ESCAPE!!

So has most of you know, and have been experiencing yourselves...it's been freakishly HOT here. We have a little window AC unit in our living room but with these high heats it hasn't been working very well. The kitchen gets sun all day and we have measured the temperature at 106 yesterday evening, today it only made it up to 99! We know that 106 isn't the hottest it was, we just put the thermometer in there too late...

Anyhoo, we have been sweating it out, the boys spending most of their days in only diapers and Henri sleeping in one and no blanket! That is hard for me since with Oliver it was winter and I was always worried about him being too cold. Oliver has to sleep in pj's or else we will wake up in the morning to a naked boy and pee all over the crib!

Yesterday, Graham's coffee meeting for work got canceled so he came home and took the truck into the shop. I got the boys and Roxy together and piled in the car. WE met Graham in the Pearl, stop at Freddie's to get a bucket and shovel (alas, this store did not have a toy section...boo.) so we picked up some lunch and free cookies for Oliver.

Then we set off for the Beach!

We needed to stop for gas and were lucky enough to spot a gas station and Fred Meyer just outside of Hillsboro. Graham dropped me off to look for the bucket while he filled up the car. This store was HUGE!! I was sore and tired just walking from one end to the other, of course I made a wrong turn and had to walk the whole length of the store and back again. Those are moments when I realize how much healing I still have to do from the c-section, the majority of the healing happened quickly but it takes Months to feel somewhat normal again...

Of course they were sold out of pail sets but I found some cleaning/gardening toys for Oliver. Duel purpose, he's been interested in cleaning and sweeping but can't handle the big broom and dustpan, now he has some his own size...

The drive was sunny and hot the whole way. Just as we crested the last foothill, we saw that Cannon Beach was totally socked in. At first I was disappointed as I was hoping for a nice beach day by Oregon standards, but then once we got on the beach i found the temperature was perfect and he mist felt wonderful! 

Here are some of my fav pics from the day.

 

  

Haystack Rock made a very brief appearance. We were actually pretty close and couldn't see it most of the day.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

Ok, this isn't a fav pic, but I thought I should include myself for once.

 

  

Buried Boy, showing off his crossed arms pose.

 

  

Smiles McGee

 

  

Passed out.

 

Still snoozing, but Oliver had stolen the hat.

Welcome!!

I just got a picture text from my good friend Jessica. She, along with hubby Joe and little girl Selena Elise, just welcomed baby Natalia Caryln into the family via c-section. So here's a welcome to her!!

 

I can't wait to hear more of the details and am so excited to introduce her. Henri will have another friend close in age. And we get to meet her in a couple weeks when we travel to Seattle for Selena's 3rd birthday.

CONGRATS ALONZO FAMILY!!

(i think she looks a lot like big sis..)

 

Selena Elise

August 8th(?) 2006

Jupiter

1993- 2009

My sweet little kitty passed away very early this morning. As you can see from the dates, he was 16 years old. He was the sweetest most gentle cat I have ever known. Part Ragdoll, he was very floppy and could bend over backwards as if he had no spine.

About 3 years ago, Roxy snapped at him and accidently bit him in the eye. We had a scare then that we were going to lose him. After  a few hours at Dove Lewis, we learned he was OK but was going to be blind. He came through that great and just had some nasal drainage issues and snot since then. Last year his eye actually cleared up and looked normal again. 

He was and indoor cat but the last couple of months we have been letting him out. He was old and if he got sick or hurt we were going to spend a lot of money trying to prolong his life. I think he wanted to be outside so much because it was the end for him. I know that anmials like to be outside and alone often when the pass on. The one odd thing is how fast it happened. He was pretty much himself and super perky until we got a call from the neighbors (after they had him for 2 1/2 days...). When we picked him up from them he was pounds lighter, maybe 2 pounds at the most. Graham force fed him water (we felt we needed to give him a fighting chance) We got him to eat a little but no much. He spent most of the week outside, he didn't want to be indoors. When we left for the weekend we did not expect him to be alive when we got home. We set him up with water and food and let him be.

When we got home last night, Graham checked on him. He did not look alive, but he was, barely. He got a box and a couple of towels, placed him inside and tried to make it so his last hours were somewhat comfortable ones. He woke me up sometime after midnight to let me know that he had finally passed on. 

