Retirement Party

We celebrated my Dad's retirement from LCC on Saturday with a Happy Hour style party at my parent's house. There was a great turnout and everyone had a really fun time!
The house and backyard were packed with friends and family along with lots of Papa's former students and co-workers from Lane.
(Mom and Papa with Bill and Rayma--our good friends from Roseburg.)
My cousins, Hannah & Eleanor, helped entertain our kiddos and even took them to the playground! It was fun for the kids and nice for us adults to get to enjoy the party (:

(Ronan, Sadie, Eleanor, and Cohen)
Carolyn & Jesse and Kenton & Katrina
Mark and Aaron (sporting his mohawk!)

Robin, Becca, and I

Mom and Aunt Robin

Griffin with some of his cousins- Finley, Sadie, and Ethan

My siblings and I got Papa a new pocket watch--Let the Good Times Roll!
Congratulations on this exciting new phase of life!!

Friday Fun

As promised I took our boys back to the EWEB fountain so they could actually play in the water (: The Bensons were in town for the weekend so they met us there! Griffin was hesitant and only liked to get near the water if I was holding him, but Ronan really went for it and got wet from head to toe. Ben and Ryan loved it too (:

Later that evening we were invited by the Haynes family to join in an impromptu Friday Night Worship at Elizabeth's Secret Garden (owned by Kate's parents). It's something they used to do all the time and now they are just getting back into it. There was a lot of open space for the kids to play, so we all took turns listening to the music & keeping an eye on the kids.

Kate's dad took all of the kids to see three newly hatched chicks, and the bigger kids even got to try to fish in their pond.

Tyler and Griffin found this little 4-wheeler that was just the perfect size for Griff.

Looking like such a big boy!

Walking Mommies

On Thursday mornings I go walking with a group of friends with all of our kids in strollers. During the rainy season we walk laps in the mall, but now that the sun is out we have been enjoying the great paths by the river. This week, Becca and I rode our kids in the bike trailers to Alton Baker Park where our group was meeting to walk (our trailers can detach and become strollers). Tyler was done with school, so he even rode his bike the whole way while Sadie and Cohen were in the bike trailer! It was a great way to get extra exercise and also save on gas money! It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time walking and chatting.

Toward the end of our walk we ended up at the EWEB fountain...and some of the kids got to play in it!
I knew that Ronan would want to get completely soaked, and since I didn't have extra clothes for him...and knowing that he would be riding the whole way home nested in the trailer with Griffin, I decided not to let him play in the fountain. I told him that we would go another day very soon, and he accepted that. So, as to not be completely unfair, I strolled the kids through the fountain so we could cool off a little. (: It was fun and they loved it.

Pretty field of wildflowers by EWEB.
When we got back to Alton Baker we hung out by the duck pond for a little while and let the kids feed the ducks & geese.
Tyler and Asher parking their bikes after our long walk. They were such troopers!

Here are two videos of the kids feeding the ducks. Griffin is so funny with the ducks...he loves them and tries to imitate their noises.

Soccer Boy

Here is a video of Ronan playing soccer at Lil' Kickers. During the last few minutes of each practice the kids get to use these squishy balls to practice their big kicks and headers. Ronan is having a lot of fun...it helps that his coach is pretty silly (:

Making Freezer Jam

Lone Pine Farms

Yesterday our mom's group from church met at Lone Pine Farms to go strawberry picking, but when we got there we were informed that the strawberry patch wasn't open yet. It was a bummer, but thankfully there is a lot to do and see at the farm, so the kids quickly forgot about picking berries. I ended up just buying strawberries to make freezer jam (: Here are some pictures from our fun outing!

Ronan and Griffin checking out the goats.

Memaw helping them feed the goats!

Cade feeding the goats

Miles and Oceana--notice her tail (:
(I posted this picture for you, Erik!)

Ronan and Sadie--such good buddies!

Sadie, Marcus, Cohen, Ronan, Griffin, and Cyan looking at the fish pond.

Father's Day Part 2

We spent the rest of Father's Day at the Green's house celebrating with Josh's family. His parents had just come home from a relaxing weekend at the coast, and Erin came down from Albany. We enjoyed a casual dinner together and yummy dessert- brownies and ice cream (:
Griffin especially liked the ice cream, and kept requesting "more bite".
Here's Dad opening his gift from us--a cyclometer for his new bike.
Macey playing with Grammie
Josh, Amy, Dad, Erin

Amy and Jon

Amy- six months pregnant!

I thought it would be fun to have pictures of us riding as a family...so Amy took these ones for us:

Getting the kids in the trailer...

In motion...

I think we clocked 14 miles by the end of the day! Josh has always been into biking, so I know it is fun for him that our whole family can go riding together. It's fun for me, too. (: