SUMMER 2009

Jonas Brothers or Bust!

Waiting for the show to start

A serious groupie!
By the way who is your Orthodontist? Your teeth are gorgeous!

The day his package arrived from Granny and Grandpa, he was in train heaven.

Celebrating Angelas birthday. Amanda picked up this killer cake in the city, YUM! Shelly and Anabell having fun in the kitchen.

The grocery bags look full, but it is an illusion. They were a little dissapointed when the best part of the parade turned out to be catching dental floss from Lindsay B.

He has no idea this is the worst parade of all time!

True Patriots!

402 Mt. Sequoia Ct.
Our old house, which looks nothing like it did when we lived there, but it was fun to see just the same.

Digging in the sand at Heather Farms.

Two little ducks went out to play...

Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I love this picture!

The carousel at Pier 39. Finally out of the stroller!

The frog prince and his princess. Mom goofing off at Rain Forest Cafe.

Second Annual Build-A-Bear day with Grandma. I think Paige is still a

little mad about not having an outfit for her Pegasus???

Devouring treats purchased at the Clayton Store. This is in the new park that used to be the Eucalyptus Grove.

Am I cute or what?

Aunt Angela is always up for a good time! Notice little Cooper, is he bawllin Ang? :)

Home on the range! Now they just need a pony....

The night we played kickball with the Lakes and Lindhorsts, AND won the family fear factor game thanks to Ryan chowing down that cricket. Way to go honey!

I have no words for this.....

Sneaking summers bounty

Oh yeah, I have skills...

Look at those little girls, they are green with envy...

It has been a really exciting summer around the Moses house. I can't believe it is almost over and the boys will be going back to school next week. Right after school got out Mom, Angela and her kids came for a visit. We took the older kids to the Jonas Brothers concert, which was actually pretty good and then we met up with Shelly and her kids in Beaverton to caravan down to SF where we were able to spend some quality extended family time during our two week stay at Mockingbird Hill. Of all my parents homes this one is a favorite for my family. The trip down to SF was a bit rocky as A.J. began vommiting about 10min. after we left the drive way and threw up the entire way to SF. Caden was a HUGE help and Angela and Shelly provided the moral support I needed to get me there. A.J. was really sick for 3 or 4 days until we took him off of dairy products completely. The only time since then he has been sick were the two days I mistakenly gave him things with dairy. (once when I thought how clever I was that he could have an instant breakfast shake made with soy milk, and didn't realize the whole powdered shake was made of non-fat milk. The other time was when I gave him a chicken nugget that had whey in the breading) It hasn't been too difficult a transition for our family and honestly he is doing so much better, gaining weight faster, eating more etc. While we were there we went to Alcatraz, Monterey Bay Aquarium,Ghirardelli Square (twice!), and to the Clayton fourth of July parade which the kids dubbed the "lamest parade of all time", who knew? We also had a second annual Build-a-Bear day with Granny that was just as successful as last years with the exception of a quick return trip to buy another bear stroller for Cooper, saw the old house, and swam our hearts out. After SF we had cub day camp, baseball camp, I went to girls camp, and soccer camp. Jack was THRILLED that he was old enough to go to soccer camp this year and had a blast. He was especially thrilled that he could kick his leg higher than any of the girls (they were having a flexibility contest) and since he is becoming quite a gymnast, cleaned up in that contest. The week after soccer camp we took the family to Lake Billy Chinook for a couple of days of camping. It was so much fun, even with Ryan and I being new to the "family camping" thing. Our good friends saved us from being attacked by "super squirrels" when they drove by our camp site and noticed we had left some food out in the open, and the rest of the gang (we went with several other families, who all had boats) schooled us in the fundamentals of wake boarding and insanely fun tube rides. (Thanks Jon!) We had a blast going to the Washougal river, having playdates, and sleep-overs with cousins. The summer fun sort of ended there though when on the way home from camping we lost our drive train (the Tahoe) on the freeway. Thankfully Ryan was driving and he navigated our locked up car to safety on the shoulder of the road. We spent a good portion of the morning waiting for a tow truck and Ryans dad who rescued us. The next day we had a reprieve from the bad luck and went to the beach for our annual back to school shopping trip complete with lunch at MO's and salt water taffy. The next day the bad luck bug bit again when Jack had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. The boys had been rough housing and Jack hit his head. He got up and walked a few steps and then down he went. He was totally non responsive and he had stopped breathing. We called 911 and the rest is just really a small miracle for our family. We spent two days in the hospital (which Jack LOVED, what could be better than a remote contol bed and a scooby-doo movie marathon?) but there was no permanent damage done. They ruled it a serious concussion and gave us strict orders to keep him down for four weeks, yes FOUR weeks. That is going to be a challenge, but one I am up to considering the alternative. The same night we got home from the hospital Ryan was up on a two story ladder killing yellow jackets when some got really angry and stung him all over the face and neck. He lost his balance and fell off the ladder onto the hood of his Land Rover (which is our other car, remembering that my car has only been out of the shop for 8 hours) and totally dented the hood! Once he realized he was fine, he was madder than I have EVER seen him. I felt so sorry for him, it was the staw that broke the camels back! I am just glad that it didn't break his back! I am actually so grateful that he landed on the hood of the car because it could have been soo much worse. I don't know why we had such a string of challenges so close together but I am thankful that we came out the other side with just a few bills and a scraped up elbow (Ryan split his elbow open during the fall incident). This week we had back to school night and spent a fun outdoor movie night with many of our good friends. We are anticipating a great school year filled with lots of forward motion! Our family could use a string of GOOD luck too if it's not too much to ask :) !