Peaches, a Birthday, and What? It's almost September?

(2nd post today)

We went and picked peaches last Saturday.  'Cause, you know, that 25 lb. box I got a few weeks ago wasn't enough.  Well, 34 lbs. later, I think we've had enough.  I know, I have a problem.  But it was only 15 minutes away, they were so cheap, they were dwarf trees that were so easy to pick we were there for like 30 minutes, and we used them all up, so there!  In five days, we baked, canned, dried, fruit-leathered, and of course ate, all 34 lbs.  Whew!  I need a new hobby...

(Obviously not peaches, but these are from our "garden"!)

Then on Thursday, it was Jeremy's birthday!  Thirty-two baby!  He had a big presentation at work that day and left pretty early and I did not get up to make him a nice breakfast - or any breakfast for that matter - but we had a nice little celebration when he got home.  A special dinner, a little homemade cake and ice cream, and a few presents.  I think he felt loved, and that's all that matters.  The boys were really excited all day and Eli keeps telling me what he wants to do for his birthday...in 7 months.

And this little girl is just about 6 months old!  I can hardly believe it!  I'll do a 6-month post about her and all the cute things she's up to, but for now, here's a picture of her.

How do babies hold their legs up like that?  Amazing.

We're looking forward to the three-day weekend.  We have yet to decide what we're doing, but the weather forecast says heat and sun for tomorrow, so we'll have to do something! :)  You know us!  Never a dull moment around here...enjoy your holiday!

Overheard at the Nowlands 2

Totally out of the blue at dinner one night...
Eli: "I wish I was a beaver."
Me: Oh yeah? Why's that?
Eli: 'Cause then I could chop down trees myself and I wouldn't need a ax.

While I was using my foot to lift him into his chair while feeding Anna - you know, multitasking....
Connor: "Mommy, you're a aerial lift!"

Me: "Connor and Anna are still sleeping, so we need to be quiet.  We need to use our quiet voices."
Eli: "I don't think I even have one of those!" (You got that right!)

Jeremy went in to tell the boys to be quiet and go to sleep and found Eli with his stuffed animals under his shirt.  Went he went in the next time, they were out...
Eli: "Daddy, I had triplets and I named them all Jesus.  Every single one is named Jesus."

On the way to the store yesterday (discussing Jeremy's birthday):
Eli: How are you going to sing Happy Birthday to Daddy?
Me: What do you mean?
Eli: Are you going to say "Happy Birthday dear Jermey?" 'cause he's not your daddy (giggle), he's your husband!

To everyone we come in contact with lately - neighbors, people, at the store, etc:
Eli: My name's Eli.
Connor: And I'm Connor! (always yelling...)
Eli: I'm four.  And Anna's 6 mumfs (months).
Connor: And I'm two! (holds up fingers, sometimes it's two...)
Eli: When I grow up, I'm gonna drive a backhoe.
Connor: And when I gwow up, I'm gonna drive a excagator! (copycat much?)
I have to say, moving a lot really has gotten these boys out of their shell.  When we moved to Pittsburgh, Eli would hide behind me and not say a word to anyone ever, even though he talked non-stop at home.  Now he pretty much tells perfect strangers our whole life story.  I could hardly get a word in when my visiting teacher came over yesterday!

Salmon Fishing pt. 2 - Salmon Fishing :)

Alrighty, on to the good stuff.  Here are a few pictures Jeremy took from the boat:

 Aww, fer cute...

And here are some I took when I met them getting off the boat.

 The boat coming in....Jeremy's in the white hat

 Happy fisherman!

 Saturday's catch.  Jeremy got the biggest on the boat that day!  And George got the biggest on Friday.  Way to go guys!

 So proud!

 Now they could have paid to have the fish filleted there, but Nowland men don't do that.  Nowland men fillet their own fish. :)

 Eli was watching intently.

 Our feast Sunday night!  Doesn't get much fresher than that.

And at my mother-in-law's suggestion, I took a picture of my beautiful freezer now stocked full of berries, peaches, and fish.  This is how we do "frozen dinners".  Thank you, Pacific Northwest!

Salmon Fishing in Ilwaco pt. 1 - the trip

2nd post of the day, fyi...

As I mentioned before, Jeremy's parents came into town on Wednesday night.  On Thursday morning, George and I took the boys to go berry-picking yet again.  The blueberries were down to a $1 per lb. since the season is winding down, and we just couldn't resist.  Nobody was even there, you just weighed them yourself and left your money through a slot.  Don't worry, we were honest. :)  We picked about 15 lbs in an hour or so.  Not too shabby!

 Then we came home and ate lunch and loaded up their van so they could go camping!  I won't tell you how many times I started to cry that day.  I have hardly ever been away from my kids and I've never been the one left behind!  (On a side note, Jeremy and I realized we have never been alone without the kids for more than 16 hrs. in the 4.5 years we've had kids.  And that was 2.5 years ago when I was 8 months pregnant with Connor.  Time to plan an anniversary getaway for next year I think!!)  So Anna and I were pretty lonely, but we survived.  I knew the boys would have a blast and it was be a nice thing for Jeremy's parents too.  So I sucked it up...

(driving away...sniffle...)

Anna and I went out shopping because that's what you do, I suppose.  I really really hate shopping, but I was able to get a couple things I'd been needing, and it was of course much easier with just one pleasant little baby.  Friday morning I kept busy by making blueberry jam, blueberry muffins, and getting ready for our little trip.  We also made another trip out to Costco and Target for some essentials - toothpaste, contact solution, and a shower curtain for our 2nd bathroom.

Friday night we picked up Jeremy at 8 and set out for Ilwaco, Washington!  It was my first time to ever go to Washington.  Pretty exciting.  We were bummed we didn't have more daylight for the whole drive, but what we could see was so beautiful!  Anna slept the whole way and it was really nice to have two hours of "alone" time with Jeremy after a week apart.  We pulled in about 10:15 (1:15am Jeremy's body time) and plopped into bed and attempted to get some sleep.

Saturday morning they had to be on the boat by about 5 am.  We didn't get much sleep the night before, but when Jeremy got up he found his dad throwing up outside the tent.  Poor George had gotten food poisoning from some bad Clam Chowder he'd had for dinner and was up all night, clearing out everything he had.  But he still went fishing!  So besides being completely exhausted, they said they still had a great time.  On Friday, George caught 1 King Salmon (about 15 lbs.) and 1 Coho Salmon (about 7 lbs).  The limit is 2, so he got all he could get!  Then on Saturday, George caught 1 and Jeremy caught 2 (10 lbs. and about 5-6 lbs, coho).  There were 10 people on the boat that day and only 8 fish were caught, so they did really well!

Debbie and I walked around the Saturday Market they had there and then we went to the beach.  It was colder that day, so we didn't stay too long, but it was still fun.  Kids love the beach so they were in heaven.  And we realized it was the first time they'd ever been to the Pacific Ocean!  Pretty sad, considering Jeremy and I both grew up in California and went frequently.

 Pretty typical attire for the beach up here, sweatshirts/jackets and swimsuits. :)

They men got back that afternoon and then we packed up everything and headed out.

Here are some pics of the Astoria Bridge, in between Washington and Oregon.  It's about 4 miles long - pretty impressive.

 Not too shabby out the car window, eh?

We stopped in Seaside, Oregon (on the coast) on our way back for dinner.

It was a beautiful drive back into Portland.  We made another stop along the way.  Our Relief Society President in Pittsburgh, a dear friend of mine and one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life, lived outside of Portland for 20 years over 20 years ago.  She and her husband still own their property - about 70 acres of now overgrown orchards - and she told me about it frequently.  It was right on our way back, so I wanted to stop and take some pictures for her.  We could even barely see their house which is now just about buried from all the trees and plants that have overtaken everything.  As she says, it has "gone back to nature".  And we also found TONS of wild blackberries.  We picked as many as we could in the diminishing daylight, but they were by far the best tasting we've found and we may have to make a trip back for more. :)

 Jeremy picking away.  We found a more accessible spot after he did this for a few minutes.  Below - the top of her house. :( Nature easily takes over around here!

Debbie and I took the kids home to bed since it was getting late while George and Jeremy finished up.  We all crashed that night after some much needed showers and then they cut up the fish the next morning.  I'll get to the actual fishing part of the fishing trip next! :)

Jeremy's back! And knocking out the Bucket List...

