Work and Play

As mentioned before, Steven's been busting his rump with overtime this summer. With Abi's medical bills and the new roof going on this week, what a blessing! And what a blessing that he has that overtime available. So that's also meant a few house projects have been tackled. Like finding and then pumping the septic tank. Finding was key.  A friend of Steven's from the fire world came over one morning and they went treasure hunting in the back yard. Boy did they strike gold.... on the 4th try. Funny how the memory forgets where something like the septic tank is. Or maybe it wandered off on its own.  So now we'll install a riser so the next pumping isn't quite so much fun. Of course the kids loved the fresh piles of dirt that were in the yard... I'm still working on the resulting muddy clothes.

The kids have started their school year program/curriculum at day school and it seems that fall has settled in. At least until today. Our weather is back up in the 80s and we're expected to hit 90 by midweek. The garden harvest is still in full swing with peppers, green beans and tomatoes.  We're pretty excited to have 4 HUGE pumpkins on the vines too. But with all the schools in session, I thought it might be a slower time to take the kids to the beach for the day. Steven was transferred to Station 3 in Oak Grove which is a very busy station so I knew that coming off shift, he might need a nap rather than a day trip out to the coast. So, on his first shift at 3s, the kids and I took off and headed for the beach. What a great time! The weather was gorgeous and mid70's. Praise the Lord, the kids had a healthy fear of the waves after Z was tipped over by a sneaker wave and we played for a few hours in the sand. Two good listeners get rewards, so we made a pit stop at the salt water taffy shop and got taffy to share with Daddy's crew when we visited on our way home.

Labor Day Weekend

We were happy to spend Labor day weekend at home! Evi had just returned from the Alaska cruise she, Annie, Steve & Stephie went on so she spent a few days here with us before flying back to NYC. We're thrilled she'll be moving to Portland in October. I was ecstatic to watch the kids and her; it's as if she's always just been down the street. Prime example (I love this photo): As I was prepping dinner one of the few nights, I looked out the window and there's Z, naked as he prefers to be, sittin' on Auntie's lap, fishing in his pool. Love it!

Summer fun

Steven is a sun baby. No way of getting around it. So while our camping trip to Prineville ended up being a wet, soggy central Oregon trip, we took another chance to head over for a few days. We took off and met our friends Dusty and Kayla and their foster daughter K who's one month older than Zach. I had just gotten a cortisone injection to the hip so we enjoyed lots of walks, a 10+ mile bike ride and hours at the pool. Needless to say, I think Steven would spend an entire month in the sun if he had a chance! And it was well earned this summer as he worked lots of overtime so that we could pay for the new roof that is scheduled to start 9/10!

Off to a great start!

Our July was supposed to be our quiet month. And overall, I would say we did a decent job being home, taking in the local summer fun and getting in lots of time in the yard. The chickens are laying anywhere between 2-4 eggs a day, the garden is bursting with harvest and despite our dry summer, we've managed to keep the part of the yard the kids play in most slightly green for their little bare feet. And wow, its August already!

August is typically fire season around here. I'm personally grateful that Steven is a few task book signatures short of being deployed on a conflagration as we've already had a busy fire season statewide. Oregon currently has #1 priority for conflagration resources in the West. Rare for us to beat out California! Regardless, since he is unable to be deployed at this time, it means the shifts left vacant by those deployed, the few injured officers, and the countless vacation shifts since those with school age kids are all taking off before school starts are Steven's for the taking. He was frugal and took few shifts over the winter and spring months so is high on the list for overtime options.  What a blessing from God!  Between Abi's dental bill and her upcoming hospital bill (she's scheduled for her tonsillectomy on Monday 8/12) and our new roof going on in a few weeks, God provides a way for large bills to be paid. Each time I ask God, "How's this going to work out?" I get a response of, "I've got this. Watch."

The kids and I started August with Daddy working a 72 hour shift. We then had him home for 48 hours before he left this morning to start another 72 hour shift. There were a few fires today alone in the district so I know he has a huge smile on his face.

For us at home, we've been having fun too.  We took off and did the SHOC Empowerment walk with our very dear friend Kayla and her foster daughter K (photo not allowed for that reason).  Zach and K are one month apart in age and we play often with them. Kayla is celebrating just over two years as an ovarian cancer survivor so I was thrilled to participate in the walk again with her. Our goal was to kick last year's time as she really hadn't fully bounced back from chemo then and we've been walking often this summer.  We polished off our 5k walk in just under an hour. I was the very first finisher with a double stroller; an extra 68 pounds in my case! With my hip issue over the last year (one year this week actually), I was thrilled with our time and that I was able push both kids.

Our friends Nick and Alicia who have often watched Abi and Zach had their baby this June. We finally had a chance to watch Lucy for them. Abi was quite the helper: grabbing diapers and wipes, reading her books, giving her a pacifier and then wanting to feed her.  Zach loves Lucy and is "very" helpful as well: he'll "hold" her (try to pick her up on his own!) and give her a pacifier (shove it in her mouth whether she's interested or not) and gives her countless kisses.

