For the most part, it has been a beautiful fall here in the northwest. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend to go to the farm (waaay back at the beginning of October). This is the third year in a row that we have driven up to Snohomish to visit our favorite pumpkin patch. Click here and here to see the photos from previous years.Tula loved all of the animals, but she was a little frustrated that we wouldn't let her out of the wagon to scoot around on her bum. She would be so much happier if she could just walk so that she could keep up with Alden. I would be much happier, too, if I didn't have to stain-stick the rear on her pants everyday.

The Farm has a big barn with hay bales stacked up on the sides and big piles of straw in the middle to jump in. Tula loved climbing on the bales and Alden loved dumping straw on her head.
I can barely look at this photo because it makes me want to sneeze, but Alden seems to be allergy free and he enjoyed a good fifteen minutes of tossing the straw onto himself. We could barely coax him out of the barn to go to the corn box.
We have pictures of Alden sitting on this tractor each year and it's fun to see how much he's grown. I hope we are able to continue the tradition of fall at the Farm for many years to come.

Tula wanted to do all of the big kid stuff. I think she'll have so much more fun next year.
Ah, the corn box. This is our favorite part of the whole place. Usually the box is bursting at the seem with sugar-crazed kids, but this year we must have hit it just at the right time because we were the only people inside. Thankfully, Tula only ate a few kernels before she figured out it was just for playing with. We all took turns burying each other and rolling around.


We picked a lot of pumpkins this year... I like the white ones, Patrick wanted some dark green ones so that he could try something new when he carved them, Alden decided that Tula's favorite ones were the orange kind, and of course since his favorite color is yellow, we came home with two of those. Our front steps ended up being so covered with pumpkins that it was nearly impossible to open the door. I think next year we'll have to have a four pumpkin limit.

autumn in montana

Last week we drove to Montana—all 14 hours in one day—to spend a week with my parents in Fort Benton, which for those of you who haven't heard of it (what, really?) is in the north-central part of the state and the last time I checked, had a population of about 1500 people, although if I'm wrong on that number, I'm sure someone who lives there will see to it to correct me.

I packed our bags according to what I thought would be fitting for a typical early October week, but to our surprise, it was almost 90 by the end of our trip. Maybe no one noticed that we wore the same three shirts over and over.

The first three days that we were there, my sister and her family drove up to visit. We had a very full house with people sleeping in every nook and cranny, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone headed down to the levee to enjoy the beautiful trees, falling leaves, and the peaceful Missouri River.

There is a walking bridge that used to terrify me when I was a kid because it was only restored about a third of the way out and when you got to the end you could stand at the chain link fence and look out at all of the rotting boards that were barely hanging on right next to the large gap where their neighboring slats should have been. It's much nicer now—finished all the way across the river—but it still gives me chills when I look down through the cracks. Alden didn't seem to be bothered by them too much. We showed him how he could drop sticks down and watch them hit the water.


Then I showed him one of the little games that my sister and I used to play. We'd each grab a stick with leaves on it and drop them down on the upstream side and race across to the other side of the bridge to see who's stick would appear first. He thought it was brilliant. This picture is of him racing.

Patrick took this shot of the nieces and I just love it. It reminds me so much of me and Tanya when we were little.
We were hoping to get a nice family shot against the serene backdrop... we got absolutely no cooperation from the kids and this was the best we could get. They both just wanted to get down and do their own thing. I still think it's kind of cute.

My mom always plants a huge vegetable garden, and this year was no exception. Most of the bounty had already been harvested, but Alden got to help pick the gourds. My mom grows tons of them to use in a school project (she's an elementary teacher). Alden gladly helped haul them to the house one by one. Can you see the strain in his face!! It was hard work.

