Happy And Sad

I am a lucky member of a great book club. Here we all are together last week for a party outside of book club. A party both happy and sad.
Anne, Dawn, Cindy, Alicia, Wendy, Carrie, Amy, Kari, Jocelyn, Heather, Becca, Marilyn, Shanda, Crystal and me.


A happy part of the celebration was having an adoption shower for Shanda and their handsome little 4 year old they just adopted.


As befits a party thrown by a book club, Mr. Man walked away with a library! I loved how his tongue would poke out in concentration!


He also came away with a great quilt made by Carrie!


So we all enjoyed watching the gift giving.






And we enjoyed some good food and conversation.


And then we celebrated a special member of our club. Alicia moved away this weekend to a situation that will be great for their family, but we will all miss her! Alicia has been an important member of creating an annual Favorite Things party, so we surprised her with a mini Favorite Things party for her.


These three amigas were close and I know they will particularly miss each other.


I'm thankful I have gained such lovely friends since our move here and can be part of such a great group of ladies.

Stained

When we built our gate last year I wanted it and the fence stained soon after. The gate I wanted stained soon so it wouldn't bleach in the sun and turn ugly gray. The fence was already long since greyed and dirty. Looking at the gate blog post, the ugly grey fence is easy to see since I didn't get a before shot for this post. In any case, we did not get the staining done last year, much to my annoyance. So a week and a half ago I asked Travis if anything was going on that weekend. At his negative reply, I said, "Great! we're staining the fence and gate this weekend then!" Actually, I listed a few other things I wanted done too, but the staining took the whole weekend.
So Friday morning we picked up the needed supplies and that day Travis used the cleaner on the fence and gate. The results of the cleaner were astounding! The fence looked nearly like new boards with some of the color back in them. The gate was no where near as bad as the fence, but the south facing side of the gate had bleached to a light grey. With the cleaner, the color came back to to it as well.


We chose a stain that would match the color of the pressure treated posts in the fence. Here's the big gate finished and the little one still to do.


I had to tape off the rails on this side of the gate and use a paintbrush while Travis used a spray gun on the rest of the fencing.


Almost done!


The gate and fence look so much better now and this last weekend we did another little project. I'm sick of the boys playing in the dirt in this little section next to the rv pad, so Travis added the pressure treated boards along the base of the fence and stapled up some garden fabric to keep dirt from leaking under the boards. Then the dirt was raked out evenly and we added river rock. It looks great and no more dirt! Now we just need to take care of the dirt section on the side of the house in the previous picture. A shed will be going in there.

I look at that picture and can't believe how great it looks compared to before!

Parks

Since the 4th of July parade doesn't start until late afternoon, we spent the morning showing Grandma and Grandpa the new crazy park and then Avery's school playground and attached park playground.




Go Grandpa!


Emmett reminded me a little of a windsurfer as he spun around


Avery made quick friends with this older boy and the playground and he was very nice with the boys, like hopping off here to let Carson on and spin them.




And he spun them here too.




Emmett wanted a push and Grandpa obliged.




Avery tried to pull himself all the way up, but lost it when he let go to grab the older boy's outstretched hand and couldn't get a good grip.


Love Emmett's silly faces


Hey mom!


More spinning




At the next playground, Grandma and Grandpa had some fun!


Who doesn't love a little kid with static flying hair?




Emmett wanted to try the monkey bars, but gave up. Avery showed him how it's done.


Then Carson took a turn and did great!






My monkeys


When the park is a regular stop, the camera doesn't usually get pulled out, so it's fun to have a particular excuse to go overboard with pictures.

Silver Falls

On Saturday before the 4th of July, we took my parents out to Silver Falls State Park to show them a couple of the waterfalls.

Who needs a waterfall, when the drinking fountain before we even get to the trail is so fun?






I just love how green it is here.


Watch your head


Under South Falls


Under the waterfall the boys like to climb in this large hole.


One nice wave and then...


...Carson gave a series of these faces.


Time to keep moving


Being silly with Grandma and Grandpa


At the bridge looking back at South Falls




Grandma leads the boys in more silliness.








Lots more head watching on the way to North Falls!


There's a great cavern cut out under North Falls














Before we finished North Falls Emmett was screaming, being long since done and exhausted, so we skipped Upper North Falls and headed home.




A brief pause to splash in the creek upstream of North Falls.


I always love visiting Silver Falls and was so happy to show it to my parents.