Getting Ready for Christmas

As busy as things have been, we've somehow managed to find time to celebrate the holidays and get ready for Christmas together. Over the past couple of weeks we've....

Gotten our tree:

This year's was the perfect size and not 10 feet around like it was last year. My apologies for anyone who came to our house last year and had to maneuver around the ginormous tree. I kept it reasonable this year, see? 

We welcomed our Elf, Piper (PiPi, as the boys call him) back to our home for the holidays.

It's always fun to see where Piper ends up every morning. Climbing the Christmas tree....

Being held hostage by Lego minifigs...(the sign says "This is our house")

Piper retaliating by tying up the minifigs the next day...

Other locations have included fishing in our beta's tank, wrapping himself up like a present, riding on our Nutcracker's shoulders, and ending up head-first in a cereal box with his legs sticking out the top. He must have been hungry after his nightly trip back to the North Pole.

We also took the boys out to the raceway to see the Christmas lights. I'd been wanting to do that for years and we'd never had a chance, so it was a fun change from freezing our patooties off at Zoolights. Sitting in the warm car was fantastic!

John and I attended his company Christmas party. It's something I look forward to every single year, since I get to gussy myself up, spend time with the other wives, eat a fabulous (paid for) dinner at Five Spice in Lake Oswego, and we get a night away from the boys at the hotel right next to the restaurant.

 I think we clean up decently. And yeah, don't mind Nathan there. He was feeling extremely goofy and insisted on being in the picture.

This is the other couple we spend the most time with. They recently moved a little closer to us (15 minutes away instead of 45! Woohoo!), so we look forward to seeing each other more often throughout the year and getting the kids together for playdates (they have a little boy about Nathan's age).

We look forward to what the rest of the holiday season has in store for us!

Good News/Bad News

The good news is that I ended up with a straight A term. A's in all three courses!! Woohoo! It is SO nice to be done with this term and I am hoping that next term is much easier. I feel like I lost out on a lot of family time over the past few months and I'd prefer not to feel like that again. I'm in no rush. The kids are more important.

The bad news is that we're apparently coated in germs and that's putting a real downer on the holidays. Aiden missed school all last week due to whatever it was that he had (cold, stomach bug, fever combo) and now I've come down with it, and Nathan woke up with it last night as well. I actually woke up with it on Sunday, the morning after John's company party, which means we were in a hotel. I can tell you now that a hotel is never more uncomfortable and unwelcoming than when you're horribly ill. I've been able to rearrange my week a bit to accommodate not feeling well, but there's only so much I can skip out on. Still have to pick up Aiden from school, take him to wrestling, Christmas shopping still isn't finished, and I had to take both children (yes, one of them sick) grocery shopping with me this afternoon. It took two hours to get $85 worth of groceries. It didn't feel like two hours....so I'm wondering what on earth I was doing in the store all that time! Probably wandering around looking confused and unwell.

Anyway, fingers crossed that the germs have gone away by this weekend, because I HAVE to be well to see my little nephew for the very first time. And we don't want to be sick for Christmas, of course. Here's hoping for lots of rest and maybe a decent burst of energy so I can bleach the entire house.

Reflection

I had to take a moment to reflect on today. I know you're hearing about Connecticut today from all angles, so please feel free to step away from this blog post if you need to.

My children went to bed tonight blissfully unaware of what occurred today. It was almost strange, watching them throughout the day. Playing, laughing, talking together like nothing had happened. I envied them a little. A few times today Aiden would look over at me and I could tell by the look on his face that he was confused about why I was watching them like I was. He would look at me quizzically and I would smile back at him and say something along the lines of "I love you, Aiden", and he would respond, "I love you too, mommy" and then go back to whatever he was doing. Innocence preserved. For now, at least.

