Great day!

The day went great for Ansen! He said his day was "Soooo fun" and "terrific."

According to him, Miss Teyler "is the awsomest!"

Pretty stellar day, don't ya think?

*****

I did fine too, thanks for asking. I kept my tears to myself and we had a donut party when the kids got home.

Donuts make everything better.

Kindergarten!

He did it!

He walked into class this morning, put his school supplies in the correct containers, talked to his teacher, hung up his backpack, and chose an activity center all on his own while completely ignoring Jason and I.

Ansen is OFFICIALLY a Kindergartner.

Wow. Miss Teyler is his teacher this year and he couldn't be more excited! Actually there are a few reason's he is jumping out of his brand-new socks:

A) His teacher's name. Tyler is his favorite name. Whenever he plays pretend, he is always Tyler. Even though they are spelled different they are said the same.

B) He knows quite a few kids in his class so he is totally comfortable.

C) His sisters go to the same school as he does.

D) He got to take a backpack and a lunchbox (Iron Man, of course)!

and...

(drum roll please)

E) he gets to ride home on the bus!!!

THIS is a pretty big day.

He is ready even if I am not.

He is going to have a blast and we couldn't be more excited for him.
Watch out world! Here he comes!

Back to school!

The ladies headed to school today! Another year has begun and I never, ever thought I would say this but I am not ready!!! We have had such a fun summer with camping and playing and having Alice come and live with us and I am not ready for the fun times to stop. But, alas, school is in session and I think the ladies are in for an amazing year!

Braley began the 3rd grade this morning and her new teacher is Mrs. Love. We hear her temperament matches her name so we couldn't be more excited. Braley is going to have such a great year! Oh before I forget. Look at little miss' finger! She broke her middle finger on her right hand. Kinda funny, kinda wish is was another finger but she is so proud of it. It accidentally got broken when Ansen and she were playing and it got stuck in the door. Oh well. She is one tough cookie!

Jayden, my oldest, my first baby, my little Kahau started her last year of elementary school today. 5th grade is going to rock and that is ensured because she (and her brother and sister) will all be rockin' Van's on their feet. Those were a must for her this school year. Not sure why but she loves them and I love her. Jayden is totally lucky because she has the same teacher this year as she did last year.
Tomorrow is Ansen's first day of school.
Wow, they really do grow up too fast!

Festa Italiana

Ohhh, Italy how we love your food.

The amazing amounts of carbohydrates we consume in your honor should be illegal.Today we hung our with some of our favorite friends, the Mercado's, and hit the Italian festival in Portland. Oh. So. Good.
Let me just tell you something. Italians know how to have fun. They only need 2 things to have a good time.
1. Food...and lots of it.
and
2. Music
We began our afternoon by eating, eating, eating.
First item: Gelato
You would think the kids should have died and gone to heaven from the wonderfully super sugared-up treat but they didn't like it! Can you believe it? Oh well, more for me...and I did take care of all the leftovers. (oink, oink)
Then onto the real food. Porchetta and sausage with awesome vegetables.
Ansen and Jalen found fun ways to eat their pasta.

I have to admit that by now we were all getting pretty full but we are not whimps. We pressed on!

Just look at Jason and Lorelei's faces.

Those smiles are saying "bring on dessert!"

Dessert A:

Heavenly!

Dessert B:

To die for!

Dessert C:

Worth giving an arm or a leg for.

Dear Canoli's,

I love you.

See you soon,

Dana

After all the glorious food we sat listened to a band play traditional Italian music. They also did a little Sinatra and friends. We even did some dancing. It was no chicken dance, but we did show those pasta loving Europeans our sweet moves!

Hooray Italy!

Hiking at Watham Lake

Of course you have to hike while you are camping. We thought we would take a lovely family hike around beautiful Watham Lake and while it was beautiful, we found out-the hard way- there is no clear path around the lake.
Look at all four of them. Jayden and Braley were super excited to hike and Ansen and Ramses were most defiantly ready to release some energy.

To get to the lake we had to walk down 200 stairs to the most amazing scenery.

Here is our fearless leader. The whole hike was about 3 miles. I am pretty sure Mr. Ramses did about 6 miles because he would run ahead and run back, run ahead and run back again.

Each of the kids found their perfect "wands" (i.e., sticks that we prayed didn't end up poking someone in the eye) and we took Harry, Ron and Hermione along on our trip.

Even Dumbledore joined us!

We crossed a very cool log jam,

found more amazing scenery,

and walked, and walked and walked.

Up, up, up and down, down down...then up, up, up again.

Luckily we found these handy seats made out of large stones that some tired hiker must have made.

Look at this camping face.

So dirty, so tired, so confused at why we are stillllll hiking.

Here's Braley explaining something completely scientific to us. Seriously. She is a little sponge and made sure to share all her knowledge.

As we hiked we came across cool little campsites.

Who knew the Northwest had monkey's in trees?

Our hike was wonderful. Dad had a good time. Mom had a good time. Jayden, Braley and Ansen had a good time.

And Rammy?

He really enjoyed himself and totally wore himself out.

This is him about an hour after we got back to the camper.

HE put himself to bed...under the covers/sleeping bags/blankets.

HE stayed there.

HE didn't move for a solid 3 hours.

HE was just plain tuckered out.

...this is him still recovering the next day.

Hiking in Oregon is fun!

Huckleberry picking

Ever had a huckleberry?

I have and they are gooooood.

Our camp was covered in Huckleberry bushes.

The kids, mainly the girls, picked and picked and picked them.

So far we have had huckleberry pancakes and huckleberry's on vanilla ice cream!

Huckleberry muffins are next.

Yum!!!

Mmmmmm, Oregon berries taste good!