4th of July Weekend

We started off going to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. We thought it was hilarious... the kids liked it too. ;) Here they are with their 3D glasses on. Jace kept looking at me and giggling that "it looks like it's coming right at us!" We have been waiting to go see this all together for quite awhile. It lived up to the expectations.

Later Saturday night we had a barbecue with friends. They moved into their new house a few months ago and the backyard is a kids paradise with a giant play place, and trampoline. The kids had a blast romping around the backyard while we adults played "bang"... the card game of course. They all 'banged' me good until I died. I guess I wasn't a very good deputy but since I was the first one out I took some pictures - surprising, right?

The kids gathering around Gen for a cupcake. Poor Brooke looked like the little piggy that just couldn't quite squeeze in to get some food. She kept moving around the circle trying to get close but just got butted out by the boys...don't worry. She finally got one. I feel bad for her sometimes because there aren't many girls for her to play with here and the boys are kind of mean to her. As soon as we arrived Jace and Brooke ran over to play and the boys started chanting "attack the little girl." For some reason she still loves all of them and they fight over which one of them she wants to marry. Kids are so funny!

Pretty sure I caught everyone off guard here, except for Craig who is scowling at me. He usually gives me this look when I'm taking pictures.

Finally - a smile.

After dinner, a water balloon fight, dessert and games we headed to the front yard to do some fireworks. Craig went a little crazy and bought a whole bunch of the BIG fireworks since nothing here is illegal. It was lots of fun!




On Sunday night we thought it might be fun to just sit out on our back porch and watch if anyone else was doing fireworks. This is our first year for the 4th up here in Washington. We were SHOCKED!! It got SO crazy we finally decided around 10pm to walk up to the park up the hill behind our house. It's a fun little park that overlooks all of Washougal, Camas, and across the Colombia River into Troutdale, and Portland, OR. It was AMAZING!! I've never seen fireworks like that before in my life. Since nothing is illegal EVERYONE had awesome, huge fireworks. Our neighborhood sounded like we had been dropped into a war zone. It was beautiful. We could see several city firework shows going along with everyone else from our neighbors up close to all the way across the river into Oregon. Jace went crazy running all over the place and screaming with excitement. Brooke was just in awe - she was pretty tired since we had woken her up. She did say "dis is SO cool." It took us a while to get to sleep since the explosions went on until the fee hours of the morning. Washington definitely knows how to celebrate the 4th!



Here is Craig and Jace sitting on our back deck watching fireworks. We also saw a frightened raccoon trotting across our backyard fence and into our green house...I'm sure scared from all the noise.




Finally, Craig had Monday off too so we headed to none other than CANNON BEACH. The beach is Brooke's favorite place on the whole earth - I think it might be mine too. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean and sand. It's sure beautiful there!











Jace was throwing sand so we put him in 'timeout'. lol :)

I loved this picture! My little beach babe. I had fun playing with the exposure . .just on the windows program - can't wait to get photoshop. We had an awesome 4th of July weekend. Hope you enjoyed yours too.

Sprained Ankle

Poor Craig. Last week he sprained his ankle while having a water fight in the backyard with Jace. It was after bedtime and I was upstairs just getting Brooke out of her bedtime bath. Jace came running in shouting that Dad was hurt. I checked out the master bedroom deck upstairs to see if he was faking or not. Sometimes he teases Jace and I wasn't sure. There he was lying in the grass in pain. Apparently he had jumped off our little 4 ft. fence that separates the yard from the garden and landed on it wrong. I helped him inside and after trying to walk on it, having had sprains before - he thought for sure it was broken so we took our kiddos to the babysitter and headed for the emergency room. This is the second week in a row that we have frequented the urgent care/ emergency room. Last week Brooke pulled her elbow out of it's socket - it's called nursemaids elbow and she is prone to it. Anyhow after an x-ray we found that it was not broken just a very bad sprain. They gave him a boot and some crutches. Now he just has to relax and let it heal. It's been about a week and he's already starting to feel a bit better. He did say that it is by far the worst sprain he has ever had and the first day it looked like someone surgically implanted a baseball on the side of his ankle but now besides being black and blue it's doing quite nicely. He even went to work today with out using his boot. So what has this brought about? We have a new rule at our house: NO WATER FIGHTS AFTER BEDTIME!!

Just smellin' the Roses

I decided to venture into Portland by myself - something that I do NOT do often except to a few places that I know exactly how to get to. Because if I make ONE wrong turn in downtown Portland I am doomed. There are just too many one way streets and I can't ever get back to where I started from. It drives me crazy and I get lost easily. Usually I just wait to go with Craig. Today I was feeling brave and finally set up the GPS that my parents gave me for Christmas - it is now my new best friend. With it's help I can drive in Portland with out getting lost! YEAH!! Thank you very much mom & dad - I only wish I would have decided to start using it earlier.

