Our annual pass to OMSI is expiring next month, so we are trying to go a couple more times while we still have it. Daddy joined us on our last visit, and we had fun doing crafts, playing in the sandbox, and learning about robots. In the robot exhibit we got to make "jitterbugs," cute little critters who are powered by a small motor. It was a fun day, and hopefully we can go at least one more time!
It's hard to believe it, but I've been blogging for a year! Today marks the first anniversary of Ryan's blog, and I have enjoyed it so much. I looked back through some of the previous year's posts, and I am amazed at how quickly life goes by. It's a good reminder to enjoy each day for the joy it holds.
Our library is having special events all summer, and we went on Monday to hear stories and make a craft. The kids make a fish print using a real trout. I thought it was kind of odd at first, but they actually turned out quite nice.
The library shares a building with United Koffee Shoppe, and UKS surprised each of the kids a free soft serve cone! It was pretty hot out and the ice cream melted fast, but Ryan managed to eat all of his before it was a dripping mess...and he enjoyed every bite!
Gramie and Granpa surprised us by showing up on our doorstep Friday night! They came to wish Mommy a Happy Birthday. Ryan was beside himself with glee, and we had a great weekend doing nothing much but visiting and eating out (Mommy didn't have to cook all weekend!).
It was way too hot to stay in town, so since Daddy had Friday off, we decided to go to the beach again. It was a perfect 72 degrees there! We tried again to build a sand castle (we are pitiful at it), and Ryan dug trenches and filled buckets to his heart's content. We ate dinner at Doogers, Mommy's favorite local seafood chain, and Ryan declared he was going to try something different. This is HUGE for Ryan. He had clam strips! He ate almost all of them, and on the drive home threw them up all over the van. We think he just had a coughing spell that caused him to vomit because he really didn't seem sick before or after. Poor guy. Well, our van really needed a good cleaning anyway.
Wednesdays are favorite days in our house because Ryan and Abby have gymnastics on Wednesday evenings. Ryan's favorite "apparatus" is the trampoline by far! He loves to do the jumps, and he has really improved in the last couple of months. When Abigail fell and hurt herself two weeks ago and we had to leave gymnastics before it even began, Ryan was crushed. Thankfully, Daddy showed up before we left and Ryan got to stay afterall.
Ryan has never tried cookie dough, except for maybe the slightest little taste one day when I was trying to coerce him into trying it. Today I didn't even bring it up since his answer is always no. My sister-in-law and I were just laughing about his reluctance a couple of days ago. Neither of us can fathom someone not liking chocolate chip cookie dough!
Well, today after mixing our cookies, Ryan said he wanted to try it! Whoo-hoo! He took two pretty decent tastes, said he liked it, but then didn't want anymore. Maybe he will never like it, but I'm so glad he finally tried it. Funny little boy!
Pirates are pretty popular around our house, partly because Ryan wore eye patches for six months and partly because of some of the books we've read. One of our favorite books is How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long. Adorable book! This evening Ryan and Daddy had a sparring match courtesy of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys.
Ryan had so much fun during VBS, even if he didn't seem to learn too much. Who knows what's rolling around in his heart and mind that might be built upon later though. We attended his last day for their closing performance only to watch Ryan lay on the floor through most of it! Most of the kids sang the songs and did the hand motions, but Ryan just lay on the floor or sat on his teacher's lap. I wasn't surprised, but I had hoped maybe he'd participate this time around.
While I was making lunch today after VBS, Ryan and Abby were unusually quiet. That often spells disaster, but as I sneaked up on them to peek, I found Ryan reading a book to Abby. I don't know why, but he's been such a great big brother today! He's usually good with her, but today he has gone above and beyond what I've seen from him before. I am wondering if it is because he is missing her in the mornings while he's at VBS. Twice this week he's mentioned that he wishes she were a big girl so she could go go VBS too. Whatever the reason, I hope it lasts!
This year Ryan is old enough to go to vacation Bible school for the first time. He goes from 9:00 to 12:00 every day this week, and it's been taking a toll on him! He has been pretty tired, but he's having a great time. I wish I could say he's been learning a lot about Jesus, but that doesn't seem to be the case. He appears to learn more in Sunday School. Yesterday when I asked him if he listened to the Bible story he said, "I listened, but it didn't come along with me."
