The Day Family

Summer Swim lessons

2012-09-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

Sunriver 2012

2012-09-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a week in Sunriver.

Drinking milk through chocolate straws.

Want to see my backfloat?

Ubonga! (Kamden's made up word is funnier when shouted down the slide)

Un-Olympics

2012-06-13T22:42:00.003-07:00

The redesign is finished. We love the new yard - they cleaned up or fixed up every part of our yard and it looks so much cleaner and better. Truly new and improved. No longer is there an extensive pile of large bark on the front yard. Gone is the slope and the weird array of plants. Now we have clean, edged lawn, thick borders filled with all the plants from various parts of the yard. In total I had purchased 8 small, new plants, the largest being the weeping red maple by the front walk. I wanted one like my grandma had at her Pendleton house.

River walk to keep the mulch in place.

Flagstone from the back yard now connects the front walk to the grass.

They created a nice flower bed by moving plants to the front window.

A few more plants were added to the dry river rock.

They removed the concrete edging, thinned out the plants, removed weeds and cleaned up all the junk that got piled here during the busy year after moving in.

Still a few things to move around here, but it looks better without the weeds and with the ground cover edged.

Previously, there were plants and paths and paving stones everywhere. Now we have a clean lawn with a neat flower bed on the perimeter of the yard. They moved and pruned the big plants near the back corner to improve privacy.

We still need to break out the paint and cover up that mural...

The back yard feels much more peaceful now that there is order. Now we just need some sunshine to enjoy sitting back here.

This corner made me the craziest of all. I am so glad it's cleaned up. No more gunnera! (Jonah took this picture).

Front yard redesign

2012-05-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

Our landscaping project was inspired by rather unusual events. Two tall Fir trees (30 feet and 80 feet) were struck by lightning. Luckily we were able to have them taken down the next, just before a windstorm. It took several weeks for the stump grinding crew to come remove the stumps and roots of those two trees. This provided the unexpected opportunity to redesign the front yard so that it suited our needs - especially the boys. Before it was one giant flower bed with about 50 paving stones.

Here's the house when we first bought it. You can see just a tiny bit of the trees that were removed.

The two trees struck by lightning.

Day 1 of work. Two dump trucks full of stump grounds, old bark and soil were removed, Plants from the middle of the yard were moved to the outer beds. Some plants were removed and others were moved to happier spots (some were dying, some shade loving plants were in the sun, others just needed a new home to fit in with the overall plan).

Looking from the front living room window.

Jonah turns 6

2012-01-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Jonah celebrated his sixth year with kindergarten and neighbor friends. He chose Lego themed minute-to-win-it games.

The kids filled their own bag with a variety of snacks - some lego colored, some not.

Jonah chose a lemon cake with strawberry filling and lemon frosting - with candy Lego decorations!

Each kid took a turn guessing how many legos were in this container - Ryan guessed 40, which was closest to the actual count of 65.

Lego coloring pages were a popular filler activity - even if some of the morphed into paper airplanes.

Each box, wrapped like a Lego, contained 1-6 bells. The kids had one minute to put them in proper order. It's much harder than it sounds! Braeden was the only one to get it in perfect order.

Jonah standing with the party favors - Lego shaped boxes contained Lego candy and bouncy balls.

The object of this game was to bounce ping pong balls into the bowl. The kid who bounced the most in (Will, 8) won.

Jada shakes the boxes to determine the order.

Ryan takes a turn - so close!

Jonah's up

Lou's turn

Michael also got close! Thanks again to Braeden and Michael for helping me to take pictures.

Junk in the Trunk. The object is to shake the ping pong balls out of the empty tissue box in under a minute. The fastest wins. Breakdancing did the trick!

Jada shakes it!

Ryan shakes it!

These three just danced to silly music.

This was the last game the kids played - just before cake. They used their straw and suction to move the legos from the plate to the cup. The object was to move the most in a minute.

The big moment - these kids know some good Happy Birthday renditions!

Opening gifts from his friends. Boy, do they know him well - he was a happy camper!

Fall colors

2011-11-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall colors and make up for lost time as I've had a terrible stage of camera neglect. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to capture the beautiful reds that surround our house, but I did have fun taking photos of the kids. They enjoyed it too, each taking turns to take a few photos themselves. Jonah had specific ideas for locations and poses - a creative first for him. (Last time we gave him a camera he took 400 photos out the car window in a matter of an hour).

