Surprise Playdate

 August 28, 2013

I surprised the boys and took them to Playdate PDX.

We had never been there before, so I thought we could check it out.  The boys had fun.  But I have to say, if it's a choice between Kid's Club or Playdate PDX, the winner is Kid's Club.  The play structure at Playdate PDX is more compact and not as adult friendly.  You can still go in with your kids, but there are several sections of plastic tubing that you have to crawl through on your hands and knees...which is not pleasant.  At Kid's Club, the structure is entirely padded with the exception of the slides...more forgiving on the knees.

In the ball area, the boys thought it was fun to shoot at me.  Let's just say they scored a few times.

Mario Art

 August 25, 2013

Lately, Kaden's been using little figures as a drawing reference.  It's great to see him enjoy drawing more now.

Jungle Play

August 24, 2013

Family time in Washington:

Josh and I took the boys up to Kids Club Fun & Fitness.

They always love playing there.

And they love to play with Daddy!

 Afterward, we went had dinner and ice cream at DQ.

 ...Then we just drove around.

We came across this quiet little park and let the boys play for awhile.

 Kaden is our tree climber.  He loves to climb.

And he loves documented proof...so here are the pics.

On our way back across the bridge to Oregon, we had a lovely view of the sun setting.

Kado Returns

 August 17, 2013

Kaden returned from his summer visit.

Josh and I picked him up from the airport.

 Later in the day, we took a family drive up to Washington and stopped to let the boys play at this park.

 Versii and Kaden pretending to have a pirate sword fight on the bridge.

Kaden must have missed us, since this 10 year old has been eager to join us for story time every night.  And normally, that's not the case.  It's alright by me, we're glad to have him back too.

Stop at Lava

 August 15, 2013

On our way home from Utah, we stopped off at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho.  I only wish there was a place this fun to take the kids closer to home.  Kah-neeta's great, but doesn't even compare to this place.  Lava has three pools: two inside and one out.  The indoor pools include the kiddie area and a pool with a diving board and rock climbing wall, which Kaden would have loved.  And outside the pool had three platforms, diving boards and water slides.  The boys had so much fun that they didn't want to leave!  And the water was actually warm, which made it very pleasant to hang out in.  Great stop!

We spent a lot of time in the kid area.  

Paxton kept running over and showing us a count of how many times he "got dumped on" by the giant bucket. 

My boys aren't really swimmers, but they love to play in the water.

CJ

August 13, 2013

My cousin CJ and I were sitting down in the basement, when out-of-nowhere, in runs Paxton who jumps up and tackles him!  The boys had fun with CJ.  

Grandma's Dress

 (photo taken August 13, 2013)

I am in love with this gorgeous vintage dress!

I've mentioned trying it on in the past, and Grandma said, "Oh no you won't!"  But this time she gave her blessing and allowed me to try it on.

My Grandma wore it on her first date with my Grandpa on May 11th, 1946.  She said it was a blind date.  She had known who he was, since she knew his sister, but he had never met her before.  After picking her up, Grandpa later said, "I thought you were the cutest little doll I'd ever seen!"  And Grandma's kept this dress ever since.  I asked Grandma if she had any pictures of her in it, but she thinks this one went unphotographed.  I would have loved to see her in it.  She has agreed to let me have it, but not until she dies.  She wants to know she kept it her whole life.

 I love the detailing of the metal accents and the button closure really dates it to that era.  From what I can tell zippers weren't widely used in clothing until the 50's.

 While Grandma was out-of-town at the wedding, I tried on some of her old clothes from the 50's and 60's. 

Left: An original Leslie Pomer navy polyester dress, with matching jacket.  Love it!

Middle: A dress that Grandma made in her stretch sewing class.

Right: A silk "R&K Original" labeled "For the girl who knows clothes" 

Grandma has some of the coolest vintage clothes!

She laughed seeing me trying on all her old clothes, because she said, "In the past when I wanted to pick out clothes for you or your sister, your Mom would say she wouldn't dare pick out clothes for you girls...and then here you are all these years later, wanting all my old clothes.  This Grandma did have good taste!"

