Oregon vacation

Last week we were able to take another mini-vacation to Sherwood, OR to visit one of my friends that used to work at BP. Our trip started bright & early at 4:30a.m. (for Dave and I, we woke Ethan up at 5:15) to catch an 8:30 flight. This was the longest flight so far for Ethan, but he was a good boy both ways. We brought Grandpa's portable DVD player as extra ammunition and it came in handy with a tractor movie playing! We thought the flight out there might allow Ethan his own seat, but someone came on the plane last minute. This is the last time we'll be able to fly without actually buying him a ticket, so in the future we'll have a whole row to ourselves! (we'll try it in November when we go to Florida)

When we got into OR on Wednesday it was a steamy 90 degrees, so we just hung out at the house playing with toys, swimming and building with legos.Thursday we got up and headed to the ocean, which was about a 2 hour drive. Ethan actually slept most of the way there, which was nice so he wasn't too antsy. Unfortunately the sunny weather when we left Sherwood didn't follow us to the beach. By the time we got to the ocean it was cloudy and probably 60 degrees - so we were happy that we brought along coats. Ethan took a little time warming up to the beach, he's a very "clean" person and walking and getting his feet wet/dirty in the sand, wasn't exactly his cup of tea. I spent the first hour carrying him everywhere we went. He eventually warmed up and dug some holes, burried some rocks, etc. Again, hopefully he'll warm up to the beach a bit more for our Florida trip in a few months!! After the beach, we went to the Tillamook cheese factory and watched them make and package cheese. This was followed by a casual dinner at the cheese factory and ice cream for dessert...mmm!

Picnic lunch on the beach

The fog/clouds all around us on the beach. What a beautiful view if you live here!!

Daddy and Ethan

This is what happens when the waves hit your feet when you're not expecting it...freezing!!

Friday was originally going to be spent visiting some waterfalls, but because of the overcast weather and having the 4 boys in the car all day on Thursday, we opted for the Portland zoo. The zoo was gorgeous, amazing that it's built within all the beautiful trees, you feel like you're just out in nature seeing all the animals. After the afternoon naps for all the boys, we went down the road and picked peaches. The boys were great little peach pickers and even enjoyed a few right there in the orchard. After getting our little treasures home, we whipped up a quick peach cobbler for our after dinner dessert. Rachel was also gracious enough to take on all the boys herself Friday evening, while Dave and I ventured out for a dinner for two of sushi. Thanks Rachel for taking Ethan while we had some quality mommy and daddy time. :)

Ethan ready to find some prime peaches.

Eating one of his prize finds.

His second peach while picking
Rachel and her boys showing us the ropes of how to pick..these guys are pros...they also pick berries etc. when in season!!

Jason and Ethan hanging out enjoying peaches together while we paid for the non-eating fruit. :)

Saturday we headed back to Portland and stopped at a cute little coffee shop (this was to entertain Dave) and the boys enjoyed a few little waterfalls to run around in. After coffee, we headed over to the Saturday market where there are hundreds of little food and craft vendors selling everything you can imagine. After walking around the market, we had a quick lunch and again headed back for nap time. Saturday evening we put Dave to work as the grill master and I made a few side dishes for dinner (Rachel had been entertaining us the whole time, it was the least we could do to make dinner one night). Saturday night after the kids went to bed was movie time for the adults.

Daddy (enjoying his latte) and Ethan walking by the little waterfalls in Portland

Sunday was our last day there, Rachel and her boys went to church while we stayed back and packed up our suitcases. Once they got back, we headed to a little park to let the boys play before getting in the car AGAIN to go to the airport. :-) Ethan was so worn out that he fell asleep about 5 minutes out from the airport. I thought he'd fall back asleep at some point, but that wasn't the case. The kid was up until 9:30p.m. when we got home from the airport. All things considered, with basically no nap, he was quite good on the flight home as well. He really cracked me up when we got home and I had to get something out of the fridge. I was about to go bring him upstairs to go to bed and he told me he was hungry for a bagel. So, having his "midnight snack", he chomped on some bagel before we went upstairs for bedtime. :-)

Thanks Rob, Rachel, Danny, Ryan and Jason (JJ) for hosting us for 5 days. We enjoyed seeing you and hope to get together when you come into Chicago in November!!

Do you need to shave??