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

Braeden thought up this costume wandering through the store. He went trick or treating with his friends this year. It was a first for him to go without us. He said he likes the more humorous costumes.

Jonah was Savage Opress

We took him to the HS to play their carnival games. After the night, he decided he liked the scarier costumes.

Jonah and his friend Jada.

Pumpkin Party

2011-11-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Bowling

Pin the nose on the pumpkin - strategizing where the nose goes...

after the funny nose placement.

Pumpkin stamp painting

PeeWee Football 2011

2011-11-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Jonah had a second fun season of pee wee football. Brian helped coach again.

That's Jonah in the blue hooded coat. It was cold this game!

Braeden took advantage of the skate park next to the football stadium.

Zoo and pizza with the cousins

2011-03-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

This is Kinley trying not to smile for the camera.

The boys at work decorating their glasses with wikki stix.

Wikki Stixs are great pre-dinner entertainment.

Pizza!

Braeden loves Lena.

Who wouldn't?

Jonah's wikki stix necklace.

Lena uses a straw with complete success!

Penguins! The boys couldn't wait to see them.

Good thing we brought binoculars.

Jonah and Drew plan our next stop.

"You look so close."

Checking the map again.

The kids were excited to play.

Los Amigos! What a fun trip.

Jonah's 5th Birthday Party

2011-01-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

Jonah celebrated his 5th birthday at the Little Gym yesterday with his preschool friends (and two Kindergarten buddies). They had a blast running around to a dinosaur theme.

Showing their dino claws

stomping like dinos

parachuting...then they became turtles (climbing underneath once they trapped the air underneath - looked like a shell)

Birthday train over to the bars.

watching the instructor

having fun on the bars

bars, round 2

upside down wheel roll

this is one happy birthday boy (he kept calling the day of his party his "real birthday.")

waiting for the bouncy track to fill with air

it's filled

let's bounce/run

this was a favorite

his favorite part: the tackle game. They run from the wall and charge this mat, knocking it over.

he got more advanced and started karate kicking it to knock it over

pizza time

cupcake time

my little baking assistant told me for a month prior to his party he wanted cupcakes with chocolate chips around the sides.

Despite a few last minute cancellations (missed our sick friends!), he and his guests had a great time!

Santa's trick

2010-12-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

This may be a little mean...but they have chocolate coal and stockings hidden.

Jonah's PeeWee Football Season

2010-11-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Jonah was excited to begin football. Brian may have been more excited. He was the assistant coach and loved every minute of it. This is the cutest version of football I've ever seen. Jonah loved running fast, found his mouth piece very distracting and thought it was cool his dad was a coach.

Hiking the ball.

Listening to dad (and playing with his mouth piece).

Handing the ball off.

Jonah's outdoor soccer season 2010

2010-11-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Jonah really got into soccer this season. He liked playing goalie a lot. He started running after the ball a bit more and getting into the game. He loved to run fast, though didn't always run close enough to kick the ball.

The field was a mess this year, but I think he kind of liked the mud.

Pi Phi Halloween

2010-11-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

The boys and I enjoyed an evening at the Washington Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi to play games and trick or treat. The boys had fun playing the games and I enjoyed catching up with friends.

Fishing for prizes.

The donut game (the kids bite the donuts off a string without using their hands...always a fav).

Photo opp....classic sorority tradition.

Trick or treating.

Jonahs new trick

2010-11-04T14:31:00.001-07:00

Halloween

2010-11-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

Jonah and his carpooling buddy at the preschool pumpkin patch field trip.

He liked the kittens best.

Lots of things to climb on and play.

Time to pick a pumpkin.

He found a lot of good ones.

Braeden enjoying making his carmel apple at the school fall party.

Heading to the H.S. fall carnival.

The boys had fun playing games.

Jonah's cookie spider.

Showing Brian the design he wanted carved into his pumpkin.

All Braeden's idea. Ironic that the sweet kid wants a cartoon blackened eye on his pumpkin.

NYC

2010-10-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

Brian surprised me with a trip to NYC mid October. It was a fun filled, action packed weekend. I learned: People never sleep there. They eat well (even from food carts), this especially applies to bakeries. There is always something to see. Manhattan is safe enough that women walk alone at night. Cars honk at everything...or nothing. Bumping the car infront/behind you is no big deal (install a bumper protector if you're not OK with dents and scratches). Central Park is HUGE (2nd biggest in US according to our bike carriage driver). 2 days is not enough.

