Brandon Turns 6

Today was Brandon's 6th birthday. Martin and I went over for pizza and cake this evening. Brandon was very excited but managed to wait until after dinner to open his presents. Anna and Brandon posed in front of his birthday cake which was a giant blue lego. On top of the lego was some of his favorite Star Wars characters and he knew the name of everyone. He got lots of neat things, puzzles, Star Wars socks and shirt; Star Wars characters and a Pop the Pig Game that we all played. Hard to believe that it has been 6 years!

Other photo is of Heartman sneaking into my spot in bed every chance he gets. This happens on the weekends if I get up before Martin for some reason. He is sneaky and gets caught everytime.

Back to work tomorrow, where did the weekend go!

More Wallowa Photos

It was such an incredibly beautiful place, I wanted to include more of what we saw. Top is Barking Mad Farm; View from the in laws backyard; Downtown Enterprise; Bronze horse in downtown Joseph and Molly with dogs in our room at Barking Mad.

Enterprise and Joseph OR

Well, Martin, Molly, the dogs and I piled into the van and headed for Eastern Oregon. It was a beautiful drive and we saw a little of every kind of weather. At 4100 feet in the Blue Mountains we even saw sleet. We are hoping to avoid bad weather when we head for home. Martin's mom is so excited to have us here. We have been able to spend lots of time with her and explore the area around Joseph and Enterprise. Molly is staying with her grandmother and Martin and I are staying at Barking Mad Farm in Enterprise. A great bed and breakfast who even accepts our huge guys. Diana the proprietor with her husband Hunter is an accomplished photographer and we had the wolfhounds pictures taken while we were here. Poor Guido didn't make the cut but we did get some good photos of him as well. The dogs are enjoying the 8 fenced in acres at the B&B as well as the half acre at grandma's. We are going out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant tonight in Enterprise. Spent the afternoon in Joseph and around Wallowa Lake. Above the post is Martin and Sailor enjoying the roadtrip; Guido in the field at Barking Mad Farm; Martin, Sailor and Guido at Barking Mad; Martin and I at the Wallowa County Courthouse; Martin and his mom at Lake Wallowa; and Molly and her grandmother in Joseph. Tomorrow back on the road!

Halloween

Sailor got a bath and a haircut for Halloween. Nice that we can actually see his eyes! He seems to like it as well. I trimmed his cowlick that made him look like a unicorn, and his head is so soft and nice to pet. Halloween was pretty uneventful as far as tricker treaters. We probably had about 40 all younger kids. We actually shut the light off about 8:15 as things quieted down and no one had come for about 30 minutes. Easy weekend, today we are going for a drive, and probably out to lunch. A little escape from the busy upcoming week.

Fall Sunday

All The chores were done, Martin and I decided to kick back and enjoy a fall Sunday afternoon at home. We have a basket full of apples in our garage,so I decided to make an apple pie using at least one apple each of the many varieties that we purchased. We haven't tasted it yet, so I hope it turned out to be as tasty as it looks. Picture was taken right after it came out of the oven. The other is a picture of me crocheting an afgan I started last winter in the midst of the blizzards that hit during the holidays. I briefing considered tearing the whole thing apart as I don't like the pattern that well, but I decided to continue as it was., so we will see how it turns out.

A Trip to Bend

I've had two quick business trips during the last couple weeks. Last week it was a one day trip to Phoenix Arizona. I didn't see anything at all except the airport, the inside of a taxi, and the hotel that the conference was in. The only reason I knew I was in Phoenix was that it was 93 degrees! Nothing to see on that trip so no pictures.

Early this week I took another quick trip, this time to Bend Oregon. A much more pleasant journey, and a beautiful fall day while I was there, however quite brisk in the AM. The conference was at Mt. Bachelor Village, over looking the Dechutes River. I managed to work in one short walk down to the River. The pictures, above were taken on that walk.

Hood River Harvest Festival

Today we hit the road and headed to Hood River to their annual Harvest Festival with Molly, Rob, Brandon and Anna. We drove up the Washington side and it was beautiful with all the leaves turning colors. The view from Cape Horn was even more beautiful with all the fall colors surrounding the Columbia River. Unfortunately, it was really too crowded for us to stop and take a picture. The festival was great, not as crowded as last year. We were able to shop for the apples, pears and cider, as well have an opportunity to go through the arts and craft tents. The quality of the things for sale was excellant. I regret that I didn't come prepared to Christmas shop! We did buy some more apples. The tasting we did last weekend enabled us to buy some more of our favorite varieties for as low as .59 a pound. We also found some unpastuerized cider, which is basically fresh liquid apples, so GOOD. Back at the house, we bored Molly and Rob with DVD of our vacation while the kids enjoyed their new color books and crayons we keep at the house for them to play with when they visit. Pictures are of Molly, Rob and Brandon shopping and Anna getting ready to munch on some elephant ear.