Whew!  It has been quite the week.  Lots to blog about.  Jeremy left last Sunday around 1pm to go to Cleveland for the week.  Ugh.  He was gone until Friday night at 8pm.  Too long!  But Jeremy's parents had been planning to come in August sometime so Jeremy and his dad could go salmon fishing, so they decided to come half way through the week to help me out.  Don't I have nice in-laws? :)  They got here Wednesday night and then on Thursday afternoon they took the boys up to Ilwaco, WA to camp.  George went fishing on Friday morning while Debbie and the boys went to the beach and then Jeremy, Anna, and I arrived late Friday night so the men could go fishing again on Saturday.  I think I'll have to do a separate post about all that...

So before they came the kids and I kept busy.  Monday the boys had their first ever dentist's appointments (hooray for dental insurance again! we've all been going to the dentist lately).  Eli did amazingly well and did everything without the slightest protest.  Connor was a little more scared, but I have to say, the pediatric dentist was SO great.  I was totally amazed at how nice the office was.  Anyway, after that we walked over to the library next door - very convenient - and loaded up on books and a couple movies.  I love the library!

Then on Tuesday we went to the zoo!  Bad idea.  It was a discount day and there were SO MANY PEOPLE there.  It was ridiculous.  It took us a half hour to get through the line to get in, and then we hardly could see anything because there were people everywhere.  Good thing I didn't pay very much to get in!  Luckily I met up with a lady from church and her 4 kids, so that made it more worth it.  She has a 4 yr old boy in Eli's church class, and they had fun playing together and it was nice to have someone to chat with.  We stayed for a couple hours, mostly eating lunch and playing at the play area, and then headed out.  Maybe we'll try it again another time...

 This black bear was the first thing we saw.  He was actually moving around!  The bears in Pittsburgh were always sleeping. :)

 Of course it was beautiful!

 This was what interested the boys the most, of course.  They sat here longer than anywhere else just staring at the excavator, or as Connor says, "excagator!"  We were joined briefly by several other curious boys.

 Smiling at Connor!

 Connor, Adam, and Eli looking at the elephant afar

Wednesday we just went to Costco and cleaned the house in preparation for Jeremy's parents to arrive.  I think we fared pretty well without Jeremy.  I can never sleep when he's not home, and Anna woke up about 6 times the first night. So other than being completely sleep-deprived, I felt like I survived pretty well.  But I'm sure glad he's home!  Next up, fishing!

Big Truck Day

Saturday morning we stopped by the Beaverton Farmers Market again for a few things and then we went to "Big Truck Day" at the Rec Center really close to our house.  I had heard about this event before we even moved here and put it on my calendar as a must-do.  It's a FREE event with about 40 various trucks that kids can look at, touch, and sit in.  Every little boy's dream!!!

 Above and below - leaving the Farmers Market (in the background, it's actually huge and awesome).

 Back to Big Truck Day - it was quite crowded of course, and a little loud with the random honking of horns, but it was pretty fun!  Trucks I can remember are: fire truck, back hoe, ambulance, police car & motorcycle, city bus, school bus, tow truck, dump truck, several tractors, vacuum truck, several limousines, a few semi trucks, and that's all I can think of right now.

There were tears several times from Connor and Anna with the loud noises, but both Eli and Connor enjoyed seeing so many cool trucks and tractors up close.  They weren't too eager to go inside them, but Eli sat in the fire truck and they both went in the dump truck, tow truck, limo, and bus.

 Tow truck!

 Nice policeman trying to give Connor a cool snap bracelet - he would have nothing to do with it.

 Fire truck!

 Classic Connor picture, haha:

 Oh yeah, they had an aerial lift too, and a crane.  The fun part is Eli and Connor know their trucks and tractors really well and could identify pretty much all of them.  I don't know too many 2 yr-olds that know and recognize the difference between a crane, aerial lift, front-end-loader, back hoe, etc.

 Old fashioned John Deere tractor.  They had an old fire engine too that I missed getting a picture of.

 And lots of fun hats!

 We only stayed about an hour, but it was a fun little outing, and after Eli came home to do some "construction work".