Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The 2009 Pear Family Togetherness Vacation :)


This is what it looked like on our side of the mountain, fresh snow, the boys were delighted.

And here's either Mt. Bachelor or Jefferson not sure which but it's on the dry side of things.


We took a snack break for Jeffy along the Descutes River in Warm Springs.

We made it to the resort early evening after a stop in Bend at Costco to pick up some supplies, and were joined for dinner by Kate and Family. These two little cousins are almost the same size inspite of a 3 month age gap.
Jeffy's got that little foot cocked and ready for somethin'?! "Come a little closer with that camera Momma and I'll give it the boot!"


Leroy telling Mr. Elliott "Boo"

Bumpa, Amma, and Aunt Tete arrived a bit after dinner and that was every one who could come this year.
Phi snitched Bumpa's hat that's been around since U. Dave was Phi's size. He loves hats.


Miss Kate helping her Mommy prep for their breakfast.

We tried out the High Desert Museum that first day and it was pretty interesting. As a bonus it was not too crowded since we were mid week. It even had some toddler friendly exhibits.

Leroy being a turtle.


A skunk and an otter climbing rocks together. There was a slide at the top of the rocks that started in a eagles nest. It kept them busy for a few minutes anyway.

Some kind of toad, the place was sort of like a zoo with many live and some stuffed animals all natives to the high desert side of OR.

Don't be alarmed this was the stuffed side of the zoo.


Elliott leading the way.


Indoors was a neat interactive time line that you walked through starting with explorers and trappers and ending with a settlement town. Outdoors was a replica settlers claim with all the amenities, i.e. root celler, corral, barn , gardens , and livestock.

Leroy having a chat with the hens.




For some reason this held great fascination to these three...probably largely because the seat was nailed down and it lacked the typical odor. Not sure what they're thinking here?! :) I think the door was closed and we just reopened it.

That was the way they wanted it "close da door", their own private little fort!

There was also an old fashioned saw mill run by steam (I think it was) and a bit of old logging equip.

Trying to help out the logging tractor.


Mr. Ellieo all cozy.

It was far past nap time by this point and who knew what these two would think of next.

There were a lot of bronze statues through out the museum.

This mare and foal were cleverly made from barbed wire and were realistic enough from a distance to scare Phi.

There was also a birds of prey house with a few different raptors.

Golden Eagle


Bald Eagle


and tons of these little guys running around collecting bits of this and that.

And then there was this manly display out front.... oh yeah and the elk were cool too. :)

One of the upsides to vacationing with Bumpa and Amma, we actual spend some kidless time together.

And one of the little wild things himself.

The grandkids harassing Bumpa back at the resort.


Friday AM we all took a hike along the Descutes River which runs by down in the canyon below the resort. We are very glad for double strollers and trails wide enough to use them on!

The diverse scenery is so amazing.

The lovely Aunt Tete whom we can't do with out!

Love the mix of colors!

Phi and Bumpa exploring.

More uniqueness.

Amma and Bumpa

The last leaf has almost fallen.

Rather random, we came around a bend to find these to swans feeding in the water.

And what looks to be a Painted Lady butterfly.

That evening we got to visit U. Jon and A. Ruth who live in town. I missed getting any good pix of the evening but this pretty much sums up Phi's favorite part anyway. Aside from all the exciting new and different toys they had A. Ruth had *SUCKERS* the absolute best kind of sugar in his mind.

The resort had a very cool gym that all us "kids" tried out while Bumpa and Amma watched the real kids.
Saturday morning some friendly resident deer came over to see what we had to offer for a snack. As you'll see if you watch the video at the end the kids and Bumpa had a blast feeding them.
The deer looks a bit skeptical about all this noise.

Elliott snuggling with Jeffy.

Jeffy being touchy. Poor Ellieo


Looks like he survived and with the way he's growing will be holding his own quite well.


We stopped to see the Cove Palisades Park on the way home. It was very different as you were driving through flat farm fields and all the sudden the road dropped down and next thing you knew you appear to have driven out on one of the hills at the top of the Columbia Gorge. Very interesting place.


So ended another fun vacation.

Deer, Deer.

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Enjoying the sunshine

It was a beautiful afternoon that followed a rainy morning so we grabbed the opportunity to enjoy the crisp fall weather that was left before winter rains set in for a while.

This path winds along the dike between the river and the International Airport. The perfect spot for Mom to get exercise and the small men entertainment.


Straight across the river was a train track, among the houses. What a quiet setting for a neighborhood of high end homes. :P

And on the river were boats... strange...

and beautiful ones.


And geese

Phi after giving up on the idea of pedaling.


