from scratch and a clean kitchen and house all the while with very happy babies who were being played with non-stop. It was like a well oiled machine. Can't wait for Ladies and Lads 2009!
5) Santa Rosa. We spent about two weeks in the SF Bay Area based out of Abuela and Noni Jo's house in Santa Rosa. I should really make a whole separate list of highlights just from Santa Rosa. We have so much fun when we go there!
*Howarth Park: this is the best park! Besides an incredible play area complete with spurting fountains, volcanoes with water for lava that the kids can control, a faux old-time town front, and livestock statues, there are pony rides, a petting zoo, a carousel, a mini train, and a lake where you can rent paddle boats and canoes. This is a favorite spot in Santa Rosa!
*Safari West: we went to Safari West for the second time. It's a gorgeous wildlife preserve in the hills between Santa Rosa and Calistoga. There are many, many, many different species of animals and birds. I think the highlight this time was a 7-week-old giraffe.
6) Great America and San Francisco. Brady flew down and met us for 5 days of our California trip. Brady loves amusement parks, so his special request was to go to Great America. We had a long and fun day there! Brad and Natalia met us for most of the day as well. Owen rode so many rides, and he discovered that he loves roller coasters. He's not tall enough for most of the big rides, but they have a large collection of kids rides there. Great America has also added a water park, so we got to cool off in the middle of the day.
The next day we headed back to Santa Rosa via San Francisco, and I got to catch up with some long-time friends. A super highlight of my summer was getting to meet up with my friend Bea and her 3 kids in Golden Gate park. We all rode the carousel, and then the kids all played very hard in the wonderfully redone kids' playground. The coolest part was this cement slide that you go down on pieces of cardboard. So fun! From there we rode the cable cars and then picked up Steph and had dinner with her at a very cool (and kid friendly) restaurant called Q. We got Quincy an adorable shirt from there.

7) The Olympics. Watching the Olympics was so exciting! And thank goodness for Tivo so we didn't have to stay up until 2am all the time. Also so Owen could see some of the Olympics. He got really into it. He loved watching the USA/China basketball game, but had a really hard time deciding who he was routing for since he likes Yao Ming but also the USA, especially Lebron. He also got very interested in swimming and, of course, is now a big Michael Phelps fan. In fact, he told me that he wants to learn to swim like Michael Phelps. He even pointed him out on a magazine cover.
8) Fairs. As in the Sonoma County Fair and the Oregon State Fair. We got to go to the Sonoma County Fair twice while we were in Santa Rosa, and we went to the Oregon State Fair with Grandma, Grandpa, Brittany, and Rory yesterday. Owen and Quincy both love seeing the animals. Quincy is fearless and wants to walk right into the barns, stables, and pens with the animals. Owen was such a big boy and rode many rides in the kids midway all by himself. We all had more than our fair share of fried food. A really fun thing about the Sonoma Country Fair is that they have horse racing, so we got to go to the races. Brady and Abuela especially had fun taking Owen to the paddock to look at the horses in the upcoming races. Owen and Abuela were good at picking the winners!
9) Our Back Yard. Thanks (and I mean many, many, MANY thanks) to Annanne, Abuela, and Noni Jo, we had some major work done in our back yard this summer. We extended our patio to the fence with cobblestone pavers, and put in a cobblestone path around the perimeter of our NEW lawn! It's our little haven out there. Quincy is enamored with the little red car, so he goes out there, climbs into the car, and then will wait for a very long time for someone to come and motor him around the track. Owen loves to run laps and always asks people to race him and commands his dad to "make the call" during the race. I am happy to see all the plants and flowers around the edge of the yard thriving.
10) Just being together. This year will be a big change for everyone in our household because I am going back to work full-time. Because of that, I have really and truly savored this summer of having so much time to be with Owen and Quincy doing wonderful and fun things. I am so grateful to Brady for making it work for me to be home half-time last year. I know we all benefited from it in various ways. I also know the kids are happy, healthy, safe, and secure enough for me to go back to work full-time. While the mom part of me is grieving the end of summer, the teacher part of me is excited for what I know will be a great school year.

There are so many, many more highlights that I should have included. We went to the zoo with Grandma Dawni, had a ton of fun on July 4th, did so many things in California that I didn't even mention, and had some great visitors to Oregon. Basically, we were too busy having fun for me to document it all.

CHEERS TO SUMMER 2008!

A Little Change to the Boys' Room

The elementary school teacher (and now literacy coach) in me has always been bothered by the way we stored/displayed the kids' books on a regular book shelf. I had a clear vision of what I wanted, so I called Grandpa Stan and asked him to help me with a project. He met us at Home Depot an hour later. After several hours of careful labor by Grandpa Stan, the boys now have book rails in their room. Yea! The book shelf moved into the closet where it is now being used as storage for books while we rotate books through the book rails.
Thanks, Grandpa! It looks and functions exactly the way I wanted it to. The boys love it too. Owen thanks you for his new bookshelf, and Quincy thanks you for his new climbing apparatus (hopefully those mollies will hold 26 pounds).

How do they figure out "maybe" so early?

I have so much blogging to catch up on, and one of these days I'll get started, but for now here's just a little tidbit.

A month ago, or maybe two, Owen was requesting something as we were driving somewhere. I can't even remember if this particular request was to do something special or eat some special treat or what, but I remember the ensuing dialogue:
Mommy (answering Owen's request): Maybe.
Owen (excitedly): Yippee! "Maybe" means yes!

I laughed a little out loud and a little to myself because I remember being a kid and thinking exactly the same thing about the "maybe" response.

