Sweet Rides

There are so many fun things for the kids to ride at Papa's! This post is just more pictures in that vein, but it doesn't show the whole variety. In my post "In One Hour..." you can also see the mini tractor, the airplane teeter toter, a horse, and the little construction truck. And while I don't have any pictures for it, let us not forget how exciting the concept of a home on wheels that the motor home was for Avery!

While the tractor was the first "must ride" item when we arrive, Travis' sand rail wasn't far behind. It took a bit for Ben and Travis to get it going since it's been sitting since we moved to Milwaukee, but finally with a push start they got it to run. Avery loved it of course, but since we didn't get to take the rails out to the coast, that's high on my priority list when we move back next year!
On the first run up and down the driveway, idiot Gunner wouldn't get out of the way...

Lots and lots of tractor riding over the week... I love this look on Carson. That with the crazy hair I think makes him look like he's probably just woken up and wondering why he's sitting on that noisy thing...
Avery REALLY wanted to dig in the dirt with the tractor. Since Papa didn't need any holes, Daddy took Avery to dig in the big pile of composting horse manure (they just worked on turning the pile over and mixing). Yee Haw. But Avery was happy - anything that was "work" and he could "work hard" at...
Riding with Uncle Kevin...
And Carson and Alli with Papa...
Um... I guess this is Travis trying to show off for Avery on the old 4 wheeler...
No stunts while Avery's aboard tho...
Besides the mini tractor, Avery loved this monster trike. Not that he remembers, but Papa got this 2 summers ago when we were last there for summer and it was fun to see Avery finally big enough to cruise on it.
Look! A Carson sized bike! Not that he chose to ride this very often, but he did enjoy it...
Even the riding lawn mower was a hit. Avery just liked anything that made him feel like a "hard worker." Lawn mowing was very serious business with him. This was getting rid of all the dandelions around the BBQ pit and picnic shelter before the 4th of July bash...
Avery doesn't enjoy noise terribly, but apparently enjoyed the ride enough that when a tree snagged his ear muffs his hands sufficed without a complaint until they got back around to retrieve them. Even when we were out and about the town, there were "rides" to be had. Grandma snapped these of the kids trying out the mini quads...
And this one of Avery trying the mini motorcycle... One or the other of these will probably get purchased in the near future after we move back. Travis says we'll let the kids decide which since when he was little he always preferred the motorcycle and his brother Kevin always preferred the quad. The quad seems easier to learn in the beginning to me, a little more stable... But I suppose Travis is probably right when he says the quad is just as dangerous...
At week's end, it was back to the sand rail. While Travis and I packed, Avery had some quality time on the sand rail and the 4 wheeler with Papa and Uncle Kevin - at least that's what I'm told. I was having so much more fun packing. :)

4th of July Hunsaker Style

For the 4th of July lots of family came over to Travis' parents for some BBQ, games, and fireworks of course.

For my own record here, I'm going to add who came (but I'm a dork and wrote it in a nice little chart to help me not miss anyone, and if anyone's interested you can see how we're related):

(Travis' youngest sis Megan was in Canada with her horse Vegas) So that was 26 people, but it can get much bigger if you add Ben and Jon's sister in Portland and her kids and grand kids. Or Molly is one of 8 kids and sometimes her parents and a handful of siblings come over, like for New Year's this last year.

After eating the boys started a game of Airsoft. Travis, Shane, Ben, Jake, Josh and Jon. Can you tell Jon and his boys are the big players here? Travis got to play for the first time over this last Christmas break and has since had plans to get his own equipment as soon as we move back to Oregon. Jake got that mask online for just a couple bucks and this was it's debut. It didn't last long. Too hot.

Shane, Kevin, Travis, Jake and Josh. Kevin missed the first game, but once he got back this pic was right before his first game ever. Notice Jake has abandoned the mask for safety glasses.

They say "Oh, it stings a little, but not for long..." Yea, well, the welt on Travis' arm and the double tap Ben got to his poor forehead tell me otherwise! Brittany may be fearless going out and playing with these guys, but I'll pass! :)
Avery and his cousin Damon who's only 2 days older, had a great time playing together and were really good about sharing (a vast improvement over the serious fighting last Christmas...)
Having missed his nap that day, and it being a full day, Avery was fading fast. After a bump to his funny bone, he cuddled up with his Aunt Angela and was soon fast asleep...
A little later Avery was revived with some splashing in the spa tub with cousin Alli. (They were pretty bored after the BBQ but before it was dark enough to do fireworks)
To start the firework festivities, the cannon was lit a couple times...

Here's Damon and Avery lighting up some sparklers...
Meanwhile, before the finale, the big boys had long since brought out the torch (in Kevin's hand) so they could light bunches of fireworks at once. Then they had the bright idea to load a stake (which they had been using to make homemade rockets) up with firecrackers. It took about 20 minutes, but the boys were very proud of themselves. (Kevin, Jon, Josh, Jake, Ben, Travis & Shane)
Travis told me later that Kevin received the honor of lighting this monstrosity because he doesn't yet have children...

Travis, Kevin and Ben checking out the halo of confetti leftover. They made sure I got a picture of their handiwork...