We spent the day enjoying the Rose Gardens with cotton candy snow cones in hand. The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park is free to the public and oh SO beautiful. They have over 6,800 rose bushes and 557 different varieties . . . along with many statues and fountains. The sweet aroma is absolutely breathtaking. After taking turns smelling the roses we headed to the park for a picnic. What a wonderful summer day! We are very happy the sun decided to finally shine on the northwest.

Happy Father's Day!!

To this guy . . .

. . . and this guy . . .

. . . and this guy!

You are LOVED and are ALL great FATHERS!!

Preschool

Jace recently had his 'special day' at preschool and his graduation. He has loved being a leapfrog in Ms. Davis's Little Friends Preschool. After seeing his progress report we found that he is great at large motor skills and language skills. Some of the areas he needs improvement are ,self control, cooperation, small motor skills like holding crayons/markers correctly,and communicating his needs. His favorite activities at school are: birthdays, play dough, flubber, and helping people. His least favorite activities are: sitting down. He can name all of the upper case letters and most of the lower case ones, and he knows all of his colors, shapes, and numbers. Looks like he's ready for Kindergarten. We just need to work with him on showing respect for others and cooperating in a group setting.

We had his 'special' day last Monday since his birthday isn't until after school gets out. We made a very special poster all about Jace and his favorite things. He was very excited to show it off to his class members; especially the pictures of himself dressed up like superheros and the emergency exits/ call boxes. He's so funny. Jace likes what Jace likes and there's no way that I can change it so if he wants to be interested in emergency exits, fire alarms, and security systems then so be it. We also puts sports stuff on there and his favorite foods - watermelon, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, pizza, chicken, salad, and popcorn. We put a picture of bald baby Jace that everyone thought was funny, one of him at lagoon on a ride, a picture with his special friend - his grandpa, and of course silly faces and rainbows. He also got to be the leader that day. He LOVES to be in charge - he lined up first and they followed him downstairs for his birthday treat. He wanted to bring cupcakes with sprinkles and popcorn. Then he got to pick a present out of the gift bag. He got dinosaurs - which he wasn't too interested in at the time but since then has been asking all sorts of questions about. His little buddy Hunter also wrapped up a rock for him and gave him one of his little box cars. They have become the best of friends.

Brooke was happy to join in the party. She likes to dress up and today she was a bumblebee.

Enjoying Jace's treat.

Jace's 'special' poster.

For his last day of school I came a little early a took a picture of his whole class together while they were outside blowing bubbles. That evening we had a little social get together at the park. We ate pizza and the kids played all together for the last time. What a great school year!

Jace with his teacher Ms. Davis. He brought her a bag of chocolate 'hugs' for putting up him all year.

His whole class: Abby, Aubrey, Natalie, Hunter, Dixie, Jace, Madison, & Kassi

Jace with Dixie - the girl he says he's going to marry. I'm just now noticing that she is WAY taller then him. I guess he likes tall blond girls. In his defense - she was wearing high heels. :)

1,2,3,4,5,6,7 . . .

* We have 1 giant love.

* We have 2 beautiful kids.

* We have survived 3 years of College together (. . so far).

* We have traveled out of the country 4 times.

* We have lived in 5 different cities.

* We have rented 6 different apartments/homes.

* We have shared 7 beautiful years!

So here is to the next 7 years - that they will be as good as the first!

I feel like this is Lucky # 7 . . instead of the 7 yr. itch. ;)

Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you more than words can express. You are my rock, my support . . .my world. You make me laugh, you give me comfort, and you are my best friend.

We had a great day just walking and talking (by ourselves & without interruption) and then dined at the beautiful RiverView Restaurant in Troutdale, OR. Plus the sun shined for us today for the first time in weeks. We had a great day and are still in love after 7 years.

Going Private

I know . . .I know .. . .it's really annoying and you have to sign in to view but I put too much personal information on here for just anyone to see. SO . . sigh . . if you know Craig or I in any way - I really don't care as long as we know who you are then you are welcome to view my blog. Just send me your email and I'll send you an invite. Leave a comment, a note on facebook, or email me @ cherishyou222@hotmail.com.

Since I'm posting I might as well tell you about our exciting adventure yesterday. Craig had the day off for Memorial day - YEAH for long weekends! We decided to check out Mt. Saint Helens since we're so close we hadn't ventured out that way yet. We hiked down Ape Cave Lava Tube which is the longest lava tube in the United States and one of the longest in the world. It was constructed by a pahoehoe flow that crusted over; soon after the molten lava on the inside drained away leaving the outer crust in place. We wore warm clothes and had our flashlights in tow but weren't 'really' prepared. It was raining so the cave was very wet, very dark, and very cold. Craig and I thought it was awesome - it had really neat formations on the walls from the bubbling molten lava but the kids got scared. When we turned our flashlights off it really was pitch dark - we couldn't even see our hands right in front of our faces. The lower easier cave was only about 3/4 mile but it was flooded out at the bottom entrance so we had to walk all the way back. By the time we got back to the entrance we were all drenched. It was a fun adventure though. I hope you all had a good memorial weekend too! :)

Inside Ape Cave Lava Tube


Reaching the Entrance and the beautiful light after being in the dark for an hour.