Pendleton Underground

Kevin's mom was here for a visit in July. One of the things we finally did, after meaning to for almost 3 years now, was take the Pendleton Underground tour. It's not as easy as it sounds, you actually have to call ahead and make reservations. It was a very fasinating tour, obviously we were given a very short tour, but it was eye opening as to how some citizens were treated (i.e. the Chinese) and how the bootleggers did so well in Pendleton during the years of prohibition. Not to mention the many brothels, the last of which didn't close until 1967!

This is bunk beads where Chinese workers lived. Back in "those days" they didn't allow them to come "above ground" and actually gated them off below the hotels and streets where the chinese dug more tunnels. Very low ceilings; Kevin had to duck for much of the tour. We didn't realize they would have allowed cameras, so these poor quality pictures are actually from my cell phone.
One of the corridors off of a room where gambling and drinking occured, with the "speak easy" door still in place during the prohibition period. We learned that they kept lots of moth balls around to cover the smell of the alchohol.
This is one of the "girls' rooms" at the last brothel that is still kept for this tour above one of the buildings in downtown Pendleton. There is a very narrow doorway, and the name "Cozy Room" is still on it. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but is very nice on the inside. The woodworking frames are very nice!

June-July catching up...again

Well, these photos didn't upload in order, but it is WAY too much work to fix it. So be it. I need to get caught up quickly so I can post a couple of pictures of how Kevin spent his 40th birthday this week. :) First things first:

One side of the family went camping at Honeyman in July.....here's some highlights.
This is campfire time, as evidenced by the nearly glazed stare in each of the boys' eyes.

Plotting, even with squinted eyes. I believe there is a verse in Proverbs about a man who winks his eye is plotting evil, or something to that effect. I wouldn't call them evil...just mischevious. Most of the time. There are other times when....
Lucy liked this chair best, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Jenna squeezing in next to, or on top of, her.They had a great time in the dirt.
The following weekend was the OTHER side of the family get-together near Salem. This is Tavin and her good friend/cousin McKenna. Uncle Dave was lucky enough to have these too jaberwockies in his room, and awake until the wee hours of the morning.
And there was a waterslide/giant slip and slide. Need I say more?
Out of sequence now, but oh well. In June Kevin completed a 100-mile bike ride in Portland with the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" foundation. The 2 older kids got invited to grandpa and grandma's house, where they spent most of their time like this. Lucy had to stay home with the pre-arranged house sitters, who likely enjoyed having just 1 child, as they are relatively newly wed and have not yet embarked on that particular adventure. They made a comment to me about being very effective birth control, but after the first day, they really liked her. The lovely young lady did learn that a 2-year old who is prone to occasionally waking up at 6:45 am (such as when someone new is around) is not conducive to staying up until 2am texting friends...

This is Kevin walking his bike to the starting area at the Nike complex.

Lance Armstong himself made an appearance. I didn't see much paparazzi, and was actually hoping to see some celebrity on his arm just to verify how trashy.....I mean nevermind. Kevin is in the left background of this picture, green and black jersey, red & silver bike.
Back to the camping...Lucy and Jenna enjoyed cousin Tim's trailer.

I"ll get more posted, and try to do better here! I"ve been putting more things on facebook, but I'll try to put more on here. :) If you actually read this, drop me a comment, it shows on my email and you don't have to be a registered user. :)

Today was a sad day for me...Kevin had to go back to work, technically 1 day early, so I was bearing unfriendly thoughts towards his new superintendent.....something to do with me having to scramble for child care even though he was the one with changed plans....but I digress...

I still have more than a month before both kids go back to school! Simon starts the 25th of August, and Tavin the 2nd of September, so at least I have more time to get supplies!

Visitors from North Caroline

Kevin's sister and her family were her from Thursday night to just a couple of hours ago. It always seems like the pictures are the last things to be done, but we did get a few last night.
R.J. was in doggy heaven with 2 more kids to give him more attention. The girls were missing their own dog, so he benefitted from that. Lucy really enjoyed having Alice read to her. The adults enjoyed a dinner out last night while Sadie bravely took on all 4 kids herself!

The best pictures are the ones with the sun in your eyes! This was taken this morning, actually Father's Day!
We had to literally corner Lucy to get her to be in the photo. This is a great picture of all of the grandkids; I know this is the first with all 6 of them, and I don't know if there has ever been one with even the first 4. This is truly an historic photo! I think all of the older girls are wearing some of the finds that we scored while garage-sale-ing yesterday. We had a great time and found some incredible deals......it seemed like several local Relay for Life teams were having huge yard sales....at least 2 that we went to were like that and they all seemed to have things for tween-teen girls. Even Simon got lucky because I found one yard that was getting rid of 7 Bionicles, and they still have all their parts! Anyone with boys knows that finding good used boy clothes is just impossible. They seem to get any use possible out of their clothes until there's just nothing left to pass on to someone else. He seemed happy to settle for really awesome toys instead of threads.

