Lovin' Summer

July Updates

Guest post from Tony....

We have been extremely busy around here these past couple of weeks. After a whirlwind couple of weeks spent in Roseburg and Sunriver (the girls) we decided to stick a little closer to home for the most part. However, we have been busy between work, homework (I am now past the half-way point), Jazzercise, library time, berry picking, play dates, and trips to The Dalles. Here is a snapshot of the first two weeks of July.


Megan and Maddie took Grammy to The Dalles on the 4th of July to visit O'Ma and O'Pa while I stayed home to finish a paper for my MBA program. They all had a blast and made sure to come back with lots of cherries from the orchard.

This is Maddie exchanging 'knuckles' with O'Pa!

Maddie wants to make sure everyone wears sunscreen this summer.

"See, O'Ma, this is how you put the sunscreen on."

Maddie has not liked learning the word "no"!!!

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Each July we go to Lost Lake as a family. We started this tradition two years ago as a way to remember Peanut, our first baby. Peanut was due on July 3, so the 4th of July holiday is always bittersweet for us. We try not to go to Lost Lake on the 4th of July weekend to avoid heavy crowds. We went this past Saturday and the weather was gorgeous. We had a great time, except for the spectacular header Maddie took off of one of the boardwalks. She tripped over the edge, fell about 18 inches, landed on her head, did a cartwheel and then a flip. She cried for all of about 2 seconds while Megan and I sprinted toward her. Megan made sure to check on Maddie's mental faculties by asking her to make all of her animal sounds (she is up to cow, monkey, snake, and dog) and she passed with flying colors. There is a picture of her wound at the end.

Here is a picture from 2007....my, how some things change!



Here is the family last year....Maddie was so small!

Here we are this year. What a cute family, eh?

Anyone know how to get a 16-month old to pose?

This is a picture at Peanut's spot. This is Maddie kissing Peanut.

This is Maddie throwing rocks in the lake. If you look closely you can see the rock next to the flower in the middle of her swim top.

"Whoa! Did you see how far that went?!"

Maddie is sooooooo a water baby!



Here is Maddie's wound from "The Fall".

On Sunday, Aunt Kris flew into town on her way up to Seattle for work. She came over to our house for breakfast and then we went up to Washington to have dinner with Grandpa Randy, Robyn, and Jackson later in the day. It was so nice to see her and have her fit it into her schedule. We can't wait to see Kris and Nick again later this summer!

Kris, Maddie, and Megan chilling on the couch.

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We have lots of busy weekends coming up! This weekend we are hosting "the girls" for a summer BBQ. It remains to be seen if I will be joining the party or not...but there is BBQ pork, so there is a good chance. My mom is also coming up on Saturday to visit Maddie and we are excited to have Mimi come and visit.

The weekend after that Megan is taking advantage of last year's anniversary present and having a spa day. She will be pampered all day while Grammy and I watch Maddie. The weekend after that we are having a BBQ at our house for someone's 32nd birthday. Some old geezer I guess.

Other than that we continually stay busy and look forward to seeing our friends and family. Much love to all!

Tony, Megan, and Madelyn

Sunriver

I love Sunriver! This year was Maddie and my 2nd annual Moms' trip (4 moms and all our kids). The weather was perfect--cool in the evening and hot during the day. We swam, rode bikes, walked and played outside. We were having so much fun that we even stayed a day longer than planned. Maddie and I both came home with suntans. Hers is a little farmer tan since her swimsuit has arms.

What a group! The kids did great together this year, hardly any squabbling, and the moms got time to read and relax among the chaos.

This is Alex. He didn't want to sit for the group photo. Alex was the lone boy this year. He used to be the baby until Maddie showed up. Last year he was kind of rough with Maddie and I had to watch them closely. This year he was super gentle and watched after her really sweetly.

My mom came over to join us for the weekend. She loved being "grandma" to all the kids!

My dad was randomly in Sunriver for a tennis tournament the same weekend, so we got to have a belated Father's day breakfast at the lodge with him, Robyn and Jackson. We didn't go for the brunch buffet, but sometime I want to splurge and do the it. There was a cool make-it-yourself juice bar with tons of fresh fruits and veggies!

Maddie got to ride sitting up (without a car seat) for the first time in a bike trailer. She loved it! She said "wee" when I went fast and "uh oh" when I went over bumps. Then she fell asleep!

Maddie did really well with the travel and with being away from home with so many other people. She did wake up during the nights but I think it was partly because I was sleeping in the same room with her, and partly because she is still working on cutting her molars. The bottom ones are almost poked all the way through (you can see all four of the prongs) but the top ones still have a ways to go. There was also an "incident" at the pool.....ask me about it someday after some time has passed............

Strawberry Pickin'

We went strawberry picking last week with our friends Cynthia and Drake. The kids started off by entertaining themselves in the wagon while we picked. This is a funny picture because they swapped drink cups. Maddie hasn't really had juice before she she thought it was a great trade....Drake was stuck with water which I don't think he thought was a fair deal. But he did like trying out the straw! At first I had to help Maddie pick the berry and eat it....
Then she figured it out all by herself. (Of course she found it much easier to pick berries out of my bucket rather than off the plants!)

Messy faces!

Maddie helping push the wagon

The "fruits" of our labors!

Fun day!! Next up is raspberry picking.........