And the one thing I tried on, that I do have a photo of Grandma in, is her wedding dress.  Although, it was a tad bit too snug to actually zip up. Her dress was made from some old parachute material that she was given by the brother of a young man she had been dating who had been killed when he went off to war. The brother said he thought that she could use it to make a wedding dress one day.  Which, of course, she did.

Dall and Joy Black were married September 13th, 1946 on Friday the 13th, just 4 months and 2 days after their first date.  (A fact, I only just learned.)

Their wedding date was 3 days after Joy's 21st birthday; Dall was 24.

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I hope someday I can find photos of my Grandma in some of her other old clothes.  It would be so fun to see her wearing them.  Thanks Grandma for indulging me in my mini fashion show of your clothes.  I love you!  So glad I could come visit!

Playing in Cottonwood

August 12, 2013

Also, at Aunt Joy's suggestion, after lunch we drove over to Cottonwood Heights Park.  The boys loved the climbing structures!  While we were there, the Ice Cream Truck drove into the park, so the boys each picked an ice cream.  Versii chose a giant ice cream sandwich and Paxton chose Sonic... 

Sonic proved to be quite messy.  After he was done with it, we went into the bathroom to wash him up, but the blue dye didn't come off.  Paxton had to run around with blue face the rest of the day.  I'm not going to lie, it was funny!

Wheeler Farm

 August 12, 2013 - Wheeler Farm

While visiting with my Aunt Joy, she said I should take the boys to Wheeler Farm.  I never realized how close it was to my Grandma's, it's literally less than 2 miles away.

Spending time at Wheeler Farm may have to be a new tradition when we visit Grandma.  We arrived in the morning and it was a great time.  The animals were eating, so we could see them all up close.

 You can not normally pet the animals at this farm, however one of the staff was out walking with a lamb and said the boys could come pet it.

 Here the boys are pointing out the horse's male parts, asking, "What is that on it's belly?"

Exploring the farm.

The Tree house!

Our boys have wanted a tree house for the longest time.

Hopefully one day we will have a place where we can build them one.  The must have spent at least 45 minutes playing in this completely empty tree house.  These boys are such imaginative players.

 On the wagon ride.

Besides the tree house, I think their favorite part was feeding the ducks.

 Before we left, the boys played a few minutes at the playground.

August 13, 2013 - A few days later, I took the boys back to the Farm in the evening, so they could milk a cow.  At 5pm they do a daily milking demonstration.  We were sitting right on the front row, so Paxton was first up for a turn at milking. And Versii decided against it.  He wouldn't even pose with the cow for pictures.  After a few people had taken their turns, the cow spread it's back legs and started peeing.  They said it usually doesn't happen, but decided to move the cow so they could hose down the concrete.  As they started to move the cow, instead of stepping to the side, it started rapidly backing up.  It's hind end was literally less than a foot from Versii, which scared him into trying to climb over me, and in that moment the cow started moving sideways toward me so I tried to get up and move.  With Versii trying to climb over me at the same time, we nearly fell, but managed to get out of the way.  I'm sure it was quite comical to everyone behind us. --At the end of the demonstration and everyone had cleared out of the barn, Paxton went up to help some more.  He just loved it!

Fun Dinner

 August 10, 2013
We were invited over to my Aunt Joy and Uncle Mike's for dinner.  She found some fun food ideas on Pinterest.  Love Pinterest!  --She made the kids such a fun dinner: crab sandwiches and octopus hot dogs.  They loved it!

Aunt Joy also made a cake!  She didn't have blue food coloring, so she let the boys put blue sprinkles on...they really poured them on!  My boys are sugar lovers!  She also let them put the shark and fins on (made by Sprinklebelle).  They had so much fun helping!  And when we cut the cake, which was red velvet, Versii cried out, "Look it's shark blood!"

After dinner, Aunt Joy and I sat out on the porch, chatting, while the boys raced up and down her yard.

Each time they would climb the kiddie slide, jump down and keep on running!

Thanks Aunt Joy and Uncle Mike for dinner.

Aunt Joy, thanks for making it so fun for the boys.

Versii loves the shark head and has showed everyone!

It's now in our freezer, because he wants to keep it forever!