Rocket time!

This year for Great Grandma Waibels birthday a calendar was given to her with all of us chosing some dates to go spend with her. This last sunday was one of our Great Grandma days. First we took her out to church. She attends St Mathews, where Jake and his siblings grew up going to school and church. Where we got married. And where both our boys were baptised. We dont go out there to church other than on special occasions because of the drive, but every time we are in that church I get this overwhelming sense of happiness reminising on all the memories in those walls. I daydream of my wedding through sunday service. Its such a beautiful church. Anyways, after church we went out to have breakfast for lunch at Reedville Cafe. Yum. Then back to Great Grandmas for ice cream and cookies and some visiting. Eli had gotten a rocket from Santa this year, his very first one, and has been awaiting patiently for a nice weather day to go out to her house to shoot it off with daddy. So Jake and Eli prepared the parachute and outside we went to see how far it would fly. Eli had bets it would go to the moon. :) Zach was just scared. It went up fast and then dissapeared into thin air, then Jake caught sight of it and the wind took it in a different direction so him and Eli went running after it. Unfortunaltey a tree decided it liked it alot, and the rocket now takes residence in the big tree at Great Grandmas house. Even though the rocket itself didnt come home with us after its launch, it was a great adventure and Eli was happy to finally shoot it off to the moon. Maybe someday it will come out of the tree.

The tree the rocket now calls home....

Winter wonderland in Spring??

So we were a little caught off guard when at dinner last night...March 30th...we heard very loud thunder outside. Opened the curtains to dark sky, thunder, and then a little hail...followed by a down pour of the most amazing snowy hail Ive ever seen. It looked like Dipin Dots on steriods. Fluffy but at the same time big and very painful coming down on our heads! Our neighborhood went from a sunny spring day to a white wonderland in a matter of 10 minutes flat! We tried to run in it as it was coming down, but as I said before, it HURT. Every neighbor was on their porches taking pictures like we were. As soon as the down pour stopped, every child in the neighborhood came out with sleds and the scene was something straight out of a december catalog. We tried to build a snowman, but the steroid dipin dots didnt pack well enough in any bigger form than a snowball...so we resourted to a snowball fight instead. Zach wasnt interested and just played with a shovel and bucked in it, but Eli was whooping up on mommy pretty good. Smacking me left and right with snowballs and taking off in a sprint. I was wearing my flip flops...and to my defense it WAS sunny out before this happened....and slid in our front lawn and almost broke my leg trying to out run our 4 year old! It was a crazy turn of an evening, and I think we were all a little confussed. Especially our neighbor who drove in right after the down pour and said it wasnt like that anywhere else but just around us. Odd. But it was a very welcomed "odd" weather change. Its now melting, but there are still piles here and there. I wonder what kind of weather we will get this summer???

Our Easter weekend adventure.

(this will probably end up a pretty long blog)

Friday after Jake got home we loaded up into the already packed car and headed to Gearhart by the Sea to spend Easter weekend, just us and the boys. We hadnt been to the Seaside area to explore their updated shopping and downtown in quite a while so we thought that would be fun. Normally we go to Lincoln City and Newport areas when we venture to the coast. Friday night we arrived and were pleasently supprised with an upgrade on our room which gave us a better view of the ocean and a much nicer room too.... had a few snacks, and headed down to the hotel pool. This is the same pool that Aunt Jen got Eli to really feel comfortable in the water and so as soon as he was in the water friday night, he became a fish. He was cracking Jake and I up. His goggles were pushing his ears out, but he wanted them that way. He would do these funny jumps off the side of the pool and then swim like a funny frog. He loved it! Zach did really well too. He's never tried to swim, or let go of us for that matter...but this weekend he was much more daring. He would let us float him on his back (with our help of course), hold just his hands and pull him around in the water, and even jumped to me from the steps a few times.

