Day 520

Mindy and I planned some geocaching at Willamette National Cemetery on Mount Scott in honor of Memorial Day. It was chilling to see all the graves - every single one of them - with an American flag. And it was even more shocking when we wandered passed the very recent graves, the ones without headstones or even grass yet. I'd never been to the Cemetery before and it was a perfect day to go and be reminded of everyone who sacrificed for our country.

Day 519

While Les and Job went off to Spirit Mountain for a little poker action, I took the kids to the Oregon Zoo. Thankfully, Mindy and Carrie came along to lend a hand. Carrie was kind enough to snap this photo of the three of us playing in the statue garden.

Day 518

Parker is always so excited when Grayson comes for a visit. Thankfully, the boys are still at an age where they will included Kaitlyn in their play - and their hugs too.

Day 517

After making cupcakes for Les' birthday, everyone was kind enough to help me clean the bowl. And it was the birthday boy who managed to get the batter all over his shirt too.

Day 516

Okay, so clearly I did not take this picture. But today is all about the start to my summer guilty pleasure - So You Think You Can Dance. I know fully well that I cannot dance, but I also can't tear myself away from this show. This season - All Stars! Hello Mark and Neil, my former SYTYCD boyfriends, welcome back to my living room.

Day 515

I am not exactly sure what she was doing in this picture but I'll I can think is "Wonder Twins activate!"

Day 514

The Grill Master (Les) is enjoying spring and his new grill - steak, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Really . . . it's just about the perfect meal.

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Day 513

Spring is finally really starting to peak out from behind all the clouds and the family is back out on the deck. I picked up a couple of kid sized camping chairs at Target and Parker was excited to finally get to use his outside. He wouldn't sit at the patio table because his chair wouldn't fit.

Day 512

Mindy and I joined Cara and her son Johnny in Kaiser, Oregon for the Iris Festival and a GeoCaching Challenge. We successfully found nearly 20 caches and earned a geocoin. The final cache was located at an iris farm where I got to practice with the new camera.

Day 511

Parker decided that he had enough of my constant photo taking and tried to take me out with his Buzz Lightyear ray gun.

Day 510

Miss Carrie came over and taught Parker how to make homemade peanut butter cups. He was in charge of putting the top chocolate layer on. It's a good thing he got to snack on the chocolate chips, because he had to go to bed before they were ready to eat.

Day 509

Kaitlyn has been developing her own sense of style . . . tonight's evening wear consists of Cinderella jammies, a Tinkerbell skirt, high heeled shoes, red beaded necklace and daisy sunglasses. And doesn't she look fabulous?

Day 508

Spring weather has not been kind in Oregon sof far in 2010. It has been wetter than the average and today we just missed getting caught in this wicked hail storm.

Day 507

Just as we arrived home from work, the sun peeked out from all the the rain clouds that had been showering us all day. So I grabbed my camera and shot some photos of the rhododendrons in our front yard.

Day 506

Part of Kaitlyn's morning routine now includes waking up and immediately asking to play with my iPhone. It keeps her entertained while I make breakfast, but it also means I am constantly cleaning peanut butter off of it.

Day 505

Parker was thoroughly excited when Grayson came over to visit. They played so well together, even letting Kaitlyn join in on the fun.

Day 504

After dinner with the family, we stopped at Hammerle Park on the way home to take advantage of the nice evening. Parker has become quite the soccer player & spent almost the whole time kicking he ball around. Which gave me a chance to use the sports mode on my new camera - needless to say I took about a bazillion pictures.

Day 503

And now it's time to say goodbye . . . While waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the airport, Les snagged this photo of our hotel - Carousel Inns & Suites.

Day 502

Parker turns 4! We started Parker's birthday off with breakfast with Minnie & Friends and Parker got a personal sized cake in a treasure chest. He did great with all the costumed characters, giving them hugs and high fives. But Kaitlyn would only interact with Minnie - she wouldn't even look at any of the others. We spent the day revisiting all of Parker's favorite things and ended the day with dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

Day 501

Thank goodness for Grandmas! The kids were getting a little burnt out, so they took long naps and stayed at the hotel with Grandma. Les and I took advantage of the kid free time to run over the Disney's California Adventure and rode all the thrill rides. Then we hightailed over to Disneyland to ride Indiana Jones and also the Haunted Mansion. We capped our kid free evening with dinner at Tony Roma's.

Day 500

Meeting Cinderella was certainly the highlight of Kaitlyn's Disneyland trip. After nap time, we all headed to Ariel's Grotto for dinner with guaranteed encounters with all the princesses. Parker was being shy and hid from all of them. Although it was hilarious when Snow White said to Kaitlyn, "I see you brought one of your dwarfs with you."

Day 499

Don't the kids look happy about heading off to Mickey's House on an airplane? Here they are in the parking garage at PDX - they've got their carry-ons and they are ready to roll.

Day 498

The Haines family came over for a Mother's Day BBQ - steak & seafood. Les was pleased that his new grill worked out so well (the new grill that he was promised as his Father's Day present 2 years ago . . .). Parker didn't care so much about the food, he was just excited to have Uncle Andy play swords with him.

Day 497

We spent the afternoon at the Anderson's house to help celebrate Ian's first birthday. The weather was perfect, so we were able to let the kids run around in the backyard. Kaitlyn and Parker climbed into the hammock and sang "teeter totter, teeter totter" over and over again as they rocked back and forth. Both kids enjoyed playing with "baby" Ian, who's not such a baby anymore.

Day 496

I got up from the counter to use the bathroom and when I got back the kids were hiding instead of eating their dinner. It took me so long to find them, I evev had time to go and get my camera :)

Day 495

The children have finally gotten tired of me stalking them with my new camera, so I've turned to the pets. Fatty may be going blind, but he still takes a handsome photo. And he's happy for the attention, so he'll let me take dozens of photos in exchange for some pets.

Day 494

With Les being in Louisville for the week, Uncle Mike came over to have dinner and lend a hand. After successfully getting Kaitlyn to eat, both got a piece of candy as a treat.

Day 493

Parker is finally old enough to be trusted with real markers, although we have to be careful not to let Kaitlyn get a hold of them or she'll try to color herself, the table and anything else she can get a hold of.

Day 492

Parker enjoys rocking out to the Imagination Movers theme song. Whenever he hears it start, he makes me pause it so that he can go and get the guitar.

Day 491

Kaitlyn was a very good model for me after she woke up from her nap. I am still trying to figure out my camera and I must have taken about 100 shots in 15 minutes, but she was good the whole time. Good thing she's so cute.

Day 490

I was off to Genevieve's house for a scrabooking extravaganza, so I let Les sleep in a bit. Since the kids were up so crazy early, we went for a Krispie Kreme run and then a stop at the park to burn off some sugar.