I have to go back the first sentence of the last paragraph. "My children went to bed..." and I stop it there. I have never been so aware of the fact that I have children to put to bed tonight. My heart hurts. My stomach is sick. I am angry. I'm usually a fairly "plugged in" person - to news and social media and whatnot. Don't forget that I first went to school to become a journalist. I've always been the "plugged in" sort. But today, I cut myself off. No more news, no more social media, nothing. I got to my blog through closed eyes and muscle memory. I couldn't handle it anymore. I'm ignoring it, but I'm not really ignoring it. I've prayed and cried countless times today.

I don't really know what else to say, other than just keep praying. We may not know the families affected by this personally, but the grief from this is rippling throughout all of us. I don't know anyone involved and I still fell to my knees this afternoon, crying and praying for peace for the parents who have lost their children today. The bible verse that has resonated with me most today is a portion of Romans 12:15, "....weep with those who weep". That's all we can do.

Leaving them out of it

Do you talk to your kids about violence? Does it matter how old they are? This week, I'm happy we no longer have cable.

On Tuesday, there was a mall shooting here. And now today, many, many children died in a school shooting in Connecticut. And I haven't said a word about either to my boys. It's not easy - especially today, when I'm crying my eyes out over the poor families who have lost their children. As a mom and even more so as a mom of kids that age, it's just unthinkable. I can't imagine in any capacity what they are experiencing right now.

Aiden has been home sick from school all week and I have to say that I'm happy about it, because it has probably kept the news of both shootings from getting to him. I know I can't shield him from it entirely, but I can sure as heck try my best.

Maybe some of you are speaking with your children about it and that's absolutely your choice. But for me, I just can't. They are too young. Aiden doesn't need to be worried about that happening at his school. Let's keep some innocence around a little longer.

If you have kids, hug them. Play with them. Praise God for the fact that you are able to do those things with your child today. And pray for those families. They are going to be hurting for the rest of their lives.

Done

The finals are done. Finally, finally done. I know I have A's in two out of three courses and should have a third A, provided I didn't just completely bomb my library procedures exam.

I am so looking forward to finishing up getting ready for Christmas and spending some real, not stressed out time with my family. My family who deserves a ton of credit for bearing with me through this massively insane term. I honestly don't know how we got through it.

Here's to a relaxed upcoming month.

Almost There

Thank you to everyone (friends, family, and the staff at our church who asked if there was anything I needed prayer for) who said a prayer for me. Just a few hours after my post, a professor from another class offered a five-day extension on a large project out of nowhere. It was perfect timing and I was able to devote that time to re-doing a huge project for another class. I now have just four (FOUR!!) assignments left to complete the term, and while they are all on the larger side, I feel so much more at ease and able to get this done.

I suppose I've learned what my limit is for classes through this whole thing: two. No more than two classes per term, or else everything tends to snowball and I develop "crazy homework face". One of the moms at the preschool took one look at me and said, "Finals week, huh?". Great....

Now, time to get back to homework. I fully expect to hear the Hallelujah chorus the moment I submit my last project.

This Week

I could really use some prayer about making it through the rest of this week and getting all of my final projects done. I've had a rather large setback in one class and have very little time to fix it, if I'm able to at all. I'm sleep-deprived and overwhelmed and have spent a majority of the afternoon in tears. I'm not feeling very capable regarding school and parenting at the same time. It's frustrating to say the least. I anticipate many more very late nights in order to get everything done this week (1-2am has been my standard bedtime over the past week, then getting up 4-5 hours later to get the family up for the day). In short, I'm struggling big time. At least I've discovered my limit when it comes to classes, I suppose. Anyway, I would really appreciate some prayer. The end is so close and yet feels so far away.

Poor Buster

Yep, our poor little Buster has to wear a cone. Last week he started scratching at himself around his tail pretty badly, but he's dealt with sensitive skin in the past so we didn't think too much of it. Then we discovered that he'd started ripping his fur out and making bald, bloody spots all over his back and side. So off to the vet we went. Buster is a favorite at our vet's office (multiple techs will come running out to the lobby to get snuggles when they hear his name), so he got lots of loving personal treatment for his poor skin.

