Oaks Park

 This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Oaks Park.  Apparently this is an amusement park in Portland Oregon.  Now, I've grown up in Oregon, and I have never heard of, or been to this place ever in my life!!!  What's even worse, is that I go to a family reunion every August only two blocks away--and still, I never knew of this places existence! 

It was National Armed Forces Day--so we were able to go for free--which was really nice! :)

 We brought along a friend for Daniel so they could ride the bigger rides together, his name is Tommy, and they play baseball together.  "Tom-Tom" is one of Daniel's best friends!

 This ride was soooooo stupid!  And to make it even "funner" I screamed the whole time!  I had Ashley and Nathan a tad freaked out!  It was a ride through "Oregon wilderness" as we traveled with Lewis and Clark...really?  Pine trees, fish, and camp fires!?!  It was dumb!  But screaming made it even better! :) 

"OH NO!!!  Look out!!!  It's Sacagawea!!!!"  'Ahhhhhh"!!!  LOL

Nathan was pushing up against me saying, "We gotta get out of here!" and Ashley was hiding her face in my lap saying, "This is too scary!"

"Oh No!!!  Not a fish!!!"  Ahhhh....seriously folks!  Im not even kidding. 

 This was a fun ride for Nathan--he got pretty serious when it came to shooting the kids in front of him with his spaceship gun.  "Nathan....guns aren't toys....although apparently it's ok here, so get 'em!!!"

 I wish I had a video of this ride!  I was laughing so hard I almost made them do it again just so I could pee my pants laughing!  This is the ride that lifts you up high, then drops you in small increments.  Each time it dropped Ashley and Nathan looked like they had peed their pants!  But then it would stop, so they'd laugh, and smile....of course it would then drop again, which would terrify them.  They couldn't decide if they needed to be happy of freaked out!  Every time it dropped they panicked, and when it would inevitably stop, they were briefly reassured.  So much fun!  

(I personally hate those rides!  Cause I react the same way)

 Motorcycles.....naturally.

 Getting ready to go on the roller coaster--which was also funny.  I was sitting with Ashley and Nathan had a seat to himself behind me--he was the odd man out I guess.  I was turning around the whole time watching him.  Going "up" the tracks was fun....he was smiling and having a good time, but when we'd reach the top and start down?  Oh no....he was WORRIED!  It was fun to watch him, and see how exhilarated he felt afterwards!  It was a total accomplishment for him.  He's been so scared of so many things during his little life, that I think he's finally catching on that sprinklers, water slides, and carnival rides aren't that bad!

Daniel of course is our dare devil, and couldn't wait to get on the bigger rides!!!

 Our guest wasn't as "adventurous" as Daniel was, and opted out of the bigger rides.  It was too bad too, cause Daniel and I could have had some fun going on the bigger rides.  This one he did solo though.  He had a blast flipping the cage around!

 This is us watching him.....Ashley wasn't too confident in her brothers choice of rides!....Neither was Nathan.

 I'd like to point out that I did pay for Daniel to play this game of "strength" but I only had the younger kids pose!  Ashley of course felt that she deserved a prize anyway...and is giving herself one in the background.  :)  Don't worry, I put it back and grabbed a bigger one.  Seriously, if you're going to steal a cheap prize, at least steal a cheap 'big' one! :)

(Mother....Im joking!)

 Our finished project!  After we each got a prize--wait a minute!  Where's mine!?!?--we headed to a friends home for a BBQ.  That was nice too.  Our "friends" are actually another family from Bryan's unit, who's husband is also deployed.  There were a few other wives, and of course lots of kids! 

Crash!  This is how they all looked at 730 that night!  On the way home with their carnival prize in hand, dreaming about the cotton candy their mother wouldn't buy them, and the roller coaster they nearly died on!  Sweet dreams my children.....

Getaway for Mother's Day

 For Mother's Day this year, my sister had a fantastic idea!  That the three of us (she, myself and our Mom) would take a day and "getaway" for Mother's Day!  We decided to go to Lincoln City Oregon.  The weather was 70 degrees with a lite breeze.  It was perfect.  We hit up the Outlet malls there, and did some shopping.  I was actually amazed with myself.  We didn't go into a single kids store, and I didn't spend any money on the kids--which is HUGE for me! 

