Monday, October 19, 2015

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Tuesday, September 15th, 2015
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We drove home from our trip today over Stevens Pass. We stopped at several waterfalls including those in Wallace Falls State Park. Our last stop was at Snoqualmie Falls. We had a nice trip and were happy to get home.

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Monday, September 14th, 2015
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We left Umatilla in the morning and headed north. We stopped to see some fossils and petroglyphs in Ginko Petrified Forest State Park and then headed up to Leavenworth, WA. The little town was very cute and we had fun seeing lots of different things. After some yummy German food for dinner, we drove into the woods to camp for the night. There was a little rain, but we stayed dry.

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Sunday, September 13th, 2015

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After we came home from church, the power at Will’s house went out. When the power finally came back on, and the kids were getting crazy, we took all the kids to the park so Courtney could have some quiet time.

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Saturday, September 12th, 2015

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We drove out to Umatilla today to spend a little time with my brother and his family. This included a very brave croquet game at the park with the little people.

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Friday, September 11th, 2015

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Sometimes Magnus wakes up before the sun and plays. Days like these require naps.

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Thursday, September 10th, 2015

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Gideon found this little vest in his closet and absolutely loves it. He is getting very good at zipping and unzipping.

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Wednesday, September 9th, 2015

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Cleaning the yard at Farmor’s house is fun to do. Magnus and Gideon like helping when it involves sticks.

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Tuesday, September 8th, 2015

Happy Birthday, Anton!

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We celebrated Anton’s birthday with some delicious berry tarts. Thanks for being awesome!

Monday, September 7, 2015

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Monday, September 7th, 2015

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We ventured to Portland today and found this fire hydrant that is slowly being absorbed by this tree.

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Sunday, September 6th, 2015

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The cat piano got new batteries. It is fun and new again.

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Saturday, September 5th, 2015

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Every year there is an anime convention called Kumuricon. It happens in a hotel downtown, and all the attendees dress up as different characters and wander around the park where the farmer’s market is. Magnus wanted his picture with a few different characters, including the Guardians of the Galaxy. Their costumes are better than ours were…

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Friday, September 4th, 2015

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Dana brought home the new LEGO minifigures, all monsters. Gideon was still awake when he got home, and loved the ghost. He also loved making the ghost sound: OOOOOOOOOOO!

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Thursday, September 3rd, 2015

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A friend of mine is expecting a baby boy, so I made her this blanket.

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Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015

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A Magnus creation. He says it is Charizard.

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Tuesday, September 1st, 2015

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We had a movie night, watching Harry Potter and eating some caramel corn.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

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Monday, August 31st, 2015

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Dana thought it would be nice to give Ruth a day to herself. So, he took the boys on a hike in the Gorge, while she rested at home. The boys hiked the Latourell Falls loop and saw both waterfalls. It is a 2 mile hike and Magnus made it the whole way, while Gideon did about 1.5 miles; great job you two. We also stopped and watched the fish at the dam and finished with ice cream in Cascade Locks. Ruth loved having some nice quiet time to herself.

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Sunday, August 30th, 2015

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Anton and Krista have set a wedding date in October; then Anton will move to Boise. So, we are trying to make sure we spend time with him when we can. Krista was up here this weekend and we had a great game of dodge ball in Farmor’s yard. She is great with the boys and they love her and her dog, Zeus.

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Saturday, August 29th, 2015

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Finally cooler weather has arrived. We have had many multiday stretches in the 90s and 100s this summer. It has gotten very dry and the fire danger has been extreme. But this weekend brought rain, glorious rain. Hopefully it will get to the forest fires still raging all over the state.

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Friday, August 28th, 2015

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Dana is catching up on organizing his insect collection. This included confirming locations and printing out lots of labels.

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Thursday, August 27th, 2015

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Another mantis from work, there have been a lot this year. We fed this one flies and she was able to catch one in each arm. We thought that was pretty cool.

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Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

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Gideon keeps getting bigger, so Ruth got out the next size of clothes, this included many of Magnus’s old clothes. Magnus then had to try them on, saying that of course they still fit… You can also see how Magnus likes to stuff his pockets with items that may come in handy.

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Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

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Some pretty flowers Ruth picked on our walk down by the Fort on Sunday.

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Monday, August 24th, 2015

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Today’s waterfall hunt brought us into Central Oregon. We first found Hoover Falls that is normally under the surface of Detroit Lake, a large reservoir that is very low right now due to the dry year we have had. We had a picnic lunch at Clear Lake. Koosah and Sahalie Falls were beautiful. Then we hiked the loop that took us to Upper Proxy Falls, a waterfall that flows into a pool at the bottom that then seeps into the ground. And Proxy Falls, one of Oregon’s best. All five waterfalls were amazing and we all had a great time.

