Parties!

This summer we have seen a few parties and picnics! A few weeks ago we took the boys to our friend's for Andrea's birthday. There were a lot of kids running around the boys had a blast...

 Miss Eliot.

The lovebirds...

 Hank & Manny...

turns our Manny and his 2 brother live very close to us, even frequent the park. A few days earlier they had played together with Granny Nanny!

 He REALLY REALLY loved his Popsicle! He insisted on holding it by the Popsicle itself....oh the screams!

 

Say Cheese!

The A Team

or

Birthday Girl & Weird Guy with Mallet

or

Aaron & Andrea

Flying

I can't believe how fast the summer has gotten away from me! I can't even explain how busy I/we are and I think it will be getting more so this fall with the possibility of Oliver going to preschool...Henri started walking about a month ago and everyday he gets better and better. We now have 2, count them, 2 toddlers! It still hasn't really hit me...I think maybe it will when Henri turns 2, right now he is still the baby to me!


I took these great pictures of the boys earlier this summer during the first heat wave...I am hoping to get some more photo sets up soon but I think it will only be 1 today as I still have to catch up on Project Runway...

A Camping We Will Go.

We just got back today from a 2 night camping trip at Timothy Lake with Nanny Nanny & Poppa J. We left Sunday afternoon once Graham got home from work and arrived home before noon today! (it helps when you baby wakes up at 6am...!)

We had a lot of fun and those boys wore all of us out! Henri is in the stage where he just wants to walk all the time and he is pretty adamant about letting you know what he does or does not want. Oliver wanted to always be throwing rocks in the lake or going on a "Big Walk". 

We didn't have any troubles putting Henri down to sleep at night and were successful at about 8 pm both nights. Oliver on the other hand had to stay up until we went to bed. Last night he was so tired he even fell asleep on my lap in a ball. Next year, we are thinking cabin camping might be a better fit!

 Getting ready for his first canoe ride!

Henri Hoo almost 15 months.

 

 

 

 

 on on of our many "Big Walks"

 

 The Mountain peeking out.

 "Big Walk!"

 Big Tree!

Fishing at dusk.

 Waiting for dinner. Henri was so tired that he stood next to that chair for at least an hour!

 

 Cookin' some grub!

Season for Strawberries

I think I have always taken Oregon strawberries for granted, that is until we moved to San Francisco. The strawberries there were never a juicy, or sweet or even very strawberry-ie. Graham used to rave all the time to the people at the Ritz about Oregon berries and they often just shrugged him off. Last June while I was visiting for Ann's baby shower I picked up a flat of fresh picked berries in Lebanon, packed the best ones in tupperware and flew them back to SF in my suitcase! Graham finally convinced all those Californians that Oregon has the best strawberries.
Growing up I never really thought of there being a strawberry season (usually I just knew that they were in the garden ready to be picked and eaten and we ate a lot of strawberry shortcake) even though I attended the Strawberry Parade and Festival religiously every year! Living in CA opened my eyes to another one of Oregon's great pleasures and we are very happy to be sharing that with Oliver.

First bite is always a sour face.

First Father's Day

For Father's Day we traveled down to Salem to Pete and Ann's new house for a BBQ. They had just gotten the keys 9am that morning and were excited and anxious to get into their first house. Our morning started off pretty nice and slow, like a Sunday should. Oliver had woken up at 1:15 that morning and didn't got back to sleep until almost 4:30, so we needed the rest! Especially since he cried from 3:30 until he fell asleep. Oliver joined us in bed and Daddy got his present, a new hat!Daddy's new hat.

We took 99W down to Salem, through Dundee and Dayton, it made us about an hour late but was well worth it. The drive is so beautiful and once you pass through Dundee there is hardly any traffic. When we arrived, the BBQ was still being assembled so we got out the blankets and let the babies get re-acquainted and play. Allison had a new red wagon that she was getting pulled in and Oliver couldn't take his eyes off it! He eventually got his own turn and had blast being pulled around.

Oliver and Allison with Great Uncle/Grandpa Bob

Grampa

Peter

Graham's photo of the cloudless sky.

Oliver and Allison had one incident during lunch. They were off playing on blankets in the backyard when they started to quietly fight over one of Ollie's blocks. Oliver picked it up, Allison took, Oliver took it back and so on until Oliver took the block, put it in Allison's face and pushed her over! Allison of course started crying, Oliver looked at her, his lip came out, he through his face into the blanket and started crying too! I guess we have a sympathetic boy on our hands! Allison showed off her amazing walking abilities all day and her strength. Her new trick is to push her cage while she is inside and walk, pushing it about 4 feet or so. This day she did it while her Mommy and Oliver were inside too! Ann had to jump up and grab Oliver and walk along as Ally just kept on truckin'. We all got a pretty good laugh out of that.

After lunch, dessert and a lot of playtime outside we moved inside. Pete and Graham decided to pass the time by playing a little indoor Badmitton, while sitting in lawn chairs...

Graham only went over backwards 3 times! It was a very ammusing site to behold, 2 "grown" men sitting in chairs hitting a birdie back and forth. Allison came back downstairs for some more play time as she was not having a nap after maybe an hour of trying to get her to sleep and they played some more.

Allison 10 1/2 months.

We headed home at about 7:30 with a very tired little man who could barely hold his head up. As I predicted, he was out cold before we even turned off their street.

Once we got home Graham got to go out for a beer at the only Pub in town that carries Boddington's on tap and found his new favorite pub. All in all it was a good day.