Robin Hood Festival

Sherwood's Robin Hood Festival was the 3rd week in July.  Sadly, Alan always has a big race that weekend and doesn't get to play with us.  I pushed Mason in the stroller and Spencer rode his bike to the parade.  It was Mason's first parade and he didn't figure out he was supposed to pick up candy until the very end.  He was cute when he finally got it though!

I took this picture because this classic car is similar to the 1980 Grand Prix I drove in high school.  I don't think I have a picture of that awesome car, so this picture is to remind me of the roof held together with quilting pins, the starter that was rigged with a clothes hanger so it didn't even need a key, and it's extremely long boat-like quality.  "The Bomb" was a legendary high school car.

We went back down to the festival after Mason's nap later in the afternoon.  The free petting zoo was a huge hit with Mason.  He didn't want to leave.  There were rabbits, pigs, a calf, chickens, this goat, and probably a few more that I can't remember.  It was hard to take pictures while keeping Mason (and the animals!) safe, so these are the only pictures I got.

Spencer got to choose one $ activity to do.  He chose to throw balls at the dunk tank.  Despite his good form, he missed but got to press the button to drop the seat anyway.  Spencer also watched the sword fighters again.  I think they are his favorite every year.

Summer in Oregon

Summer weather in Oregon is usually pretty close to perfect for me.  We have been trying to soak it in as much as possible.  Here are some random things we've done:

Fine motor play:

Under the desk, "the cave" in my room:

Spencer has been taking swimming lessons in Newberg again this summer.  He's really close to passing off level 3 and I think he'll do it during his last session next week!  Mason hangs out with me and watches while Spencer swims.  Sometimes we play on the tiny play structure next to the pool, but he mostly likes to eat a snack and climb on the bleachers.

1st time off the diving board!

Both boys like the playground just outside of the pool though.

Laying on the trampoline and looking at the leaves above us.

Why wouldn't you wear a beanie in July?!

 We visited the temple as a family one evening.

Picking blueberries.  I prefer to do most of my picking by myself early in the morning, but tried bringing these two with me once.  I had low expectations and wasn't disappointed.  :)  This same farm started giving their berries away for free the next week though so Mason had to go back with  me one more time.

Mason loves shoes!

Alan put together a bbq for his Hood to Coast team at a splash park one evening.  Mason had fun until he tripped and scraped his knees up pretty good.  Spencer had a great time though.

Butterflies and sprinklers!

 

(Side note: My migraines have actually made this summer pretty hard.  The vegan diet I was on for two months didn't help at all  In fact, I'm having more migraines than ever now - 14-15/month.  I tried birth control for a few weeks to see if leveling out my hormones would help.  I had even more migraines when I was on it, but am unsure if it was the birth control or if I've gotten myself into a medication overuse headache cycle.  The birth control was messing with my contact lenses, weight, and energy level though so I quit taking it.  Despite the lack of success of eating vegan, I'm not quite ready to give up on finding my food triggers though.  My next step is to try a very restrictive Paleo-type diet in three steps: a 3-day cleanse, 28-days of eating this "migraine relief diet," and then adding possible trigger foods back into my diet very slowly.  It's going to be a long, and probably painful process, but I need to try.)

Water Play

I simply cannot keep up with blogging these days, so I'm lumping these pictures from the last 6 weeks together.  The boys have had a ton of fun playing in the water this summer.  Mason has no fear of getting water in his face and loves sprinklers!

We all went down to Cannery Square Park one evening.  Alan wasn't dressed for the water, but he immediately started a huge water fight with Spencer.  I love watching them play like that.

Just the wading pool on our front lawn.  Mason was much more interested in watering the flowers than he was in playing in the pool.

That laugh = true joy!