Staycation continued...

The kids just kept going throughout the week Jeff was home. Bullwinkles (more bumper boats), mini-golf, the driving range, Chuck E Cheese...so they couldn't complain when I insisted on family portraits. We hadn't had them done since Hayden was out of diapers!!

Staycation!

Jeff took the entire week off to do fun stuff with the kiddos. He started the week by taking the boys bowling - just boys. this has become quite important to them all of the sudden. I asked what their scores were...but they only told me they had french fries and fruit punch. OK...

Today was Enchanted Forest. Our neighbors went a few weeks ago and loved it, so we decided to add it to our summer experience. They LOVED it. The boys did the log ride 5 times...all 3 boys. And the toboggan ride 4 times... Jeff kept making them do Frogger which is a fave of his, but the boys preferred the bumper boats I think.

True to form, Hayden had to go on the train as much as possible. We're thinking of taking a train trip to Seattle just so he can go on a long ride!

Grace was a dream. She was happy the whole time, took short naps, and didn't even poop! Hey, that's an A+ when you're 3 months old!

Grace sleeps!

This girl gets more amazing each and ever day...like how she has mostly slept through the night for a week. A week! There is usually a late night or wee hours of the morning feeding, but only one or the other, not both, so I'm counting it! Took us about 3 years to get Bayley to sleep this much at a stretch, so we're quite impressed with the munchkinette!

Out Of This World!

We couldn't resist taking a few shots of the babies together, even though we were at the pizza place with the bounce houses and ginormous slide. The wee ones dutifully perched on the table top to indulge us.

I wonder when they'll get sick of it and start objecting...probably never. They are smart enough that once they learn to roll, they'll just roll away from each other.

Grace's new trick is to blow spit bubbles...until she has a drool 'stache!

The Pick-Up

We met the folks in Eugene for the boy switcheroo and they had a surprise for us...they brought Great Grandma Evie to meet Gracie Mae! They hit it right off. No shock there, Grandma loves little kiddos. Anything that's cute, really.

We all had lunch at Kowloon, which has been the place we've had lots of special meals. Graduations, birthdays, kids swaps...afterwards we went to the Science Factory. You know, I can't say much nice so let's leave it at we won't be making a repeat visit.

Medford - Day 3

We went to the blowling alley. We went to the water park. There was even a bear and you had to go through the hoop and it squirts you when you go through the hoop, just like a ring of fire. There was a bench that had Grandma Goldie's name. That's Dad's Grandma. We went to the park. We had a Costco hot dog and I had a chocolate ice cream with a vanilla swirl and I ate it. We even got mini tiny squirt guns. Can we bring them home? I drank some water from the water guns.

Dad? Can I tell you something? When I look at a picture of you and Mom, it makes me miss you even more. Bayley wants to have a sleepover for 6 days again. Know what we had for dinner? Spaghetti, garlic bread, and a corn dog. And on Meerkat Manor, Flower died.

Hi Gracie, are you good? I am an our grandma and grandpa's and we're going to go to a restaurant for a second time.

--Hayden


At the waterpark there were these gimungo water guns that we got to squirt people with. They are like huge. I found out how to aim sprinklers at people. I got really wet, but only some of the people shot me back. The water goes like every way.

I got three spares and my score at bowling was 93. Hayden got a 69 with 1 spare. 8 pounds was the least heavy ball we could get. Hayden used bumpers and a ramp. Sometimes I used it. That's how I got my 3 spares.

After we went bowling we had lunch at Costco. I ate a whole berry smoothie, a whole Costco hot dog and a whole chocolate ice cream. I was like a stuffed bear. I was stuffed, just not with a bunch of fuzz.

We came home and we had another water fight with mini water guns. After that I colored and Hayden, GramMo and Pop Pop watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Right now I see an avocado that is half black and half green. Oh, it's not an avocado, it's a lime.

--Bayley

Medford - Day 2

We went to Science Works Museum. I got trapped inside a bubble. To get out, we popped it. Gram Mo pulled up a big bubble sheet and we stuck our heads through it. There is even a robot that talks and know what my favorite part was? There were switches that turned on a train. There's like a bike thing that makes the train go. We built a damn and also we walked at the mine. There was an earthquake and stuff like that. Can we go there again?

We had lunch at Lithia Park and we got to see lots of animals. Two baby deers with white spots were in the yard when we got home. I scared them away.

And we had a water fight, and me and Bayley were on a team and we got Pop Pop in the glasses. We also played soccer. We are having a good time. Do you know why it's a good time? We had no baby to take care of.

-- Hayden

My favorite part was when we went to Science Works Museum. What I liked doing there was the bubbles and the train and the dam. We built the dam out of magnetic blocks and that was really, really fun. there was also a shadow thing and a camera took a picture of us, and then we posed and had to wait 15 seconds and it would take a picture.

And do you want to know something? There were two wheels, one with zebra stipes. You turn it all around for 20 seconds and then look at your hand and your skin falls. It was creepy. Then there was another one that was black on half of it and white and black on the other half. When you turn it around it turns rainbow colors. and then there was a kaliedoscope and you go down and under and inside of it. You're like, Wow! There's like this soda bottle and you fill it with air and water and you launch it into the air and try to make it touch the top. And then there are also these pulleys, you pull on a rope and go up higher and you're like, cool! There are these mirros and you look in them and you get by the mirror and look really, really small. By another one you look really tall. It's cool.