And that is how you celebrate the 4th with the Hunsaker's! :)

Avery's First Dentist Appointment

Avery had his first dentist appointment this week! Travis and I were also getting cleanings, so while I went first, Travis took some pictures of Avery's cleaning.
Here's Avery getting ready to have Aunt Angela (an assistant there) clean his teeth.
Papa - I mean Dr. Hunsaker! - checking his teeth:
Here's Papa curing one little sealant he placed. Avery was VERY wary since the sealant brush looks rather syringe-like and he was only okay with it after I suggested we get the bite block out, and the light out of his face and let him sit up and see that it really is a brush. Perfect. Papa, showed it to him, used it on his fingernail and showed him how the special light cures it and makes it hard.
Happy boy! All fresh and clean and he got a cool painting on his tooth!
And , last, Travis also got a shot of Carson checking out the chair...

Bucking Hay

The horses needed hay so earlier this week Avery was very excited to "go get hay on the trailer." Sure, exciting for him... But while Papa, Travis and aunt Katrina bucked the hay and I drove the flatbed along for them, Avery loved riding along on the trailer (until it started being filled, then he joined me in the flatbed cab). Since I was driving, I obviously don't have many pictures of the hay being moved, yet I still have plenty I'm going to share... :)
Here are some shots of me playing with the sun behind Avery while some stacking was being organized.
Look! A picture of Travis actually bucking the hay!
Avery was so happy...
Love this look on Travis... can you say itchy...
Travis is holding a tie down here while Ben tightens it and I believe this look says something like, "do you really need to point that thing at me now?"
Avery found some loose hay. What's he going to do with it?...
Oh. Thanks, buddy.
Avery taking off with a tie down. Round and round and round he went...
All the hard workers - 5 tons later! 145 bales at ~70 pounds each and no, they were NOT unloading that night!
And this is the only way to clean off all that itchy hay. The water was still freezing from the pool only being set up a few days earlier, so the dip was short lived, but thoroughly enjoyed.

DMV Woes

Travis' drivers license expires on his birthday in August, so while we're back in Oregon obviously he needs to renew. Yesterday, Tuesday July 1st, he went to do that. Unfortunately, July 1st was the first day a new law came into effect. Oregon has been particularly bad at not requiring proof of anything if you even remotely look latin/hispanic etc. Racial profiling don't ya know - assuming they must be illegal aliens... But, lets face it, there's no other way to put it, if you're white you had to have all kinds of proof of residency and so forth, at least for a new license, I'm not sure it was necessary for a renewal. So on one hand this new law really is a good thing, but a real put-out for us at the moment. Now, even for a renewal, you have to have your original social security card and birth certificate. Travis' are conveniently back in Wisconsin of course.
Time to make some calls. Sadly, we're not smart enough to have neighbor Greg's (our landlord) number with us, so the lucky friend who answered their phone first got to the great blessing of running an important errand for us. :)
Congratulations RaQuelle on being the winner! Thank you, thank you, thank you, RaQuelle for getting those sent to us! Oh my, would you believe as I finished typing that the doorbell rang! I was going to wait to post this until the package arrived, but no waiting necessary - it's here. Thanks again RaQuelle!
And now Travis is off on the exciting task of sitting around at the DMV...

Edit: THIS is a drivers license!?! Apparently the government had to find a new way to spend more money and create more bureaucracy. Now, instead of printing it for you right then, they've taken that machine away and print you an interim license first. Then, after 5 to 10 days they mail you your real one. How ridiculous.

At the Coast

Before we reached the coast, I realized our camera was still sitting packed and waiting to go on the couch in Salem - such disappointment! Thankfully, Travis' Mom had her video camera so at least we had a little something. Although better documentation of Carson's first trip to the ocean would have been nice, my consolation is it's not like this vacation is a trip to Italy or something that's once in a life. After all, we will be back in less than a year!

Our day at the Oregon coast started at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR. It's a great little place with plenty to see and do run by Oregon State University (Travis and my alma mater) and you can visit for free. Avery enjoyed looking at the petting tanks, but Carson really enjoyed the hands on experience.
Avery was very excited to identify this animal without any help...

After the Science Center and some lunch we headed for the South Beach (just south of Newport). It's funny how you never can tell what the weather will be like on the coast - and I mean literally the coast line, not even inland a mile. On this day it was hazy along the coast line, windy, and quite a bit chillier than the weather report. Luckily, it was only just cold enough to chill you but then you numb up and are fine. Besides, the more sun warmed sand you came in contact with, the warmer you could stay, so just get down and have some fun!

Avery loved running in the surf, despite the freezing temperature...
Carson actually loved running in the cold, wet sand and a bit of water too, but there weren't really any good pics of him running in the surf and this was a cute picture out by the water instead...
Somebody found a little green plastic dinosaur and Papa decided to "bury" it so Avery could dig up some treasure. This is Avery exclaiming over his spoils...
Time to bury Avery and Alli! Can you tell that Travis, Kevin and Ben are deriving an indecent amount of enjoyment from this particular activity...
Trying to escape... and Avery is losing his pants in the process - tho he did manage to wriggle free.
Kevin's turn to be buried - and Katrina's taking full advantage of his immobility!
Travis' turn, and Avery's going to get him too!
My turn!
Ben's turn to be buried. Can't you tell Travis and Kevin got their height from their Dad here?
Well, our faces are a little funny, but the wind was really blowing and there was a beach fire blowing smoke straight at us here - but this is the picture I've got so it'll do. :) (Only 2 months left on that belly!)
Before heading home, we stopped at the store and picked up some ice cream bars and sandwiches to enjoy on the drive back. What a fun day!