End of July

A humongous Thank You to Mom and Dad who provided an entire evening of fun for me. We attended The Piano Guys concert at the Portland Zoo. Shannon and her husband were there with her inlaws as well, so that was an extra perk. I LOVED the concert. They are even better live than online: so funny, so entertaining.

The elephant enclosure comes around right next to the concert area.

 What a goofball

(Credit to Dad for the following pictures - I'm including them because his turned out great and mine not so)

 Last week Underwater Audio held their company picnic. That was lots of fun too! The main event was bubble soccer which Brennan and Asher were SO pleased they got play. In fact, as we alternated between adults-only and kids-only matches, my boys played at every single opportunity and I don't think any adults did that! Most of us gave it one or two gos. On a less hot day (and if I were in better shoes) it would be amazing.

One of Brennan's techniques was to sit and lean (so he could see out the top instead of through the bubble) blocking the goal.

 I may not have a lot of soccer experience, but I can charge someone like nobody's business! ;-) I knocked over my boss (the son) several times, one time pretty good apparently. I ended up with my feet in the air myself at one point.

I learned that evening that Asher, Hollyn, and Kieran put together make a pretty equal see-saw match.

Hollyn enjoyed her Parks and Rec ballet/tap classes. I wouldn't say she's a natural, but she sure had fun. And during free dance time she TOTALLY rocks it. She and Kieran hear music and MUST dance.

This is such a typical Hollyn face

 So's this one

One Friday while at work I decided: let's go camping tonight! My friend Angeli was alone with her kids too with Kenyon on a Scouts backpacking trip, so I invited her and theirs to come camp with us too. After getting all ready, we headed to Richardson Park bordering Fern Ridge (Eugene). We arrived to find out that the campground was full. :-( Boo. We were SO disappointed after getting all jazzed about camping.

We played in the lake a little; in the mean time Angeli invited us to come camp in their backyard. So we took her up on that and enjoyed a wonderful evening roasting our hotdogs and starbursts over their firepit and sleeping in the tent on their back lawn.

Today we stayed after church for a Ward Social - which was as LEAST as much fun as an elaborate, planned, decorated Ward party, with much less of the work. ;-) Anyway, Kieran was one of the little people running his heart out around the gym. And I mean that almost literally. He turned redder than a tomato and developed pretty bad asthma. He got grouchy for a bit in a way that reminded me of Asher's low-oxygen symptoms when he goes delirious with anxiety and anger. But as we left for home Kieran was in good spirits, realizing that he could do a really funny sounding harr harr laugh. ;-)