Relaxing and visiting on our last evening together. The girls all stayed in Tavin's room and maybe got a total of 20 hrs of sleep for the 3 nights they stayed....maybe! :)

All in all, we had a great time and only wished that Grandma Dot could've been here too. Our plan is to make a trip out there at least by the next 2 summers...hopefully next summer! Thanks for driving all the way from North Carolina and come back anytime!

Again, I'm massively "behind" as I was so gently reminded this weekend at our delayed Mother's Day celebration. So, here's the film I have yet to print, and I'm even behind in taking pictures!

During the week-long Dr. Seuss theme at school in March, Tavin went like this....Suzy-Who or something like that.

We took a family trip to the coast for an extra long weekend in March as well, Lucy really enjoyed the beach!
All of the beach, and she didn't care where it got on (or in) her person. After we got home, she found some sand in a coat pocket and (gulp) ate it. Chewed it and everything.
Beach time was fun.....it wasn't too windy, but it was not warm. Just typical Oregon beach sunshine, the dry type.
Snack time where Lucy could enjoy "equal seating" and not be in a high chair or booster.

There was a tragic incident that happened less than 1 mile from our home. A boy was trapped in the surf and ultimately drowned, as did one of his young would-be rescuers. From our windows, we could see the S&R guys patrolling the beach for the next day looking for him (the rescuer). He was just recently recovered in the last couple of weeks, I believe.
Fast forward to April, when my mother and I took a road trip to Salt Lake City to pick up a minivan! :) Mom drove us there, along with my grandma (her mom) who we dropped off in Idaho. Then, we drove back after a 1 day-2 night stay. We had a great view from our hotel in Salt Lake (Priceline is great for 2 adult stays!) and watched airplanes.
More fast forwarding to 2 weeks ago......A friend/neighbor has several pets, one of whom is this cat "B.W." who is 7 yrs old, declawed, and "fixed". She got 2 new min. daschund puppies and his royal highness here did not appreciate their presence. He left smelly, staining evidence of his displeasure on her bathroom rugs and other personal articles.
He spent the first 2 weeks hiding, as in this baby basket of Lucy's doll, and just last night he purred and showed us some affection. I have been referring to him as "ghost cat" because he never makes an appearance except for some brief, quiet verbage at night. I'm also pleased to say he uses the litter box appropriately and exclusively.

Firepit, finally!

Kevin got a stand-alone fire pit at Home Depot last week and we have been enjoying it. Tonight, we were out in a mild sprinkle.
Don't Tavin's new $5 pants look great?

RJ considers himself a person and promptly took Simon's chair.

Lucy, giving RJ what-for. This is the "No" word. Notice the chopped appearance of the right side of her hair just above her ear. That's because she cut it all off the other day. I can probably wait a month or so for more grow out, then I'll have to get a haircut or she will just look like a freak.

Otherwise, all is well with us and I apologize for getting lazy. :)

Snow Season is here!

I must be slacking off, it's been a long time since my last post, I haven't done my Christmas card/letter yet, and I didn't even get the kids dressed in their Christmas stuff for the picture. This was a reject, by the way....have to save the actual one. RJ tolerated the outfit, he's become quite the spoiled brat now that he's the sole "protector" of the house and kids.

Having snow is almost as good as an early Christmas!

Here's our snow from last week....we were eating lunch after church and looked up to a veritable snow storm (ok, flurry) that lasted a couple of hours and still lingers on the ground. The comment about "not being able to do this next year" refers to the looming 40th birthday that will inevitably lead to the hampering of joints and desire to fling oneself onto a firm serface, such as the ground, especially with multiple witnesses that enjoy spreading tales of the injuries a father can incur in a moment of jubilee. It's even better because it starts with "Hey Simon, watch this" which is just ASKING for trouble...By the way, the little kiddos in shorts are the neighbors that usually aren't allowed to be outside when it's "cold".

Catch up time

Since I've let more time pass than I realized since my last post, I have selected a hodge-podge of photos to kind of update you all on some of the funny, boring, yet interesting, aspects of our lives....

This picture illustrates what happens (or what happened a few weeks ago) when a 5th grader asks for help with math and then repeatedly interrupts her father, causing great frustration. This picture actually is a reflection of the end result, the taped-back-together-homework after it was ripped in half (not by the actual 5th grader) and thrown about the living room and the 5th grader went crying upstairs....then amends were made on all aspects of the rather humorous occasion (at least from my perspective).

Simon at Grandpa T's 80th birthday/reunion last weekend.

Lucy can't wait for deodorant either.

Tavin shared a special memory of Great-grandpa T, that of playing checkers and always losing. She surprised us and even herself, she later said, as she wasn't planning on getting up in front of the crowd of 100 or so.

Neighbor Rosie likes when Kevin plays his guitar. Her next favorite hobby is to hang out on my porch and play the doorbell. Then to be dragged away, screaming, by her sister.

The other boys in the house. This is a couple of weeks old, so they're now even bigger. And.....altered.

At the reunion, with my glasses. Her shirt says "Monkey see, monkey do, monkey get in trouble too." It was so appropriate, I couldn't resist. Then I learned I got her the boy version, when I saw the pink girl one. Oh well.