He was so excited and he talked about them all week. The funny thing was that he couldn't remember the name of them and he kept calling them "goaches." Within just a few minutes of correcting him with the right word, he was calling them goaches again. By the time they were done working, there were 51 of them in the pile.
Because it was so hot, my parents needed to give some of their trees a really deep soak. Alden was thrilled to be the hose-holder. He kept swinging it around and we were all just waiting for him to hit his face with the water, but somehow he managed to miss his head every time. That is until my mom tried to show him how to hold his finger on the end to give it a little more pressure. Apparently there was a hole in the side of the metal and as my mom covered the end with her finger, water shot out full-force directly into Alden's eyes. If you zoom into the next picture you'll see his reaction!! My mom felt really bad, too.
By the time we shut the water off, there was a huge mud puddle. I tried as hard as I could to keep Tula distracted, but she was thrashing around so bad, fighting me to get in it. I finally gave up and plopped her down in the middle. I figured she was wearing black pants so what's the big deal. She thought it was fantastic.



Here's another attempt at a family photo. I think it's time to call in the professionals!
Here are the kids with grandma and grandpa. I love the way this photo of my parents turned out. We took these on the last night of our trip right before driving to Loma to eat dinner and go see some buffalo.

On our way home we stopped to pick some wheat for Alden to take back and share with his preschool class. I turned around to look at an amazing sunset and was fortunate enough to see eight antelope run by about a hundred yards away.

It was a great trip, and I am always amazed at the beautiful sights that Montana offers. On our drive back, we had to slow down on one of the mountain passes for a few ranchers riding their horses on the highway herding a bunch of cattle. It was really an unexpected treat for all of us to see.

Tula's first birthday!!

On August 3rd our little Tula turned one. I'm a little behind (again) with the blog, but I wanted to share some of the pictures from her party. We had a simple little bbq in our backyard with a handful of friends. I can't believe she has grown up this fast. When Alden turned one, he seemed so big, but Tula still seems like she's my little baby. She tries to remind me several times a day that she's now a toddler—albeit a non-toddling, toddler—by throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way and picking fights with her brother. I still like to snuggle her like she's a newborn when she'll let me, though.


I made a big pink ice cream cake for her party, but since her little tummy can't handle dairy, I made her a chocolate covered banana cake to eat all by herself. The thing that makes me laugh is that she only ate a little of the cake, but she ate nearly a whole plate of pulled pork! She's just a meat and potatoes kind of girl I guess.

It's funny how I didn't notice that I sat Tula in front of the one dead circle of grass in the yard to take her picture until I uploaded the photos on the computer... urg!

Here's a picture of the ice cream cake. Notice the pile of knives next to it... I think I should have let it thaw out a little more before trying to slice it. It took two people, four knives, and some serious muscle to cut it up!

Daddy with the birthday girl... so sweet.
This is my friend Anna's son Esteban. They live just a few houses down and we love getting together with them.

The kids had an egg race, although the younger ones didn't quite get it. It was fun to watch their interpretation of the game.
It's not very often that Alden willingly lets anyone ride in his favorite blue car. It was a gift for his second birthday from his Mimi and Papa. I guess he was being generous since it was a special occasion. Annabelle looked adorable in it.

Here's Tula opening presents with a little help from her friend Ausia (Esteban's little sister). All of our friends were so generous and Tula got such lovely gifts. We had a great evening with everyone and we are so grateful to everyone who celebrated this milestone with us. Happy Birthday sweet Tula!!

summer or winter vacation?

We took our annual summer trip to Oregon in the first week of July (I know, I'm a little slow at getting things posted) and while it was near 100 degrees in Portland, Eugene, and Corvalis, it topped out in the low 60's with nearly 30mph winds at the beach for all eight days of our vacation. It seems like the bad weather that has plagued our vacations all year has no intentions of giving us a break!

We still had a great time at the beach house with my sister and her family. We filled our time playing monopoly with the kids and in the evening we engaged in some really competitive games of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Farkle.

We took a day to drive down to Florence and we were considering riding on a dune buggy, but with the wind blowing so hard, we figured we'd all just end up eating sand for 45 minutes. Instead, Patrick took Alden on some go-carts and bumper boats, which I think he enjoyed more anyway.After that, we took our family on a little train and were promised a fun ride through an enchanted forest with lots of animals and a little town. The kids were not disappointed, but Patrick and I laughed the entire time at the ridiculous stuffed dogs, alligators, and a family of skunks on a log... not quite what we had expected, but I guess it wasn't really made to amuse those over the age of four! Here's Tula gleefully taking in the sites...


