America's Game

Explaining the game of soccer to a 5 year old is pretty simple:
1. Both teams are trying to get the ball in the goal.
2. Only the goalie can use his/her hands.


That's it. Done. No other information is necessary to follow what's going on in the game.

Explaining the game of baseball to a 5 year old requires answering 947 questions... and counting. 

Thanks to Groupon, we took the boys to see the Salem Volcanoes (Single A team from the San Fran Giants) play a Sunday evening baseball game. It was the perfect summer evening - 80 degrees, sunny, seats in the 4th row behind the home team, and all the fun that comes with a small town baseball team. It's such a great slice of America to stroll into the stadium, stand for the anthem sung slightly off key, watch the local businesses with their various promotions, and sit back with a beer for a little baseball.

Of course, adding two curious kids to the mix quickly shifts the focus of the evening. Thankfully, there were also lots of other families around us answering the same never-ending slew of questions that come with trying to explain baseball to young fans. We set the stage fairly well and Owen understands the concept of "hit the all and run" just fine.  Of course, the FIRST BATTER of the game ended with the obscure rule that you can run on a swinging third strike if the catcher drops the ball. Um... sorry kids, can't really answer the "why" on that one... who wants a hot dog?!

The Rest of Spring

Now that it's the middle of summer and we are basking in glorious 80+ degree days, I thought I better go back and make a few notes of some of our Spring adventures. March, April, and May generally felt like we were just WAITING. Waiting for the weather improve, waiting for the chance to plant, waiting for the snow to stop, waiting for summer. We heard that spring skiing conditions up on the mountain were fantastic, but we never made it up on the slopes because by April, you are soooo mentally done with the cold weather. When it's 34 degrees and snowing in January, I'm motivated to bundle the kids up and head outside. When it's 40 degrees in April, the last thing I want to do is break out the winter coats and mittens ONE MORE TIME.

On the other hand, when I look back through my pictures, it seems like we did have a pretty eventful spring. Rather than try and back post, I just want to get these photos uploaded, so they make it in our memory books someday!

Scott and I ran a 5K for Healthy Beginnings.
My friend Jen continued to host monthly "Environmental Ed" sessions for our kiddos. She does an amazing job putting together age appropriate lessons on each topic - reptiles, amphibians, birds, etc. - with stories, crafts, games, and outdoor explorations. This was the session the kids learned about fish.

My friend Shannon and her parents hosted an amazing Easter Egg hunt and brunch, complete with hundreds of eggs, crafts and sugar cookies galore, and the most amazing view as the backdrop for the hunt.
The boys started playing together - here they're playing "knights" riding their horses through the house. They also cranked the wrestling and terrorizing each other up a notch! Another reason warm weather and outside play could not come soon enough!

We made a short trip to Seattle to surprise Scott's parents with a joint 60th birthday celebration. An amazing dinner at Canlis with the whole family (well, minus the kids!).


While in Seattle, Aunt Kate taught Owen how to ride a scooter. And Scott, of course, had to take Josh for a ride as well!


Our friends, Jon and Jess were down for a visit from Bellingham to participate in the Pole, Pedal, Paddle. We all got to meet baby Ellie, who turns 1 in July and could easily win an "easiest baby" contest hands down.
During the race (note: miserably rainy!), we toted all three kids around the race course and laughed at how different it was than the first couple years we lived in Bend and were PARTICIPANTS in the PPP.

The boys rode their bikes in the Commute Options kids parade.

The Day it was Spring

We've had a rough few months here in Central Oregon. We always say that we go straight from Winter to Summer, but this year was especially brutal. Our "Sprin-ter" kept the temperatures near 50 degrees well through May, and then summer arrived in full force. But, on May 20, we had one, glorious, Spring Day.

We were lucky enough to be spending that Friday with our play group out in the Metolious Preserve. My friend Sarah works for the Land Trust and was able to arrange an amazing morning for us to get out in the trees, along the creek, engrossed in nature, and simply absorbing the warmth of sunshine we'd been missing after a zillion months of winter. We caravanned out through Sisters (with a crucial stop for yummy scones and coffee), pulled into the preserve, and stepped into the quiet of towering trees. I took a huge breath and knew this day was going to be a success.

We started with a little hike. Big kids running and climbing over stumps, littles in backpacks, a couple dogs thrown in the mix. At one point, I had to laugh - here I am, walking through the forest with a baby on my back, holding a dog leash in one hand, small fingers in another... the kicker being that neither the child or the dog are mine! And that seems like a pretty perfect summary of what it means to be raising children in community, don't you think? What a blessing to have these sweet friends to just LIVE LIFE with.



The kids had bug nets and magnifying boxes to explore the creepers and crawlers. The littles had a footbridge that kept Josh and his buddies (Calvin and Jett) occupied while the older kids waded in the creek. We had a picnic lunch in the clearing. And then the clothes started coming off and we had 8-10 kids splashing through the snow-melt creek in only their underwear.

A short while later, after dragging my kids back to the car, I pulled onto the highway, grinning from ear to ear, buoyed by the shrieks of joy, inquisitive eyes, and skipping feet that had filled our morning. And then I heard another beautiful sound… two sighing snores from the backseat that continued all the way home. Bliss.

Cousin Time

Now that Ryan and Sara are in a bigger house, we got to stay with them for part of our Seattle visit. It was great cousin time for Owen, Josh, and Calla and several late nights for us adults to talk, talk, talk. It is a great joy that our children are growing up together and that we get to share our parenting journey with Ryan and Sara. It was a cinch to pick Elliot Bay Brewery for dinner - great beer, good food, KIDS MENU! it made perfect sense to all of us to take a "field trip" to the pet store after that dinner, and bundling the kids up just to get.out.of.the.house was well worth the effort...



