Spring Break

Here are some highlights of our visit from Papa Fred, Aunt Sarah and Cousin Alek last week. They drove out here from Illinois for spring break. And when I say drive, I mean straight through. They are insane travelers and we love them for it! The boys are getting older and are close enough in age that they have a lot of the same interests - dinosaurs, trucks, cars and playing ball with Papa Fred. Lots of fun, despite the visit to the ER. (see next post for details)

ER visit

Oliver had his first trip to the ER last week. His cousin Alek, who lives in Chicago, was visiting and they collided after having lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Like typical boys, they were playing hard and having fun. Oliver's chin met Alek's eye and the blood started pouring. I'm glad we actually took Oliver to the ER, we debated a bit, because he ended up getting 5 stitches. He fought the nurses and dr. pretty hard, but they managed to sew him up. After a popcicle from the nurse the crying quickly tapered off. More ice cream was eaten at home too.




Today Oliver got the stitches removed at our dr's office. I think he suffers from PTSD, because as soon as the nurse came in and asked him to lie down, the crying (screaming) started all over again. Anthony and I had to hold him down. It was brutal. But again, ice cream to the rescue! Funny how the tears just melt away. When I call him my 'brave little boy', he says 'no I'm not'. But he really is!

Port Townsend

We spent the weekend in Port Townsend, WA just for the hell of it. We rented a cabin in the woods just on the outskirts of town near the water. We hiked to Fort Worden State Park, a 19th Century military fort and played on the beach. Oliver rode his first ferry boat, which he loved. We had a great and relaxing weekend away from home.

Trail building

Oliver and I helped build a new hiking trail today on Badger Mtn. in Richland. We carried two buckets of gravel up the hill a short distance to the loading area. Then the real workers will use the gravel this weekend to turn the popular trail into a loop. Right now it's a crowded single track route that you have to go up and back down on. This is exciting for us since this is one of the few non-paved hiking trails close to us. Oliver did great! He kept adding rocks to our buckets on the way up. Thanks son, you're a real help.Can't help but take a few for himself.

You can see where we started, by the white blob of buckets.