We also had the opportunity to celebrate Tanya's birthday on the second day of our trip. We went out to a fun restaurant in Newport, and later that day her girls helped me make a cake for her as a surprise. Her daughter Lydia also gave her a nice present of dead crab legs and other miscellaneous body parts that she collected at the beach the previous day. I'm sure it was a wonderful surprise when Lydia brought it to her in bed that morning.

Here are some other pictures from our trip...


Lydia:


Emma:

Eila:

vacation part 2: boston (finally)

Patrick and I flew to Boston at the end of May, sans children, so that he could attend the HOW conference which is the biggest graphic design conference of the year. We've both always wanted to go to the conference, but it's got a hefty price tag so we've never made it until now. I considered signing up with Patrick, but four days sightseeing and relaxing by myself was just too good to pass up!

We stayed right downtown in Back Bay at the Colonnade Hotel. It was really beautiful and the location was fantastic. The conference was across the street and we had a T stop (Boston's subway) right at the front door.


Our first full day there was a bit windy, but the sun was shining so I decided to walk down Newbury Street, which is famous for its expensive shops and dining. I didn't want to spend my day shopping and I had several miles to cover so I didn't go in any of the stores. What a treat, though, to be able to walk through the city with an ipod and no stroller. I walked through Boston Common, one of the oldest public parks in the country, and then started on the Freedom Trail which is a 3.5 mile walking trail through the city that hits all of the big historical sites of the revolutionary era.


There were tour guides all over the freedom trail dressed in revolutionary garb, but I had to smile when I saw this Benjamin Franklin taking a nap on a bench in the Common with a latte.


I walked and walked until I finally reached the North End, Boston's Italian district. I was hoping to grab some breakfast and the concierge at our hotel had highly recommended Modern Pastry, but apparently there had been a miscommunication about what I meant by breakfast. When I went inside I saw glass cases filled with tirimisu, carrot cake, cookies, cheesecakes, and mounds of cannoli, but not a single muffin, scone, or bagel. I walked out with what I knew would be an excellent piece of tirimisu that I planned to share with Patrick later. I walked a few more blocks to another pastry shop and was greeted with the same selection. I finally gave in and had a very delicious cannoli (which I'm pretty sure I called "caneloni" when I ordered it).
Here's a picture of the conference. I think there were a couple thousand graphic design geeks there. They had an area called the resource center, which was pretty much Patrick's mecca because it was just filled with paper samples, free sketch books, and other designer paraphernalia. Every day he would drag a few bags full of goodies back to our hotel. I'm still not sure how we managed to stuff all of it into our suitcases on the way home.


I tried to get tickets for a Red Sox game, but as you can imagine, they are sold out for the rest of the season. We decided just to take a tour of Fenway instead. The tour was interesting, and I'm glad to say that I've seen the "Green Monster" but about half-way into the tour we decided that we'd seen enough sections of seats and we skipped out on the last 45 minutes (sorry Samson).

The last day that we were there we took a tour of the Mary Baker Eddy Library and the Church of Christ Science buildings. Boston is the world headquarters of the religion (founded by Mary Baker Eddy), and I was surprised at the size of the complex. I was also saddened as I learned more about the religion. I knew that they didn't believe in modern medicine, but I didn't know the reasoning behind it. It turns out they are universalists, who basically believe that Jesus never died on the cross, but merely healed Himself from his wounds while in the tomb. I'm not sure how someone could believe that Jesus didn't die on the cross. Anyone who has done any research on 1st century crucifixion knows that no one would have lived through it. They believe that there is science behind the healings of the New Testament and that we can all have the same power if we just have enough faith. It must be so hopeless for someone who buys into their doctrine that is never healed of their sickness. Anyway, I'm rambling...

Here are some pictures of the churches (built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), and the gorgeous reflecting pond in front of them.





I have to say, I fell in love with this city. The people were really friendly and the architecture and history are amazing! We didn't get the chance to go to Cambridge to see Harvard, and we only had enough time to drive by the original Cheers bar in the cab on the way to the airport. Both Patrick and I hope to go back some day and spend a bit more time.