Halloween party and a little flag football.

The photo doesn't capture the "costumes" that well, but I was a flight attendant and Jim was a ramp worker. He even carried lighted cones to direct airplanes.
Sean is #3 in the football picture. Today's game will be a bit soggy, not like the beautiful sunny day we had last week!

Pumpkin patch and a ski swap

We found the best pumpkin patch last week! It had a ton of great activities for older kids...the boys loved the apple cannon and apple sling shot. There was also a zip line, obstacle course, spooky dark maze and a huge jumping thing called a bouncy pillow.
Then we came home, Jackson went to soccer practice, I hosted book club, we got up for a swim meet , hit the ski swap (that last pic isJackson and his friend Reese trying on some super cool hats) and finally went out for dinner and ice cream.

What's been happening here

School pictures
Walk + Bike to School Day (which I'm in charge of at the boys school)
Soccer, football, swimming
Wordstock and meeting the authors of the book Wildwood (pics to follow)
Making butternut squash, carrot and ginger soup
Making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Losing the front light of my car (it just fell off)
Buying pumpkins
Finally returning to masters swim practice at 5:30am
Finishing the book Left Neglected (it was okay..Stones From the River was better)

Fall is here!

Rainy farmers market day and a last lake swim

It was a rainy Saturday morning but Sean really wanted to go to the farmers market. (Jim and Jackson stayed home to build the shed....photos of that coming soon). It was actually a great day to go to the market. No crowds, produce looked great and we got a bunch of good things, including some really yummy granola. Oh-and Sean wanted me to mention the bargain we got on zucchini and squash...50 cents each!
The other pic is from a quick after school swim last week. It was pretty chilly but the boys (and Jackson's friend Erik) seemed unconcerned about that...in fact, the water is still pretty warm.

98 degrees and heading back to school

We have had a great August! The big weather news all month (and all summer) has been the fact that we haven't had any days over 90 degrees, except one. We are making up for it now! Hot, hot, hot all week and these poor Oregon children are just not used to the heat!  The heat did not dampen the enthusiasm for going back to school. The boys were very excited to start the new school year. 2nd grade and 4th grade, here we come!

A few pics from an end of summer hike

Just found this...a little back to school inspiration!

"Love yourself, for who and what you are; protect your dream and develop your talent to the fullest extent. Don't lose sight of your goals. No matter what the obstacles are, don't let anything deter you from your best effort. Don't allow anyone to tell you what you can and cannot do. Be tough, be stubborn, love yourself, and find friends who believe in you."


--Joan Benoit Samuelson

Late summer morning

August has been outstanding. After a long and rainy spring, we have been rewarded with an August that is nearly perfect...sunny and 80-85 degrees almost all month. Today we woke up to much cooler weather and you can feel Fall in the air. But it was a nice and relaxed morning...no one was fighting, the boys has some serious Lego building going on and I had a few minutes to search online for a pasta salad recipe to take to a picnic later today. And Talus was content to be in the center of it all, trying to decide if he should nap or take one last stroll through the kitchen in the hope of finding leftover cinnamon toast crumbs.

Another adventure

I'm not sure I'm really ready for this but I'm on a team. One of the runners had a last minute injury so I was asked if I wanted to run again. It's the same team I ran with 2 years ago, though several members have changed. My first leg will be at about 8am...next leg will be around 6pm. The last leg is the middle of the night leg...maybe 4am? I have my head lamp and reflective vest all ready to go. Should be fun!

Back from the beach

We had a great week! The weather was perfect, we loved the house we rented and we had lots of fun times playing outside and visiting with friends. If I can ever dig out from the mountain of sand-filled clothing that's piled up in the laundry room, I'll put up some more photos!

More summer fun

When summer finally arrives in Oregon, it's really awesome!

Ready...set...go!!

Jackson's first time up on water skis!

A morning at the market

It was the perfect morning for a boat ride over to the Saturday Farmers Market. I wish I had taken more pictures of the beautiful produce...lots of good raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, zucchini and some delicious scones.

Summer haircuts

Jim let Sean have a "faux hawk" for a few minutes before finishing the haircut. Sean decided the faux hawk was best accompanied by tough guy faces and a few poses to show off his muscles!  

Time for pie

This pie took almost all day. I could've started it the night before, however, which would've made it seem a little less complicated. There were so many steps that involved chilling from 30 min. to several hours...plus the homemade crust. And the lime curd. And the blackberry compote. (Side note: I picked up fresh blackberries at the farmers market for this...they were amazing).
I think next time I will choose a recipe that's a little bit easier. The end result was actually very nice , thanks to Jim's use of the kitchen blow torch (and his skills at helping with the meringue). But it still needs a little tweaking. And I need to get a good kitchen thermometer because this recipe uses one for at least 2 of the steps.

A little summer baseball

This time it's Jim's turn. He plays on a corporate baseball league. Sunday was a perfect night for baseball. Sean was pretty excited about watching the game and yelled out "Good job , Dad!" after he got a hit.

Bubbles!

Here's a little something we did on a lazy summer morning...bubbles! 16 cups warm water + 2 tablespoons baking powder + 1 cup dish soap (Dawn or Joy, preferably non-concentrated)=bubble liquid.
We bought a bubble wand thingy but they are very easy to make.

The bubbles were huge! I was hoping they'd actually stay intact and float around but they usually burst just as soon as they were released from the wand.   

What summer should look like!

Ironman!