Memorial Day Tribute

Hannah loves to do crafty things and play with play dough. So this morning she did both. Hannah made a tribute for Memorial day.

Hannah used her play dough and made an American Flag. She was very proud of it so we had to take photos. And not just one photo but many. She wanted to pose outside with the flowers and in the sun. So we did...any excuse to use my camera I will take!

And Hannah wanted to show her flag along with the flag in our red, white and blue petunia pot.

Is Summer Here?

Finally the sun has come back to the Pacific Northwest. We had wonderful summer like weather yesterday so the kids and I took advantage of it and hit the park. Our picnic lunch was packed and we headed off to Tyson Park to play in the fields and on the equipment.


Hannah enjoyed sitting under the shade tree and watching the butterflies flying around the field.

It's days like this that I love living here and being a Mom!

Stop Growning!

Today I received photos in an email all of the kids taken over 6 years ago. Hannah was so little and both kids had chubby cheeks. I have decided they can not grow any more! I miss those little guys.

Now don't get me wrong I love the stage that our kids are currently in. Ok well I love most of what they are now...I could do without the mood swings and the back talk! The day to day stuff seems to crawl by, but when you look back at photos its amazing how fast kids really do grow. So from today forward Johnathan and Hannah must stop growing!! I know this isn't realistic and I will just have to learn to deal.

All this nostalgia comes 5 days before Johnathan goes away for the first time on his own to a Boy Scout camping trip. I am having a harder time than I thought I would about him going off by himself. I am really not looking forward to him going for an entire week by himself this summer. How will Mom ever survive? So let me repeat...the kids must stop growing, they must stay little and need Mommy 23.75 hours out of the day!

Forest Center Fun

Nice sunny weather has once again come to the area, so we made the most of it yesterday.


I loaded the kids in the car along with a picnic lunch and we headed off to the Tillamook forest. Originally we were going to hike the Gales Creek trail, however when we got to the trail head it was still closed. Since we had already gone all that way there was no way we were turning around. So plan B took us to the Tillamook Forest Center. We descended on to the picnic area upon arrival and ate our lunch among the bugs and birds. The off to the visitors center we went. Outside the doors stands a very buff looking Smokey the Bear, and yes I made the kids stand with him!


We arrived just in time to watch Legacy of Fire, a movie about the huge burns that occurred in the 30's and 40's that wiped out the Tillamook forest. It was amazing that anyone survived and even more amazing to hear about all the replanting done in the forest to make it what we see today. There is a really fun exhibit hall that holds displays about logging, fire fighting and life in the forest. The kids had fun waling along the trails and looking at all the flowers in bloom. Hannah kept pointing out all the areas she thought housed pixies. And Johnathan spent most of the hike looking at his compass and letting us know what direction we were heading.

After our hike the kids and I climbed the 40 foot fire lookout. Once up was enough for me, but the kids climbed it several times. It was a fun day in the outdoors! Makes me really long for more warm sunny days!

Way to end a vacation

So all went well during our first long distance family vacation. Sure the kids had their moments, but for the most part they were really well behaved and had a blast.

We got back home early Wednesday morning and everyone crashed once we unloaded the car and confirmed that the cat was still alive. As predicted we all slept in late the next morning and then got ready to head off to Bend to pickup Sadie dog and visit with the grandparents.

Our visit was going to be short, however I didn't realize just how little visiting I would be doing. During the night on Wednesday I developed a flu bug that kept me up all night racing to and from the bathroom. I was useless on Thursday and spent the entire day sleeping or groggy and in a daze when I was somewhat awake. Thankfully I awoke this morning feeling much better and ready for the trip home.

I wish I could report that no one else got sick. This evening while putting Hannah to bed she complained that her tummy hurt so we gave her some pepto in hopes of beating any type of sickness. Little did we know that Johnathan should have gotten some also. Just shortly after putting him to bed he got up sick! Now he is upset about possible not going to see the movie Monsters v.s. Aliens tomorrow.

Here is knocking on wood that he is feeling better in the morning and that no one else get sick.

Having a great time!

As most everyone knows who reads this blog, we went on our first long distance family vacation. On Wednesday March 18th we boarded a plane in Portland and flew for two hours to Phoenix Arizona.

I will be honest I was worried about putting the kids on a plane. Rather I was worried how Hannah would act on the plane. She surprised me and manage to sit for almost the entire flight. Not till we were about 30 minutes from arriving did she start to wiggle around and want to get up. That was manageable and I was really happy that they both did so well. Johnathan loved the flight and had a blast looking out the window. They both enjoyed flying over the Grand Canyon.

Since we have been here we have been on the go almost non-stop. The first night it was just checking into the hotel and checking out the pool. Then going to visit the cousins for the first time. Hannah just wanted to stay here at the hotel and swim, so we made it an early night. But it was nice to see family and visit face to face for a while. It has been 3 1/2 years since I was here!

Thursday we spent most of the day playing with the cousins and just hanging out. We got to go play at the park and as always I took a ton of photos. I will have plenty of photos to scrapbook our trip! We called it an early day since Friday we had a long trip ahead of us to go see some wild animals and enjoy the Arizona sun.

After a two hour drive we arrived at a neat place called Out of Africa. As the name suggests there are a lot of animals from the African landscape. We got to see zebras, giraffes, lions and tigers just to name a few. Again I took a lot of photos and Jim got stuff on video. At first the kids were not impressed because we had to wait in a long line. But once things got moving they had fun and enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Saturday brought another busy day, we got up early and headed to the local renaissance festival. We crossed under the gate and into a different moment in time. We saw knights, kings, queens, noble men and women and fairies! We watched a really cool show where the guy used bull whips and the finale was a whip on fire. Johnathan really enjoyed that show. The big event of the day was to watch the joust. There was a lot to see and do at the festival and we enjoyed as much of it as we could in one day. Both of the kids have decided we should come back again next year. Our day ended with a wonderful visit with Aunt Mary, Uncle Mike and the cousins. Uncle Mike did a wonderful job on the BBQ! It was nice to just sit around and visit, but we were all happy to head back to the hotel and fall into bed after such a busy day. Oh and Jim and I got sun burned....see what happens when we Oregonians get out into the sun!

We spent all this morning visiting with family. We enjoyed an awesome brunch prepared by Aunt Mary....Thanks Aunt Mary! Once again it was nice to relax and visit. The kids had fun playing in the back yard with each other. Logan was very interested in the video camera that Uncle Jim was using and had a great time watching himself being filmed. We all enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool, even the warm blooded Powell's from Arizona! It was a nice relaxing day spent with family.

Our trip isn't over yet, we still have two days left here in the sun state. Not sure what adventures we will be involved in, but I am sure we will all have a good time. Oh and I will post photos of our different outings once we are home and I have a chance to upload everything and sort through them!

Famous Explorer

This evening we had a visit from the famous explorer Francisco Pizzaro!




Johnathan has been working on his explorer speech for over a week now and he knows almost all of it by heart. Yesterday I found a local costume shop that happened to have a Spanish conquistador helmet so I bought it. This saved me from having to make one, which is what we originally thought about doing. And we made the fluffy collar out of coffee filters. Having a costume was part of his requirements for the speech. I think we did a pretty good job of coming up with a costume. I will admit that I helped him with some of the wording, but he did all the research and wrote 90% of it himself.