Sunday we woke up and went to a community egg hunt where the boys ran as fast as they could collecting eggs, and then saying hello to the easter bunny. Then we spent most of the day in Seaside shopping on the main strip, checking out all the updates to the shopping since we'd been there last. We ate at many yummy places along the way and purchased lots of sugary items as well. Elephant ears, rocky road fudge, divinity, etc were coming out of our ears. Sugar highs all around! We went to the Seaside Aquarium and fed the seals...who splashed us and clapped their sides and all the other funny tricks they always do and cracked the boys up. And of course, what would a trip to seaside be without the Carousel.

Here Zach wasnt really sure what was going to happen, but as soon as the Carousel started up he was all smiles.
Eli loved his giraffe.

We checked out all the cool things in the aquarium as well, and Eli informed us really loudly that "those octopus are like what mommy cooks for dinner!"...hope the employees werent offended! hehe We then took a break and went to the movie theater to see Horton Hears a Who...very cute and highly recommended if you havent seen it. Then after the movie we made a few stops at the Outlet Mall and headed to yet another meal. Got back to our hotel, colored easter eggs, and went swimming again. The second night everyone slept much better than the first night..which made mommy much happier. Sunday we woke up to a condo full of hidden easter eggs and a couple baskets for the boys. The easter bunny hid some pretty tricky eggs, but luckily we found them all. After that we packed up and went to breakfast and then it was on the road to back home...the boys were so sad to leave, but it was a fantastic Easter weekend.

We colored our hands just as much as the eggs mommy!

This weekend we attended two very important events for two very special children. On saturday we went to an egg hunt fundraiser for a little 1st grade boy in Sherwood who is battling cancer. We were having car battery issues and got there a little late and missed all the kid hunt times. So just in the nick of time we ran the boys over to the adult egg hunt and they helped us collect eggs. It went much faster than a childrens hunt would have gone, but the boys were pretty happy with the eggs they were able to get...plus the Easter bunny gave them each a goodie bag filled with candies and little toys.

Then on Sunday we went to a silent auction for a friends neice who is also battling cancer, she is only 7 years old as well. Its very hard to imagine going through something like this as a child, or how you deal with it as a family and a parent. It definatley reminds us just how precious life is and makes us appreciate every moment even more. Is it really THAT bad that our boys jump on the couch occasionally??...when you think about the more important things in life, you let them jump on the couch more often. The two children these events were for are very blessed to have such a wonderful communtiy and support of family and friends to organize these fundraisers to help them out financially. They are in our prayers every day and we wish them well.

Jake and I didnt work together much on the bidding at the auction, so it was like Christmas for us when we rounded up all our winnings and seeing what the other had bid on and won. We ended up going home with a full easter basket, a really neat hand made shawl, lots of books for the boys, 6 all you can eat crab dinners, a resturaunt gift card, hand made greeting cards, etc. Jake is now plesently addicted to silent auctions and wants to go to them every weekend. And me, well I picked up on some great tips for the silent auction I will be organizing for Relay for Life this summer as Committee Chair.

This weekend were off to our anual family Easter beach trip. We started our own tradition for Easter when Eli was just under a year old. Easter is our holiday that just Jake, the boys, and I, get away to the beach for the weekend. We stay in a hotel (we've been to a few places..the Salishan, Hallmark Inn, and this year its Gearhart by the Sea), eat lots of goodies and yummy foods, sleep alot, watch a lot of tv, go to a movie (Horton Hears a Who is on our list for this year!!) swim in the pool, wander the beach, color easter eggs, go on egg hunts, and the Easter bunny always finds our hotel room to deliver the boys some little suprises. I used to say that Christmas was my favorite holiday, but since this tradition started...now Easter is DEFINATLEY my favorite holiday. I look foward to this weekend all year long! Just a couple more days, and were on the road. I hope all of you have a great Easter weekend and spring break for those of you who get those. Eli has his first official Spring Break this year! Who knew the boys would grow up so fast.

Until next time....