Fall and Winter Fun

What have we been doing since my last post you ask?

Well, we spent a wet and windy weekend in Newport in October. I had made a reservation using our time share months before. Oregon coast is rarely available with the time share so when I see it, I just make the reservation. The weekend we went it happened to be pretty windy and rainy but we still managed to have quite a good time. We made it to the beach before a rain storm hit, we ate dinner at a restaurant I've been wanting to try, Local Ocean. SO good! We tried to tour one of the lighthouses but it was closed for renovation so we walked on a very rocky beach instead. Mom and Ed came over with my brother's two step-sons and we all went swimming in the indoor heated pool. Even Ashlyn with her cast :) We just wrapped her arm up in some plastic bags and she tried her hardest to keep it out of the water. She dunked it a few times but oh well! It came off the week after we were there anyway.

We went to Disney on Ice with my cousins. It was a lot of fun! It always is. This was mine and Ashlyn's third time seeing Disney on Ice. Its always so well done, it is Disney after all. The girls loved it. In the spring they'll be back with another version of Disney on Ice, but this time it will include the Frozen characters. We'll definitely be going again, I think I enjoy it just as much Ashlyn!

Halloween was a lot of fun! Ashlyn had a party at her babysitter's house early in the day and then we drove up to Vancouver to Jered's work. All of his co-workers had candy at their desks and some of them were even dressed up. There were lots of little kids walking around in costumes. Ashlyn's bucket was full before we left the building! One of the owners of his company gave out full size candy bars, she was pretty excited about that. We stayed with our friends Justin and Steph so the kids could go out trick or treating together. We don't have a "neighborhood" anymore and they do. It was a little drizzly but that didn't stop the kids from chomping at the bit to go out trick or treating. It was hard making them wait it till got dark! They all got a little wet but they got lots of candy and had a lot of fun.

The yard work is never-ending. We've been blowing, raking and hauling leaves for weeks now. Trimming and burning limbs, etc., etc. We put some plastic up on our windows to block some of the wind as well. The first day we tried to do it, it was super windy and super cold. Not the smartest decision we've ever made. I'm sure if anyone was able to see us, thank goodness no can, we were a real comedy show! We got one window done in TWO hours and decided to wait for a less windy day. Next time we did it, it took us an hour to do 5 windows. We learned our lesson :)

Ashlyn's class has been on a couple of field trips already. They went to the pumpkin patch and to Big Bear's market before Halloween. Big Bear gave all the kids a T-shirt. She was pretty excited! Their class has been learning about the Chinook people of the Gorge so they toured a Long House where the Chinook people lived. Her class also did a narrative of a Chinook story about how they found fire. Ashlyn had was a chickadee and she had a few lines. It was very cute and she was very excited both Jered and I were able to get off work to be there. After the narrative, all of the K-1-2 classrooms were open and each room had a different thing to do or learn about the Chinook people. Some were games they would have played, a couple rooms had snacks (jerky, smoked salmon, apples etc) the Chinook people would've eaten. They also had a model of a Long House.

Both Jered and I had the week of Thanksgiving off. We had a staycation and it was wonderful! Ashlyn had school the three days before Thanksgiving so we'd drop her at school and then take off to do something in Portland. We've been working on finishing up our McMenamins Passports (getting really close!) so we did a few more stamps around town. Visited their coffee roasters (love their coffee!), saw a movie at the Bagdad theater (super cool old refurbished theater), ate too much, drank too much, had yummy Thanksgiving flavors ice cream at Salt & Straw. The first day we really went all out, like we were in our 20's again, living it up in LA. We had brunch and bloody mary's at Tasty & Sons, hung out at Powell's bookstore for a couple of hours (I could've stayed all day!), had chips, salsa, guac and yummy cucumber-jalapeno margarita at the Matador, took a tour of the Crystal Ballroom with a cider in hand of course, stopped in the Mission Theater for a stamp and another cider, then it seemed like a great idea to go get ice cream at Salt & Straw. The night before we had seen this food network show on crazy Thanksgiving foods and Salt & Straw was on there because of their Thanksgiving ice creams. I got turkey-salted caramel and bourbon corn pudding. Jered got turkey-salted caramel and sweet potato pie. Sounds gross I know, but it was so delicious! The next day we were exhausted and didn't leave the house till almost noon! :) It wasn't all play, we did have to do some work at home. The usual yard and house work of course.

Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's in Woodburn. It was lovely as usual. Delicious turkey and all the fixin's. My very own GF pumpkin pie (Thanks Grandma G!!) with fresh whip cream. YUM! My mom joined us again this year, Ed was off shooting a couple deer in Eastern Oregon. Mom had asked if she could take Ashlyn home with her after Thanksgiving dinner. I told her we'd have to think about it, we thought about it for all of about 2.2 seconds. A free weekend, just the two of us? Too enticing to pass up. So Ashlyn went home with Grammy. They had a slumber party with some of her cousins, they went to Aunt Jean's for cookies and Christmas carols, they went to Maliah's (my brother's step-daughter) birthday party. She had a blast! We picked her up Sunday afternoon and as much as I loved our weekend together just Jered and I, I sure missed that kid!

Jered and I headed up to Olympia for more McMenamins stamps. Then stayed the night at their hotel in Centralia, The Olympic Club. I was frantic Friday night trying to find the Civil War game on TV. After about an hour we figured out it wasn't on till Saturday. I was relieved to say the least and feeling like a bit of a gomer! ;) We woke up Sat morning and it was snowing! So quick breakfast and back on the road so we didn't get snowed in.

Now we're preparing for Christmas. I've managed to get quite a bit of my shopping done already but still have some people to buy for. We're going to our first Christmas party this weekend at my cousin's house. I'm really looking forward to it, we'll get to see some people we don't see very often. Ashlyn will be out for Christmas break at the end of next week, which seems so crazy! This year has just flown by!

Lunch selfie

 Windy beach pic. Can you see the flying sand?

The beach wasn't super accessible. 

We had to hike down and through some tall grass and then 

over a hill, down the hill to get to the beach.

Family selfie at the beach

Look! No cast!!

 Disney on Ice with Paisley. They had matching 

Princess Elsa dresses

Our pumpkins

Officer Daddy and Princess Elsa

 Princess Elsa

x 2

 First snow, maybe 1/4 inch. 

Enough to make a snow angel on the front deck!

 Ashlyn's narrative at school. She's standing second from the left.

Jered made her a chickadee mask. It was pretty awesome!

 Action shot! She's shooting "arrows" into the sky to 

make a ladder so they can climb up to find fire.

One shot from our staycation, outside the coffee roasters

Cast and pumpkins

A few weeks ago we took a trip down south to WildLife Safari. I hadn't been in years, probably since I was in grade school. It was SO cool! We had a really great time. I had a Groupon which made it even more worthwhile.

We decided to tie in a few more passport stamps on our McMenamins passports on our way there so we made a few stops in Eugene and got the only stamp for southern Oregon in Roseburg. On our way back we met Mom and Ed for lunch in Eugene for Mom's birthday. We managed to do quite a lot in just two days!

Ashyn's had her cast on now for 3 weeks. She didn't get to choose a color, just plain white. She was a little bummed but the next day at school her friends all signed it so she was happy about that. She's drawn pictures on it, we signed it of course and Gma and Papa Mac signed it. Its so dirty now after 3 weeks everything looks like its just blending together! It comes off next Wed, fingers crossed.

Waiting for McMenamins to open. 

Why use the stairs when you can climb a hill?

 Grandma and Papa Mac gave her some $$ to spend

on our trip and she chose these two stuffed giraffes. 

Their names are Pink Posey and Purple Posey

Family selfie before the leaving the hotel.

Pink and Purple Posey sitting in Ashlyn's sling.

Cast day

McKenzie and Ashlyn with the pirate at the 

pumpkin patch. Brady's tucked in their behind Kenze.

 Walking through the corn maize. 

It was Jake and the Neverland Pirate themed.

Ashlyn loves Jake so she was pretty excited, all 

three of the kids were.

 Kenze and Ashlyn in the patch. They picked out 

best pumpkins in the entire field!

OUCH!!!

A few pics from Aunt Lavonne's wedding. It was H-O-T!! and HUMID! We had a blast! The wedding was beautiful, they looked wonderful and so happy. The reception was a lot of fun too. Lots of food, wine, champagne and dancing! We boogied till pretty late. We didn't get back to Woodburn till almost midnight I think.

 Our attempt at a third generation picture:

Gwen, Ashlyn, Cherise, Nolan, Grace and Louie

Cousins being silly

Ashlyn and Nolan being silly at Aunt Lavonne's wedding.

