Second Memorial Day - May 29

This weekend was our real Memorial Day because we went up Friday afternoon to the big cemeteries in Portland, Lincoln Memorial & Willamette National. We put flowers out for (on dad's side) Gram, great-grampa Ted, grampa Ted, and Grandma Betty, then (on mom's side) grampa ashford and mom. It was a nice, relaxing evening, the weather was wonderful, the boys enjoyed exploring those gorgeous cemeteries, and we let Bear explore a bit too although I promise he did not embarrass himself on anyone's grave!

Saturday Derek drove up to meet Gene & Bob & the Astoria Angora hiking club for a morning hike up Saddle Mountain. He said the weather was amazing & he enjoyed it a lot although he desperately needs some new hiking boots to keep his feet comfy. The boys & I went to town and got Alex a new bike helmet. All next week they're doing "Bike Safety" at school and riding for two hours each day. His old helmet had a wicked crack in it. While we were "downtown" we cruised through the Farmer's Market. Our Saturday's were full of soccer til now but have now opened up. It's a neat little market and we saw friends and the boys each found a classmate. Ah, I do enjoy living in this little town! A hands-down highlight was when we stopped to check out a lady farmer's honey bee display, and she asked if we wanted to hold a bee. Wish I could have seen our expressions! She told us these were male bees which don't have stingers, can't collect pollen, and only leave the hive to find a lonely lady bee. So I put on my brave face, also called "show no fear so my boys can experience the wonder of nature even if inside I'm doing the scaredy-dance" and I held out my hand and damned if she didn't set a buzzy bee on it. This was actually very very cool, and I was pleased when each boy held out a hand too! Neat-o!! Surprisingly they opted out of the downtown water fountain, but were instead eager for the store tgrip that would add Popsicles to our house!

We got back home, ate some popsicles, and then realized it was a perfect day to walk to our neighborhood pool. Alex and I were very impressed, and Casey very proud that he could independently play in the deeper water, navigate the "channel" that has a current, and go down the huge water slide. So Cool! I'm one step closer to kicking back beside the pool with a good book!

Now the hot day has gone and we're blessed with a cool evening breeze that passes thru the house. The boys have full tummies (for now), Alex is playing "age of empires" on dad's laptop, and Casey is exploring some old-style Legos that his dad & uncle Garth played with as little boys. Derek's on his way home after his adventures, and I'm heading out to water the veggies with my shadow Bear. [note, Alex just announced that he's going to get a banana. So much for a full tummy!] Out of curiosity I looked up the Cherokee word for 'shadow', imagining a cool buddy nickname, but although it's a perfect description of Bear "U da yv la dv" doesn't roll off my tongue. I've been intrigued with the language courses offered thru the cherokee nation website but I suppose it'd be more practical to brush up on my Spanish.

Memorial Day - May 22

The long Memorial Day Weekend! Our friend borrowed our driveway Friday for a garage sale which we took a turn tending on Saturday. Bear-Bear was our official greeter and had a great time with all the people. We got rid of some crap and made some moolah, but still it's a lot of work so we were happy to put it up and enjoy the friends that were trickling in to make our house oh-so-pleasantly full! The boys hung out all weekend with their bestest ever friends, while the grownups played board games and cards. We had such a great time & I always feel sad when everyone goes back home!

We spent an evening with dad & his bride. Dad's looking great and they have such a happy energy with each other, I gotta say it's fun to see dad giggle. She's such a great 'earthy' resource and I made her explore every inch of our baby veggie garden and give me hints and tips, move this, divide that (and that, and that, and that...) but overall I feel we're sitting on a good first big garden. Then we had dinner out where I wore two glasses of peach tea on my lap, it was a very unlucky drink for me, but otherwise a very nice visit. Grampa got to read Casey a bedtime story which was a treat.