Turns out he's developed a pretty severe allergy to his food and it had turned into a skin infection. He had to be shaved around the infected areas, disinfected, given a steroid shot, and has to spend 10 days on antibiotics and has to wear the cone for the entire 10 days. He is NOT a happy camper. He's also too fat and the vet instructed us to put him on a diet, so he's itchy, uncomfortable, and hungry. Also, did you know that treatment for a dog's skin infection is REALLY expensive? Merry Christmas to me for the next five years - ugh. His special hypoallergenic dog food is $38 for a 7 lb bag. Luckily he's small and doesn't require more than a cup of food per day. The vet said we could transition to a non-veterinary prescribed hypoallergenic food once this bag is gone, which will save us some money. But for now, while he's healing and the allergens are getting out of his system, pricey food it is.

Poor little Buster. I'll admit that we all laughed at him once they brought him out, shaved and wearing a cone. He just looked so pitiful and he couldn't figure out how to move around with the cone on, so he would just stand there. Honeydew isn't sure what to make of Buster's cone and keeps trying to drag him around by it. Poor, poor Buster.

Here I Am

Yep. I'm 29 today. Beginning my very last year of being in my 20s. I've been all gung-ho about this for a while now: "Alright, let's do this! Bring it on!". And then I got home this afternoon and cried. I honestly couldn't tell you why. I'm not sad or upset about it. Maybe I'm scared because I don't know if I'll appreciate being in my 30s when it comes around next November.

I certainly didn't appreciate being an energetic teenager when I should have (but let's face it, being a teenager can be pretty darn awful). What I wouldn't give for some of that energy now.

I didn't appreciate being in my early 20s, even though I was starting a family and whole new chapter. I just felt too young to be taken seriously for anything and had no idea what I wanted from myself or from life.

But I've appreciated my late 20s - I really have. Even though I can't have caffeine after 5pm anymore, can't eat super greasy or sugary foods without feeling like I'm slowly dying, and some part of me hurts every day (although I have ballet injuries and my general clumsiness to blame for that, not age). I appreciate my late 20s because I found true confidence for the very first time. I know what I want and I'm happy with who I am. I love the quirks that make up my personality and I can go easy on myself when I recognize one of my shortcomings. I can admit when I'm wrong, even when my inner Irish girl is kicking and screaming in stubborn protest. I still get impatient and I still get frustrated and some days I'm convinced that I am failing miserably at life. But I've learned to appreciate those days along with the good ones.

So maybe that's why I cried. I've loved these past few years and I'll be sad to see them go in the next year. But I'm hoping that I'll love my 30s just as much, if not more. Besides, if I start preparing myself for turning 30 now, my birthday will be a total breeze next year.

And it begins

Aiden began wrestling practice tonight. It's a huge group of kids! Here they are lined up against the wall, and this isn't even all of them.

They all warm up as a group for about 20 minutes and then break off into smaller groups (based upon kid size so they're fairly evenly matched) for technique training. 

I learned a few things. One, it takes nothing to convince boys to wrestle. Two, there are MANY bloody noses in wrestling. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Aiden gets one.

The practice was an hour and a half long and by the end, Aiden was tired, sweaty, thirsty, and hungry. But oh so happy. Going to these practices twice per week (and it going beyond his normal bedtime) is going to take some getting to used to, but I think he'll really benefit from it. I did get the tournament schedule this evening, so if anyone has any interest in attending one with us, please let me know.

 Here's his very first practice match-up with another kid. I have to admit that I kept wanting to do the "mom thing" and say, "Hey, knock it off!". But since they were supposed to be doing that...well, I just sat back and held my breath.

Little Wrestler

After a few years of trying to get Aiden to settle on some kind of sport that he could do for an entire season (with lots of prodding from our pediatrician), he finally made a decision. Wrestling. I don't know if I'll be able to watch.

We signed him up for beginning wrestling and met with the director last week. I was fine with all of it until the director said, "Oh, he'll get the wind knocked out of him for sure and he'll probably cry - but don't worry, we'll help him get right back up!". Umm, I'm not sure about this now.... I've been told that the first time watching is definitely not easy. And this sparked a discussion between John and I about changing health insurance plans to one with better coverage. Yikes.

But Aiden is very excited to start. His first practice is on the 19th and he'll go to training twice per week. I have no idea about competition schedules yet, but once I get it, I would be happy to pass that information along to any family members who might want to come. I'm a little nervous as to how he'll actually do with this kind of sport, but I'm not admitting that to him because I don't want to make him feel like there's something to be nervous about. He is very active and has a lot of energy to spare, so he could do quite well if he can learn how to channel that into his wrestling. But he's also a very sensitive kid and is still learning how to handle winning/losing situations. This could be extremely good for him - but I anticipate some challenging times along the way.

Some Election Day Yes's and No's

Since social media is overflowing with political posts today, here are some thoughts:

Yes, I voted.
No, it's none of your business who received my vote.
No, I do not care who you voted for.
Yes, I'd rather you kept it to yourself.
No, I will not move to Canada/Europe/Mexico/random other non-USA place if the person I voted for doesn't win (my admitted desire to be an ex-pat has nothing to do with elections).

And yes, we all have opinions and views. If we feel that it is absolutely necessary to express them to others, let's do it in a kind, loving, and respectful way, shall we? If you wouldn't want someone screaming at you that your views are wrong, then you sure shouldn't do it to someone else.

That being said, please vote. I don't care who you're voting for or what your views are, but please utilize this amazing act of freedom that we all take for granted.

And The Winner Is...

A few weeks ago, John brought home an entry form for a contest at work. Kids up to age 12 could submit drawings that showed "safety" in some capacity (car, sports, work, etc). Winners would be chosen to be featured in the Skanska 2013 Safety Calendar and receive $50. We encouraged both boys to submit drawings, but Nathan wasn't interested. So we submitted Aiden's and then didn't think anymore about it.

Well, John came home this afternoon with the news that Aiden had won the Grand Prize! He received a blue ribbon, $100 instead of $50, and his artwork is featured on the cover of the calendar. Aiden was in shock!

(Click on any picture to enlarge it)

His certificate and "Grand Champion" ribbon.

His artwork on the cover.

And the artist's name and age on the cover (he submitted it before his birthday, so that's why it says he's six).

What an exciting day!

Experimental

Aiden likes to do experiments. Lots and lots of experiments. He often does them by himself - without explaining to me what exactly he's trying to achieve. I found yet another experiment as I went into their bathroom this evening to get toothbrushes.

In a sink half full of water there is a broken clothes pin, an earplug, and a leaf with five pennies on it.

I can only imagine that he was trying to figure out what would sink and what would float, but the randomness of this one really cracked me up.

Camp Tilikum

The day after the baby shower we had the opportunity to go out to Camp Tilikum, a local Christian camp and retreat center. While there was a big part of me that was exhausted and wanted to stay home, we didn't want to miss out on having lots of fun with our former church. We don't get to see those folks on a regular basis now that we attend a church closer to us, so it was nice to talk and relax with them for an afternoon.

After a packed lunch, we headed down to the lake to do some canoeing. Being on the water was extremely peaceful and no one fell in!

Nathan went with grandpa.

 Wasn't it a gorgeous day?

After a hike around the lake with Laura, we headed to the big swing. Aiden was super excited and was the first to give it a try!

 Ready, set....GO! And he flew through the forest! He loved every minute of it!

 Next, it was Laura's turn.

 And then grandpa's turn!

 This is what Nathan thought of the whole thing. "Don't you dare put me on that swing."

 And just as we were thinking about getting ready to go, Nathan was stung by a wasp. So we did the outdoorsy thing and put mud on it. Thankfully Nathan isn't bothered by stings very much (he let out an annoyed yelp, but was otherwise fine). No tears, even though his arm gets fairly red and swollen. As you can see by his face, he was simply frustrated that we had to put mud on him.

All in all, it was a fun day and the boys were fast asleep within a few minutes in the car.

Baby Shower

A month ago (I told you I was behind on blogging!), my sister-in-law Laura and I put on a baby shower for my other sister-in-law, Carrie. In case you aren't familiar with that side of the family, my husband's brother's wife is also named Carrie and I think we've gotten past the confusion it can cause. Mostly. :^)

We were able to rent out the Lake Oswego Heritage House again, and once Laura and I settled on a theme, we were ready for a beautiful little shower. Our theme was yellow and grey, even though we knew the baby's gender. I put together some invitations - although I will tell you that I was wishing I had one of those old fashioned gigantic paper chopper things that teachers use. Cutting large rectangles out with scissors is not effective nor do you get straight lines. But I think they turned out ok and it was fun coming up with a design.

Finally the day arrived and we had so much fun putting the room together.

The food was quite yummy and good looking, if I do say so myself. We did get asked who catered the event, so I think that means it was a success!

We had an amazing turn out and it was so wonderful to have so many family and friends in one place to celebrate Brady and Carrie's little one.

 We are so excited for the arrival of the newest Minthorne baby, and I personally can't wait to be an Aunt for the first time! That little baby is so very, very loved.

When a Tree Falls

When a tree falls, or rather tree branches....multiple times....that tree needs to be taken care of.

Remember last year when the tree in our front yard lost a branch and it blocked the road? Well, almost exactly a year later, it lost another branch. This time it didn't fall across the road, but fell on my car. It narrowly missed breaking the back window, but gave it a decent scratching, a large dent, and pushed some of the rubber (?) siding stuff out of place.

This time it just blocked my driveway.

So the same tree guy came out, got out of his truck, and immediately said, "Isn't this the same tree I said needed to be removed last year?". Yep, that would be it. Except our HOA doesn't like to move quickly on anything. Ultimately, he said the tree HAD to be removed before it started raining again or else we'd have branches falling into the house, our car, and the neighbor's car. But again, the HOA is slow as molasses. After numerous phone calls over a week and a half, stressing that we were going to have significant property damage on our hands if we didn't take the tree out, we were able to get emergency approval from the management company (not the HOA itself but the people who work for them). That was good enough for us, so out it came!

Now my yard looks weird and empty.

And Aiden was very interested in the stump.

Here's another before (from when we bought the house) and after to compare.

We have so much more natural light coming through the front of the house, the yard guys don't have to clean up massive amounts of leaves every Friday, and I don't have to deal with my car being covered in bird poo constantly. The whole tree removing process was amazingly fast. From the time they arrived to the time they left totaled about 15 minutes. And the rains started the very next morning. Whew!

I am so happy to have that tree gone. Although now it is painfully obvious that the trim on the house needs to be painted. And that will need to wait until next summer.

Buster to the Rescue

This afternoon, I was upstairs on the computer when I heard Buster from the backyard, barking his head off and scratching at the back door. Now, Buster tends to bark a lot when he's outside if he hears the UPS truck or children playing, but this wasn't his normal yappy bark. This was his "there's trouble" bark. Yes, he has different barks. He tends to give his "there's trouble" bark when the boys have gotten into a little fistfight and he's trying to stop it.

So I ran downstairs and opened up the back door. Buster and Honeydew had been out in the back for about 20 minutes at that point, but Honeydew was nowhere to be seen. The back gate stood wide open. Buster stood there on the deck, barking at me. It wasn't until later that it really occurred to me that he had not run out of the open gate, but had stayed there on the back porch barking until I came to see what the trouble was. What a good, smart doggy!

Yes, this dog. What, you mean he doesn't look like a genius?

