First Offering

Whenever Ryan earns some money, we always have him put ten percent aside so he can give it to the Lord. Since his Sunday School never takes an offering, he hasn't been able to give it yet. Now that we are hoping to move, we are training the kids to sit in service with us (so they can do that when we look for a new church), and today was Ryan's first day to come to regular service with us instead of Sunday School. He had a ton of questions: What is that big screen for (lyrics, sermon notes), what is that juice and bread (communion), why do you drink and eat it, what are those sticks they're holding (microphones), is he preaching yet, etc.

He was very good and quiet, and we were really proud of how well he did. We gave him his tithe money when they passed the offering plate, and he put it in very willingly (what are they going to do with my money?). I know this sounds corny, but for some reason it really moved me to see him giving his money to the Lord. It was one of those teary-eyed Mommy moments that I dreamed about for years before we had children!

Story Time for Tabitha

I watched a friend's baby all day Wednesday of last week, and the kids and I had a really fun time. Ryan and Abby were totally enamored with her and helped me all day long! While I was helping Abby with something, I noticed Ryan had gotten a book and started reading it to Tabitha (who was actually paying attention!). He would read a page and then hold the picture up for her to see. I was so neat to see him doing this all on his own, and it kept Tabitha entertained for nearly 20 minutes.

Pixie Park

This small stretch of beach along the Columbia River is called Pixie Park. It's in Columbia City, Oregon. We went up there last weekend to look again at the house that we hope to buy, and we visited this little park to let the kids throw some rocks into the river. The kids had a blast and didn't want to leave. Mommy even learned how to skip a rock, whoo-hoo (it only took 30 plus years to learn)!

Too Much Spam

I've been getting too much spam in my comments, so I'm adding a word verification. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hillsboro Airshow

Granpa and kids in a military armored vehicle

We went to the Hillsboro Airshow today, and the weather was perfect! Last year we cooked in heat over 100 degrees, but this year it was a mild 75 or so. Last year the stars of the event were the Blue Angels, and this year it was the Thunderbirds. The kids got a huge kick out of it last year and had been really excited to go this year.

Unfortunately, either they got their fill watching them practice the last few days (they fly right over our house) or we just had to wait too long for the main event because both of them were kind of ho-hum about it once we got there today. Still it was a fun day, and it was nice to have Granpa with us this year. Ryan was more interested in the military vehicles than he was the airplanes it seems.

Ryan in a portable air traffic control tower that's on the back of a Humvee.

Spinning Granpa

After we looked through our potential new home in Columbia City, we let the kids play at the local park just a couple blocks from the new house. It's an older park and it had some things that I haven't seen at newer parks, such as a neat airplane on springs that rocks back and forth and this fun spinning column. I think it used to be a merry-go-round and now it's just converted to a spinning thing. Ryan had fun spinning Granpa on it, and, believe me, it goes REALLY fast!

No News on Surgery

Ryan had another eye appointment last week. As we suspected, the improvement in his distance crossing was a fluke. However, the doctor is still reluctant to schedule surgery, so we are waiting another six weeks. Then the doctor will dilate his eyes again to get an accurate measurement of his prescription. Then she will either schedule surgery or try him in bifocals. Meanwhile, we are down to patching only one hour per day...whoo-hoo!

A Trip to Ft. Clatsop

Ed took a week of vacation time which we mostly spent workng on the yard and house, but we did take a day and go see Ft. Clatsop near Astoria, Oregon. It's where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1805-06. They built a replica of the original fort (which no longer exists) using their journals and drawings and descriptions of the fort. During their stay it rained 106 days and there were only 12 days without rain and only six of those days were sunny. They didn't get much of a good first impression of the Oregon Coast, I'm afraid!

Fortunately for us when we visited it was a gorgeous day, and since school was back in session, we almost had the place all to ourselves! We watched a slide presentation on Lewis and Clark and looked around the museum. There's a short trail, and the kids had fun running on the path and looking at the squirrels.

We started the day off by having breakfast at an old logging camp called Camp 18. They serve enormous pancakes called Flatcars, which the kids devoured. The entire building is made out of huge logs, and Ryan couldn't get over that the main beam was one giant tree. The kids got to climb on old trains and logging equipment, which they loved. Then we visited the fort.

Lastly we spent some time in Astoria. We climbed the 164-step spiral staircase of the Astoria Column which commemorates the historical events of this area. I thought Ryan would freak out when he walked out on the top (he tends to be afraid of being up high), but he did great. The view was breathtaking, but Ryan was most excited that he could see our van in the parking lot!

Trip to Bullwinkle's

We told Ryan that when he finished his reading book we would take him someplace special, so today we made good on that promise. We took him to a local place called Bullwinkle's Family Fun Center. We couldn't convince him to ride on the bumper boats or the race cars, but they have a huge play structure that parents are allowed to climb on with the kids (can you say claustrophobia?!), so of course he and Abby had a blast climbing on that!

Ryan also played miniature golf for the first time. He LOVED it, and he was surprisingly good at holding the club. He especially liked the holes where the ball disappears and comes out through a tunnel on another fairway! A nice bonus was that we had free coupons he earned from the library's summer reading program, and the weather was perfect. We had a wonderful family day.