summer fun

At the beginning of July, we watched the Ruddick boys so that Josh & Gretchen could go to a birthday dinner for a friend. It was a hot day, so we had the tiny pool filled with water. The boys played really well together & had a great time!

This picture cracks me up - censored for Cedar's sake. :) All 3 big boys patiently waiting their turn as the naked toddler takes his time his time on the slide. At least the big boys seem amused. ;)

Goofing around is so much fun! We've since acquired a slightly larger pool, which would accommodate the cousins a bit better. :)

Finn has also been learning to ride a bike with training wheels. Our neighbor, Dave, dug this bike out of a dumpster with Finn in mind. :P Our kind of friend! We love a great find, for free!

Wandering around while big brother rides his bike.

It's a girl's bike...but that's ok! Finn doesn't know the difference. :)

Cedar's doing great with the whole walking thing...still takes lots of tumbles & often has a bump, bruise or scrape on his face. :( All part of the learning process... He's trying to run, so I'm sure the tumbles are far from over. :| Cedar's a good sport, though!

independence day

The 4th of July

We skipped church & drove up the McKenzie Highway to visit Carolyn's Mom's campsite. Kind of random, but we thought it might be fun to experiencing camping without sleeping in a tent with two small children. :)

Carolyn & Finn by Horse Creek

We roasted hot dogs for lunch & marshmallows for S'mores!

Finn helped Jesse keep the fire going. :)

Enjoying his S'more

Cedar liked his hot dog & graham crackers

Not too sure of the marshmallow, but I'm pretty sure he devoured that too!

Carolyn played the one song she knows on the banjo. :)

"Camping"

By the creek

We drove home so that Cedar could nap while we got dinner ready. Kenton's Uncle Nathan & Aunt Lindy were in town (on their way through, as they move to Australia) & came over with Brian for the evening.

Dinner in our backyard - shish-kabobs, salad & watermelon.
Brian, Carolyn, Katrina, Cedar, Jesse, Nathan, Lindy & Finn
(You can see the nearly completed chicken fence in the background.)

Red, White & Blueberry Shortcake Stars for dessert

Finn likes to go SUPER high in his swing!

Cedar's messy hair with no shirt, after enjoying his shortcake. :)

After dinner, we made our way to Alton Baker park to watch fireworks. Nathan & Lindy stayed behind to get some rest after traveling all night.

We had a lot of time to kill before it got dark (around 10 pm), so we started in on our fireworks while it was still a little light out.

We ended up being pretty popular with the other kids, since we had enough sparklers to share. :)

Cedar entertained himself for a LONG time...just hanging out in the backpack propped on the ground. I was shocked & very impressed that he was satisfied with watching everyone else.

Finn & Carolyn

The fireworks master - only a few, little burns to show for it. ;)

Kenton, Katrina, Carolyn & Finn

We had a few fountains, but mostly bought sparklers & ground bloom flowers. :)

No pictures of the professional fireworks show. I guess we were too busy keeping our little ones entertained for the entire show - they both enjoyed watching the big fireworks, but their attention spans are much shorter than ours. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves, this Independence Day! We had a very fun & full day!

Breakfast the next morning. ;)
The shortcake wasn't all that sugary...can't really say that for the berries & whipped cream, but who needs all the details. It was tasty & we couldn't let it go to waste, right?

skinner's butte

Finn has been excited by the idea of hiking & wanted to invite some friends. So we made plans with the Green family to meet for a picnic before hiking Skinner's Butte.


Amy, Ethan, Kenton & Finn
Cute smiles from the adults... :P

Finn, Cedar, Katrina, Macey & Emma

The group, minus Kenton but including Jon with a camera covering his face. :P

The 3 1/2 year olds
This particular hike is perfect for kids because it's pretty short & not very difficult. But it still wore the kids out. :)

We saw a gray squirrel up close

At the top!

The view of our city

Cedar leaned for most of the hike & wanted out. He was happier while we were moving.

Downtown Eugene
We live in a pretty city!

Self portrait

Our family
Finn (3 1/2), Katrina, Kenton & Cedar (14 months)

The Green Family
Amy, Jon, Emma (21 months), Macey & Ethan (3 1/2)

Are these sweet peas?

On the way back down, a fellow hiker pointed out a bald eagle's nest. There are two parents watching over two babies that just learned to fly. Further down the butte, one of the babies landed in a tree near us. Apparently, it can take several years before the eagles get their white heads. We were pretty amazed at the site of this baby; it certainly was not small. It was probably between 18 to 24 inches tall! We saw lots of nature for a pretty small hike. Very cool!

Thanks for joining us, Greens! We'll have to do it again. :)

garden update

This week, I bought some more tomato & pepper plants, because the ones I started from seed still weren't growing. So weird! I was told to baby the Roma tomatoes, so I wrapped our ladder in plastic to function as a little green house for my babies. :)

Finn really wanted to harvest a carrot & I was resistant. I didn't have plans to use it for a meal, but when we peeked into the dirt to see if it was big enough, it appeared to be huge! The top was pretty fat, but it wasn't quite as long as I'd hoped. Either way, it's the biggest carrot we've harvested to date. :)

Finn is especially excited about the pepper plant we bought that already has a pepper growing. I must say, I'm excited about this one too! :)

And I've convinced Finn to keep waiting to harvest our biggest broccoli. He wants to pick it so bad, but I want to see how big it will get before it tries to flower.

science factory

Finn has been wanting to visit a museum & wanting to invite his cousins, so on Wednesday (June 30th) we met up with Aunt Gretchen, Memaw, Papa, all of the cousins & Aunt Becca (a little later) at the Science Factory.

We got there a few minutes early, so we took some pictures in front of the brightly colored building.

The boys were wearing such colorful shirts that they blended into the building quite well! :)

Car ramps

Under the sea creatures

Ball maze? I can't remember what this one was. :)

Griffin & Cohen making some balls float in the air!

Cool light table

Finn had so much fun that he asks every day if we can go back to the Science Factory. Maybe we should have bought that membership! I'm sure we'll be back soon, so we'll have another chance. :P So glad all the cousins were able to make it...even if I didn't include all of their pictures. :\ Thanks for joining us!