A Little Voodoo Magic

So we didn’t make it to Voodoo Doughnuts while David and Lesli were here, but we made it with Kristin and Darcy.  Sorry David and Lesli! 

This time the wait was only 20 minutes, much more doable.  The kids were fascinated with the sparkly brick wall, so that helped.

There were lots of weird doughnuts with creative names to choose from, it was kind of hard to make a decision!  These are what we finally ended up ordering:

Lee’s Oreo Peanut Butter doughnut was definitely the best (we were nice enough to order him one even though he wasn’t with us), although Emma’s Butterfinger one was a close second.  I’m not sure what got into me when I ordered the Cap’n Crunch doughnut.  I don’t really even like Captn Crunch, but it was actually pretty good!  It was between that one and the chocolate doughnut with Cheetos on top (just kidding, I didn’t really want that one).  I hear Avery’s bubblegum doughnut was yummy, maybe I’ll try that one next time!

Emma, Isaac and Grace were all happy with their choices.  The babies especially liked the M&M doughnuts.

Kristin was brave enough to try the famous Maple Bacon Bar.  She said it was good even though she doesn’t really like bacon. 

It was a yummy outing!

We attempted to work off a few of those calories by walking along the Waterfront.  It was a perfect day to do it.  Lots of other people thought the same though and we had to dodge a lot of runners, walkers and bikers.  Actually, it was more like they had to dodge our kids!

Cook Park with the Family

At the same time Kristin and David and their families were in town, Uncle Robert and Aunt Candy were also paying a visit from Utah.  We got together with the Russell gang (well, everybody that could come) at Cook Park for dinner and dessert and playing.

Emma is always happy to spend time with Emily.

All the little kids were loving Uncle Dan and Aunt Elene’s dog.

My cute Grandma Dorothy and cute Father Dear, so glad that Grandma is also part of the Russell family.

I made the mistake of asking Lee to smile…

…and I got this:

Love these Russell boys!

Love these girls, too!

We celebrated Avery’s birthday with everybody.  She is such a cute 5 year old!

Of course there was a lot of playing going on.

As well as a lot of Frisbee throwing.

The cutest thing was watching Isaac, Gracie and Ryder build a “fire”.  They worked on that fire forever, gathering leaves and twigs to keep it going.  Grace even insisted on taking all their supplies home so they could rebuild it in the back yard.  So cute!

I love my family and it is always fun to be with them.  I can’t believe this is the only “group” shot we got while everybody was together.  NO family pictures??  What were we thinking?

David, Kristin, Tenley, Kaitlin, Adrienne

Pump It Up!

Both the little kids and the adults enjoyed the giant inflatables at Pump It Up.  The big slide was especially fun for almost everybody.  Everybody that is but Isaac and Grace.  Isaac would have nothing to do with and I only got Grace to go down a few times with me, and I don’t think she was totally ok with it any of those times. 

It was so fun to watch the kids go down the slide, especially Avery who would pose every time.  My favorite picture though was this one:

Isaac and Grace may not have liked the slide, but they loved bouncing in all the other inflatables. 

Good thing there were several cars to drive in because they loved those too.

They also got in a little basketball playing with Uncle David and Granny.

Even Charlotte found some mini-sized slides to play on.  Looks like she enjoyed that one better than the big one!

Emma got to go bowling with Grandpa, Tenley and Kaitlin for some big kid entertainment while we bounced.  And poor little Logan was sick, so he and Lesli couldn’t come with us.  But all of these guys had a great time!

Visitors From Arizona

Kristin and Darcy and their family didn’t want to miss out on all the fun, so they came for a visit too.  Their trip overlapped with David and Lesli’s so we could all spend time together.  Since Mom and Dad’s house was full we got to have them at our house for the first half of their visit.  While David and Lesli were still here we had many opportunities to watch the cousins play, eat s’mores and pick berries in our backyard.

We also introduced them to Kid History.

The Kidwash was used a few times.

David and Lesli tried to convince us to go rafting down the Deschutes before they left.  Darcy was the only taker this year, Lee had to work and the rest of us wimped out. I haven’t missed a trip down the Deschutes in a long time, guess I’m getting old when the worry of injury or death weighs out the fun!  After seeing the pictures of their day Kristin and I were bummed we didn’t go (or maybe it just would have been better than staying home with all the kids?). 

We loved having them stay with us, even with all the craziness.  We got to have birthday donuts with cute Avery for her 5th birthday.

Avery introduced Gracie to the wonders of Barbies (I’ve had them hidden away) and Polly Pockets.

We got to watch Isaac and Ryder play superhero guys all the time…when they weren’t fighting!  They either got along great, or they didn’t.  There wasn’t much middle ground. And poor Charlotte couldn’t touch anything without Grace freaking out.

Emma was a good sport to play with the little kids.

We watched the kids play with the bubble supplies for hours.  What a nice evening that was!

Of course we did many other fun things, including a trip to the beach, they will be separate posts to come.  But it was just nice to hang out and have fun together.  One night while Kristin and Darcy were staying at Mom and Dad’s house, they came over without kids.  Poor Darcy couldn’t get away from kids totally and was super nice as Isaac and Grace attacked him.

He and my dad finally escaped to do guy stuff together.  Lee was at church meetings, so just the girls hung out.  I helped Kristin make some super cute little boy ties and Kaitlin got us super yummy raspberry milkshakes from Burgerville.  It was a good night!

The first two, we actually got three made that night.

Before they left we went to a cheap summer movie.  Isaac and Grace loved the whole movie-going experience.  Yes, I may have fallen asleep, but I never drooled as I have been accused. 

I’m still trying to figure out why Kristin and Darcy live in Arizona.  They missed out on nasty hot days while they were here in beautiful weather, then they went home to a 100 degree house with hot toilet seats and everything melted.  It would be much better and much more fun if they moved back where they belong!  Just saying…We love you guys!