Blueberries for the boys

This week we're in Oregon! Technically, we weren't planning on coming up again until Christi's wedding, but when Jenn said she was headed up for a friend's wedding, we decided to stowaway and surprise my parents. It was well worth all the secret keeping; my parents were so so so excited to see the boys! Jenn's one request of my dad was that she would get to pick blueberries while she was up, and yesterday we did just that. We were joined by my dad's boss Scott, and Kell's friend Hannah. Everyone up here complained that it was "sooooo hot" while we were picking, but the barely 90 degree weather felt like heaven to us!

Anyway, for those of you that don't know, my dad works at the most amazing blueberry farm a little south of where they live in Eugene (seriously, go look it up, Fall Creek Nursery in Lowell, OR). They have fields where they grow trial berries and various new (and maybe some old?) breeds of blueberries for research, photos, etc. The fields are also used for selecting new introductions from over fifteen years of blueberry breeding work. Since my dad is super special (wink!), we are able to go out and pick berries every so often when we come up. We did this last September, but Drew was younger and Collin was teenie tiny. September was also the end of the growing season. At the time I thought the bushes looked pretty full, but those bushes looked bare compared to the amount of berries on them this time around! They were loaded! The boys and I had so much fun picking! Drew loved hanging out and helping pick, and Collin loved the freedom of being able to cruise around popping blueberries into his mouth. Heck, let's face it, we all loved that part!

Blueberries!

There are rows, upon rows of these bushes, all heavy with the weight of berries!

Once we were inside the gated field, Drew got to "drive" from the front of the field to the end rows where we would be picking. He loved this part!

Kell and Hannah

This is pretty much how Collin spent his afternoon. If he wasn't begging for berries from someone else....

...then he was helping himself to them,

and popping them in his own mouth!

Auntie Kell and Coll...notice what still has Collin's attention. The blueberries!

I wasn't kidding about Collin spending his afternoon eating blueberries! Almost every picture I have of him looks something like this. He LOVED them!

My dad's boss Scott showing Drew how the pros pick blueberries. He was so nice to Drew; seriously, such a nice guy! Drew loved him!

Poppi sharing blueberries with Drew

Look at his chipmunk cheeks! They are filled with blueberries!

Auntie Jenn Jenn

Me, Auntie Christi, and Coll-brother

Our berries! There were six of these filled to the brim! We have more berries than we know what to do with. Ok, well technically we know exactly what to do with them, as our picking had a purpose! Blueberry jam making here we come!

We did miss having Nathan here, but hope to be able to pick again in August when Nathan is here with us for Christi's wedding! In the meantime, we'll share our bounty with him when we come home with the bags upon bags of blueberries we brought back from the nursery!

Guess who turned one today??

COLLIN!!

Happy Birthday, little love! I can't believe it's already been a year!!

Three Things

DREW:

1. Loves Legos and building! He also loves to pretend and will create stories around whatever he's built. I love overhearing these stories and the situations he's thought up while he's playing (this plane was flying to Oregon). 

2. Loves to sleep under his bed...as in, sleeps there almost every night and definitely for every nap. We read bedtime stories on top of the bed and then he slides down to be tucked in under the bed. Not to worry, his bed is lifted a good two feet off the ground (at least!) so he's not squished. It was built to have a trundle bed under it, but we've never had one. I think to Drew the space feels like a small fort. In any case, he has a pillow, his blankets, and his lovees down there and from what I can tell, stays there the entire night.

**Sorry! You get a cute bathtime picture instead of a sleeping under the bed picture! It's hard to photograph a sleeping three year old....they wake up!! :)

3. Loves to make us maps and then follow them, especially if we're in the car. The maps are made on any piece of paper I have floating around, and usually just consist of what looks to the naked eye, like a bunch of scribbles. However, Drew will gladly decode it for you and then you too will know the many stops and sights to see along our route! Naturally, since he has mapped out the way, he now also loves to give directions. "Turn left up there, Mommy." or "No! You were supposed to turn there! Turn around!".  As far as I know, he has no real concept of right and left yet, so I just nod and ask him to double check his map if I turn the "wrong" way or won't go back. We usually find that I am indeed following the correct route. Phew!

COLLIN:

1. Is officially walking! Yep, he took eight or nine steps in a row last week and hasn't stopped since! This week he seems to prefer trying to walk over crawling (unless he wants to get somewhere quickly). 

2. Says "uh oh" and babbles constantly. He's started to use voice inflections and loves to wave his hands around while jabbering away, which makes me laugh. He's telling us something, we just have no idea what! He also loves to pretend he's talking on the phone.