Broughton Beach is right in front of were we parked so after our walk we got to play in the sand for a bit.

And Leroy found plenty of small rocks to throw.


Sandy hands.


It was so fun we went back with Daddy the next afternoon. Here's Leroy obeying marching orders to clean the sand off his shoes.

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Autumn Crafts

With all those beautiful leaves falling outside we decided to collect a few and have some fun with them.

Drying them off


First we tried the idea of putting a leaf between two pieces of white paper and coloring over it to see it's unique shape appear under the crayon. That worked great but only mommy could color hard enough to get the leaf to show through.

Cut out and ready for the window.


The two little men were just having fun taring paper and Phi loves projects that involve glue so , we scribbled all over a piece of paper, tore it into bits, and then proceeded to glue each bit onto a leaf pattern traced on another paper.

Gluing...

gluing ...

gluing and...


Ta da.

Didn't come out half bad for an almost 3 year old.

This ones mommy's.


We had fun anyway!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Kate and welcome "Aunt Rufe"

Last Friday, Mr. Tech had the day off and Uncle AJ's special friend Ruth was coming to town for the first time that we'd ever meet her. Amma planned a day trip up the gorge and we met with Kate and Elliot and family at a beautiful park in Biggs Junction. It all sorta worked out at the last minute that all the guys could come and as a result Phi ended up riding as chaperon with Uncle AJ and Ruth. He thought that was pretty cool and AJ and Ruth graciously let him come along.
We don't know what he heard but he was prematurely calling her Aunt Ruth for the rest of the weekend. :) The rest of us managed to fit in our van and away we went.


We got there just in time for lunch and were amazed after having left blustery winds and rain two hours back, at the perfect, almost no wind, sunny weather.


Mr. Wise Guy, Deb, Kate and Elliott had made it there before us so after introductions, we sat down to a great lunch.

(Cringe) Leroy's pretending his apple is a train.. on a public picinic table, blak.


The happy couple and Jeffy.

Kate had just turned 2 the day before so Amma brought some cupcakes and candles for her.

Looking sheepish as she's being sung "happy birthday" to.

Phi of course wanted to blow out a candle too and for the next 10 minutes Amma was lighting the same candles and they were each taking turns blowing them out.


Phi thinks that's the way you eat a cupcake now is light it's candle and blow it out first.

Delicious!!

We then proceeded to enjoy the park.

Leroy spent a good hour just throwing rocks into the river.

Chatting.

Practicing...I mean helping.

Returning from a stroll together.

Phi following Bumpa

And three cousins strollering with Bumpa...







Much more exciting then your average ride.

Hilariousness, Phi snitched Kate's hat and wore it for the rest of the time thinking he was soo cool.

Friday is mtg. night so after a fun game of Disc golf we said our goodbyes and headed for home getting there bearly in time to change clothes and run.

Saturday we got to have every one at our house for a dinner for Amma's birthday.

These are about the only two picture's I got of the evening, then they all had to run as YP mtg. was scheduled for that evening. Talk about a busy schedule and somehow he still got her to say "yes"!

We got texted a picture of a sparkly diamond this morning which means, yahoo, she's offically going to be "Aunt Rufe"!!
Phi's still asks what she's doing or where she is several times a day. :) We can't wait to see you again "Aunt Rufe".

Thursday, October 15, 2009

This is for you Ruth


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Our visit to Kate's in September

This is a backwards post starting with the delectable cheese cake we ended a lovely shower for Mr. Elliott with.
Miss Kate enjoying her kid friendly dessert on the back patio

The beautiful table Joann set for us all.

The kids table out back, so cute!


A very cute idea for serving punch.


Mr. Elliott himself.


Sibling profiles.


Telling A. Tete funny stories.


Sharing babies, you hold mine...


..and I'll hold your's.

We did a quick one night trip with Grandma and A. Tete just to be there for Elliott's shower. We got in about 10:00p.m. as some fresh bran muffins came out of the oven. They were delicious enough to get these three wiggle worms to sit still, for a few minutes any way.

Except for the feet, those just refuse to hold still.







We've been house sitting for the last two months, and are finally back in our own house as of this week. It was great fun, but there's still no place like home. I couldn't upload pictures while there so that's my excuse ...this time any way. :)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The things they say...

We've been toying with potty training, seeing if the idea will catch on. Today I was explaining the process and resulting reward for a productive ending. Upon hearing this Phi quickly needed to "squirt" so we hurried to the bathroom. He's sitting there perched on the seat trying and nothing's coming, he look's up and goes, "Mommy, Phi browken."

Here's his version of see- you- later- alligator.

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