I liked the park. We saw ducks and goldfish. We looked for 4 leaf clovers.

We had a big water fight.

Tomorrow we are going to play miniature golf and go bowling. And then the water park. I got a popsicle right now.

---Bayley

Medford - Day 1

We went and saw Flushed Away, but only half of it because we got scared and wanted to leave.

We went out to lunch at Home Town Buffet with Grandma Evie. I'm surprised that there macaroni and cheese is no good. It's horrible. It tasted too dry. I ate a lot of other stuff and that was the best. We sat at a table for six and Mr. Nobody came with us.

We got to go into Grandma Evie's house, which I don't remember being in before. We got a big bagful of stuff, like fruit snacks, gumballs and lots of candy. A few seconds ago I asked Gram Mo if I could have one and she said no. We are eating dinner. I already had 2 pieces of pizza and now I'm going to have some tater tots.

We had a water fight with Pop Pop. We each had a bucket, but Hayden's was bigger. Mine was the biggest and Pop Pop's was the smallest. Pop Pop's had a lot of leaks. The buckets had holes them. I stole so much from his bucket that I had extra when Hayden and Pop Pop's bucket ran out. I squirted him in the glasses a couple times.

We played Uno. The thing that we just don't understand are these 4 blank cards. On the back they say Uno, but on the back they are only white. And we're going to do the hot tub tonight, but when it gets dark. that will probably be 830 or 9 o'clock. That will count as our bath.


...by Bayley

We did a water gun fight and me and Bayley were a team. We had a big giant water gun as big as the whole yard and we used 80 buckets of water to fill it up. Not really. Only half that.

Tomorrow we're going to go see the museum. Can you pick me up on Friday? I'm really missing my home. And Daddy and Gracie. And Rogue too.

...by Hayden

Dino-ROARS!!

Grandma Bobbie had a free day, so we made it to the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo. We loved it. I wish the boys had gone slower and learned a bit, but they wanted to see everything...maybe next time they'll be more into reading the information.

This was Gracie's first trip to the zoo. She was great through the dinos (even with the roaring and such) but decided to sleep through the rest of the zoo.

A lot of things were under construction, which makes the zoo not as stroller friendly as usual. Plus...you know... the bathrooms smell. Why is that?

Gracie's first trip to the beach!

I had a booksigning at the Lincoln City Book Fair...which gave us a great excuse to take the kids to the beach! Grace just took a peak (it was a lovely day, just windy). Bayley and Hayden got soaked. I think that's how you can tell a native Oregonian, they'll get in the water on the Oregon coast!

Air Show

It's air show weekend! Since the airport is practically in our backyard, we don't have to do much to enjoy the airshow but step outside.

To make it even better, they open the doors the morning before the airshow so the kids can get some hands on exploring.

The neigborhood kiddos came too, plus the boys each found a few friends from school. Bayley liked taking pictures of the planes, Hayden liked the ones they could climb in, and they both love whenever there is a 'wheel-of-fortune' game where they can win prizes.

BIRDS!!

After our experience with the Chickadee earlier this summer, I was hoping we could skip more bird adventures...not so! In one day some birds took up nesting on the eaves of a neighbors front porch and already they have babies!

If we can keep Hayden from throwing crackers at them, they just might make it!

If anyone know what kind of bird has an orange breast and black feathers, clue us in :) Oh, and Bayley took the photos!

Wetland Adventurer

Last week Bayley had a day camp at Jackson Bottom Wetlands. He LOVED it!! The kids got to hike around and learn about the animals and habitat. They found 5 snakes and Bay appointed himself 'zookeeper', in charge of feeding them bugs. OK...

They had a day trip to the Audoban Society where he got to see a turkey vulture cough up a pellet. Apparently this is way cool. Almost as cool as bringing home an owl pellet to disect and finding a rodent skull inside. Yeah...

Next year he wants to go both weeks they offer the camp...Mom needs to sell more books, I tell ya!

Pool Party!!

Hayden's friend Erin had her 5th birthday party at the community pools. What a hit. Everybody came with their family and splashed around the kid pool (think bathwater warm, shallow, and with a giant fountain). Some of the kiddos even braved the waterslide in the 'big' pool with their folks.

Bayley and Hayden had to stick with the kid pool - Jeff just ahd his toes operated on and I had the baby. They didn't seem to mind, thank goodness.

It was such a cute girly party. Erin is enthralled with Tinkerbell right now - doubly cute since the kid LOOKS like Tinkerbell - so it had a garden party theme. The kids had make your own fairy crafts and flower cupcakes...tons of work I'm sure, but it looked fantastic!

Sonic

Auntie Kim decided it was high time we learn the bliss that comes from the Sonic. Hayden is impressed with the citrus launcher, he only wishes he could shoot it at people. Yeah. I agree there is a bit of heaven in the chocolate cream pie shake.

We stretched the kiddos out and saw that Grace and Nick are the same length, there's just more to her :)

Grace & Nick...with special extra proud big brothers.