It happened. Ash Crash (her nickname at WeeCare) took a crash off the retaining wall in the front yard. She's always climbing all over, up the waterfall, jumping off etc. We gave up months ago trying to get her to stop. She just loves to climb! We warned her many many times if she fell off it was going to hurt.....bad! Monday evening I was working in the kitchen. I had just picked two huge bowls full of veggies from the garden and was planning to do some more canning. I could see her climbing around on the waterfall and the retaining wall out the front windows. She let out the worst, loudest highest pitched blood-curdling scream ever. I went running outside (with no shoes on), I could hear her but I couldn't see her. I followed the sounds of her screams and found her in a crumpled heap on the ground next to the 5 foot or so retaining wall. She was holding her arm and I thought to myself "Uh oh!" She was bleeding from her forehead, her wrist was swelling instantly and she had scrapes all down her left side. I stripped off all her clothes so I could get a look at her and see if there were any other injuries. There didn't appear to be any but her head was bleeding and dirty. So put her quickly in the shower and the whole time she's just crying. I called Jered and told him we were going to have to take her in. She's just crying and crying and I'm totally freaking out! I was planning to take her to Legacy Mt Hood, its the closest ER to us but Jered convinced me to take her to a Providence Immediate Care. I was sitting in the parking lot of Mt Hood hospital at this point. She had calmed down some, wasn't crying as much and was falling asleep (which freaked me out because I was afraid she might have a concussion). So out of the parking lot and onto immediate care. Jered met us there and carried her in. She was pretty happy to see her Daddy. We didn't wait too long before they took us back. They evaluated her for concussion, she didn't show any signs. At this point she was awake, walking on her own and talking. They took the xray and she was so brave! We waited a little more and the nurse came back in and said "Yep its broken. She has a distal radius fracture." They put her in a splint, wrapped it up, put her in a sling, gave us some info to call a sports medicine doctor the next day to have a cast put on and sent us home. We were all exhausted by the time we got home!

Ashlyn and I stayed home on Tues so she could recover a little. I called the sports med clinic and they said it was best to wait at least week for all the swelling to go down before casting her arm. We have an appointment Oct 1. In the mean time, she cannot get the splint wet and she has to be in her sling at all times. This means no PE or recess at school. She's handling that part pretty well. Wearing the sling at all times though is going to be a bit of a battle for the next few days. The sling is a little too big and her arm is constantly slipping out of it. She's pretty good about pulling her arm back in. She's promised us not to climb on the retaining walls, at least until her cast comes off. Last night Grandma (Patsy) found her climbing up a chair or something in the back room. Sheesh! I am looking forward to next Wed when she gets her cast on so her arm will be more protected!

 Leaving immediate care she was all smiles

Buckled in and ready to go home

Getting ready for school. Daddy did her hair and 

yes this is really how he sent her to school. 

Kindergarten

DISCLAIMER! I thought I posted this last week but it was stuck in my drafts file. OOPS!!
\

We've got ourselves a real kindergartner these days! Today is the end of week 3 and I think she's getting her rhythm. She rides the bus to and from the sitter's house every morning and afternoon. She loves it at the sitter's house and has made a couple of friends there. She's never ready to go when I get there to pick her up so I think that's a good sign. She talks a lot about a girl named Ava from school. I think her and Ava both like to talk because at the beginning of school her and Ava were seated at the same table. But now they're at separate tables. :) She seems to like her teacher, Mr Lewis and gets very excited when Mr Lewis gives her a star. He writes their names on the board and then when they get 10 stars they get to pick a prize. Most nights she is super tired and ready for bed before her bed time. There have been lots of nights she tells us she's "too tired for story". I know she's tired when she tells us that because usually she's begging us for another story and another story!

 Somebody lost her first tooth, actually two teeth. 

One of them fell out and we didn't find it. 

The other one Jered pulled out before she knew what was happening. 

She didn't even cry and it only bled a little bit. 

She was SO excited!

She left a note for the tooth fairy explaining 

the missing tooth just in case. The tooth 

fairy was pretty generous, $5 for each tooth.

Next time the tooth fairy won't be quite as

generous! ;)

Doing chores

We celebrated the last day of WeeCare with

our favorite ice cream. Have you tried

Salt & Straw? If not, you should! Its

DELICIOUS!!!

 First day of school

In the classroom

Second day with her puppy purse she 

bought with her tooth fairy money.

Third day, tired of the pics already

Playing at the new sitters house. Squirt guns on the

airplane teeter-totter.

Fourth day and the last day of the 

first week. 

Horses, birthdays and ice cream.....

The summer has been busy as usual! We're still working around the house as much as possible. The property sometimes feels like one BIG weed! My garden is looking pretty good. A couple weekends ago we spent about 6 hours pulling out every single weed, big or small. I do mean every! With our two main camping events pretty close together and all this beautiful weather we've had the weeds went crazy! 

