Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas

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"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."

It's up! The earliest it has ever been up in five years. I'm hoping the littles can keep their hands to themselves so we can make it the next month without yelling and tears.

Ian's 4. Or is he??

The sun is shining more brightly today as a way to wish you happy birthday.

A few days before his birthday, we had to visit the dr. He did great hopping on the scale and then getting measured. Turns out he is a whopping 3 ft 6 inches. Apparently that 6 inches makes him 6 years in age. For the last half year, Ian has been insisting he is 2 years old. Now he's 6. We have missed out of four years of his life. How sad. So here's his 4th birthday party where magically he turns 6.

Eat some snowflake sprinkles, Granny Bug.

I'm only eating the sprinkles.

We found non chemical snowflake sprinkles at Whole Foods. The only person to like them was Ian. The rest of us made sure to give our portion to Ian.

Happy Halloween

Last year the boys asked us to dress up for this year's Halloween. So raiding my wardrobe got me a pink pirate. Brandon was already Clark Kent today for a skit at work so he was all set for trick or treating. The boys can be seen wearing Dusty Crophopper airplanes over Dusty and El Chupacabra suits and matching hats. The rains let up 15 minutes before 6pm and thus the merriment ensued!

My eyes are actually very grayed pirate smoky.
Unfortunately, the camera just didn't pick it up.

The Best Part of Fall

You're toast, Ian!

Buried alive as requested. 
You can see his face if you look for it.

I'm Only 6 for a Moment

We celebrated a few weeks early, this little mister's 6th birthday. His grandparents make sure he lacks for nothing. They are very generous!

A pink chocolate cake with gluten requested by the birthday man.

"Hi, I'm the hero!"

Zoom goes the jet plane
(with sound effects).

Ian Appleseed

My number two manchild had no fear when it came to climbing the ladder. All our hearts skipped a beat, but only one as he scurried up the ladder. And then we calmed down. He was very excited to pick apples and made sure he was the one doing all the picking. Thanks Ian and Granny Bug for giving us a harvest of green apples from your tree!

"I'm coming! I'll pick the apples!" 

Hundred Acre Woods

On our recent trip "home", we visited the Hundred Acre Woods popularly known as NW Trek. We saw moose, bison, deer, rams, sheep, goats, big cats, bears, coyotes, and foxes on our journey through the woods. We gorged on blackberries growing on the side of the trails and took maple leaves home bigger than our faces. All this adventure with warm sunshine shining on our faces and a humorous tour guide, Dale regaling us with tales of a misshapen tree due to a run in with a sasquatch. I do not believe our adventure in the Hundred Acre Woods could have been any better.

The top of Mt Rainer is in the distance.

Our day ended at a playground with this for a view.

Location of the U.S. Open in 2015

Fell off the swing.
Added insult to injury, the swing hit him in the face when he stood up.

Too tired to walk anymore.

Crater Lake, Oregon

Down at the visitor center.

Mt. Mazama, a volcano, blew up and turned into this pristine lake.
It is 5 miles by 6 with a max depth of almost 2,000 ft.

Stick collection

Deciding not to be happy and cooperate with the picture.

Brandon and I realized we will never summit Everest without oxygen.
We were having trouble catching our breath at around 9,000 ft.