Kyle is FIVE!!!

Yes, somehow our little boy is already five years old! He was soo excited to turn 5 and I think he feels super grown up! ;) He can't wait to tell his neighbor friends how old he is. This birthday was a party year but he just really wanted to take a friend on the train as far as possible, stopping at as many stations possible. This idea and the fact that he has loved trains this past year helped inspire a train theme birthday. Unfortunately, Gavin got sick, like super contagious sick, and we canceled the train "with a friend" idea and just went as a family. Fortunately, we were able to make the day special and Kyle still felt really happy about his day. I'm so thankful his birthday fell on Rudy's day off so Daddy could be with us the whole day!

It was fun to include Kyle in some pre-birthday planning ideas. I wrote the chalkboard sign after he went to bed the night before, but he helped Gavin and I decorate this train table runner for our outside patio dinner. 

Kyle baked his cake almost entirely by himself. 

My cutie! ;)

The night before, Rudy and I decorated the house with streamers, banners, signs, balloons, and a trail of number 5 papers that led to the presents table and this train table we found on craigslist for a steal!

Kyle was so happy! He was especially excited to see an elevated track through a downtown (like Chicago!). We've always wanted to find one of these for him but lacked the room for it in our previous apartment. We're glad he still is interested and the boys are really enjoying it.

We had fun re-arranging the boys' room to fit the table. Oddly, the room looks bigger with a big ol' table in this new arrangement.

Even when we pull the table out away from the wall, it works well. So glad we have a space for it now.

And the boys love sleeping along the same wall.

Back to the party - Kyle enjoyed all his presents. He wore his binoculars from Uncle Maco and Auntie Allison all day long and we used this new snow cone maker from GG multiple times!

Grammie and Grandpa got Kyle this Train Conductor outfit with a train noise-making walkie talkie. Kyle's been wearing this and playing train almost constantly.

Off to the train station for a train ride to lunch at Ruby's in San Juan Capistrano.

Auntie Michelle made a special trip on her lunch break to meet up with us.

The birthday boy!!

He even got a special birthday sundae.

Back at home, we celebrated with dinner and Kyle's train cake. He helped frost and place all the railroad ties. From the look on his face, I'd say it was a hit. :)

We opened up a few more cards that had come in the mail and popped some popcorn for a 15 minute "movie night" with his new Curious George DVD. It was a perfect way to end the day (Kyle later said!).

Happy Birthday, Kyle! And thank you, to everyone who helped make his day special. He enjoyed every card, Facetime chat, text, email video, and present!! :)

Oregon Trip - Part II

Black Butte, 2014...

As I mentioned before, my mom's sister, husband, and their kids and grandkids meet up with our family for a week of fun, family, and adventure. We've done this for a number of years and we've rented the same big rental home each time. It's a fun tradition. Sometime during the week we stop to take family pictures. I haven't gotten the large group shot yet, but here are some pictures of my family minus my brother and his family.

Last time we were here, Gavin was in my belly! Seems like the time just flew by.

Ru got right to work being his resourceful, adventurous self. He made this little tee pee/hut for the kids using all the scrap wood, rocks, and tree bark around on the ground. Oh, and he also made a see-saw for the kids out of a big 'ol log.

Oh how much my boys enjoy being outside!

The kids enjoyed many things but I think the biggest highlight was playing with cousins. For Kyle, he especially enjoyed his cousin Abby who is closest to him in age. The two hit it off completely and spent the entire week together. We hardly ever saw the guy and whenever we went looking for him, he'd be having the time of his life with his new best friend. :) When we weren't at the house reading, putting together a puzzle, or preparing a meal, this is some of what we did:

Horseback riding -

Abby with her daddy, Rob and sister Michaela :)

Yee-ha!!

Bike riding with Daddy or Grandpa -

Playing an all-family kickball game -

(A little video my cousin Mark made of the game can be seen here: http://youtu.be/8ED1REdaDqk)
(And a cute little video on how all the couples met : http://youtu.be/ItfpkOTVaEs)

Trips to the creek -

Swimming - (There are many pools, but this little one was just down the road from our place so it got a lot of use.)

Layin' out with Grandpa - (or, trying to keep warm while Grandpa lays out!)

For Rudy, the two major highlights of the trip were getting to see and stay with Randy in Portland, and an all-day fishing trip with my uncle. The men caught their maximum and came back oh so happy. 

The week flew by and before we knew it, we were making the trip back home. Fortunately, the flights all went according to plan. Unfortunately, Gavie was a real pill in the plane. He kept saying and signing, "All done plane!! All done!!" He was completely over it.  (And so were his parents!!) Kyle, on the other hand, was mesmerized with the whole process from checking-in to picking up our bags when we landed. He's been playing with/flying his metal Southwest plane ever since we got home. He surprised us just today by quoting the flight attendants word for word with all their instructions and post flight directions to catch connecting flights, etc. 

When we landed, Rudy and I felt as though we could barely stand we were so exhausted. (I hadn't slept the night before due to a really gnarly headache. A lovely way to start a long day of travel! :) Thankfully, I have a sister. An amazing one at that... she took us home from the airport and had bought food for us. She prepared the boys' meal, fed them, bathed them, and put them to bed while Ru and I ate and fell into bed. This gift of service was HUGE to us and so appreciated. 

We had a great trip, saw so many family members, did so many fun things, and now are thoroughly enjoying the fact that we will not be traveling for quite some time! :) Thanks to everyone who made this trip happen... including GG, Randy, Auntie Jan, Mom and Dad and Michelle!! Xo

Oregon Trip - Part I

Not long after we returned from Chicago, we were packing our bags and boarding a plane for Oregon! This time, Rudy got to go with us. Hooray for that. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get on our anticipated connection out of Sacramento, so we found a hotel nearby and waited until the next morning to continue on to Oregon. That meant we wouldn't get to celebrate the 4th with Randy, but Rudy got to step outside the hotel and see some fireworks! :) We had checked all our bags, so we didn't have anything but our carry on bag. The hotel was nice to give us toothbrushes and some toothpaste and we all slept in our clothes! (Just to clarify: I am not at all complaining when I mention how the buddy pass travel goes...just journaling! We greatly appreciate the opportunity and we know to expect that anything can happen.) It was rather exciting to have the unexpected stay in a hotel since Kyle just loves them and Gavie thought everything was new and fun.

Back at the airport, we were happy to catch the first flight out and be picked up in Portland by Uncle Randy!

Over at Uncle Randy's house, the boys got to pick wild blueberries from the yard. Gavie was totally into it.

Another hit was getting to do some yard work and ride the wheelbarrow.

It quickly turned into Kyle's train with multiple stops at various stations along the house. :)

And they had to stop at the blueberry bush station several times.

Uncle Randy took us to this great spot where we could look out at the river and train yard. Kyle loved it!

We ate a picnic dinner at this gorgeous rose garden.

The following day we got our rental car, said good-bye to Randy, and drove 3 hours southeast to Black Butte Ranch where my mom's side of the family stays all together in one big rental home. Somewhere along the drive this happened...

Both kids napping in the car at the same time = PRICELESS!!!! After about an hour, the boys were up and we stopped at this little stream that ran along the highway.

And Kyle caught a fish right away!!!

While Kyle was fishing, Gavin was exploring... mostly joyfully exclaiming over every ant he saw!

Back in the car, this happened.... another priceless moment!!

And then, we arrived!!! 

I'll save our week in Black Butte for another post.