We had an awesome day at the Oregon International Air Show on Saturday!
We loved watching The Thunderbirds! Especially when they flew over our house and down our street during practice for the two days before the show.
We just couldn't resist the "Mega Slide"! O.K., Travis couldn't resist. :)
It was a lucky choice because as the boys hopped off the bouncy slide, a radio host stopped them for an interview.
I was so proud...my babies and their first interview. So cute. Here's how it went:
Radio Guy: What's your name?
Tyler: Tyler (whispered into the mic)
Radio Guy to Justin: What have you been doing today?
Justin: I don't know. (What?)
And that was it. Their big break and they froze. I had to laugh. Oh well, better luck next time Radio Dude!
Back to the show:
Tyler freaked out when the Robosaurus showed up. Justin and Travis were totally into the fire-breathing car-crushing dinosaur. Tyler...not so much. I had to take him over to play with the little Lego robots at the NASA booth.
Saved by The Thunderbirds! Tyler said it was his favorite part of the day. But they sure were L-O-U-D!
I just love this picture I just happened to snap of Justin punching the air while cheering on the jets.
Justin's dream come true: A Titanic bouncy slide. Too bad it was just for a private air show party. But he was so happy to just take a picture of it. :)
Hmmm...it was a good day! We'll be back next year for sure!
The field is green and ready to be TRAMPLED! Soccer season has arrived in Hillsboro! The boys had a great time tonight with 150 other kids and their teams for the first big practice of the year.
Justin was full-speed ahead for the whole hour of practice. All the time with a huge smile on his face. I loved it!
And look at this BIG boy! He's practically all grown up. I can't believe it. Where is my little guy? Tyler is so happy to be on his OWN team and have Dad as a coach. He was feeling like one lucky duck tonight!
This weekend, Travis and I went to Seattle with our friends, Kaylynn and Tony, to see the New York Yankees play the Seattle Mariners. Travis' sister and her husband watched the boys at their place in Vancouver on Friday and Saturday so we could get away for a night. This was our first night away without kids in two years! Yay, we were excited! Before the game on Saturday, we spent the afternoon wandering along the Seattle waterfront. We ate some delicious salmon at The Crab Pot (The same place I ate with my family years ago...remember guys?) and tried some Italian gelato. My favorite part was going to Pikes Place and seeing some crazy fish throwing fun.
The New York Yankees have always been Travis' favorite baseball team and we have been dreaming of taking a trip to see them play for at least 10 years. The game was awesome and the Yankees won!
The view from the field was fantastic!
We are definitely going to go to another game...hopefully soon...any takers?
Although, tonight the cabinet underneath our kitchen sink flooded. Sad, but true. O.K., no more fix-it stories. Really.
Here is Justin with his basketball camp team and coaches:
The other day, we invited our neighbors to go with us to a juggling show at the library. All the kids enjoyed going somewhere together and I enjoyed catching up with my friend, Upi. After lunch, I took the boys to OMSI to meet Aunt Nicki and Brynlee for a fun afternoon playing at the museum. Here's Tyler Guy:
Yesterday, Justin got to spend the day at work with Travis for Intel Kids' Day. They had a whole schedule for the day of learning stations where the kids could try new things with the help of their parents. His favorite activity of the day was the "Boat Float" where he made an aluminum foil "boat" and counted how many washers it could hold before it would sink.
They had a whole "Games Demo" room full of cool game systems the kids could try out. After all, it's Intel...can you blame 'em?
Tyler and I met them for lunch at one of Intel's big cafeterias. Then we stayed to watch a big OMSI science juggling show. Halfway through the show, Tyler took off by himself (apparently heading home). He ran ahead of me weaving through the cafeteria (one of the cooks was laughing at me) and down a long hall to the cubicle "jungle". I thought for sure I would lose him in the sea of mazes. Luckily, I caught up with him and we somehow made it back to the performance. Travis never even knew we had left. It was quite the mesmerizing show. :) That kid! I thought Tyler would out grow the running away thing. Not yet. I am constantly watching that kid! Thank goodness he is easier to keep track of than he used to be. When he gets his mind set on doing something, he is going to do it. I just am always hoping he'll choose to stay with me. :) Well, the boys had a fabulous time at Intel visiting Travis' cubicle and meeting the people he works with. Too bad they don't do Kids' Day every week...
