Father's Day

I never posted any pictures from our Father's Day Celebration. The kids and I got Keith a new BBQ to put on our new patio. Kind of a selfish present, I guess! In case you can't tell, the cookie says We Love You (Lena and I baked it together).

Trip to the Coast

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the coast. We stayed at a wonderful hotel in Newport (thanks for those scripts, Debbie!) Even though it was a typical Oregon coast weather, we had a nice family weekend. We swam at a pool, went to Mo's for their famous chowder, and even checked out Undersea Gardens, Ripley's Believe it or Not, and Wax Works Museum.

Doesn't he look good even though made out of wax?

About time I put my face on this blog...

My beautiful family

5th Birthday

As I have mentioned, Lena was promised a pool party for her birthday which was put temporarily on hold due to weather situation. Well, our patience had paid off and we had a wonderful Princess (of course!) party at the local water park. Check out the birthday girl with her friends.

Thanks for the beautiful cake, Jessie!


Oldest friend - Jackson and Lena have been friends since before they were one.

Wild party crowd

Benj and Ella living it up

Dancing Queen (can't you tell I just watched "Mamma Mia"?)

Lena has been taking dance classes through parks & recs department for the last couple of years and has really been enjoying them. Well, this summer we decided to give ballet a shot. We found a new ballet school that has just opened. Even though we've only had four classes, Lena absolutely loves the instructor. Benjamin likes playing in the play area and watching the dancers. "Silly girls!" he says. Well, check out how cute she looks (in a black leotard).

Another Outing

Today we were scheduled to pick up our Portraits at JC Penney studio in Salem. Instead of running an errand, Jess and I decided to make it into another summer adventure. We took two cars (yes, we do know the gas prices, what can we do? We have four children and NO minivans!) and went to A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village (check out link below)
http://acgilbert.org/index.html

Basically, the village consists of three historic homes that were converted into a childrens' museums, with exhibits varying from bubble making room, shadow room, dinosaur caves to pretend grocery store, theater stage with dress up clothes, anatomy lab, toy workshop. I don't know about the children, but Jessie and I enjoyed ourselves. In the court yard there was an enormous structure with long bridges, climbing nets, tunnels and slides. It took museum worker's escort to get us out of that place...



Yes, these are smoothies... yes, again...

Play Production

Little Children, Big Chair

Benj and his Bubble

Lena and Benj inside a tree

Summer Madness

I LOVE SUMMER! What's not to love? Juicy watermelons, fresh berries, long days, bright sun (an endangered specie in Oregon). It is close to impossible to be in a bad mood during the summer (I manage, of course). So, my friend Jessie and I have been trying to see exactly how many activities we can fit into these long days with our four children. Our weekly agenda includes a couple of episodes of berry picking (we have just finished strawberries and have recently moved on to raspberries and blueberries) a trip to the wading pool. Two weeks ago we took the kids there to get some professional pictures taken. All of you with little children out there know exactly how much work it is to get at least one decent picture out of a long session with your child. Well, since we like the challenge, we decided to go for two photo shoots at two different studios at the Salem Center. Needless to say, we got quite a workout pushing our double strollers up and down the mall, running between the studios, waiting in line, making silly faces at the children trying to make them smile, running back to the first location to pick up the pictures, then returning to the second one... Well that experience is not for those with health concerns, attempt at your own risk!

(Jessie, Jonas, Ella, Benjamin, and Elena taking a break between photo shoots)

Well, children had a time of their lives and got rewarded for their stellar behavior during the shoots with some smoothies and a trip to the neighborhood park.

Jonas is quite a smoothie boy

Lena & Benjamin at the park in Salem

Blowing bubbles with brother

Daddy's little helper