3. Throws an uber dramatic tantrum like nobody's business! It's comical really, the amount of drama that goes into throwing himself on the floor over the smallest things! Aaaand, since I don't have a tantum picture (who wants to see that, really??), you get one of Collin packing his toys around in his diaper! (Thanks Auntie Jenn Jenn and Uncle Burkie for teaching him that new trick!).

Up we go!

Have I mentioned yet how much of a climber Collin is? Surprisingly, for as much as he likes to go up things, he hadn't realized he could go up and actually stay there until this week. He now proudly climbs up and turns his little hiney around to sit on the couches, chairs, coffee table, etc...and if I'm not careful, the counters (Ack!). This has all been hugely entertaining not only for Collin, but also for Drew who loves to egg him on.

Most of the time, my instant reaction is to grab him off of whatever he's managed to climb up, but in this case, the chair was a pretty safe option for him to hang out on, so I grabbed my camera

He almost always sits with his legs crossed, which makes me laugh 

The rest of our week has been pretty mellow. Since it's been hot (over 100 all week, ick!), we've been spending plenty of time playing in the kiddie pool, eating popsicles, and just trying to stay cool. Somehow in all of this though, I managed to snag only a few pictures. Shocking, I know. ;)

Backyard Campout

We have been itching to get up to Yosemite all spring and this past weekend we were finally able to go.  Since Uncle Burke has been eager (major understatement) to go see the waterfalls before the spring snowmelt went away (they've had an unusually high amount this year), we figured we'd drag him and Auntie Jenn along too. Originally we were going to try to do Mist Trail, but realized that a long (straight up!) hike with two little kids probably wasn't in anyone's best interest. Instead we opted for a bike ride around the valley floor, something that just so happens to be one of my favorite things to do in Yosemite anyway. After fighting our way through the crowds down the bike paths, I have to say that we have been spoiled in living so close to Yosemite. We rarely visit the park during tourist season and because of this, I had forgotten just how crowded it can be. There were people everywhere while we were there! Fighting the crowds was all worth it in the end though. The waterfalls really were amazing, and the rivers were so, so full. I don't know if I've ever seen signs posted saying you can't float down the river, but they were there this time and after a little while, we came to realize why. Besides the obvious fact that the river was running incredibly quickly, there was only about a foot of clearance between the water and the bridges you usually would float under right now! Yikes!

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Collin spent a good amount of time trekking around on our shoulders that day

Drew wanted to actually get in the water. We tried to explain that it was too cold, but Nathan finally let him go feel it for himself 

Burke and Jenn

Check out Collin's wind blown hair! The base of the falls were super windy! ...and super wet, and super loud! There was just a ton of water!!

Climbing rocks

Cheese!!

Up at Mirror Lake. Two things: one, this lake is seasonal and usually isn't there this time of year. And two, check out the ridiculous amount of people!!!

And finally, for those of you that didn't know, this past Saturday was National Camp in your Backyard Day (thank you REI for filling us in on all those little known dates!). Nathan found out this day was coming up a while ago and has been looking forward to "camping" out back with the boys ever since. Since Jenn and Burke had already done the wilderness portion of campout night (a.k.a. Yosemite for the day) we roped them into camping with us that night too (the more the merrier, right?) We put a little tent up, pulled out Nathan's telescope, made s'mores, and all around had a pretty fun time. Drew slept in the tent (at least for most of the night, anyway), and we all slept on blow up mattresses on the lawn. Collin started out the night in his bed since he goes to bed earlier than we were going to, and then we moved him to sleep inbetween me and Nathan once Drew and everyone else had fallen asleep. Our campsite was clean, comfortable, and had bathrooms close by! Not a bad way to camp with two young kids, if I do say so myself!

Uncle Burkie and Drew setting up the tent. 

Checking it out as it went up (Drew was only a little excited)

Because Drew was scared of the dark at first, Nathan gave him a headlamp that he had to check everything out with

Thanks to the "no burn" days in Fresno, in lieu of a bonfire, the BBQ served as our sophisticated way of making s'mores for the night :)

Playing Legos in the tent with Auntie Jenn

We actually found Saturn and got to see it's ring with the telescope!

Reading Curious George (of course!) with the headlamp. Don't you love the furry audience? (The two minions Puggies are Jenn and Burke's)

Our hillbilly (and probably most comfortable way I've ever camped) campsite :)

Backyard camping was apparently exhausting for Drew. Ok, it probably had more to do with the fact that he had stayed up most of the night, but still. This was after naptime the next afternoon. He asked for a movie and fell asleep again maybe five minutes after I had turned it on. Not only have I never had him fall asleep on the couch, I've never ever had him fall asleep after already taking a nap! Proof that a good time was had, I guess. :)