The kids have a firefighter movie that they watch over, and over, and over, and over. In fact, they know many of the lines by heart. Abi will tell you exactly what type of apparatus she sees anywhere we go and in any media (pumper, aerial ladder, rescue, brush truck, etc.) and they both talk about being firefighters. Abi often says she's going to be a wildland helicopter pilot.  As a former safety/risk professional, I pray about this often. Needless to say, Daddy is definitely their hero. They were very excited last night when he was moving his gear and let them put on his mask.

Family! Yay!

The very last week of July was an exciting week for us. We actually have some Swecker family near us now! And by near, I mean within a couple hours. So exciting! Merle, Stacie and Morgan have been stationed at Fort Lewis just two hours north into Washington. To help with their move, Mom and Dad took the drive with them and the girls (Tess & Morgan).  Following Abi's sedation dental appointment in which she had two root canals and more than a dozen fillings (her enamal hasn't properly formed), we drove north and picked up Grandma and Grandpa from the Sweckers. Boy was that a hearty dose of Seattle/Tacoma traffic for us all! Annie had come up to watch Zach while we were at Abi's appointment so she hung around until we arrived home and we enjoyed dinner together before she headed south.

We enjoyed a great long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. We took in Damascus days. If you know Zach, you'll be shocked to hear he actually waited in line for 20+ minutes for his turn to fish in the little fishing pool. He hooked one, but lost it before they netted it. Regardless, he talks about fishing often. Who'd have guessed his patience!

 

We also headed up Hood and got a few miles in on the Salmon River trail. What a gorgeous day on the river! 

 

Monday evening of that weekend, Sweckers came down and stayed in the camper so that Mom, Dad and Tessa could fly back to Minnesota Tuesday morning. I had a work meeting and Steven knows the route to the airport so that morning, Abi and Zach stayed home with Merle, Stacie and Morgan. When I left, Abi and Zach were sitting on Merle's lap watching Monsters, Inc. This week, I hear, "Washington Washington Washington" coming from our back seat in the car. I asked Abi, "What's Washington?"  She says, "Its where Uncle Merle, Auntie Stacie and Morgan live Mom!" Yes, we're excited to have family close. And it warms my heart beyond words that within hours of meeting, my children took to Sweckers as if they've always lived a few hours away and not a few thousand miles away.

Harvest!

What a wonderful time of year! We've had two cuttings of broccoli and enough lettuce that I've given 6 heads of it away. The beans, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, pumpkin, zucchini, basil, carrots, and peas are all growing great guns too.  The kids and I did just plant another crop of peas and lettuce to have ready when I pull these plants. I couldn't find Zach this afternoon in the yard... and there he was. Eating the broccoli right off the plant!

And we have our first egg! I heard quite the commossion coming from the coop as Abi and I were leaving to pick up Zach from our friend's house. So I later went to let the girls out and just thought I'd check the nesting boxes. And there it was! The reason Daisy was making SUCH an INSANE ruckus earlier today.

 

We're enjoying have the five chickens though Steven's said a few nice words having the luck of stepping in the "natural fertilizer" found around the yard when the girls have been allowed to range frequently. The two younger hens aren't quite full grown yet and likely won't start laying until mid-late August. 

Belle & Sticky

Daisy, Pocket & Rocket

Prineville Reservoir camping

Our friends Lashaunna and Sandor along with their 3 kids invited us camping at Prineville Reservoir in central Oregon last week. This is the 7th year they've gone in a row... And the first year they've had wind and rain storms every day we were there! Boy, were we grateful we had the camp trailer and were not tent camping. It was a quick learning curve for us on how to set the trailer and all the hook ups to go. I learned how fast my dishwashing habits contribute to a full gray water tank too. Despite the weather, we had an absolutely fabulous time! The kids could have camped for weeks more.  Steven and I not so much with the weather we had. We were awoken each night by down pours or wind gusts rocking the camper and the kids slept through it all! So each morning by 6:20 a.m., Zach would roll over in his bed, push our curtain aside and announce, "I awake! Chocolate milk." 

"We're mermaids!" Katy & Abi

Abi's little mime

Looking up to the camp from the lake... Abi make a "scoot" path with her tush the entire way.

Abi, Jake & Zach

 

Zach & Katrina

 

A boy and his cheetos

 Our camp was about 40 yards from the lake. We were surprised how well the kids did staying out of the water. As soon as they had permission, they were in at least up to their knees each day. The kids immensely enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake. It was amusing to watch the hard core water sporters that were there tubing, wakeboarding and skiing in the rain. One day broke into the 70s, but it sure wasn't balmy water sports weather in my mind!

Sandor & Jake

We lucked out and Shane & fam, Shaun & Michelle as well as Suzie and Larette were all able to drive over from Redmond to visit us while we were there also. There's just something great about fellowship around the campfire with a cold beer in hand!