I'm sure you want to know what happened with Honeydew. I got Buster inside and then ran out the front door, calling her name up and down the street. I had no idea how long she'd been gone (no more than 20 minutes, but that still provides a big head start) or where she'd gone. We live about two blocks away from a busy road and I was afraid of what I might find if I headed that way. After a few minutes of walking around, a kid came running up to me. "Have you seen a brown chihuahua?", he asked. I said, "No, but I'm looking for a dog too. Have you seen a black lab?". He said yes and that a couple of people had taken her, saying that they were going to try to find the owners and he would help me find their house. It took a few minutes, but he lead me to the right house where a nice high school girl had Honeydew and was giving her some water. I thanked her profusely and then somehow managed to wrestle a very wiggly lab back to our house with no leash and a broken wrist.

What an adventure. Honeydew is microchipped, but doesn't have a tag on her collar with our name and number on it, so the only way someone could have contacted us is by taking her to a vet or shelter and having her scanned. I was panicking since I didn't know if anyone would do that, or where I should look for her at all, so I was massively grateful that someone had seen her and knew where she was. I was also grateful that Buster had gotten my attention. It was a nice afternoon and it's not uncommon for the dogs to stay out in the back yard for quite a while when the weather is nice. It's also not uncommon for Buster to make a break for it when he has the opportunity. Then we would have had two missing dogs, and they would have been potentially been gone for a long time before we noticed.

We now have a "To Do" list: Get a lock for the back gate (this is the second time that it's somehow gotten open), and get a tag for Honeydew's collar with our number on it. I don't want to have to deal with a missing dog again!

Happy Birthday, Aiden!

Aiden turned 7 today. I'm still not sure how my first born is 7 years old already.

We had a normal day of school, then part of the tree in our front yard fell on my car (another post), then once John got home from work, we headed to the mall for dinner and a surprise.

You see, Aiden has been saving money for over a year to buy an iPad for himself. All allowance and any other money he could earn or received from birthday,Christmas, or tooth fairy went straight into the iPad fund. We had discussed buying him a new bike for his birthday, but when we realized how much he had saved, it was going to cost less to cover the remaining amount needed for the iPad.

We didn't tell him until we walked up outside the Apple store. I said, "Hey Aiden, I think this store sells iPads. Should we go in and buy one?" He stood there, frozen. Trying to make sure he'd heard/understood, I said, "Aiden, we're here to buy you your iPad for your birthday". He immediately burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. He was wailing, "Thank you! Thank you!" and that made quite a few people stare, but hey, my kid was happy.

After a couple rounds of calming down and then bursting into tears all over again, we had purchased the iPad and then headed over the the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, where the waitstaff sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him a sundae. It was a good evening and Aiden said it was the best birthday ever.

Happy birthday, little bug. We love you so much!

Sometimes Life Just Sucks

I try to keep a fairly upbeat tone to my blog. Don't want to look like a total whiner now, do I? But sometimes life sucks, and having a little gripe session is all you can do. So here's a whining post. After this, I'll move on to happier things - I promise!

I will admit it: I'm completely overwhelmed by school and it's only the 2nd week. I can't keep up with housework, I'm constantly behind on stuff for the preschool, I've not been feeling 100%, and my to-do list doesn't ever seem to get any shorter. This was really enough to keep me constantly stressed already and then what happens? I break my wrist.

Yes, I broke it. I had a little run-in with our 50 lb lab puppy, which ended with the wrist that I broke 10 years ago getting broken again. I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm in excruciating pain. I can barely type (I'm doing this one-handed), which makes homework difficult. And standard household with kids stuff really requires two hands, so that's taking an even bigger hit.
I'm not in a cast, since the fracture is small and the doctor wanted to reduce my chances of needing physical therapy later. So I'm in a wrist splint (which I do wear while sleeping), which allows me to remove it and do small wrist rotations once or twice per day. That should keep it from losing too much range of motion. We're going to see how I'm doing in two weeks, but I'm to expect the horrible level of pain to keep up for at least 10-14 days.

