November the round up (yes I know it is February)

How time flies. Well, the Ashland house sold and we were able to secure a new loan, so we started looking at houses right away. After months and months of discussions about pros and cons, Mike and I decided that for us, for our family, and what made the most sense is that we stay in Keizer. So, me being the anxious person I am - I got Mike to agree that we could start looking for houses in the 1 neighbourhood we both agreed on (commute times, walkability, and most importantly schools). There were not many houses and we knew what we wanted after the Ashland house. We spent a few weekends looking at houses and finally agreed on one that had been on the market for awhile, but had a ton of benefits, room to grow, etc - just a horrible paint job inside (think dark brown, terracotta, yellow/green - Go Ducks, and lavender). We made an offer and it was accepted. So the wait and the paper work was on.

Molly got pretty hurt on a walk we were doing and ended up having to have knee replacement surgery (it is actually common - who knew?)

We went to Eureka for Thanksgiving, it had been months since we last went down. It was pretty great, the kids were great in the car, which is such a plus when you are driving 7 hours. We made a trip to the zoo while we were there, the otters were really active, which was pretty amazing to watch. This little costal town has such a great zoo, it's always a fun pit stop. Oh, and they have a petting zoo, which allows Mike to get his goat fix.

Here are some photos if you are interested.

Hike at Forest Park in Portland

The river otters were really playful

Eureka Zoo and the goats. 

Ella's first hair cut, by herself

Christmas card out takes

Weekend visit

My parents came to visit this weekend - we haven't seen them in quite awhile (their pretty amazing trip to Scandinavia prevented a sooner visit). It was great to see them, and of course the kids were really excited to see them. We spent some time at the swimming pool, riding bikes and spent some time in Aurora - looking at all the really quaint antique shops there. What a cute little town, nothing that I expected. We will definitely head back for a visit.

Camp Sherman Adventure

Awhile back Mike set up a family trip to Camp Sherman, Or. just outside of Sisters, Oregon. Although we were just home from our week in Tahoe, I was pretty excited to go to the central part of our state - it is really pretty and has so much to do. We stayed a the Lake Creek Lodge, in a nice 2 bedroom cabin, which also allowed dogs, a huge plus for our family. The cabins and amenities were amazing. There was a nice grassy area and creek right in front of our cabin, and a great swimming pool behind it. There were trails around the cabins and the Metolious River was close by.

The first day, we (actually I) decided to do one of my all time favorite hikes at Smith Rock. It is such a magical place and since the weather was so clear (no fires at that point) we would be able to see the three Sisters mountains, Hood, Bachelor, Washington and Jefferson. The last time we hiked the trail we did it when Miles was about 9 months and it was October. This time: 2 dogs, 2 toddlers and hot, hot weather. Needless to say - it wasn't as magical of a hike as I had planned in my head. We ended up having to carry both kids on our shoulders for the one mile(-ish) assent, it was pretty steep and the kids were not agreeable to do the climb. I carried Ella back down as Mike wrangled Miles (who did walk!!), Tank and Molly (who both just wanted to get into the river). Needless to say, not a hike we will do anytime soon - in fact, I think it scarred Miles because now if we even mention the word hike, he has a mini-meltdown.

The next day we played it low key and went into the town of Sisters, which is really charming and had great donuts (according to Miles). Later we took a "walk" along the Metolious to let the dogs get some well earned swimming in.






Before we left Camp Sherman, we visited the fish hatchery, which was a surprise hit with the kids. They loved feeding the fish and seeing all the different salmon and trout.

Overall a great quick getaway for our family and definitately worth another visit.

Summer update

It has been a busy summer starting with our move North. We have finally settled in to our new place in Keizer (although there are still so many boxes in our garage). We are still trying to sell our house in Ashland and with this economy - there has just been no luck, what a 500 pound gorilla on our shoulders. A few weeks ago we went back east to visit Mike's parents. Unfortunately we went when they were having a massive heat wave and that wasn't so fun, but we did do a ton of fun things (including the obligatory trip to the shore). Since being back our friends Denise and Todd (and their boys) breezed through town for a quick lunch on their way back to the bay area, my parents have come to visit and I had a root canal. Quite a summer so far. The kids and I have spent a few afternoons in Portland at the zoo and the children's museum (thank god for family memberships - I don't think those visits will ever get old for Miles). Here are a few photos of summer so far.