While Dad Was Away…

Matt was gone all of last week on his annual elk hunting trip and although it seems to me everything should come to a halt while he’s away, daily life unfortunately rolls on.  My mom spent the first half of the week here entertaining us but the boys and I had to fend for ourselves Wednesday thru Sunday.  So, what happened when Dad was away… 

First, we’d joked that Kaden would be walking by the time Matt got back from his trip… not QUITE, but he did start cruising along the couches and anything else stable that he can support himself on (the walls, chairs, our legs, etc).

Kaden also decided the dishwasher was a fun place to hang-out…

… and, he popped through another tooth!  He’s had a busy week, and REALLY missed his daddy. 

It would have been easy for me to mope around the house, missing my better half, but I did get out and have some fun… a ‘girls’ night! 

Well, plus kids.  Just, minus husbands.  Regardless, it was a great time and a welcomed distraction to both of us mamas who were missing our husbands. 

(We tried to watch a movie but, after dessert was consumed there was no keeping these boys in one place.) 

Every other night, I stayed up until midnight, getting myself as tired as possible so I could sleep soundly – not missing Matt.  And then getting up at 5:30, to start the day.  

On a brighter note, I only cooked 2 meals… this one from the Pioneer Woman which lasted me about 3 days worth of lunches and dinners and then fettuccine alfredo which carried me through the homestretch.  Oh, and one dinner of Top Ramen.  I don’t know if that counts.  While I love to cook, I appreciated the break from thinking about meals.  I was thinking about food though, because the boys asked me for “something yummy to eat” about 12 times a day. 

Also while Matt was gone, I received about a dozen phone calls reminding us to vote.  Mental note to vote!

The boys discovered spit balls.

And we decided it would be a long time until Dad leaves us again.  Thankfully he’s back now, and all seems right in the world again.  Well, our little bitty 5-person-world, anyway.    

From This Weekend…

The boys and I were back up in Seattle again this past weekend – mostly for a girlfriend’s bachelorette party but of course for some family time, as well. I have to state it here, that Grammie took care of these boys for 5 and a half hours and successfully put all of them to bed by herself.  This is amazing to me considering nursing is still a crutch for ni-night time. I guess they may just love their Grammie a little more than me… 

(This isn’t the most flattering picture of Kaden, but it shows his two little crooked teeth, so I thought I’d share…)

  Grammie wasn’t the only recipient of Kaden’s adoration… he found himself a new friend…

A little family gathering fell into our laps on Sunday and as the boys put it “It’s like CHRISTMAS!” and it kind of was.  Minus the little bit of stress, huge meal, and cold weather.  It was so great because I was TOO busy visiting to even take pictures.  Relaxing and visiting.  Until I was packing up the kiddos and found this delightful little scene which begged for my camera to emerge… 

Cooper and his cousin, Lilly, were completely transfixed on none-other-than Dora the Explorer.  Coop’s never laid eyes on her before, and likely will never again.  But the lighting was great and I often find that kids who are mesmerized by the TV are easy subjects to photograph. 

Pretty Little Lilly-bean…

…bless her heart for wanting her picture taken…

… so, okay… I’ll oblige…

I’d get nothing done if this were my kid… I’d just stare at her eyes, all. day. long.

And then there is Lilly’s little sister, Sarah.  What a doll-baby.  And with some tough tootsies, too…

  I was supposed to be getting the boys into the car for our 3.5-hour drive home, but I just couldn’t stop following this one around all the cars, snapping photos as we went…

Until her Grammie ushered her back to softer ground and gave me no choice but to start our drive south. 

It never ceases to amaze me how much I love this family and how incredibly much I miss them when we’re apart. 

Oktoberfest and Molalla-hosen

Every year… year after year… we look forward to our 15-minute drive to Germany… okay, to Mt. Angel.  To celebrate Oktoberfest, AKA: O-fest.  

The Mt. Angel version of the historical harvest festival started back in 1966 and is now celebrated each September.  Why September?  Because “Oktoberfest” is a generic word meaning ‘Harvest Celebration’ and in these parts, its celebrated around the time of the hops being harvested. But even in Munich most Harvest festivals are in September, too. 

Mt. Angel itself was settled in the 1800s by German pioneers, so the small town-community honors its roots by closing its main streets and welcoming thousands to enjoy a variety of ethnic foods, music, traditional Biergarten, Weingarten and Alpinegarten, and traditional Bavarian-attire (Trachten)… lederhosen and bavarian dresses are in abundance.  I think those involved in the planning of the festival have to wear the appropriate clothing, but I’m not sure of the motivation for all the rest…

Speaking of the attire, we saw some family friends while we perused the streets and they acknowledged the boys’ Carhartt clad-selves… Matt said, “Yup, they’re wearing their Molalla-hosen!” Clever, clever husband. 

Anyway, we headed into O-Fest for lunch on their opening day (which is always the second Thursday after Labor Day) and had to go right to the hand-made Corn-dogs.  That begs the question… is all the food sold at O-Fest traditional Bavarian cuisine?  I don’t think so, but I do think that inside this delicious corn-dog wasn’t just any old hotdog.  Authentically inspired O-fest sausage, perhaps?? Either way, the boys love them. 

As my little ducklings followed their daddy through the crowded streets, I was quickly reminded of how rarely these boys see this many people at once.  Kaden never made a sound he was so overwhelmed.  And Gage and Cooper became totally introverted and consumed by their corn-dogs.  So much so, that they failed to notice all the people surrounding them and consequently ran into numerous passer-byers.   

And then they became even more unaware of their surroundings when I introduced a slushy-like strawberry-lemonade.  These two, and the lemonade, were in their own little world. 

