Medford Day 4 :: Dawn of the dinosaurs

Bayley :: I got a new second flavor of ice cream - vanilla ice cream with chocolate coating with nuts on it. By Hagen Daas. We saw Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was awesome. When the mom dinosaur knocked the boggest and most scary dinosaur off the cliff.

I lost my tooth, my pre-molar. I yanked it out. Luckily my other pre-molar that is coming in knocked three edges off it loose. I killed some of the gums, 3 out of 4 quarters of the flat part. And my canine is really loose. Grammo gave me $10 for losing my tooth. The tooth fairly might come, but I'm going to keep it in a plastic bag in case. I'll try to save my canine that is really loose for home so the tooth fairy will come. It is so loose my tongue keeps playing tricks on me and I think my tooth already came out!

I got to see Grandma Evie. Her gumball machine was somehow lost, but I did manage to get one of those chocolate mints. We were going to get strawberry marshmallows, but Grammo thought they would melt in her car. And we went to Hometown Buffet. it was so good that I got a stomach ache from eating so much. Fish sticks, grilled cheese sandwich...

We had a water fight. Hayden charged at my base and I got him. We each had a dipstick. I got some water in my nose and lost my balance for 30 seconds when I shot myself.

Hayden :: We are having a great time here, and we don't want to come back to your house.

We went to Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The girl squirell and the boy squirell were fighting over an acorn. The egss hatched and the babies growled at mommy dinosaur.

We also went to Hometown Buffet. I had chicken, fries, and fish sticks and that filled me up.

Soon it's going to be time to go in the hot tub. I'm going to put my swimsuit on because I don't want to be late for the hot tub. I lost 5 minutes of hot tub time, but I don't remember why.

Grammo has a bunch of ants. She has poison papers out and I haven't touched them because they can kill kids. You'd be pretty sad about that.

When I get home I need to wash my feet. Come on, my feet smell like garbage!

Medford Day 3 :: The center of the earth

Hayden :: We were in the Oregon caves. It was fun and we had to climb up stairs. My legs were hurting at the end. For dinner we're having spagetti and meatballs. Yummy, right? We learned how to help the caves in their natural habitat. Water fell on my head and they called it a cave kiss. At the Oregon Caves I got a scrape on my leg on the first step of the stair test. It's kind of a circly one. It's pretty weird. Down there it smelled part of the way a little skunky. On the way to the car I got as close as I could to a chipmunk. One inch away. I got to pet him. He climbed on me. One time I saw a chipmunk go in the Oregon Caves. I followed him in there and I did not look happy at what I saw. I saw a sculpture of a bear.

The speedboat was so fun! If I get close enough to Bayley, you can hear his DS playing. Bayley made it to world 5 on his DS. He says everytime I look at his DS, he blames his losing on my looking.

We got new fish for the pond and I got to pick out 2 of them. I named one orange head because he has an orange head. I named the other one Camoflauged because when the girl tried to get him he disappeared.

Bayley :: There were these formations where the minerals leave little rings behind. They are called sodsa straws. There is a hole in the middle where the water goes in. There is this place called angel falls really deep in the caves and she put a black light on and it glowed in the dark and Hayden's shirt did too. There was a place called Niagra Falls, not the real one, where people wrote on it with graffitti but from a long time ago. We saw a stalagmite and a stalagtite grow together. My favorite part was basically everything. It smelled like soda because there was the stuff you put in soda in there, some type of acid.

My canine is almost out. I'm breaking a bunch of roots off my tooth.

Tomorrow we're going to go see Grandma Evie.

Grammo :: The boys were really good about listening while we were at the caves. I put socks on them, and one of my sweatshirts. It's amazing how big those boys are getting! Because Bayley understood what was being explained, he enjoyed it more. Hayden was bored by all the look and don't touch. Hayden wasn't worried about falling into the center of the earth, he was more interested in whether there were bears and chipmunks in the cave. They had lots of questions for the guide.

Medford Day 2 :: How we got drenched

Bayley :: The jet boat was awesome. Our pilot's name was Rick. We got drenched on the way back. On the way there we didn't get very drenched at all. Water was dripping off my eyelids. It looked like I was crying so much, or sweating really really hard. I had biscuits, water, butter, and that is basically about it. Oh, and really hard breadsticks. We saw a few blue herons and a few bald eagles and a bunch of osprey in their nests and basically a bunch of rocks. We went really fast past this other guy and it sent a huge wave off the side and it drenched them. It took them totally by surprise.

Hayden :: At the restaurant Bayley was talking about, I had ribs and chicken wings. It was good. I loved it. At the restaurant I saw 3 deer. I can sense their brains and see what they are about to say. The one with the big antlers says - stay out of our territory, or else be prepared to fight. Finally the deer charged at the hunter, avoidig the bullets with his antlers. When me and Bayley were done eating we looked over the side. We saw the guy that drived our boat fishing. We got soalking wet and guess what? When we are in the deep zone we turn around and get splashed. It's called splashed.

Where's Gracie? I want tos ee if she wants to talk to me. She might wiggle the phone because she might hear my voice and want me out.