I arrived a little early today and took some pictures of him playing tag with some of his friends. He didn't know we were watching, so it was fun to see him in action when I'm not around. I was pleased when he and Jacob (a friend he's been talking about all week) crashed into each other that he didn't make a big fuss about it but he got up by himself and then helped Jacob up. Then this afternoon he's been unusually kind and accomodating to his sister. Hmmm...maybe he's learning something afterall!
Today I hung our framed copy of the Ten Commandments low enough on the wall that Ryan and Abby could easily see them. Ryan noticed it right away and stood there and read them to Abby. This idea is working better than I thought!
We took a drive up the Columbia Gorge on Saturday and enjoyed the cool temperatures and gorgeous views. After hiking Larch Mountain, we stopped at the Vista House. The last time we visited they were doing some renovations and it was closed. It is now open and absolutely beautiful, particularly the stained glass.
The views are spectacular from the Vista House (hence the name). You can see for miles up and down the Columbia River, especially since it was such a gorgeous day. We even had someone offer to take a picture of the four of us (twice in one day!), which is always nice. Ryan was especially excited to watch a long train on the Washington side of the river as it snaked its way along the riverbank. We were up so high that he thought it looked like a model train.
I love the 4th of July; however, do-it-yourself fireworks are not my favorite thing. Daddy loves them though! Since it gets dark so very late here (after 10:00pm), we haven't ever braved the crowds and taken the kids to see them. I'm sure we will one year, but this year we just bought a small package of fireworks and set them off in our backyard. Last year the kids were pretty scared, but we thought they'd enjoy them this year. We were half right! Abigail was hesitant at first--mostly I think because of her big brother's protests--but she came around fairly quickly and enjoyed the pretty sparkles.
On our way home from Long Beach, Daddy asked Ryan what the best part of the day was. He said, "The whole day!" I'm happy he had a day that he enjoyed and made him feel special. We are so blessed to have him.
My favorite part came when we were eating Elephant Ears. Ryan spontaneously looked at his Daddy and said, "I'm glad God put me in this family!" Then he gave Daddy a great big hug. That was by far the best part of the day for me.
It is time once again to celebrate Ryan Garner Day. Every year we celebrate the day we finalized our kids' adoptions. Ryan's adoption became final in July. In the past we have left Abby with a sitter so he could have a special day alone with Daddy and Mommy, but this year we made it a family celebration.
We gave Ryan a couple of options and let him choose which he wanted to do. He chose going to the beach. Usually when we go to the beach, we go to Seaside, Oregon, but this time we decided to try Long Beach, Washington, instead. It's about the same distance from our home, and there are lots of things to do there.
Holding a fist full of fish food.
We had a yummy breakfast at Hump's, a favorite local restaurant. Then as we were driving, Daddy made an unplanned stop at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery. There are tons of hatcheries in the area, but we have never taken the kids to any of them. It turned out to be really fun. They had some huge sturgeon to see and lots of good sized trout too. The best part was feeding them!
We arrived at Long Beach at about 11:30 and approximately 61 degrees...burrrr. It was overcast and a little windy, but actually the cool temperature didn't feel too terribly cold. It didn't faze the kids at all, of course. They dived right in to the sand with their shovels and bulldozer. Daddy built a cool sand castle, with Ryan and Abby's help. The tide was out when we arrived, and it took four hours for it to get to our castle.
We had kept the kids out of the water most of the time (the tide was WAY out there, fortunately), but they got into the water the last half hour, and they had a blast! It was still only about 62 degrees and the wind had picked up. They were shivering and getting goosebumps, but they still didn't want to leave. Ryan was very brave about getting in the water this time. Daddy took them out so they could jump the bigger waves, and they all ended up getting wet up to about their waists.
Finally our sand castle was gone, and though the sun had at last came out, the wind and cool temp sent us back to the van. We changed clothes and went to dinner. We got wonderful clam chowder, along with fish and chips at our favorite local seafood chain, Doogers.
Now that we had food in our tummies, we got our second wind and went to play on some rides. Ryan said he wanted to ride the carousel, but after he got in there, he kind of freaked out about getting on the horse. He's terribly afraid of being up high. He managed to make it through the ride, and then we went on the bumper cars, his favorite! Mommy and Abby rode too, so we didn't get any pictures.
After the rides, we took a walk and browsed through a couple stores, and one of the store keepers gave both Ryan and Abby their choice of a blue glass decoration. Ryan chose the starfish. Then we walked some more and let Ryan chose dessert. He chose Elephant Ears, so we ate our dessert and headed home. It was a full day, but we all had a wonderful time.