Afterwards we got gigantic ice cream cones, and then headed to Moe's.  Why we thought that we could keep eating after the ice cream I'll never know, but we stuffed ourselves on fried Halibut, french fries, fried cod, calamari and clam.  And of course we had to have some of their famous clam chowder.  Seriously......what were we thinking?!?!!? 

I had to take this picture next to the Mermaid for Ashley (since she's obsessed with The Little Mermaid right now)....we were cracking up at how 'large' her boobs were.  It was hard to get a shot without revealing them!! :)  

So, after we were so sick we wanted to puke at Moes, we strolled out onto the beach for a nice walk.  Got a ways out and sat down and talked for a while.  It was really nice just hanging out together.  Afterwards we thought we'd catch a movie, but there wasn't anything playing we wanted to see.  So we went in search of a nail salon instead!  Kristi and I got pedicures!  It was really fun too cause the chairs were massage chairs!!!  There are some pictures somewhere of me hiding my face in a magazine cause my feet were so ticklish!  I was doing all I could to hold still while he scrubbed my feet.  

Even after they had finished our toes....Kristi and I just kept sitting in the massage chairs....Ahhhhhh...so relaxing. 

Then we headed home.  We were pretty tired.  But it was a fun time, and certainly a tradition we want to continue every year!!!!  AWESOME!

Jimmy

This is Jimmy!  

He is now the proud owner of Bryan's motorcycle!  LOL. Don't worry, for those of you who's mouths just dropped, Bryan did give me permission to sell it while he was gone!! 

I just don't think he (or I for that matter) thought it would sell so quickly!  

This guy was super excited, and just couldn't stop smiling!  

It was kind of cute--reminded me of when Bryan bought her.  He would just sit and stare at her....and smile to himself. 

Well, good luck Jimmy.  Enjoy the ride, and don't kill yourself!

Bryan, I know this hurts.  Those tugs on your heart strings are normal...but you'll get over it!
And before you know it, you'll be plotting for another one!! LOL

My little Baseball Pro

Today's game started the last half of the season--kid pitch!  Daniel was the first pitcher, and he did AMAZING!!!  He was really nervous this morning on the way to his game.

Daniel: "Mom, I hope they don't have me pitch first!  Im probably going to be throwing all balls!"

Me: "Did you know that I pitched in third grade too?"

Daniel: "Really!!??"

Me:  "Yeah, and my first time pitching, I struck out the first two batters!"

Daniel (with mouth dropped open) : "Wow!  Really?  Then what happened?"

Me:  Then I walked six!"

Daniel:  "MOM!!!"

I know it only motivated him...I wont mention the two batters he pelted with the ball though. 

 

 They only play five innings, and Daniel pitched four.  One of the other "fathers" mentioned something to me that I thought was worth putting on here--just a proud parent moment! :)  The score keepers also keep track of strikes, balls etc....In one inning, before being replaced by the relief pitcher, he threw 8 pitches and had 6 strikes!!!  AWESOME!!!!  Also, I guess you can only have a kid throw 50 pitches per game before being replaced....Daniel threw 42 pitches.

 I absolutely love this picture!  Daniel did such a great job today pitching in his game! He had four strike outs!!  One particular inning though, he struck out the first two batters, and then threw out the third batter at first!  Such an awesome ball player!

 Daniel's team won 8-0....they had a really good game!

 I loved how slow, and concentrated he was when pitching.  He really took his time, and focused!  After he was done pitching he played first base!  I would also like to mention that he hasn't struck out yet this season!  He has always got a hit!

Pre-School

Every Fall and Spring, the kids get to attend a pre-school at the local high school.  They work with the high school students.  It's a blast, and a ton of fun for the kids.  They were both really excited to go back!

 It was raining so we waited in the car for a little bit before going in!

 "First day of school!  Ready to learn and get some knowledge!"--Marlon from Finding Nemo  

Our friend Sam gets to go this time too!

 This is Nathans favorite toy--the "seed" box.  Honestly, I think I could make one of these--they would provide hours of fun....and then hours of clean up for me :)

And of course Ashley is playing with play dough!