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Sunday, August 23rd, 2015

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We took a walk down by the Fort to watch the smoky sunset. It was not quite as dramatic as last night, but the colors were still intense.

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Saturday, August 22nd, 2015

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The boys like to get into the junk drawer and find odd things to play with. Today was also very, very smoky because the wind shifted and has brought the smoke from the wildfires burning all over Washington and Oregon. We had to stay inside most of the day.

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Friday, August 21st, 2015

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Ruth finished the curtain for the front window.

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Thursday, August 20th, 2015

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Gideon spent a lot of time trying to sit on this basketball. He succeeded a few times, but had fun the whole time.

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Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

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Happy National Soft Serve Day! We celebrated by going to Dairy Queen and getting some dipped ice cream cones.

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Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

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The sunflowers have gotten very tall this year in Farmor’s garden.

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Monday, August 17th, 2015

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It was a mixed bag of weather conditions on the coast today, though we consistently pulled the “very windy” card at each stop. We found a cute little waterfall that flowed into a beautiful blue cove at Otter Crest. Ona Beach was clouded in, but we still played in the sand and found some great rocks. Yaquina Head was the windiest, but we did enjoy Cobblestone Beach with all its smooth round stones. And there were lots of seals to watch swimming around in the surf and lounging on the rocks. Dinner was a delicious meal from Artic Circle.

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Sunday, August 16th, 2015

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We were able to go to Salem this week because nobody was sick. We spent the night there to have a little head start in the drive to the coast the next morning.

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Saturday, August 15th, 2015

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We went on a hike in the Gorge that starts on the freeway, passed over an abandoned section of the historic highway, and climbed a mountain to a remaining section of the 1872 wagon road. So in one walk you can learn about the history of how people traveled through the Gorge. Plus the stone work of the wagon road is awesome and you get a nice view from it. We also visited Starvation Falls and played around there for a little bit.

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Friday, August 14th, 2015

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Magnus sat and sang the Imperial March from Star Wars while he played with his Star Wars LEGO.

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Thursday, August 13th, 2015

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This looks like a black picture, but there are actually stars in it and a shooting star from the Perseid Meteor Shower. We went out to the Gorge with Anton and Elina and found a place to look up at the stars. Many spots were very busy, but we went to the Bridal Veil cliff walk and were quite alone. We watched shooting stars for about two hours and got home very late. But it was worth it.

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Wednesday, August 12th, 2015

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We filled ourselves up at the Ward Picnic tonight. Ruth got closer to completing her plan to make a curtain for our front window. And in the late hours of the night we headed to the Gorge to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower.

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Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

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Time to make oatmeal sandwich cookies for the Ward Picnic tomorrow.

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Monday, August 10th, 2015

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Some people started to feel better from being sick, but Daddy still was a sad lump on a log.

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Sunday, August 9th, 2015

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We had a family sick day, where all of us were basically incapacitated by a mean ol’ stomach flu.

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Saturday, August 8th, 2015

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Magnus found a tree frog at Farmor’s house that he thought was pretty cool.

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Friday, August 7th, 2015

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Gideon has become a big fan of Big Hero 6, particularly of Baymax, the big hero of the film. He really likes to listen to Baymax’s hero song when he goes to bed.

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Thursday, August 6th, 2015

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Magnus continues to refine his photographic skills.

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Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

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Gideon gets very thirsty a lot and he likes to carry two different drinks around with him, usually his prune juice and milk.

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Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

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This a common sight in our house at the end of the day.

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Monday, August 3rd, 2015

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Dana saw three waterfalls on his waterfall hunting trip. This is McClellan Falls, a big one with no trail. He also saw Upper Curly Creek Falls and Puff Falls.

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Sunday, August 2nd, 2015

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Daddy brought home a praying mantis from work. It was a big hit. Gideon really needed to hold it a lot.

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Saturday, August 1st, 2015

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Magnus having some good times with play dough.

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Friday, July 31st, 2015

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We stayed at Farmor’s house for several nights because of the oppressive heat outside, and she has air conditioning. Tonight we had fun viewing the Blue Moon (the second full moon in a month) from the back deck. We also watched Harry Potter and drank Butterscotch Soda to celebrate Harry Potter Day.

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Thursday, July 30th, 2015

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Elina likes to make cosplay costumes of characters she likes. This is a piece from her latest costume. Ruth tried it on and could not keep a straight face.

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Wednesday, July 29th, 2015

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Ruth’s mom came to town for one night only. She stayed with, so we went out to dinner with her and Dana’s mom. Then we did a quick stop in the Russian store for dessert.

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Tuesday, July 28th, 2015

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Max and Zoe came over for a few hours this morning while their mom was at work. Magnus and Gideon loved that. We also let our turtle George-Michael swim around in the tub for a bit. Gideon was ecstatic. He learned the word turtle and kept repeating “turturtur, turturtur” all day.