Soccer

Nick's Cousin Jessie came to Portland from Spokane to do a soccer camp. She is an amazing goalie and one of the teams there picked her up to play with them in some competition games ( I hope I got that right).

We went down to Milwaukee OR on Saturday last week to watch her play. She did awesome!!! They won their game 5-1 (or was it 6-1) Either way, it's pretty impressive!

We got to hang out with Nick's aunt Ami and uncle Dan while we watched Jessie play. Preston actually warmed up to them pretty quickly and just loved Ami once she said she would download Angry Birds for him on her phone.

Nick and Jessie after the game :-)

Jessie bonding with Ash. :-) SO sweet!!!

Preston all tuckered out on the way home.

Lemon, anyone?

The things I see on the freeway to/from work...hmmm

Trains

On Friday after work I took the kids to the Amtrak train depot to watch trains. If you didn't know already, Preston is obsessed with trains!!! Ashleigh, thankfully, is a good sport and enjoys going on outings even if they don't pertain to her at all. :-)

I let the kids climb on and play around these tracks for a few minutes before seeing the No Trespassing sign. oops.

The kids waiting for the train to arrive.

Had to check out the inside of the train depot. I love the benches.

On our way out waiting for a train...

On Saturday we decided to go back to see the trains and bring daddy this time! Yay! Before we left Preston and I did a little Mario Kart race...he and I both suck equally so it was a fair race. :-)

The kids all ready to see the trains with their conductor hats on.

We saw 2 trains with in 5 min of being there! :-) Preston loves waving to the conductors.

Daddy educating Preston on the mechanics of a train.

Nick with Ashleigh cuddling before the next train arrived.

Preston waiting anxiously for the next train to arrive
Here it comes, yay! :-)

After the trains we headed over to the new Vancouver Library. They closed the one near Clark College and opened a 5 story library on the West side of the freeway off Mill Plain. One entire floor is dedicated to children/children's books. There is a TON of stuff there for kids to play with and see, etc. It was so much fun and air conditioned--which is always nice. The kids want to go back every day. ha ha. We won't be going daily, but we'll definitely try to make it weekly. We ended the day with milk shakes for the kids and pizzas. It was a great day!

Portland Fountains

When I was in elementary school I remember going to Portland to see the fountains and being able to play in them. It was a fun field trip. I thought it'd be fun to take the kids. I was going to do it myself while Nick was at work during the week, but he decided he wanted to come with us so we went today! :-)

We drove to the Expo Center and parked and got on Max and rode it the last stop at PSU. Then we did a walking tour with a map I printed off to see a bunch of the fountains. Some were just to look at, but the other ones were where lots of people go and play in them (even though there's a sign saying you're not supposed to...oh-well) Then we rode Max back to our car and came home. It was really a lot of fun and the kids loved playing in the fountains and getting wet. They didn't even mind wearing their wet clothes all the way home! (mental note: bring a towel next time)

On Max

fountain #1

Fountain #2

Fountain #3

Fountain #4...finally one to play in! :-)

Fountain #5

Fountain #6-another one to play in...and boy was it BUSY...so many people "swimming" and laying out, etc..

We also went to the waterfront fountain #7, but neither kid wanted to play in it! strange..I saved that one for last cause I figured they'd want to play there the longest! I didn't get any pictures either...oh-well

Then we walked back the Pioneer Courthouse Square (fountain #8) to wait for our Max train back to our car. FUN day!! :-)

Yesterday I was really tired so I took a little nap on our couch. I woke up a bit later to itch my arm. And then again woke up to itch my arm. Later I kept waking up to itch my neck--over and over and over again. then finally woke up cause next to my mouth was all itchy. I finally said screw it and I woke up...but my arm, neck and face were itching so bad...I went to the bathroom to see what was going on with my face and I was covered in mosquito bites! Grrr. I had 1 big bite on my left arm, 4 on my neck and 2 on my face. Stupid mosquitoes!! And this is one of the main reasons why I don't go camping!! I was in my house for goodness sake. Sheesh!!!

On the 28th Nick sent me a text letting me know he cut his finger at work and was heading to the hospital. He didn't sound panicked, so I didn't panic but I was definitely concerned since I didn't know the extent of the cut.

He was simply throwing away a piece of scrap metal at work, but it was oily and it slipped out of his hand and somehow cut through his glove and cut open his Left ring finger. It's pretty deep and required 3 stitches. Nick said you could "see the meat" in his finger. gross. I'm SO glad it wasn't worse and so glad that aside from the annoyance of not being able to use his finger, he's doing just fine and will recover fully. He gets his stitches out on Friday.

In Utah, Nick's cousin Lindsey would color my hair. She always did such a great job!! I miss her... but, she gave me advice on buying hair color at Sally's and how to do it. I was stressed out to do it since I haven't done my own hair color in 4 years and there was so much growth since I had it colored last...But I did it...and aside from a little brassiness, I think it turned out pretty good.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Preston and his new friend Seth playing Mario Cart Wii. We love this boy...he's a good friend to Preston and he's SO polite and kind. They are a good friend-match. :-)

The kids like pointing out "Wii cars" and one parked next to us so I took a picture of them next to it.

Preston got a Yoda tattoo in his happy meal and had to show it off.

On my drive home from work I was following this truck. I loved the sign/picture on the back. It's a tribute to 9-11.