Headed East

Months ago, I knew Mom, Caroline and Chris were cookin' up a road trip plan to surprise Merle, Stace and girls for Tessa's graduation in Connecticut. I was thrilled when Christine was going to be able to join the trip but sad to not be a part of the fun. Until 2 weeks before the trip that is! Steven said I could go ahead and book my airfare. We'd just been discussing how a break from the day in day out busyness of the kids, the house, my work, doctoring both my hip and Abi's fever and him being gone on shifts left me very ready for a break. 
It just got better from there. I got a flight into Hartford and Evi took the train up for NYC. She and Mom gabbed the night away waiting for my 12:15am arrival. After more gabs and a short night of rest, the Swecker clan headed to Morgan's fast pitch ball game to surprise them. Evi and I took our rental and headed east...to Rhode Island of course! My bucket list includes seeing all 40 states. As of this past week, I only have 10 to go. Evi and I enjoyed an amazing blueberry summer ale along with our bacon wrapped tater tots smothered in cheese, jalapenos and scallions. If we weren't full enough from that, we added a delicious pesto chicken pizza to it. Yes, Newport Rhode Island was definitely worth the drive! We enjoyed our afternoon there bumming around town and just enjoying some hang time.

 

 That evening after dropping our rental, we surprised Merle, Stace, Tess & Morgan when they arrived back at the auntie's rented 1800's house. This made my soul very happy as Stace had just posted something priceless on Facebook about wishing I was there as the aunties were getting settled in.

The rest of the 5 day trip included a day trip into Boston.  What an absolutely fabulous city! We grabbed a beer at Cheers Bar of course: Sam Adams Boston Red Brick is a great microbrew poured in Boston only.  We enjoyed lots of history, good food, a morning at the beach and soul refreshing time with Chris, Caroline, Christine, Tessa, Morgan, Stace, Merle, Evi and of course Mom. Several rounds of Bananagrams were played, lots of GPS directions were taken from my phone and several new wines and microbrews were tasted.

Headed South

Earlier in June, we headed south to help celebrate Papa's birthday.  If you look close, you may see that the 1 and the 7 are some how transposed on his birthday cake! It was a weekend of great weather so we headed to the strawberry farm. Lone Pine Farms has goats, sheep, a great play set, sandbox and of course fabulous berries and food. We picked almost a gallon and a half of berries and then enjoyed a picnic of fresh farm foods for lunch as well.

 Ray and Donna threw a wonderful Sunday morning brunch garden party for Papa's birthday! The weather could not have cooperated better for the gathering of friends which also included Ken & Kyong all the way from Missoula, MT.

Projects, visits, spring...Pooped!

Oh my what a wonderfully full spring we've had! In March, we had a visit from Grandpa Mike. Grannie & Papa visited each weekend. Then we got into April and Mom arrived for two weeks. Mom departed Saturday and we pick up Malcolm on Friday (a very rare wonderful treat!). With all the entertaining supervising by Gramma, we managed to get two apple trees (Fuji and Golden Delicious) planted in the back of the lot. The berry boat finally was filled and planted with nine strawberry plants (Quinault and Rainier).  Two yards of river rock have been spread around the lilac adjacent to the new deck and we're hoping to have the new gravel patio/rock wall done by mid-May.  With the weather getting nicer each week, I find we're back to spending more time outside than inside. What a blessing! God's great earth is so inspiring and relaxing! The tulips, daffodils and crocus are done blooming and the primroses and bleeding heart are in full swing. Today I saw more blossoms on the iris, honeysuckle and clematis burgeoning with growth.

 

The kids are growing too! I can't believe it but Zach and Abi can wear the same shoes.  There are a few size 5 1/2 shoes of Zach's that Abi likes and fits her feet into. Zach is putting together two and three words sentences. He really believes you should understand the majority of his talking. So, if he asks something and you correctly repeat it to him, he says, "K!" and off he goes to do whatever it was he asked!  Abi's class at day school is wrapping up the alphabet. This week we're learning about the letter V.   As a result of her great teachers, Abi often will point out letters and numbers she sees throughout her day.  So fun!

Investigate

I had the silly  idea to try to snap a few photos of the kids today... Here's the progression of Zach discovering he cracked the shell of one of the real eggs.

Abi has learned that if she laughs, Zach continues what he's doing!

Love these smiles

Father like son

Growing!

 

We've marvelled at how much the chicks have grown and changed in the 5 days we've had them. But in observing that, it's also made us enjoy how the kids are changing and growing too! Zach talks to us all day long. We don't always understand what he's saying, but it's often decipherable via a word here and there: chick, bye bye, chip, snack, cheese, outside, water, etc. And then of course is his awesome "omph" which translates into eat. Abi as well is just her own person. A friend's daughter babysat the kids and she told me, "Abi KNOWS what goes on in that house and how it runs". She's putting her own toothpaste on her toothbrush (and her brothers for him!) and brushing her teeth, picking out clothes and getting dressed for day school, etc. The letter of the week is P and when we decided to have pizza for dinner, her eyes lit up and she said, "Mom! Pizza starts with P!" So fun.