Grammo has a big penny collection. I think she has two dollars in pennies.

The waterbed is almost filled up. Pop Pop says it needs more.

Grammo :: Bayley is a badass. We're in the back row, and he just stands up - go faster, spin to the left - get the other boat wet. We were in the lead boat. We saw osprey, minks, turtles, geese, ducks. Bayley stood up almost the whole way so he could get the full effect. Hayden wasn't sure on the way out there, but he was hungry and thirsty. Once he had dinner he was fine. He had 4 ribs and a piece of chicken! He is a major meat eater. On the way back in the car Hayden said - you ar ethe best Grammo and Pop Pop in the world! You are so cool! The faster it went and the more it spun, the more they liked it. It was in the 90s here, so it was so hot you dried as fast as they got us wet. Bayley really enjoyed it. He seemed to be absorbing all the information the guide was telling everyone.

Medford Day 1 :: How the waterbed broke

Bayley :: The first day was awesome! We earned hot tub time, But first Grammo and Pop Pop have to wantch their show that comes on at 8 (Big Brother). Then we're going to go in the hot tub for thirty minutes. Then shower for twn minutes. So we'll go to bed at 940. While they're watching their show Hayden and I are going to watch the goldfish.

Right now we're on Grammo and Pop Pop's waterbed. They said when I have to give Gracie the bed in my room, I can have the waterbed. (Um, no. Not upstairs he can't.) We can do cool moves on it. We can sit up and have a backrest. My bed can't do that. Hayden put my DS on the waterbed and it didn't sink.

Hayden :: Maybe tomorrow we'll go to the caves or on a boat. I wonder if the speed boat goes so fast it lifts from the water and goes in the air for a little jump...

...the phone cut out (Bayley was playing with the speaker button) and came back to "I think they broke the water bed" and then hung up completely.

Later

Pop Pop :: It's fine, they broke the waterbed. We'll sleep on the couch tonight and fix it tomorrow. It's 12 years old, so you jump on it twice and apparently, it breaks. Time to watch Big Brother.

We'll DEFINITELY not be getting Bayley a waterbed.

Road Trippin' To Medford - Burke Brothers version

When we were almost at Grammo and Pop Pop's house we saw a dust devil! A dust devil! It was awesome.

Pop Pop said if we rake the whole yard, it's worth a half hour in the hot tub!

Grammo has big pond of fish and there is one black spy one. You need to see them. - Hayden


We're raking up the plums in the yard so that we can have hot tub time. - Bayley

Shabbat on The Farm

I try to get the kids to a Jewish event once a year. There isn't anything Hebraic happening in Hillsboro, so we have to make the trek into Portland and that is usually what keeps us from keeping up with the Cohenses.

Anyway, this weekend was Shabbat on the Farm, where Havurah invites the kiddos out to Sauvie Island Organics for an uber child-friendly service and general exploration. We've gone twice before, each time it's different. This time I wish I'd had brought sunscreen (which they did have on their remember-to-bring list, I just thought it was in the car and it wasn't) so we could have stayed longer. Everyone sat on picnic blankets between feilds of potatoes and onions, singing songs and noshing on challah.

Then the kids got to do green bean tastings (straight from the plant), zinnia picking, and then stomp through a corn field in search of ears of corn. Grace LOVED the cob Jeff gave her. Corn straight off the stalk is so sweet there is no need to cook it. Who knew?

Fire Pit!

Daddy celebrated the weekend by inaugerating his new fire pit. The boys were beyond thrilled at the idea of s'mores for dessert!


It took Dad a while to get over his thrill of the flame and bring the fire down to coals appropriate for marshmallow roasting, but once sparks weren't flying they had a great time. They even learned the thrill of a marshmallow torch!!

I think Bayley may have experimented with a double chocolate version, and Hayden wasn't a fan of extra-squishy marshmallow goo...


Grace didn't know quite what to make of the whole shebang! Since she doesn't like to have anyone feed her, getting a taste of a s'more was quite the incident!

Today

I've decided my kids are growing up a bit too fast...

Grace is done with baby and moved on to girl,

and the boys registered for their new elementary school today and checked out the playground.

Monkeys!!

With the heat threatening to keep us inside, we headed to the zoo during the cool of the morning. It was wicked busy, but we had a great time with our friends from the old neighborhood. It made the clumps of people seem less intrusive because there was a mass of us as well.

The boys got to act like monkeys in the chimp challenge, so they continues to be crazy for the rest of the trek. Bayley got to see the bird show (Hayden and Grace wandered while he watched) so he was happy. They did a bird unit last year, so he was glad to see the birds he'd studied.

With all the moving hassle, it feels like we havent had much time for summer fun. I wonder what else we can work in before we have to head back to school?

We've Moved!

We're making our way through the boxes, but we're well and truly at home in our new place. Our first meal at home was take-out (the boxes weren't unpacked yet)

GRACIE'S FIRST 'SWIM'

Grace got in the pool for the first time today! The boys are loving being able to 'swim' twice a day.