Dustin's Accuracies

Dustin has a outstanding ability to nail a description of a feeling, theme, person, outfit, or idea so accurately. I have lists of things that he has described over the years that are dead-on. Example: "That chick sorta looks like a deep sea fish that's been pulled up too fast/wino/no-neck" which has me snort laughing and digging for a pen and paper to jot it down. But then there are the toooooo accurate times when he is asking me to hand "the square paper thing that unfolds" known to the rest of us as a newspaper.

Father's Day

Why not take all the dad's you have to Pottsville man expo? This was awesome. So many vendors to visit with. So much olde tyme odds and ends to wonder over amidst country music, sno cones, and quilting displays. It sounds random but there is a heavy theme going on. Tractors and the men who love them. Oh, and gold panning and horse shoeing. We could have stayed all day long but the broiling sun was way to much to endure. Next year, fellas!

Frog O Faire is a Fun Affair

The Frog O Faire has been going on for nearly 30 years now and, while I'm not sure what the frog has to say about anything, the Riverside Park is a sprawling fun-derland of kid things to do. Yes, I said fun-derland. Yes, I hate me too.

While we were supposed to be serving Grants Pass in a community wide project, M.I.L. Robbie, Alden, and I played hookie and hung out at the park. Face painting, air cave dwelling, canine petting, balloon popping, soccer ball kicking, thumb print art creating was all terribly more important and fun to do.

Ocean

Grandmas are good for more than free baby sitting, I tell ya. They have great ideas like heading to Brookings for an afternoon with a little boy that has never remembered any trips to the coast before. Alden was so excited that he got sort of angry. Demanding to see the waves. NOW!

He loved the sand being cold and "smack-y" sounding under his feet. He loved the rush of the tide and the shockingly cold bite of the water. He loved running and running and running. We loved watching him do all of it.

Aw. Sort of corny but totally necessary. Foot prints in the sands of time.

Backyard = Attack Yard

The month of May brought about some great things for our back yard. Mostly a garden that was and is and seems to forever be committed to producing kale. I've eaten kale for three meals a day many a day this summer. I've juiced it, sauteed it, crisped it into chips, dried it, blended it. It may come to injecting it soon.



This will be our new driveway next summer now that we have gravel there and an alley way gate. It's been there the whole time, really, but we've always had piles of scrap from the yard, house, chickens, etc. Now it is free and clear for parking. Our master plan is working!

Our new patio breeze way... patio pending.

Boatnik Carnival

I imagine from the perspective of any kid, that all "carnabol" rides are outrageously huge, so it seems silly to measure your height to see if you can enjoy ANY of them.

Alden humored me and we were ok'd to ride some of the less intense rides. We didn't have to go far because the colossal Laffy Taffy pink slide was the ONLY thing he was interested in.



Now every time we are at Riverside Park, Alden asked that we ride the slide from the carnabol. While I'm typically relieved that Boatnik/Freaknik is but once a year, it is tough when explaining that to a kid that's just got his ticket to ride!

Just like a true Oregonian/Hardin... Alden saddles up to the first lil' lady that has cotton candy. Dustin always says that he has carny blood in his veins.

Boatnik Parade

Speaking of family, here are the two cousins - Conner and Colby - whom Alden asks to see daily. We met them and their mom, Megan, at the Boatnik parade during the Memorial Day weekend. For the first time in my shredded memory bank, it didn't rain!

We walked down to the Farmer's Market later and continued to run amok until Alden was all sweaty and whipped up. Who came up with the idea to toss candy out to children from the floats anyhow? Parades are already a good time, why do we need to bribe them to stay there? Picking candy up off the street from a stranger? Sounds totally smart!


Ok, I've joined the band of our family members from the Hardin side that insist that Conner is the spitting image of Uncle Ryan and that Alden is Dustin's mini-him. This is the evidence. It speaks for itself. Of course those of you who don't have access to a picture of brothers Ryan and Dustin from the 80's will have to trust me on this one.

First Camping Trip

Camping is good. Marshmallows are better. Especially ones that are the size of a toddlers hand.

We went on our maiden camping voyage with Megan, Max, and their 2 (soon-to-be three!)and their friends. We kept it local at Indian Mary making this my first time camping here, too. Alden loved sleeping in the barns (tents) and couldn't quite get over that we were outside when we had a fine home to do all of this in.

With a playground nearby and big kid bikes to ride, Alden was busy and exhausted at 9am the next morning! Success!

Mama's Day

We kept it simple. We kept it real. We wore orange.

It seems that all a mom wants for mother's day is to be left alone and/or taken out for a nice meal. We did a little of both. We went to Jacksonville to mill around the stores and eat at Bella Union. Their wisteria tree is legend and so nice to sit under as you eat lovely meals prepared by someone else.

Alden really is a great reason to be a mom. He makes it easy (most of the time) and I am proud of have a special day that honors that commitment.

Year 11

Today is our 11 year anniversary and I couldn't be more proud. Like turning 30, it's really about turning 31 that counts. It means that you've not just made it to the milestone but that you've surpassed it and made it your own. Dustin and I are proud of where we've been and where we are going. Through growing up and striving forward we are still best friends. Or a better description is real friends. We tell the truth. We push the other for better. We try to steer clear of worse.

Thank you to all that have helped and supported along the way. You are as much to blame for this as we are!