Well, Ethan can tell you if you need to or not. The other night I was putting him to bed and he gave Daddy his usual bedtime kiss and immediately pulled away touching his chain and said, "Daddy need shave"...hilarious!! Then, today I was playing with him and he happened to touch my leg and told me "Mommy need shave leg"...my lord, this kid doesn't let a thing get past him! I guess Dave and I will have to keep up on our grooming to meet his expectations from now on!

Other things to mention, before I forget, Ethan is pretty good with knowing his left and right for his feet and hands. More often then not, when you ask him where his left/right hand/foot are, he gets it right!

He now can count to 14. Sometimes he needs a little help with 11, but then he takes it from there. After 14, he just keeps repeating 14. :)

You had to be there...

So, the other night I decided to take Ethan for a wagon ride after dinner. They are building houses behind us and there was a tractor, so I figured he'd enjoy. Dave was at work, so I attempted also taking Sasha with us....always an interesting struggle pulling the wagon and keeping Sasha out of the way of the wagon. I was doing great until I was about 2 blocks from the house, watching to see if any cars were coming so I could cross the road, when I feel the wagon jolt to the side. I immediately knew what happened, Sasha had gotten hit by the wagon!! So, there I was, with a 22 month old, a wagon and a 60 lb dog that is now limping with no one in sight to help me! My first thought was putting Sasha in the wagon, which worked at first, but the minute i started to pull the thing, she flopped out!! Knowing that it wouldn't help me any, I decided to call Dave at work and explain my little predicament and his suggestion was to just wait 5-10 minutes to see if Sasha's leg felt better. Um...keeping an almost 2-yr old still for that long - I don't think so. So, I again tried to make it fun for Ethan and asked him if he wanted to pull Sasha in the wagon...."yeah" he said. So, I again loaded Sasha in, and assured her that she was a 'good girl'. I handed Ethan the handle to the wagon and I got behind to push, while also holding the dog down to not jump out! This worked for about half the way back home until I lost focus and Sasha was again able to escape my grasp and jump out of the wagon. One of our neighbors actually pulled into our court about 3 minutes after Sasha managed to escape the wagon and I had to explain to him that if he had just gotten home a bit earlier, he would've possibly seen the oddest thing with a dog in a wagon. :) Anyway, we managed to get Sasha back home to rest and Ethan and I then took the tractor trek by ourselves. So much for trying to be a good 'doggy mommy'.

Other little tidbits about this growing little boy:
*Some of his quotes these days, "this good song" while listening to music. "I love it" - random comment while driving. "I want get out bed, change diaper" after a nap. "Watch me" - something he blurted out the other day.
*He understand the concept of "too" or also. He'll say, 'bunny take nap too' or 'Mommy eat cracker too'.
*He recently loves to try doing somersaults. I'm sure he gets this from daycare, as I don't think Dave and I practice our somersaults very often. :) I worry about his little neck, but he's usually pretty safe. I'm thinking about doing gymnastics in the fall for something fun to get us out of the house when it's colder.
*He now sometimes sits at the table on a big chair/bench (on top of a phonebook) to eat his meals. Of course, when he keeps trying to get up and down, we go right back to his toddler chair as 'punishment'.
*I can't remember if I posted this before, but he knows and sings the entire "Twinkle, Twinkle" song. I've been working with him on "Row your boat" and he knows some of "Itsy, Bitsy Spider".

All for now..

Randoms...

Just a few pics of when Grandma Hughes came to visit last weekend...

Showing Grandma how he does his shape puzzle.

Grandma reading 'The Big Red Barn' book

Ethan has recently shown interest in carrying my purse around. He likes to grab it and say he's going for a ride in the car. Soon, I'm sure I'll have to count my money once he's done with my purse! :-)

Brookfield Zoo 2009

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to be invited to go to the zoo with my girlfriend and her two kids. The kids were very well behaved and they all had such a good time that they crashed in the car (Ethan I think fell asleep the minute I put him in the car seat, although it was an hour past his nap time!!).

Ethan and Jack chillin' in the double stroller.

Ethan wouldn't face forward for the pic, he was too amused with the dinosaur!

Pic of Sara, Annika and Jack in the monkey house

Annika and Ethan in the dragonfly area

Best way to end the day is on the carousel!

Cute little kiddos!