Park

When we go to the park, Noah loves to climb.



And slide. It wasn't until about a month ago when Noah would go down the slides by himself. He would ride down on my lap. This independence will come in handy next spring ;) when we are able to go to the park again, once it warms up.









Noah has good skill on the climbing wall. He can get all the way to the top with just a little help, to get started.

Noah loves the bee the best. It must be the BEEson in him.

More sliding.

More climbing.

Noah has grown up so much over the summer. His independence has definitely increased in all aspects of life, but it is very noticable at the park. He loves to play at the park!

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day weekend we drove to Trout Lake, WA to visit Justin and Sarah. They live in the middle of no where and have to drive at least 30 minutes to get groceries, but the view is amazing. This is Mount Adams. I am in love with the mountain!

We had to take a touristy picture in front of the beautiful mountain.

Justin is a band teacher at the school in Trout Lake, so we got to see his classroom. Noah was a big fan of the drum set. Much to his dismay, he will never get one!





On Sunday we went to the Portland Zoo because it is only an hour and a half away. We had a ton of fun looking at the animals. And the weather was perfect. Cool, cloudy, but not rainy. Noah even enjoyed himself at the zoo.

Noah loved the sea lions until one of them came up for air and it startled him. He started crying after that, so we moved on.

Noah and I looking at the zebras. Noah kept talking about the "horse" and "trees." So I kept telling him they were zebras, but he didn't change his story.



Lions.

Wild dogs. We were walking through one of the indoor exhibits and they brought in the wild dogs. They are huge! Behind glass and in pictures, I never realized how big they are.

Cheetah.

The tube that is right near the serval's feet had mole rats in it and the mole rat kept teasing the serval. It was pretty funny!

Elephants.



I saw this hibiscus in a planter and had to take a picture. The whole 2 weeks in Hawaii I never did see a hibiscus this color, and in a cold rainy climate of Oregon I find one. Go figure!

Polar bears.

Bald Eagle.

Mountain goat.

On the drive home from Portland, we came across a wreck on the last stretch of road before getting to Justin and Sarah's. Fortunately it was mostly cleared, but when we got back to the house, there wasn't any power. We hadn't had dinner yet, so we made chicken enchaladas on the bbq. They were very good!

We had a great weekend with Justin and Sarah. Trout Lake was a beautiful place, but way too remote for me to live in. I don't know how they do it!

Sand Dunes

We had a fun trip to the Sand Dunes with Corey and Jeffrey. It had been years since I had been there and I had forgotten how wonderful it is. Except for the walk down to the water. That was just as hot as ever. An maybe more difficult because we had to carry Noah up and down the dunes, so he wouldn't burn his little feet. Noah was pretty much fearless in the water because he had his magic water shoes. The water was much colder than I ever remember it being, this is probably due to the fact they are draining the water above Lower Granite Dam. We had about 100 yards of ankle deep water before we made it out to the shelf. Here is Corey, Noah and Andy walking, and walking, and still walking out to the deep water.

And lifeguard Jeffrey, running out to save the victims in the shallow water.

Andy was the first to dunk all the way into the cold water.

And then Noah wanted to go with him out to the depths of coldness.

But unlike me, Noah didn't mind the cold water. He just wanted to be in it. He is so brave!

Corey lounging on the air mattresses.

And then me, in a not so graceful attempt at getting on an air mattress without getting too cold and wet. Everyone was laughing at my idiocy.

Sisters always keep each other a float. If only the other two were with us! It would have been like old times.

I love Noah's toothy smiles.

Group photo minus Jeffrey who was behind the camera.

Noah and I lounging together.

Now Andy is dragging Corey in with him. Jeffrey is the only one of us who he didn't manage to dunk.

He were all tired and ready to go home so we packed everything up and headed home.

On the drive home, we went through Clarkston for some DELICIOUS 4-10 drive-in ice cream. There is nothing better than that. A fun day with friends, ice cream, and then I made tater tot casserole for dinner. Yum!

Royal Fireworks

Every year we go up to Spokane for the Royal fireworks concert at Riverfront Park. They have a symphony concert and then shoot off fireworks in time with Handel's Water Music. It is a wonderful show. This year we didn't stay for the concert, since Andy got home from a road trip that morning. We just went up and walked around the park then had dinner with the family and drove home.



Noah is still terrified of slides so he always wants to be accompanied down them. The enormous radio flyer slide was fun!



N is for Noah!! Once I took Noah's picture and it was time to move on to the carosel, he threw a fit because he wanted to stay on the blocks.

Noah and I rode the carosel together. Noah wasn't a fan of the carosel, after it sped up he started crying and trying to climb off into my arms, as I am just trying not to fall over.



We had a great day up in Spokane!! Hopefully next year we will be able to stay for the entire day.