And it didn’t take long for me to venture into my own little world… little piece of heaven that is… when I weaved my way through the crowd to the Berliner stand. Again, I don’t know how ‘German’ this sandwich is other than the fact it is made on “German Rye Bread,” but I don’t really care.  It is SO. SO. good.  

 

At 1pm, as it does everyday (as well as at 11, 4 and 7) the Glockenspiel, played.  According to their website the Glockenspiel “celebrates Mount Angel’s rich history, Germanic culture and …world famous Oktoberfest.” And when it plays, everyone stops (except for those two guys in the picture below) and if you move and don’t honor the Glockenspiel’s performance, it is almost as if you’re getting up and leaving church during a prayer.  Not really, but kind of.  

So, we stood and paid our respects…

… and then walked onward in pursuit of Matt’s Rueben.  Another O-Fest favorite. 

Back in the day (when Matt first started attending), O-Fest meant fun in the Biergarten.  Friends, stickers, beer. 

Now it means stuffing our faces with delicious food as quickly as possible before we loose one of our chittlins in the crowd.

But O-fest will ALWAYS mean a good-German-inspired-time.  

 

(Lederhosen are not required.) 

My Brother, Boe…

My mom has a frame which holds a recent photo of each of her 3 children but the one of my brother, Boe, was seriously in need of some updating.  So last time I was at my parents’, I was able to coax my him into letting me take some pictures of him.  I had him move his truck into better lighting but still being a nervous and learning photographer, I only took 3 shots, all in basically the same position.  Good thing I loved the first one. 

And what I loved even more though, was playing with the image in photoshop.  I’m not much for creative editing – I choose to stick with clean edits of my kids.  But when you have an image like this… and a guy like this, a normal edit just won’t do…  he is in a band after all… and drives a very loud truck…

I had more fun changing the effects of this one photo than I have in a long time! 

I think the best part of the process though, was that I got to stare at my big brother the whole time.  I don’t see him nearly often enough and everyday I have an aching to catch up with him.  So, while I love the images, I love the guy in um even more. 

I may just make him my computer’s wallpaper…

Meeting Olivia Grace...

We finally got to meet our little niece, Olivia Grace, this past week.  Her mama is Matt’s sister, Marilee, and they live way too far away in Kentucky.  It was so wonderful to spend time with these two lovely ladies and to witness how my rough and tumble little boys totally took to the baby in pink.  Baby girls bring out such a softness in my boys…

Auntie Meril (as the boys call her) and Olivia…

And yeah! for a group picture where almost everyone is looking at the camera! 

… I sure love these people.

(and yes, this was day 2 of Cooper wearing the Floatie-tard.  No shame… he as NO shame.)

Happy Anniversary…

Happy Anniversary to my parents… as of today, they’ve been married for 39 years.  And because they were high-school sweet hearts, they’ve been together for something like two-thirds of their lives.  Crazy.  Crazy WONDERFUL.  Our love to you both… 

A Ferry Ride, The Beach, and Bunkers… oh my!

Warning… picture heavy! 

For the past several years, the boys and I have taken a week-long trip to my parents’ house during Matt’s hunting trip.  But since his annual trip will fall later this season, we opted to go when the weather was favorable – thus making the trip last week.  Over the next few days, I’m going to flood this blog with my favorite photos from our time with Grammie and Papa.  I think I’m risking getting booted off Blogger for it, but oh well. 

Its become tradition to spend one of our days at the Beach House in Port Ludlow and the mode of transportation to get there, HAS to be on the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge…  Its a short ferry ride over, and the boys were mostly just mesmerized by the vastness of the water…

I love taking this trip to the Beach House… after the hustle and bustle of our time there at the Fourth of July (see here, here, here, and here) relaxing quietly there, is a nice change of pace. The weather was beautiful, but it was pretty windy, which I unfortunately didn’t anticipate … but fortunately, I was the only one that seemed bothered by it. 

 

We stayed at the beach until naptime then drove to Port Townsend to explore the Bunkers at Fort Worden.  You’d think I’d be able to tell you what war they were built for, since I’ve been visiting this place since I was little, but I’m at a loss. 

Last year when we came here, we tried to venture through the dark, creepy tunnels, but without flashlights it was a bit scary for me the boys.  But this year, Grammie thought ahead and brought some enforcement along.  I think the boys were more excited about using flashlights for real than for actually visiting the bunkers.  The things NEVER left their hands. 

(I had to get after Gage for always squinting in photos… this is his solution…)

Up and down the tunnels we went, with Gage bravely leading the way… until he decided NOT to be brave at one point and made his little brother go first. 

With so many cool colored walls and places to perch, I had to attempt some portrait style photos of these kiddos… I couldn’t believe they obliged. Oh wait… they did only after I threatened to take away their flashlights and make them go into the tunnels by themselves… hehehe. 

After dinner at the local pizza joint, we made a very stressful drive to catch the ferry… which we did, with 4 minutes to spare (despite the crying baby, wacked out little boys, hitting every red light and being followed most of the way by a cop…).  

At certain locations on the ferry, to say it was windy would be an understatement.  It was a challenge to walk and I was glad for the high railings…

Attempts at taking a photo of me and my boys…

The captain of the ferry helped with this one… he saw me desperately trying to get these munchkins to cooperate and probably noticed all the other passengers laughing at my desperation… so he HONKED.  Have you ever heard the blow-horn on a ferry.  Holy Smokes, it was loud.  It got the boys to freeze and grip onto me for dear life and it scared Kaden out of crying.  But only for a second. 

 

It was a joyful day…