I've been in tears from frustration and pain multiple times today. This stinks. I am trying to remember that this is temporary and there are many people out there with way more awful things health-wise, but that doesn't take away how much pain I'm in at the moment. I do occasionally find solace in the fact that this won't last and I am grateful for that. I just really hope and pray that it heals quickly and properly. As I had pointed out to me, 10 years makes a big difference with bones. I'm older now and breaks can be much more painful and harder to heal. Let's hope this is the last break for my poor little wrist.

First Sick Day

Aiden is having his first sick day of the school year today. Thankfully it's nothing too terrible so far - just a stomach ache bad enough that it kept him awake last night and keeps him from moving around very much. I had the same thing yesterday, so I feel for him but hope that he'll be back to normal tomorrow.

The thing that really stood out to me about today's sick day was that he was devastated when he realized that he had to stay home from school. He came out of the bathroom this morning in tears. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I feel very sick, but I really want to go to school". I explained that it was really the best thing to stay home and he sobbed for a while. This would not have happened last year. In fact, he tried to fake a few sick days last year! I think 1st grade is a little more interesting and varied for him, and I am so pleased that he is eager to go each day.

John's (Belated) Birthday Dinner

We had to put it off for a couple of weeks due to scheduling conflicts, but John and I were able to get 24 whole hours away from the boys to celebrate the big 3-0. Obviously I'm a tad behind on my blogging since it was over two weeks ago.

I had this whole plan to surprise John with a night at the Hilton in downtown Portland after I found an amazing deal online. But I waited a day to reserve the room and it turns out that the promotion was a one day only thing (even though it hadn't said that anywhere). Hotels in downtown are not cheap and since I didn't really feel like I could spend $225+ on a room for one night, I had to scrap that idea.

So instead, we went to La Provence in Lake Oswego for a fantastic dinner. Seriously....oh my gosh. If you haven't been since they moved and revamped the menu in May, you have to go. We had an amazing dinner of Kobe beef sliders, a cheese plate, savory mushroom crepes in brie sauce, and mussels drenched in melted cheese topped with brie mousse. Topped off with perfectly paired house wine and it was ahhhhh-mazing! I don't think we talked about anything but the food while we were there! And you may be wondering about the fact that I am lactose intolerant and had a dinner that was definitely cheese-based, but not to worry - I went heavy on the lactase enzyme pills that night. It was worth it.

We then had a relaxing night at home with the dogs and no kids, and got a great night's sleep. The next day, we took Honeydew with us out to the Banks-Vernonia Trail to get a good long walk. We contemplated taking both dogs, but Buster is small and gets tired easily (although he is fat and could use some more exercise), and Honeydew is still very much a puppy and still needs lots of direction and training during walks.

We began at the Buxton trailhead and went around on the horse trail to get a fun view of the rail bridge from below.

They just recently re-did the rail bridge for hikers and bikes, so it was nice, new, and smooth.

It provided a great spot to really be surrounded by trees and to appreciate the beauty of where we live.

 We walked for four-ish miles and were the only walkers on the trail. Everyone else was on bikes. Plenty of people stopped to give Honeydew lots of love though! Good for her, but that did mean that we had to spend quite a bit of time correcting her when she tried to jump up on people to lick their face. Oh, labs and their want for lots of love and attention. While the first little bit of the walk was difficult with her, she quickly got the hang of walking with us properly and not pulling on the leash. She did get quite tired and finished off two out of the three water bottles I'd brought.

Thirsty, tired girl!

On our way back home, we stopped at a little....shop? Market? Produce stand in an old garage? I don't know what you'd call it. They are quite pricey but they have the most amazing Oregon preserves we've ever tasted (a tiny jar runs about $8). We stop there about once a year to get a new flavor or two. They have jerky too, but we opted to not pay $5 for two bites of jerky.

While my plans for our time together did not work out, we still had a great time and felt very rejuvenated.