Street fair.

The few hours of sleep we did get were here.

Central Park. Just so cool. Lots of nooks and crannies. Something for everyone.

"sheep meadow."

Food carts everywhere. We tried a pretzel and warm peanuts on our jaunts between museums.

Lawn games.

Love these archways.

National Museum of American History. Think Night at the Museum.

Exhibits were cool. The building itself, including the tile surround on these, were even more impressive.

Moose are HUGE!

So glad I didn't meet this crab spider in it's natural habitat.

Ditto.

more ditto.

The whale was one of my favs.

For the boys: hey dum dum, give me gum, gum

Beautiful little park space outside the museum.

One of the best vantage spots in Central Park. There were lots of boaters and lots of people sitting on the giant rocks surrounding this lake.

I took this picture because of the archway in the background. But now like it for the glimpse of family life. It makes me wonder how it would feel to take the kids to Central Park to hang out on a Saturday.

So many beautiful buildings. I know I'm using the word beautiful too often, but it was true of so many places.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. So amazing and we rushed right through it. There was so much to see it was a little overwhelming.

So much art. Brought me back to art history class.

Brian's not smiling because he thinks this is so great (or because the sports scores he just tried checking were favorable), he's laughing at his new names for some of Matisse's sculptures. I can't kid too much, this trip was all his doing and he missed a full day of football to wander museums and the park with me. That's a big sacrifice for this football fan.

The entrance was especially beautiful!

The weather was so fantastic (sunny and 70), people were hanging out on the front steps.

Had to see the Guggenheim, at least from the outside.

Fantastic cathedral number ?...hard to keep count.

View of Central Park from upper East side.

Greenwich Village. NYU.

Ground Zero.

Grand Central Station is, well...grand.

Really pretty ceiling and window trim. It's so high up, I didn't notice this without zooming in.

Grand Central Station.

I think the police here are brave soley for standing in the middle of the (CRAZY) traffic.

Walking alongside the NY Public Library on our way to Bryant Park.

This is a really lovely park. No wonder they hold Fashion Week there.

Bryant Park looking at the NY Public library.

Central Park and North Manhattan as viewed from Rockefeller Center ("Top of the Rock").

Looking East

Looking South

Looking SW

Looking SE

We took one of those bike carriages through a smaller loop (our feet were tired after all that walking!) to see a little more of Central Park. Our guide stopped here so we could enjoy this amazing view, the picture really didn't do it justice.

Brian might have preferred this view. An Apple store that's open 24/7. You know, just in case you need some software at 3 am.

Jonah's first football game

2010-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkCp-oow6lI
Jonah plays QB and passes the ball to #9, who takes it all the way! Good coaching Bri! (Who might have had more fun than the kids).

20100527_musical_0576.AVI

2010-09-27T15:31:00.001-07:00

Braeden opens his "Flat Braeden" package, a third grade project, from Uncle Ben and Aunt Missy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70z82jpMb4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Jumping hoops - July 4th

2010-09-27T15:30:00.001-07:00

The kids and their cousins jump through the hoop on July 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG0iPDLSge0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

When I grow up I'll be...

2010-07-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

I asked the boys today what they wanted to be when they grew up:

B: I want to build robots. (This is always his answer).

J: I want to be a doctor (while passing my Dr's office).
(few seconds pass) I want to be an eye doctor. (we passed that the minute before)
(few seconds pass) I want to be a dog.....no, I want to do what Braeden wants to do, I want to be a robot.

Me: Braeden doesn't want to be a robot, he wants to design them.

B: You're not picking a Halloween costume.

(few seconds pass)
J: No, I want to be a zombie.

Let's hope he pays attention at career day (and that there aren't dogs or zombies there).

Braeden's year end celebrations

2010-06-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Braeden had a fun year of little league with some great catches. He also had fun with cub scouts and graduated from bear to Webelos 1.

Weekend in Leavenworth

2010-06-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Camping in Lake Wenatchee

2010-06-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

We spent a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Wenatchee with Grammy & Grandpa. We started the weekend off giving mom a retirement gift from the whole family....a new ipad.

The playground was a hit!

Braeden as King Julian from Penguins of Madagascar

Fun side trip to Leavenworth.

Jonah liked every part of this fishing trip. Braeden wasn't too sure he liked the rocking of the boat.