Evergreen Aviation

December 21st, 2013

 Family vacation to McMinnville, Oregon

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

"At the center of our museum stands the original Spruce Goose. Built entirely of wood due to wartime restrictions on metals, this massive airplane stands as a symbol of American industry during World War II. Learn more about the history, first flight, and legacy of this mammoth plane."

 I love the road between our house and Portland.  It hugs the river so beautifully, making for a very scenic drive.  We've made this trip about four time now, each being a bit overcast or rainy, so it's always nice to see patches of blue sky.

 Isn't that the most beautiful island?  There's a cabin on it!  We make the comment each time we pass that we'd love to own it.  It even has a lighthouse.  Sublime!

 Notice how green the mountain is.  Remember, this is December 21st- not June 21st! 

 Portland is such a cool city to drive through.  Would never want to live there with all of the bridges to cross, but it makes for a fun drive once in a while.

 Can you believe how GREEN it is?!

 My cuties in front of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.  This is the home of the Spruce Goose.  There are three museums on the plot with a waterpark next door.  When we visit next, we're going swimming for sure!  If we would have known how amazing it was, we would have come prepared with the swimsuits we had packed for the hotel.  Next time!

 This is the kids' play area.  It has many different activities to do with aviation.  We started here first in case it got busy.  As a side note, it never did!  Guess people want to be with family instead of planes for the holidays.  Their loss!

 Cutest pilot this side of the Mississippi!

 This game had you trying to hover and fly.  Each of the kids had to take a turn.  Randy included!

 Brennon didn't want to get off this one.  Shelby was brought to tears because he was taking so long.

 Finally her turn.  

I couldn't get a good picture of Tyson.  He was all.over.the.place.  He was in heaven with so much to do.  He tried every station and ran to the next.  So nice not to be stuck in a car...and so much to see!

 Proud to be an American!

 Model of the first plane invented.  Can you see the man prostate on the lower level?

 From the back without all of the light.

 I loved the seating throughout the museum.  Old airline seats with retractable trays in the armrests.  MUCH bigger than they are now.  The funny thing is, that morning I'd heard on the news that Southwest is cutting corners to save money by not having the seats as padded.  Made me love these seats a little more, I tell you!

 This is a picture inside the Spruce Goose.  Can you believe it was made of wood?

 Replica of how it was made.

 Can you believe how MASSIVE that plane was?  Largest airplane ever constructed. The winged giant made only one flight on November 2, 1947. The unannounced decision to fly was made by Hughes during a taxi test. With Howard Hughes at the controls, David Grant as co-pilot, and several engineers, crewmen and journalists on board, the Spruce Goose flew just over one mile at an altitude of 70 feet for one minute. The short hop proved to skeptics that the gigantic machine could fly.

 Because we are members of ASTC, we got to go on a tour of a WWII fighter plane.  What they are looking at is a gun house that fit a man that stood about 4'10".  He'd be loaded from the top, down into the small bubble where he'd have to have his knees to his chest to even fit.  His hands were up by his head holding onto the trigger.  Tiny space is not even an accurate description!

 The best view of the beautiful Spruce Goose was seen from the top observation deck.  It was neat to be above all of the planes and look over all that has been preserved.  Can you see all of the 8 propellers?  HUGE!

 An older woman asked if I'd like her to take a family picture.  I was more than willing to get one- remember how I love family pictures?!  I actually had our ornament in mind.  Until I saw the flash before we were even posed.  She was so proud of herself I didn't have the nerve to say, "Um...we weren't even ready!  Could you take another one and wait for us to pose first?"  So, we got an awkward family photo:)  This is the year for them it looks like!

 I'm pretty sure the kids' favorite attraction was the amusement park ride.  Inside!  With absolutely no line to wait in.  And a full two minute ride!  Oh yes, two minutes.  You don't get that long at Lagoon, that's for sure!

 I love that they got into one together.  There were enough planes for all of my kids to have their own.  The second time they rode they got their own, but their first instinct was to go together.  Love how close they are!  Best Friends Forever!!  To Eternity and Beyond!

 Shelby was the "Red Barron."  Look at that smug grin on that ridiculously cute face of hers.

 Again, cutest pilot this side...

This ends our tour of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

Up next... Space!  The Final Frontier.

Magical Morning

December 20th, 2013

Our first snowstorm of the season!

As soon as we got the other kids off to school, Randy and I took the boys out to enjoy the fresh snow.  It was the perfect powder to make a snowman- my first ever!  Now that I don't have a baby that needs to stay in the house to keep warm...I don't have any excuses.  It was the perfect morning!

 There is no weather that Tyson doesn't deem worthy of a good bike ride!  This boy would live outside if I let him.  It should also be noted that that is Caden's first bike.  I love things that last through three boys!

 I didn't want Brennon to wimp out due to cold (if I can't have the excuse, no one can!), so we hooked up a heater and kept going.  Look at that face!  So kissable!!!

 Remember our love of Frozen?  You better believe we had "Do you wanna build a snowman?" playing while we worked!  We're adorable like that!