He will be missed, but I won't miss the sneezing and snot that I have to clean off of many surfaces! He had a good long run and I am happy that he is not suffering anymore.

I am personally hoping that we will be able to get Oliver a kitten for his 2nd birthday. I am glad he isn't quite old enough to know what happened, though I think he will probably be asking about the kitty today.

 

  

  

  

On another note. 

My Uncle, Ann's dad and my Aunt Susann's husband, suffered a major heart attack last week. He has been in ICU at the Salem Hospital since then. He appears to be making slow but steady progress. We are all thinking about him and his family and sending our good thoughts to them.

Fourth

We took an extended trip for the fourth this year. We started off Thursday and headed to Corvallis for the afternoon and dinner. Granny Nanny had the baby pool out in the sun with a little water to get it nice and warm for Oliver. It took a little while to warm up to the idea but then he had tons of fun! After we took his suit off, he decided that would be a perfect time to sit down in the water, in his clothes. We learned that he is modest. Granny took off his wet clothes and diaper and he started freaking out, crawling and trying to go inside. Finally I picked him up and carried him in while asking if he wanted to put and a fresh diaper. He said "K" (his new favorite word for Yes.) laid right down on the floor, let me put on the diaper and was instantly happy again!

 

 

Daddy had to fill the cups up for Oliver so he could dump them in the pipe.

A butterfly that decided to join us, ont he Butterfly bush no less...

 

Henri at 11 weeks.

 

Larger than life.

After dinner we headed over to Gramma and Poppa Rick's house for the night. After a rough night for Oliver (went to bed at 11, woke up at 4:30am), we packed up and make the trek to Williams, Oregon.

After some visiting, a little snacking and a little wine at Auntie Steph & Uncle Larry's, we drove into Jacksonville for dinner. The rest of the family went to a concert at Britt and we drove back to Pacifica (where we were staying and Great Gramma Lou and Great Poppa Joe's house.)

Oliver fell asleep in the car and made a seamless transfer from car to crib.

Then Daddy grabbed his fishing pole and headed to the pond for some fly fishing.

The amazing deck.

 

The Pond (view from the deck)

Part of the garden.

 

Oliver had a lot of firsts this weekend. One of which was riding/driving the golf cart.

  

Red, White & Blue.

Red.

Blue.

This is how Henri was after I laid him down from a feeding. He looked like and Old Man and like he was flashing gang signs at the same time...

 

Another new thing Oliver did was going into a real pool. He didn't swim, only stood in ankle deep water.

 

He met another little girl who just turned 2. Her name was Malia also but spelled different, Maleah I think... He was pretty smitten.

  

He made another friend, Demetrius , who had a Nerf gun that shot little darts. He had so much fun watching him shoot it and even helped retrieve the darts. I had to snap this picture of him standing with his hands on his hips.

Hambone.

Starting the fireworks.

He LOVED the fireworks so much and he sat still for almost the whole time. He learned to say "oooooo" and "Woo Hoo!" and clapped for all of them.

On a side note: the other day at the park the water park came on. There are a couple of fountains that come out of the ground and look a lot like the fountain fireworks. When the water hits the pavement it makes a similar crackling sound. Oliver had run through the water when one of these came on. Next thing we knew he was sitting on the ground, feet out in front of him saying "oooo" "woo hoo!" and clapping...he thought it was a firework show! It was so cute I was laughing so hard wishing I had my camera.

  

Watching with Daddy.

  

  

  

  

 

Gramma thought that Oliver should try out some sparklers. He LOVED those too!

  

Lighting the sparkler.

Sparkler!

Both boys did really well on the trip and it was nice to get to see family that we only see a couple of times a year. We hope to go back down in September but with Graham's new job we aren't sure what his schedule will be.

Oliver's vocabulary also grew by leaps and bounds this week. Or I guess that was last week! He now says Book, and brings books to read. Answers either No or Kay to questions. And has started making more phrases, like Where'd Daddy go? It went Away. He tells you when he is out of drink, All Gone. and always Stuck. He picks up on words ending in K really well. Walk, Book, Stuck, Yuck...Many of his words are getting much clearer now but he does have full conversations where you can not understand a word he is saying!