4th of July

I thought I would be so much better about blogging during the summer because I would have so much more time. As it turns out, I am way too busy having fun with the kids (which is actually a lot of work even though it is very fun), so I don't have any extra blogging time. My point is that I'm way behind, but here's a short recap of 4th of July along with some pictures.

Grandma Dawni came from Portland to spend the day and night with us. Grandpa Stan worked hard and made a wonderful float for Corvallis' annual Fabulous Fantastic All American Anyone-Can-Join 4th of July Parade. He made the wagon into Jean Lafitte's patriotic pirate ship (can't remember who Jean Lafitte is? Consult your 5th grade social studies book and look up the Battle of New Orleans). Owen's friend Maggie joined him in the ship, so First Mate Quincy made his way through the parade via his Aunt Madi's arms.
Later, we hosted a BBQ for some of Brady's coworkers. It was fun. The kids especially loved all of the attention from all of the Brass people. We played table tennis, ate yummy food, had our own little fireworks display, and then gathered in the back yard to watch the Corvallis fireworks show. It has always been a pretty impressive show lasting 30 minutes. We were pretty disappointed when it was all over after 10 this year. Luckily we hadn't made the trek to watch them downtown.

What's more American than football?

and Spiderman riding a tricycle?

New Mexico Trip Part 2 (Albuquerque)

After my conference ended in Santa Fe, we headed to Albuquerque and spent the weekend with my dear friend Jane and her husband Todd. It was great to be back in one of my old home towns. I got to eat at some favorite restaurants and take the kids to some of my favorite places.

Jane and I took the kids to the zoo and aquarium on Saturday and spent 7 hours there. Owen would have happily stayed longer, but the zoo was closing. The Rio Grande zoo is really great. I have wonderful memories of it as a kid, and they've made some great updates to it over the years. Owen is really into animals--and especially the food chain. He loves big cats, and the zoo in Albuquerque has a huge collection of big wild cats.

Quincy looking at Red Kangaroos

Owen climbed all up and through this wonderful play structure. It has multiple levels and obstacles. Owen got himself up into a tower where he could watch the giraffes. To get out, you go down a big slide. So fun!
Meanwhile, Quincy toddled around eating lunch and playing on this Komodo Dragon sculpture.

One of the many highlights of the zoo trip was this baby chimp. It was so fun to watch, and it was interesting to see that the mama chimp interacted with her baby much like we humans do. Here is Owen watching the mama chimp tickle her baby under its chin.We spent most of Sunday with my mom before she headed to Alamogordo to do a locum tenens job for the rest of the summer. We went up the tram and had so much fun! The tram that goes from the base of the mountain up to Sandia Crest is the longest tram in the world, and rises from 6,900 feet at the base to a little over 10,000 feet at the top. Owen was in awe.

Owen looking down at Albuquerque
Quincy on the deck outside the High Finance restaurant, where we had lunch.Hiking part of the Crest Trail

Owen found a nice natural chair to rest on.

Hiking at 10,000 feet is such hard work!
Looking down the mountainOwen in the tram car on the way down the mountain
Approaching the base of the mountain

We were sad to say good-bye to Annanne for the rest of the summer. We had so much fun in New Mexico, but we were ready to get home to daddy after being gone for a week. Once again, the boys were the world's best travelers!

New Mexico Trip Part 1 (Santa Fe)

My friend/coworker, Lural, and I had the opportunity to attend a really excellent Training of Trainers conference in Santa Fe for dual language educators. It was one of those things that we would have traveled anywhere for but were just lucky that it was in lovely Santa Fe at the Hilton, just 2 blocks off of the plaza.

My endlessly patient and accommodating mom agreed to go with us to take care of Owen and Quincy as well as Lural's 10-month-old, Santiago. My mom and the boys spent the bulk of the days out and about in the plaza area of Santa Fe. My mom was constantly being stopped by passersby who commented on the babies and then got lured into conversation with Owen. By Thursday, Owen had made many friends. My mom told me the following story:
They were walking down the street, and there was a man putting money in a meter. Owen said, "Hey, I've seen you before!" To which the man replied, "Yes, you're Owen. And (pointing at the stroller) you're Santiago, and you're..." It turned out that this was Rick, the owner of the book store. Later that evening Owen said to me, "Mom, do you want to go for a little walk and meet the owner of the book shop?"

Here are Quincy and Santiago during one of the very few synchronized naps that they took.

As you may or may not know, Santa Fe is known for its art. One art form that is abundant is sculpture, and Owen fell in love with many sculptures in Santa Fe. In fact, he made daily rounds to several of them--especially to feed the eagles and to play on the bears.

Owen may have only had a one-sided conversation with this new friend.
I love this picture. It shows the developmental stages of these three boys on a beautiful sculpture.Owen was a little sad on Wednesday evening because I had told him that I would take him swimming. However, when we got to the hotel room we found that a large private party was being held on the pool deck. Owen insisted that they wouldn't care if we went swimming anyway and couldn't understand why I didn't feel comfortable parading out there in my swimming suit in front of all of those people. So, his little disappointed self stood at the sliding glass door that faces the pool deck and watched the party. Oh, did I mention that he was naked?

My mom's long time friend and colleague, Kay, met us in Santa Fe on Thursday to hang out with (and help) my mom and the boys. While the two of them went out to dinner without any kids, Lural and I put the boys to bed. When they got back, they stayed with the sleeping babes while Lural and I got to enjoy a meal in a restaurant without kids. It was so relaxing! I set Owen up to listen to a book on the iPod while I put Quincy to bed, and this is how I found him:And, finally, just two of my favorite shots of my boys while we were in Santa Fe...