It's always exciting for us to spend time with Calla and see in person all the progress she it making. Ryan and Sara talked about how they measure her development in tiny increments - setting small goals with her therapy team and marking progress one word, one step, one action at a time. It can be exhausting for R&S to stay focused on these small goals, but since we only see Calla every 4-6 months, we get to see the HUGE cumulative impact all those small incremental advancements make. Since they visited this summer, Calla's vocabulary has exploded and she is moving ALL OVER THE PLACE. Sure, she has her own way of saying most words - Owen is "Ow-Nee" - but that's no different than any other 2 year old. Plus, it's a joy to see how excited she gets now that her words bring results. I loved the big grin every time she announced, "Josh!!" And when I say she is moving all over the place... holy moly! upstairs, downstairs, this room, that room... I guess she's just making up for lost time, but I think we only managed to snag one picture of Calla because she is never in one place for more than a few seconds. (as it is, any picture of Calla in this post was stolen of Facebook!)

I am continually impressed with Ryan and Sara and the work they do with and for Calla. Being a parent is incredibly challenging. Navigating that journey with a child that has multiple developmental delays is a whole new ballgame. Especially because Calla doesn't have a concrete diagnosis for what has caused her challenges. We now understand she has a "Motor Planning Disorder" that explains why her body responds differently to physical stimuli. But Motor Planning Disorder is still a symptom, a result, not a cause. That leaves Ryan and Sara without a a specific prognosis - no timeline to work with, no expectations of what Calla will be capable of in 6 months, 2 years, or further down the road. What we do know is...

Calla is energetic, smart, determined, and S-O-C-I-A-L! She's probably not going to play point guard on the basketball team, but she is going to charm her way through many of life's trials and she's always going to have lots of people rooting for her every step of the way.

Oh, and Calla loves animals - especially Ocean animals, so we made a wonderful trip to the aquarium with Nana and Grandma... even though he missed his nap, Josh LOVED watching the fish. I'm sure if we lived in Seattle, Sara and I would be having frequent play dates amid the tanks.

The reading of the list

We helped Owen write a letter to Santa this year (he circled things in the Fred Meyer catalog and then told us what to write) and made our annual visit down to the Old Mill shops. It was kind of a madhouse, but the "elves" helping Santa were doing a great job. They even set up a waiting list with... get this... phone numbers! So we left and browsed through REI for 20 minutes before getting called back for our turn.

I was kind of worried because Owen looked really nervous as we waited the last 5 minutes in line, but when it was our turn, Santa looked up and said, "Owen!" and our little nail biter did a full on sprint and dove into Santa's lap. So cute... though not worth the extra $10 for another photo. Santa patiently read through Owen's list, including the note that we will be at Nana's for Christmas night. Josh, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. But hey, this guy's a professional (not some local celebrity voluteering for chairty... oh wait), so he jingled the bells long enough for us to get a photo.

Now, if we can just convince Owen that giving Santa a list does not mean he is getting everything he wrote... 12 days to Christmas!

Summer Lovin - County Fair

This year, we made the a family trip to the County Fair. I love that our fair has all the classic fair events that you would find at the Puyallup Fair, without the 2 hour traffic and parking nightmare. We just pulled up, parked 100 feet from the entrance, ran into some friends as we walked in the gates, and collected our fill of barnyard animals, fried food, hokey vendors, and cheesy rides.

In a strange way, I kind of enjoy wandering through the barns with all the 4H animals. It's amazing how many kids commit the time to raise those rabbits, chickens, goats, sheep, or pigs. I'm hoping our kids are happy to go visit the animals each year... and not actually go through the work to raise them!


This was the first year that Owen was old enough to try out the rides, and (lucky us), he LOVED them. Not an ounce of fear in that boy.

Walks out; Hikes in

After 3 years of weekly walks with kids in packs or strollers, our Friday moms group has reached a significant milestone... the mom walks are over. Oh, don't worry, our group is still meeting, but we've come to the point that the kids won't sit in the strollers any more, so we have a new strategy. Our Friday walks are now "hikes" at a 3-year old pace.
We had our first hike last Friday. Only 3 of us moms made it, but the 3 kiddos Owen's age hiked 2.5 miles with not a complaint to be heard. What we did hear was lots of laughter, joy, and excitement over all the wonderous beauty we found around Todd Lake - sunlight through the trees, mountain views, serene water, thousands of baby frogs, and dozens of little bridges to carry us across the mucky areas.


It was also Josh's first time in the hiking backpack - kind of a tragedy that he got all the way to 11 months and through a whole summer without riding through the woods, but we have lots of autumn left to make up for lost time. Bring on the hikes!

Summer Events - Camping

At the end of June, we ventured out on our first camping adventure as a family of 4. The Donnelly's joined us for a one-night experiment out near the Metolious. It's amazing how much gear we managed to pack into our car for 20 hours away from home, but it was well worth it to get away from a buzzing phone and just breath in the best Central Oregon has to offer. Even better, Owen and Hazel had a great time exploring together, leaving us adults with nothing to do but sit around and chat by the fire.

Josh had been exceptionally cranky in the weeks leading up to the weekend, but we went for it anyway. Turns out, all he needed was some quality time in nature. Josh LOVED watching the trees, the bugs, the fire, the sky. And, he ate like a champ out in the open air and actually slept fairly well (aka not any worse than normal) in the tent. More nature time please!