Summer's End

We're wrapping up the summer enjoying friends and family. Sean and I enjoyed this past Saturday by going to Ada's wedding, a good friend of Sean's from work. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time at the reception. Ada was a gorgeous bride!

Sean and I finished up the evening by going to our good friend, and neighbor, Amy's XX'th birthday party. Amy's husband, Jon threw the party at the Chameleon, a delicious restaurant here in the neighborhood.

I talked to Jan on Saturday, and she invited us to Mt. Hood with her family and my parents. We booked a condo at Collins Lake Resort in Government Camp. Sean came up with us and spent Saturday night and the rest of us hung out until Tuesday. We were looking forward to fun in the sun,

but the weather didn't cooperate with us. We still had a great time on this last-minute summer mini-vacation. It was so nice to have my parents hang out with all the grandsons for a few days.

After Sean left on Monday, Dennis, Janice, Ashe, Finn, Cade, Tucker and I tried to go to the adventure park at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl, complete with alpine slides, go karts, bumper cars, and minitare golf. We took the lift up to try out the alpine slide, only to get to the top and be told the park was closing due to weather. It was FREEZING on the ski lift. A good lesson in the great outdoors living or playing in Oregon. It is a mountain after all, and we quickly learned that conditions can change very quickly! Needless to say, we were a disappointed group, and out a small bundle of money, but the boys had a great afternoon anyway. We headed home today and (I) spent a good amount of the afternoon playing Rock Band. Now it's time to hunker down and get ready for the school year starting next week!

Oaks Park - A Blast From the Past

Cade, Tucker and I began our day doing their favorite thing - running errands. Whenever they hear me say that word, they hide. I coerced them by letting them know that following our trip to Fred Meyer, I had a surprise for them. Fred's was a bit challenging today. They seemed to be out of everything on our list. And, man, did I feel like such a loser after waiting in the customer service line for 15 minutes to redeem my $5 Mama Mia Scratch Off only to be told that their lottery machine was down and they could not pay out any winning tickets until it came back up hours later. I shuffled away to fulfill the rest of the items on my list, and we were on our way. We stopped for lunch at Madison's Bar & Grill where we enjoyed a delightful patio lunch before heading to our surprise.








The surprise I had in store for Cade & Tucker was that we were meeting Finn, Ashe and Auntie Janice at Oaks Park. Oaks Park is a nastalgic 103-year old amusmement park here in Portland. We met Jan's boys there to enjoy one of the last days of summer vacation. Ashe, Cade, Finn & Tucker enjoyed a great day with their go-anywhere-do-anything passes. I seemed to take on the younger boys, Finn & Tuck who just had a blast on any form of transportation - motorcycles, airplanes (that come with shotguns?), and cars.















Oh, and when was the last time you saw one of these:

August Shenanigans

08/18/08

This past weekend, Cade, Tucker and I enjoyed a weekend in Merlin, stopping first for an overnight stay at the Red Lion in Eugene. I enjoyed Thai food from Mekkala's and Cade & Tucker ate pizza poolside. Sean wasn't able to make it as he played in a baskteball tournament in Vancouver with Uncle Dennis (see Janice's blog), and is now in Springfield, Ill working hard.





We left Eugene Friday morning and the boys enjoyed their first (and likely, last) trip to Wildlife Safari. While we all had a good time, once is really enough to visit there. We saw lots of animals - lions, tigers, bears, camels, bald eagles, ostriches, giraffes, monkeys, etc... After W.S., the boys enjoyed a trip to Abacela winery with me where I tasted several wines for wedding gifts and bottles to enjoy over our weekend with Grammy, Big R, Uncle Randy, Auntie Sarah, Max, Jake, Baby Claire and GG.





We had such a great weekend in Merlin. Our biggest excursion included a Bloody Mary brunch with Dawn Welch, Larry Miller, Deb & Fritz. That set the tone for a weekend of food and fun around the Ealy pool where most of our time was spent. All the boys were angels and Claire is such an amazing addition to the family. Cade LOVES her! Cade's newest phrase is, "OK, first things first." Tucker's newest is, "didn't see that one coming."

All four cousins got to enjoy visits with GG (Great Grandma). She, of course, brought many things for the boys and they enjoyed THREE rounds of special gifts just for them.

After our drive home from Merlin, Cade & Tucker were very happy to go see Clone Wars with their Portland cousins, Ashe & Finn and Auntie Janice (once again, see Janice's blog).


We have been lucky that this is our second weekend we've enjoyed spending with the Ealy clan. Last weekend was Randy Jr. (Drew)'s birthday where we invited ourselves out to Colton to spend the weekend. Pam & Randy came up from G.P. and we all spent Drew's birthday in the country, once again eating and drinking and with the boys going crazy.






Speaking of Colton, we were introduced to Rock Band while we were visiting. OMG!!! I LOVE and can't get enough of it. The boys tolerate my singing and drum solos, but I'm sure would rather not. Sean, of course, wants nothing to do with it as he can't understand why we would pretend to play fake instruments instead of the real thing.





After a great weekend in Colton, we spent Sunday afternoon bowling at Grand Central. A great time had by all!