 Isn't he amazing?  Aunt Susie bought us the kit before we moved to Casper.  In 2006, people!  With the hurricane winds that we regularly had in Wyoming, it's a wonder we have all of the pieces!  With the wind that picked up the moment we had it assembled, it's another miracle that we have all of the pieces.  There is still a pretty horrific wind that picks up during the winter here as well.  Good thing we've had the last 8 years to get used to it!

 A warm wind and rain ensued later this same day, allowing our snowman only a few hours to 'live' but the memory of this magical morning will always live on.  My first snowman!

Dance Recital

 December 19th, 2013

Shelby's first Dance Recital

 Shelby took a 'Pretty Princess Dance Camp' this past summer.  She loved it so much I knew I had to get her into the new class that was opening in September.  Shelby has been in heaven ever since.

 It's a class of girls ranging from 5-8.  Can you imagine that many girls in a room?  And all those giggles?

 They did two numbers to Christmas songs.  It was neat to see them perform them twice so we could get all of the photos/videos we could.  Before they began their first number, Caitlin had each girl say what they love most about Christmas.

 Shelby was the first to go.  "I like making snowmen and throwing snowballs!"  She said it in a voice that made the audience laugh.  She is loved by so many!

 From the time that she got off the bus to the time we needed to be at the Library was only 15 minutes.  Subtract the 7 minutes it takes to drive there and you get a very rushed mommy.  We made it with only a minute to spare.  Good thing they started it a few minutes late.  When Shelby walked in most of the girls were already there getting their skirts on.  There were many excited, "Shelby!" screams to go around.  She was enveloped by many of her dance mates.  She really is a shining light!

 The little girl on the right in the orange is one of her best friends, Evelyn.  Jamie is my best friend here, Evelyn is her daughter, so of course they are friends!

Her other best friend is the little girl in the purple, Halle.  They just moved out of our ward- we are devastated!  Hopefully next year they'll attend the same school!

 The lighting was bad, plus we have a sub-par camera, but I think she looks pretty adorable!!

 I am so glad she's found something she loves so much.  I love my little Shelby so much!

Gingerbread House 2013

We started the tradition about 7 years ago to do a yearly Gingerbread House.  I think it's one of the kids' favorite traditions.  This years' kit was seriously lacking, but the kids had a good time anyway.

 They all helped in some way.  The older kids started doing the icing, but soon discovered that the younger kids were putting all of the candy on pretty fast, so they passed up the opportunity to really decorate with that icing.

 I would have liked one photo with them all looking at the camera and smiling their best.

(This is not news to kids that have me for a mother! Mamarottzi, remember?)

 Take one: Shelby and Brennon look this way!

 Take two: Thank you, Shelby, that's a great smile!  Brennon, I'm right here, buddy!

Take three:  Thank you, Brennon, third time's a charm.  Ahem...Tyson, I haven't moved!

Doesn't Keilie look enthralled?

And...I give up!

And, again!

Christmas Ornament photoshoot number two.

 Again, I had a vision of how this one would turn out.  Nope!

I wish I had a better camera!  Someday!

Photoshoot Fail

Awkward Family photoshoot number one.

I had this vision of what I wanted this to turn out like.  It didn't happen!

 Silent Night at the Dirks' house- take 11!

 Isn't Keilie the MASTER at cross-eyes?!

 "Mom is SO lame making us take all of these pictures!"

 This one was supposed to have them all going cross-eyed.  Love Brennon's eyes!  I'm pretty sure he thinks he's doing it perfectly!

Awkward Family Photo

I am so happy to finally have all of my 254 pictures downloaded onto our new computer.  Man, it feels so nice.  This, of course, means that I'm going to have a lot of work to do to catch up on my blog.  Yay!  Pictures are where the fun is on a blog anyway.  And this picture proves it!

For our yearly ornament that we do, I wanted to actually do one where we took a family picture.  We always do one that signifies something big that we did that year, but nothing really came to mind.  Even though we'd taken a lot of family vacations, I didn't quite want to choose just one that we'd gone on to signify the whole year.  So, before we opened our presents, we sat in front of the tree for our photo.  I had wanted to do an Awkward Family Photo beforehand, but couldn't come up with something funny enough, so decided to just do something cute.  However, Randy made it awkward for us.  Look at his face!!!  He'd put the camera on timer to take 10 pictures in succession.  This was number two.  Number one he'd barely made it to sit down.  Number two found him trying to wake up a little more.  This is NOT the cutest one of the 10, by far, but it is the one I will put in our ornament for 2013!!  Love him!!

As a side note, look at the clock.  Yep, it's 5:52 in the morning.  This is after I had taken the time to set up the perfect stand for our camera.  The kids had been up since 5:30.  Love them!

So, buckle up and sit back!  More photos to come very soon!

Time

Caden just asked what time it was. Tyson responded, "Shut-up o'clock." Clearly we need to have a serious conversation about certain words that should not be said, but now is not the time. I don't think it would be as productive trying to be serious when I can't stop laughing. Where does this stuff come from?

