
Well it officially happened... The camera experienced sudden death. I guess it was a slow process of terrible abuse, between the kids, SAND, and me. We are so sad that we have missed several events without our camera. What did people do before digital? :)
Recently I found out that Thomas the train is actually a train and he comes to Mt. Hood. I was all excited about the idea of adventure with the kids. I told my sister-in-law about it, and that they were visiting by her house as well. She went and took her kids, Brayden wanted to go too. After more evaluation we realized that it might be better to go on the short train ride here in town. It was a GREEN train, just like Henry his favorite toy, so he was so excited and it was a fraction of the cost, and tons less driving and crowds. Lucky for us.
Camden has been really excited about boats lately. We go for walks around town and every other house seems to have a boat, ATV, or RV. Camden with his limited vocab will yell "BOAT" We decided to take him on a boat at one of the local lakes. They have paddle boats for rent and we went out for an hour. The kids loved it, Camden was ready to jump in the lake multiple times.
We have decided that we are officially climatized. When we first got here in August last year, it was COLD. I was afraid that I would never get to wear my shorts again. The climate on the Oregon coast is 50-70 degrees year round. We have been going to the lake with our friends on a regular basis and I think it is hot. The kids are running through the water making sand castles and never really use a towel. I get back up to the car and the thermometer on the car says: 64...
Who in their right mind goes to the lake at that temp? Well, its those of us who are officially climatized, and it feels great!!! When we go into Eugene and its 80 or 90 degrees, we can't wait to get home. I forget how hot the car gets in that kind of weather.
For the 4th of July we had an awesome ward BBQ. It was at one of the houses in our ward, and it was awesome. We had beautiful weather and fun games. Justin ended up being in charge of all the games and he did great. That night we went to the down town and watched the fireworks over the river. It was awesome, but the fog rolled in from the ocean so it was chilly and the fireworks were so different half way in fog. I did laugh that last year I was wearing shorts and tee-shirts and this year I was wearing my ski coat and cuddled in a blanket because it was only 55 degrees.
We are almost done with Phase 1 of the house!!! We are so excited and feel like we are on the home stretch! Phase 1 will be the most expensive, and the most dramatic. This included:
All new kitchen: cabinets, sink, counter top, appliances, lighting, disposal, and flooring
All new flooring: 650 square feet of tile, and 166 sq yards of Carpet. totalling 2100 sq feet of new flooring (the only thing left is the bathrooms)
All new paint: Every wall and every ceiling has been repainted.
All new doors on the main floor.
2 new toilets, 1 new bathroom,
All new Trim. Trim around the doors,and windows
New sliding glass door
and refinishing the kitchen table!
We currently have to finish the table, and put on the last few pieces of trim. SO exciting and we are ready to take a break before phase 2
Here are some funny kids stories:
At the lake one of our favorite things to do is run in the water and splash all over Camden while he is running with me. Camden kept doing it, and when we got home I found out that he had rubbed his legs raw with the wet diaper. He would take 2-3 steps and say "HURT,HURT,HURT" When I figured it out that it wasn't on his foot and started putting ointment on it, he was so excited because I had finally understood him. Camden has started his little attitude and has to do everything himself, and if something is bothering him, he refers to the word "HURT". It gets a little difficult when that means roll up my pants, or fix my sock.
Brayden has started to pick up some of my phrases and the new ones of the week were:
"Let me tell you the story mom" (as he was telling me something so he could get out of trouble.)
"Mom, stop Freakin out!" (that was a total surprise because I was eating breakfast wondering what we were going to do that day, I realized he doesn't know what that means)
We hope to get a new camera soon, until then it is just a journal without the photos.