Feeling “Berry” Ambitious!

Today we decided we should get in the car and go berry picking! That’s right 4 Mom’s, 6 kids and 28 degree weather (that’s 82 for all you Americans!) There are a lot of “you pick” farms down here in Portland and you end up with fresher cheaper berries than you get at the store. Since we are now officially part of the Oregon community we want to take part in as much of “Portland Living” as possible, which includes berry picking.

We decided to get an early start, so as to beat the heat, great in theory unfortunately things did not work out as we had planned. After missing our bridge and then next FEW exits on the interstate we managed to add 30 minutes onto our travel time and didn’t get to the berry farm until 9:45. The boys where great in the car but by the time we unpacked and got our boxes things where really heating up!




This trip was dedicated to raspberries and blue berries. We eventually want to pick cherries, apples, and peaches but it is not their season yet. So off we went with all our kids, boxes, strollers, cart and empty boxes. After walking the long road we picked, and picked, and picked, picked, and picked, and picked, picked, and picked, and picked, picked, and picked, and picked………Until our boxes where full! It took a good 2 hours but once out there we weren’t coming home until we had all the berries we needed. Our plan is to make jam tomorrow morning, all though we have never done it before, wish us luck!

The kids did great! AJ and Megan helped pick and test the berries as well as entertain the younger kids when things got “to boring” as AJ would put it. Actually AJ isn’t much of a berry fan but he still had a great time picking away and running around in the hot sun. I was a little worried about Miles but he was a real trooper. I did end up nursing him in the middle of an endless row of raspberries but you do what ya got to do right!?! By the end of the trip the kids where all pretty hot and tired, not to mention the Mom’s, however we got the berries!!! Mission accomplished.

Here we are picking raspberries, please notice Lyndz peeking out in the back left, lol!



Here's me and smage picking some berries together. He did pretty good until he realized he has sat in some berries and stained his new basketball shoes. It was all down hill from there, lol!


AJ is not a raspberry fan and Milies is to little so while Lyndz was busy picking away I decided to let Becks in on the Raspberry fun. I made sure he kept his clothing clean, but honestly, dose it get any cuter!?!
What is this?Squishy...let's have a taste...Not sure.....OH YEAH, HE'S A FAN!
Here we are at the end of our journey and it couldn't have gone any better. It was a lot of work but we had a lot of fun! By 12:00 we were all pretty ready to rush home for naps and then jump in the pool!!!



The boys in the car after 2 hours slaving away in the hot summer sun. Aren't they cute all squised in the back seat like that? We'll do anything to save a few bucks on gas, lol!

The end of break

It was so nice to get to spend a little time with my parents before the brake was over. Their trip was a quick one, they were only here 3 1/2 days, but we had a great time and made the most of every minute!

We spent our days swimming, shopping, eating, as the grandparents tried to soak up as much of their grandsons as possible before having to leave. They just couldn't snap enough pictures or get enough snuggles in before the end of their trip. I honestly don't know how Dad managed to carry AJ so much with out his arm falling right off. As usual the two of them were inseparable! Of to the park, playing with cars, or just watching Toy story they always seemed to be together.

Here's some of the pictures they took while down here.





Of course I was busy taking care of miles and visiting with my parents which means I neglected to take a sufficient amount of pictures but here are a few I did manage to get during our weekend of fun!




I know that it was a lot of driving for such a short little visit but it ment the world to us that you came all the way down here to spend a little time with our family and meet baby Miles. As always the good-bye was the hardest part, I broke into tears the minute the front door closed behind Mom and Dad. I have been blessed with such great parents that I started to miss them before they were even gone! I love Portland and am more than happy to live here for the next few years but I missed Canada and most of all I miss living close to two of my best frinds in the world. Love you guys!

First time at the BIG SCREEN!

While my parents were down visiting they decided to give me and Aaron a little time to catch up on our sleep while they took AJ to a movie. As excited as I was to get some shut eye I was a little nervous about sending AJ to the show. I know that some kids get scared because of how big the screen is and how loud the movie can be but I knew my parents would take him out if he needed it. Also I was torn between going and seeing AJ at his first movie and staying home to rest but in the end relaxing at home won out!

So off they went. AJ is a big fan of Ice Age and recently has been pretty obsessed with Dinosaurs which made Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs the perfect choice! Here's AJ getting all geared up to go in with Grandpa, I'm not sure he really understood what was going on until the movie started but he was just happy to be there!


For any of you who don't know, the women in our family are BIG popcorn fan's. We don't even let the boys date a girl unless she can truly enjoy a good bowl of popcorn, LOL. Anyways to ensure that AJ got the full movie experience Mom took him over to the treats stand and got him all squared away with his own little stash.

Time to hit the theater! Here's AJ all set up and ready to go. They got him one of those cute little booster seat, not that he used it long. I think Mom said he lasted about 5 minutes in his own seat before crawling up into Grandpas lap for the rest of the show.


It was a little intense in some parts but Age did GREAT and has been asking to go back ever since. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa, he had a great time discovering the theater with you!

!!!Happy Canada Day!!!

We may be living in the USA but we still know where we came from, CANADA!!!! Most of you know that July 1st is Canada day, Canada's official birthday. Back home we like to celebrate with food, parades, festivals, family, and fireworks and this year was no exception.

With Aaron's brake and the arrival of baby Miles our families have made plans to come down and visit and July 1st magically fell into place. At first it looked like just Aaron's Dad and Sister would be joining his Mom down here for the day but then my parents plan's had to take a little shift and they ended up down here on the first as well! It was so much fun to have everyone here together, I never imagined that we would be hosting a family BBQ on Canada day while living in this tiny apartment in Portland.



To help Celebrate Canada Day properly everyone brought a few of our favorite Canadian treats. We had 4 kids of old dutch chips (including Ketchup), an assortment of Cadbury Chocolate bars, Rogers golden, Marble cheese, etc. It was awesome! The only thing missing was Tim Horten's doughnuts, lol.


After a traditional pancake breakfast we headed to the wood burn outlet malls to walk off out breakfast and work up and appetite for our blow out BBQ. It was beautiful out and I think we all found a few good buys before packing up to head home around 2:30. By the time we got home and got the food prepared we were HUNGRY!

Here's AJ in his new kicks and basketball short from the outlet mall, so cute!

After eating more than we really had room for we all squeezed into our swimsuits and went to the pool. Sorry Poy, we just couldn't wait the suggested two hours, just ignore the life guard inside you and jump in! All though not everyone got in the pool AJ made sure everyone at least got a soggy hug and I was able to go swimming for the first time since having Miles. I was getting so sick of sitting by the pool instead of enjoying the cool water on these hot summer days.





Anyways it was a great day full of family fun, thanks to all of you for coming to visit and making our Canada Day feel a little bit more like the ones back home!