Tattle-tale

On the way home from church this afternoon (a change now that we go from 8:30-11:30 instead of 2:30-5:30!) Tyson, with the usual tattle-tale voice that all kids use, said, "Mo-om, Caden has gu-um!"  I asked him why he was telling on Caden, was he was hurt, maimed, or dying?  I was telling him, for the millionth time at least, that we don't tattle one someone unless they need help or will need help if they continue.  He was having none of it.  Keilie was trying to tell him some examples of when it is alright to tattle, when he says in the same voice, "Mo-om, Keilie is telling me not to tattle!"  This got me chuckling.  I was trying to tell him that I was done with the voice and didn't want to hear tattles unless it was life-or-death. 

"Well, how do I tell on someone then?"

He was SO perplexed!!  How do you tell on someone when your mom and dad don't want to hear it?  One of life's most complex questions.  To a four-year-old at least.

Flood

Since moving into our Bar Nunn house in 2009, we have had a near-constant issue on our mind.  Flooding!  With a sump pump going every 30 seconds, we were always worried about the power or the pump going out.  In August, just one month after moving in, the basement flooded for the first time.  We had a plumber replace the first pump to get the water out and then had him install another pump as a backup.  When number one got too full, it would drain into number two so we'd have enough time to fix number one.  Four months after finishing our basement with the best pad and carpet available, it floods for the second time.  We ripped out that beautiful pad and replaced it all!  I was SICK!!!  Then comes the kids leaving water on in the upstairs bathroom, that flowed from the heat register under the cabinet down through the ceiling to the carpet downstairs.  Not too bad, but had us once again drying carpet.  Then comes the time that the power went out in negative degree weather that has Randy driving 40 minutes to borrow a friends' generator.  We took a LONG extension cord from the sump pump, up through my wonderful laundry chute out the back door.  Talk about freezing the house out!  And last, but not least, when the pipe from the water heater was moved just a half- inch from the drain allowing all the water to flow directly onto the cement and under the pad.  Again, up came the carpet and out came the fans.  We were DONE with that house when we moved.  We LOVED it, but HATED it at the same time.  The land had the potential to be awesome, the house was our own, the water was the bane of our existence!  So, this past year has been wonderful!  Not once have we had to worry about the power going out.  Not once have we been nervous to go out of town in case the power did go out and we weren't there to catch it before it turned into another $4,000 mistake!  Until today!!

 Randy came down at 7:45 and immediately started screaming at the kids.  I made it down by 8:00 to find every single towel we owned in the hallway.  The sink in the powder room under the stairs had been plugged and the water left on.  For how long, no one knows.  No one was fessing up.  Tyson loves to play in the powder room and also loves playing in the sink, so we assumed it was him.  He was so adamant that it wasn't him, so we sent Shelby, Brennon, and Tyson to their rooms.  We took our carpet cleaner over the same spot for and hour and a half, pulling up SEVEN gallons of water.  The water soaking the towels not included!  Cameron's dad owns a carpet cleaning business, so he graciously brought over his industrial fans to help us dry out the pad.  Two hours later and it's still not dry.  We brought down the kids to show them the damage that was done by one person being careless.  Then comes the truth/apology.  It was Caden!  He was cleaning some stuff in the sink, left for some reason, and forgot all about it.  We were pretty hard on him for allowing us to punish his little brothers and sister for something that he had done.  Hours had passed since we started cleaning, words had been exchanged, and the kids had all been in their rooms for a long time.  I made sure to impress on him that it wasn't just his siblings that had been hurt by his actions, I had punished innocent children and now felt like dirt!  I'm proud to say that we never yelled at the kids (other than to tell them to hurry up with those towels) but that doesn't take the sting away from blaming them.  Tyson was crying, telling me it wasn't him, and I was just going on and on about turning off the sink and not playing in the bathroom.  So far the mess is still drying.  The carpet will need to be re stretched and the house will go back to normal, but for now, I'm still so anxious about flooding.  Why does this haunt me?  Because for years, this has been our worst nightmare.  And now it's followed us to Washington!  Not my favorite way to start 2014.  I hope this isn't an omen of things to come!!!  A teensy part of me wants to use this as an excuse to remodel- maybe add some wood floors- but alas, I'm too happy being debt-free to want that for reals:)

B-boy's Brain

While in Oregon at the Evergreen Airspace Museum last week, they had a 40% discount on all gift shop items. I found a Metal Brain Teaser like the one above for just $3.00. We've been playing with it ever since. Randy, Caden and I have it pretty much down. With only two answers, it makes it pretty easy once you've figured out one way. Tonight, Brennon watched Randy answer it one time. We got in the car, on our way home from Seattle, and Brennon asked if he could try. With the wet weather and dark skies we weren't able to turn the light on, so I told him that he'd have to wait till we got home. Maybe two minutes later he said, "oh, it's alright, I got it!" We were speechless!!! Our FIVE year-old saw the answer one time- quickly, mind you- and figured it out IN THE DARK. Then to our surprise, he'd figured out the OTHER solution- not the one Randy had shown. Can you believe that?! He can do either way now. In the dark! Amazing!! He's FIVE people!!!