Today we met our new neighbors. They seem great! We are so happy a nice family with 3 girls are moving in tomorrow. The second daughter is Tyler's age, so that will be fun to have some new kids to play outside with. Anyway, I was simply thrilled to hear they have two BIG dogs! Really. For one, the boys will just love them. Two, I'm super excited that maybe they will scare away all the crazy cats that leave presents in our yard all the time. I hope this is an answer to my many prayers about those silly cats. Haha! Cross your fingers for me.
...it pours! We have been in our house for 7 1/2 years. We have been lucky to have been able to avoid "odds & ends" repairs around the house...until NOW! In the past week or so, our house has kicked out the following:
1. Garage door died mid-rise... 2. Kitchen faucet broke...wouldn't turn off. 3. Two kitchen drawer frames broke so the drawers fell down inside the cupboard. 4. The sliding glass door lock broke and wouldn't lock as we were doing the last run through of the house to go on our vacation.(o.k., that was a month ago. But, still.) 5. The Carbon Monoxide monitor is on the fritz and keeps going off at odd hours of the day and night. 6. Crazy wasp nests cropping up all over...but tonight the boys discovered our own bird's nest in the backyard tree. Can I just say joyous? 7. Tonight as I was leaving to go pick up the babysitter so we could leave to play in our first co-ed softball game of the season, the house door to the garage jammed and the door knob locked up so we couldn't close the door. I just busted up laughing! You have got to be kidding me?!?!? It's like a timer was ticking on this house and all of a sudden it's falling apart. What was hilarious about it all was that Travis had just returned home 10 minutes earlier from The Home Depot, of all places! He picked up a new faucet plus a wrong piece he needs to go back to exchange. Well, now I have something else to add to his shopping list.
Tomorrow, Travis will just have to face the fire and pick up a side job as my very own Fix-It Guy. I wonder how much he charges for fixing the shoe rack in the garage I hit with the car the other day? Gosh, I better get a job to pay for all these repairs...knock on wood.
Yesterday morning, Tyler came and climbed in bed with me. He gave me a hug and said, "Mommy, you're growing up! Good job, Mommy! What do you want to be when you grow up?"
I said, "Um...a Mom." To that he said, "You can't be a Mom, cause you are already a Mom. What do you want to be?" I thought about the R.S. lesson I still needed to finish preparing and said, "A teacher." Tyler assured me, "That's good Mommy. You be a teacher."
I asked him what he was going to be when he grows up. He didn't skip a beat. "A fire dog." Oh really? "What will you do when you are a fire dog?" Tyler sighed because the answer was so obvious. "A fire dog has 4 legs, Mom." "Oh, so you'll have 4 legs?" "Yes, I'll have 4 legs." I can't wait to hear what he'll say next! :)
I got a new calling as enrichment counselor in the Relief Society just the week before we left on our long trip. So, now that we're back, it was my turn to teach yesterday. It made me laugh that for a 20 minute lesson, I spent loads of time preparing. I did learn a lot and since the lesson was on studying the scriptures and recognizing answers to our prayers, I am now motivated to be more consistent now with my daily personal prayers and scripture study. In my lesson, I quoted a clip I found on the new Mormon messages on YouTube. An excerpt from President Eyring's conference talk. Click on this video to view the message.
Looking back on the past week or more, I have been able to find many instances where I know Heavenly Father was watching out for our family. Just the other night, I returned home with the kids from visiting the library and the garage door stopped just halfway up. It was broken at that point and we just got out of the car and went into the house. But later I realized that if we hadn't been able open the door at all, we would have been totally locked out of the house since a baby lock was in place at the front door. What a blessing that we were able to get in under the partially opened door...
...A while later that same night, the kitchen faucet broke and the water wouldn't stop flowing. I recognize now that it was a blessing to have Travis home at the time so he could take care of the problem. If it had only been me at home, that water would have been running for hours. In my lesson, I likened it to hunting for arrowheads as a kid. At first it is hard to see any at all on a big, rocky mountain side. Then, after discovering the first "treasure", it was easier to find another because our eyes had been trained to notice the shape of the arrowhead in the dirt. Before long, we had several arrowheads in each of our hands to take home as souvenirs of our hunt. In a similar way, once we listen to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost and recognize His hand in our lives, it will become easier to notice evidence of answers to our prayers each day.
