Bus Ride & Playdate

Last week I needed to take the van in for a minor repair (under warranty, thankfully), and friends of ours in the area invited us over for a playdate. We haven't seen them for a couple of months, and the kids were very excited to see Jake. They were even more excited when I told them we would be taking the bus from the service center over to Jake's house!


It's only about a mile, maybe two, but the bus ride took us 20 minutes going and 35 coming back. We had to go to the transit center first and transfer busses and then waiting time. I don't mind the bus once in a while, but it certainly made me grateful for my van! Ryan and Abby, on the other hand, thought the ride was entirely too short!

It's Ryan Garner Day!

It is time again to celebrate the day Ryan's adoption was finalized and he legally became a Garner! We had planned to break the day up into two parts with Daddy renting a canoe and taking Ryan fishing and then I would take him out to dinner for some special time with just the two of us. Unfortunately, it was raining on the day we had chosen to celebrate, so instead I took Ryan to lunch and then the following week, Daddy took him fishing.


Ryan chose to go to Applebee's for his lunch, and we had a fun time just me and him. Daddy often has time alone with Ryan because he will take him to work with him on Saturdays or take him fishing from time to time, but I rarely get to have any one-on-one time with just me and my son. I was hoping he might try something different, but as usual he ordered a plain hamburger. Oh, well.


We don't typically give gifts on this day, but we did give him some this year. He got his very own tackle box loaded with tackle from Daddy, and a Knights Kingdom Lego set that we knew he would love from Mommy and Abby. He doesn't have a lot of Legos, but the few he does have Daddy or Mommy has helped him assemble. This time he put it together following the instructions almost entirely by himself. I did give him the pieces he needed for each step, but that's about it. He loves his siege tower! We later turned it into a catapult, which is pretty cool too.


The next Friday Daddy woke Ryan up at 5:00am to get ready to go fishing. He woke up with a great attitude and ready for his canoe adventure. We weren't quite sure how he'd handle the canoe, but since he's been showing signs of bravery lately, we figured it would be worth a try. Daddy said he did well until they pushed away from the shore. Then Ryan freaked out! Thankfully, he got accustomed to it and was even rocking the canoe before the day was out.


The morning was very foggy, which was great for fishing! Ryan caught some perch, blue gill, and a trout, and Daddy caught a bass in addition to the perch and blue gill. Fishing is always so much more fun when you're catching fish the whole time, and Ryan caught the first and last fish of the day. The weather cleared up and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

Overnight Sitter

Daddy took me to a cabin overnight for my birthday, and Ryan and Abby had their first overnight babysitter (not counting Gramie). They were VERY excited and had not a trace of anxiety. Candace is a family friend from years ago when we lived in Tennessee (I babysat her a time or two back then!), and she graciously came and took charge of our kids for a while. She said they were well-behaved, and the kids reported having a great time!

Lions, Butterflies, and Bears

My family watching the sea lions eat.
We went to the zoo a few weeks ago to see the butterfly exhibit, among other things. The first animals you come to once you're inside the zoo are the sea lions, so we see them almost every time we come. On this trip we actually got to watch them feed them, which we've never seen before. Usually there's so many people gathered around it's impossible to see, but we just happened to be right at the front while they dished out the herring and other goodies to the hungry sea lions.


We got to see something else we'd never seen before or even knew they did at our zoo, and that was watch an elephant paint a picture on canvas. Interesting! On our way out we finally got the picture Ryan has been dying for me to take, he and Abby under the bears! Normally there are so many people waiting for a picture and then you only can get one bear and then there's too many people in the way, but this time we almost had it to ourselves and Ryan was so happy.

Playing Nicely

My neighbor had an emergency and asked if I could watch her kids for her, so we had an impromptu lunch and playdate yesterday. The last couple of times the four of them have gotten together they have played so very well, and today was the same! In the past the girls kind of paired off and the boys did too, but lately they have all four been playing together. It was such a pleasure to watch them making up superhero powers or playing Cars or making lunch in the kitchen without any bickering or fighting or pouting! It did get a little rowdy once or twice, but nothing too obnoxious.

The Last Two Weeks in Pictures

I give up! I'm so far behind in my blog posts that I realistically can't catch up, so here's a photo sampling of some of the fun things we've been doing for the past two weeks.

Went blueberry picking with friends.


Made cupcakes for our backyard barbecue.


Played with Daddy's RC Hummer during the barbecue.


Had a friend over to play and splashed in the wading pool.


Snuggled on the couch to watch Curious George.


Went to the free lunch at the local elementary school.


Watched a mommy Osprey and her babies after finding a geocache.


Ran through the sprinkler.

4th of July

Even though Daddy had to work part of the day today, we ended up having a really fun Independance Day. We started the morning off by making some cute T-shirts for the kids to wear to our afternoon barbecue, then Ryan went to work with Daddy for several hours, which is always a fun thing for him, then we all went out to lunch and headed over to some friends' house to enjoy a barbecue and fun time with them.


This family used to be our friends when we lived in Memphis, and they recently moved here. It was so nice to see them again and enjoy their company. They haven't changed a bit! Their oldest daughter is now married, and she was there with her husband and quite a few of their friends. It was a full house!


We played games, ate lots of food and got caught up with the last eight years of each others' lives. Their youngest daughter was so sweet to entertain the kids most of the day. Either she or one of the other young women kept them busy playing all sorts of games and running through the sprinkler and eventually watching a movie with them. Abby and Ryan had a very fun and full day!


In the past, Abby and Ryan have both been terrified of the noise the fireworks make, but this year they both kept saying they wanted to get some fireworks. When it finally started getting dark enough to light them (about 9:30), Ryan started off on Daddy's lap, but he soon moved over to Abby's seat. It was so nice to see them enjoying the show instead of running in fear into the house!


Even though it's illegal in Oregon to set off fireworks that shoot up in the air, there were plenty of neighbors who had bought their fireworks in Washington and were shooting off quite a display up in the air. It was the most fireworks we've seen since we've lived in Oregon! We finally left our friends' house at 11:00 with the kids in their jammies and Mommy and Daddy struggling to stay awake for the hour and half ride home.

Indoor Fireworks

I saw this easy, quick art project and thought it would be perfect to do and take to our friends in the local nursing home. They can't get out to see fireworks, so we brought the fireworks to them today!