Oregon, 2016

Back in the beginning of July, it was time for another family reunion in beautiful central Oregon with my mom's side of the family. This year, we made it a road trip and piled the kids in the car after they'd fallen asleep and drove about half of the 840 mile trip while the boys slept. We made it less than 100 miles of Sacramento before getting gas (and therefore Kyle waking up), and appreciated every mile we had behind ourselves before the boys were both up and asking us, "How much longer?!" :)

 At the first glimpse of a sunrise, Gavin was up and asking, "Is it happy time?!?!?" Both boys are just so happy to see the sun every day.

We stopped for breakfast in Redding where the landscape was noticeably different and enjoyed the beautiful scenic drive of northern CA, especially the mammoth Mt. Shasta all covered in snow. This little inlet of Lake Shasta was so beautifully green, we had to stop and check it out.

With less than 30 miles to go, we needed our first break. The boys quickly found ways to entertain themselves with stick/light sabers.

We made such good time, we were the first ones there and the boys couldn't contain their excitement about investigating the house and seeing their cousins who were almost there!! This garage quickly became one of Rudy's favorite places for the week. :) The bikes were moved out and the cousins spread out their toys. This was one heck of a mancave/kids bonus room.

Right away, the kids started on an archaeological dig while Rudy, in the background, started putting line on his fishing rod.

Grandpa love

Bike rides on beautiful trails filled with deer

Deer watching in the distance.

Auntie love

T-ball with Daddy

Swinging on Daddy's homemade tree swing.

"Mommy, it's the Polar Express!!!!" Gavin says.

Cousin train ride courtesy of my Auntie Jan!

So cute!!

Gavin loved riding in the coal car.

The kids could play here at this fun center in the village all day for a small fee. Thanks Grammie!! So very worth it as they had a great time and then crashed at bedtime!

Kyle LOVED jumping and being pulled into a super high jump on this contraption.

Higher!!!

He came down and said, "That was AWESOME!!!!"

Kyle also really enjoyed this climbing wall. He went up to the top to ring the bell while we all watched from below with Gavin so proudly cheering him on!

Yay Kyle!

Daddy and Gavin rode the rails again...

We stayed within walking distance to a very nice park and enjoyed several trips to play there.

The boys with cousin Elissa

Gavie and Mommy

On one of the nights we had all extended family in the area come over for the afternoon and evening. It was really fun to catch up with these wonderful people and meet new little ones.

This was by far the easiest trip we've had as our youngest is almost 4 and the boys played with their cousins from sun up to sun down. :) Love the bond that continues to grow between them all.

A group shot of the youngest cousins

My mom's sister's family

Sisters :)

My family

The bigger cousins, minus a few of us

One of the mornings, my sister and I took our dad out for a bike ride to the local coffee shop.

We spent a very relaxing 3 hours talking, laughing, and reading and coffee-sipping. Such a treat.

While we rode home, we passed the boys at the pool.

Later that night, I snapped a shot of what these boys do most nights...cuddle. It's so precious to watch their brotherly bond.

Cousin fun at the ice cream shop thanks to Auntie Jan for her special treat.

We left for a fun, little, family rafting adventure on the Deschutes River...that turned into a much longer experience than we had anticipated. You'd crack up if you could see the "after" shot! After 3 hours of paddling with young ones in tow, I was sprinting off of this raft!!

Family softball game!

On our drive home, we did a little sight seeing and stopped in at Crater Lake. So beautiful!

Had to stop and touch the snow, too! 

We had a great week! Loved all the family time and loved Oregon!!! 

Meet Murdo

This adorable, gray tabby was born on March 31, 2016. He officially joined our family on May 29th  and was given the name Murdo. Little Murdo Martin has brought our home so much joy and love, we just can't imagine life without him. :) 

Let me back up a few and tell you about our adventures in pet adoption... First of all, Ru and I were both pretty much adamant in our stance to NOT have a pet. Back in Costa Mesa, we had tried the ones that swim in a bowl and didn't care much for that either. We both grew up with cats and loved them but we didn't want the hassle of a litter box, buying food, having throw up on our furniture, and having a couch clawed to death. We noticed how much our boys gravitated towards cats (dogs were scary to both!) but we still had no desire. Then, Rudy began the conversations about what a cat would do for Kyle and how much joy it would bring to our home...and we started to waffle...

We finally came to the conclusion that the benefits of having a cat would outweigh the cost. And our search began! We first tried our local big chain pet store on their adoption day. There were cats and kitties everywhere. We'd find some we were interested in and then be directed to this or that "foster mom" to discuss each cat's temperament. Cat after cat, we were turned down because of how young our boys were. Kitties, we were told, were out of the question due to the age of our boys and the requirement we'd have to adopt 2. Each foster mom would turn and ask "The Cat Lady" who is in charge if we could adopt so and so, and we were told our boys wouldn't be responsible enough to shut our house doors and the cat would get out and be lunch to a coyote. I kid you not, we spent over 2 hours at this pet store. If you know Rudy, you're shocked at this point. Amazing what we do for our kids when they are so excited to bring home a feline friend. It turned out that THE ONLY CAT we were allowed to adopt was the blind one. Yep...our family just wasn't qualified.