We had a great Father's Day camping trip with Uncle Jim and Aunt Maggie. We took Mom and Ed's quads and had a blast on the sand dunes. 4th of July camping was also a lot of fun. Ashlyn had a lot more freedom this year than years previous. She was allowed to go the park with the other kids as long as she checked in periodically. They all did great and were always where they said they would be. We went to the lake a few times because it was warm at the coast! Ashlyn (in her life jacket) swam out to the dock (its a pretty good distance) three times this year with little to no assistance. We were very proud of her! She didn't like jumping off the dock though. Maybe next year. 

We did some backyard camping at Grandma G's the other weekend. It was Grandpa's 83rd birthday. Ashlyn was excited to play with her cousins Grace and Gwen. We lit a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmallows (of course!) 

Grandpa's garden looks amazing! All of his veggies are twice the size of mine. He told me his secret is chicken poop and high nitrogen fertilizer rototilled in before planting. So next year we'll definitely be spreading chicken poop! I'm planning to do some canning soon with some of our haul from the garden. I'm pretty excited for that, it will be my first time doing it on my own. I'm hoping for green beans, carrots, pickles, salsa and probably tomato sauce and juice. Neither Jered or Ashlyn likes tomatoes (crazy! I know) and I don't think I'll be able to eat them all on my own. 

What's up next for us? Ashlyn will be spending the first few days of Aug with two nieces and Mom at the fair. Bailey and Macy are showing rabbits this year. We have two weddings this year and one of them is coming up in Aug. I bought a really cute dress last weekend when we were in Woodburn Grandpa's birthday! :) We are helping out at Forest Grove Uncorked again. Our good friends Gary and Dawn spear head the whole thing with Dawn's parents. Jered and I are the set-up crew. So we'll be setting up tables, chairs, tents etc. Its the middle August so there's a pretty good chance it will be super hot! Its a very fun event and for sweating through three hours of set up we earn ourselves free entry and a wine glass. Jered is running in the Hood to Coast relay race again. That will be Aug 22-24. He'll be gone all weekend so Ashlyn and I will have to come up with something more fun than yard work to do! 

Ashlyn starts school on Aug 25. Yikes! I'm not ready!!! This is going to be such a big change for all of us. Both Jered and I are having to rearrange our schedules a bit. I'm now working 7am-330pm. Ashlyn will go to school from 750am-330pm and be off on Fridays. Jered will do drop off and I will do pick up. That will be a big change for Jered because he's used to being able to go into work when ever he wants. Its not unusual for him to go in at 4am. We have an appt with an at home daycare on Mon. Hopefully it goes well because its in Corbett and Ashlyn would ride the bus to and from the daycare and would be there on Fridays as well. Ashlyn is excited but I think a little nervous too. Obviously a big change for her, since she's been at WeeCare since she was 3 months old. 

A few pics from the last few weeks for your viewing pleasure: 

 I bought a groupon for two horse riding lessons. Ashlyn

was super excited. She got to ride a big horse. 

 She loved riding!

 Steering

 Father's Day camping. Roasted marshmallows are a necessity! 

 Ashlyn and Nolan playing in the sand

Daddy giving them rides on the quad around the camp site

 Making cute faces with Paisley

 Ashlyn's friend Gemma (middle, back in turquoise dress) is

moving to Arizon so her Mom had a "Popsicles in the Park" party.

Ashlyn and Gemma have been together at WeeCare since they

were tiny little infants. They started just a couple weeks apart.The

little boy in front, Rory, has been with them since the beginning as well.

The little girl on the right is Elsie. She is one of Ashlyn's best friends. Ashlyn

is always so excited when Elsie is at school. 

4th of July bike parade

 Jered and I tried Salt & Straw ice cream a few 

weeks ago. OMG!!! Delicious!! Ashlyn I needed 

to burn some time before going to a co-workers

birthday party so I took her S&S. She agrees with

us, its delicious!

 Grandpa and Caleb's birthday

The second horse riding lesson. She said her favorite

part of the day was riding the horse! 

Family Party

Ashlyn's school had a family party a few weeks ago and both Jered and I were able to go. She was so excited to show us around, even though we've seen it all before. The kids sang songs to us, showed us their garden, read us a story. It was all very cute! The most special part, according to all the kids, was at the end of the party they got to have popsicles!! They rarely get to have sweets like that at school, occasionally if its someones birthday the parents will bring cupcakes or cookies, so this was really special for the kids. 

 Picture of a picture of when the class went to the fire station

 Pic of a pic of most of the class, Ashlyn front and center

 This is one of  Ashlyn's bff's, Elsie

 This is Evita, another of her bff's

 and this is Gemma, another bff. Her and Gemma have 

been at WeeCare together since the very beginning. Gemma

started about 3 weeks after Ashlyn.

Ashlyn showing us her playground.