Rudy kindly explained the situation to The Cat Lady, that we had promised our boys we'd get them a cat and after 2 hours, was there really no cat here suitable for our family?!?! Kyle began to cry and The Cat Lady took some pity and offered to take us to her home to see "Washington." Washington (see below) lived in a house with 20+ rescue cats... It was quite an experience.

You can kind of gather from the picture what the living conditions were like. :( The Cat Lady keenly observed our every movement and interaction with this cat. I've never been watched so closely. At the end of it all, we thought Washington's personality would suit us and she seemed reluctantly able to consider us for adoption. She did, however, say she'd need to do a home inspection. No joke. So we waited to hear back from this woman in spite of our uneasy feelings. After 4 or so days, Cat Lady called us saying she had another option for us and could she and the foster mom please come and do a home visit. By this point, Rudy had been informed by people at his work of adoption agencies like this one, and told me to steer clear of this woman! Unfortunately, she was already on her way and we agreed to meet this new cat. The visit was awkward and ended with her yelling at my boys for answering the door for a visiting neighbor (and thus having the door open just a crack!). I kindly told the foster mom and Cat Lady that we would look for our pet elsewhere and they stormed off in a huff. I couldn't believe it would be so hard to get our family a cat. Where was the box of kitties with a "Free" sign on it?

We put the cat idea on hold for a little while and then one day Rudy dropped by a little hole in the wall pet store and met a sweet, little gray kitty that just begged to be held, snuggled, and loved. Perfect. We went to our local big store to buy all the cat "necessities" we'd need. The boys just couldn't have been cuter!

Then came the trip to go get our little boy. :)

Murdo is a little love and prefers to be very near us. He cuddles anyone and everyone, doesn't run and hide from Gavin's young hands, and purrs on a dime.

 We called local family members and they came pretty quickly to meet him. We loved how well he took to all the new people. Here he is meeting Auntie Michelle.

We kept our little guy in the boys' bathroom for a few days and then let him branch out to our bedroom for about a week before opening the doors to the rest of the house. Murdo did so well.

He is so playful and fun and yet loves to sleep on or near you. He follows us room to room, wanting to be close. He's just the best.

Murdo is an indoor/outdoor kitty and definitely knows where his home is. So far, no throw up, no accidents (minus the one in our dishwasher when the door was down! Yuck!) and uses his scratching post and leaves our couch alone! :)  His only downfall is that he keeps us awake at about 11pm and 4am. We're hoping with age, he mellows out.

Overall, we are just in love. Murds (yes, he already has several nicknames) sleeps with Kyle every night and is a trooper with all of Gavin's "affection." A practically perfect little kitty, he is. :)

Summer 2016 Highlight Reel

I'm so sorry for my absent blogging. I know some of you really enjoy reading and I don't mean to be slow. Since I am over 4 months behind, I'll give a one or two picture recap of our summer and go into more detail on some events throughout the week. That's my goal anyway. ;) 

Though our summer starts at the end of May, I'll go backwards by a few weeks just so that Mom is included in one picture this summer! :) 

Mother's Day 2016

Grammie love 

Neighborhood block parties 

Murdo Martin joined our family at just 6 weeks old. Definitely more on this one later! ;)

Fun visit with Tiffany's boys in San Diego!

 Teagan and Jalen

 Celebrating Father's Day

 Playing pretend pilots complete with captain's hats, dress shirts, and ties. The airplane is behind them with more seating available for all to join in...

 Fun play zones with friends Isacc and Annika

 Auntie visits

 Boat rides in the Back Bay with the family. Daddy got a bigger boat for us all to fit in.

 Frozen yogurt ;)

 Army men and fireworks...

 Birthday parties...this one at Frog's Bounce House

 Our family trip to Oregon! A massive post coming on this one! haha...

Swim lessons with the AMAZING Miss Diane!

 Trips to Isacc and Annika's Great Grandma's house just up the street...her pool is the spot to be on a hot day!

 A GG visit!!

Church park playdates. The boys love and miss our former neighbors from Costa Mesa. Glad we still go to church together.

 Kyle got walluped on his birthday by his Taekwondo friends!

 More BMXing with friends...

Two family reunions in the park!! More to come with this one.

 The boys' 3rd cousins, Si and Jade, came for a visit over night. Their parents did, too. :)

 We became Science Discovery Center annual pass holders and thoroughly enjoyed exploring this place. More on this one later, too.

 Grammie visits!

 A fun time at Adventure Playground in Huntington Beach, with our friends Lisa and Trent. More on this one, too.

Beach trips

 Bike rides to the donut shop!

 Kyle passed another belt test!

 We also enjoyed a weekend in Palm Springs at a gorgeous resort with some friends of ours. Silly mommy forgot her camera and my old phone couldn't store any pics (dropped a few too many times I guess!). Kyle also participated in a 3 day art class taught by a Biola friend of Rudy's. He loved it and we now have several masterpieces in different media to hang in his room. :) It was a fun summer that passed as quickly as they all seem to do.