"Young boys should never be sent to bed,

This last week our family spent an incredible few days together, thanks to some good friends, the Teasdales. We had such a grand adventure–we drove almost 2,000 miles in 5 days, and had many unforgettable experiences. The Teasdales were generous enough to allow us to tag along, here is short synopsis of our trip…

Tuesday Night 9:45 PM Leave for Oregon

Wednesday Morning 10:15 AM Arrive in Portland (sleeping children are so much easier to travel with 🙂 )
Wednesday Afternoon Visit the OMSI Museum–This was an awesome museum, it was incredible, completely hands on, and we ALL learned something.
Truman Loved the Water:

Tucker and Truman found this Robot you got to control, and play a game of Connect 4 with. The robot is the big yellow thing in the background.


More Water:

Tucker in an Aquarium:

Tuck and Andrea, pretending to be Creatures from the sea:

Thursday: Big Town Heroes, Drive to Manzanita, Visit Cannon Beach, and enjoy being on the Coast!
Getting a Snack at the beach House:

When we left for Cannon Beach it was Raining,

When we got to Cannon Beach, the sun came out:

Friday: Morning at the Beach, Afternoon at the Tilamook Cheese Factory, and Evening Fire on the Beach

Tru an Cam having a good time in the sand:


After playing on the beach for awhile, the Tide started to come back in, and a big wave came. Christopher was between both boys, and figured since Tucker was bigger, he had better grab Truman. Tucker wasn’t quite big enough to handle that wave. MAN DOWN!

So after being taken out by a wave,

Tucker decided to just strip down and play in the ocean…

We forgot our Camera when we went to the Tilamook Cheese Factory, but believe you me, it was wonderful. Tucker and Truman watched the “Robots” (The Machines that Cut and Packaged the Cheese) and I watched the Cheese, and there was free samples of cheese at the end and we enjoyed some delicious ice cream. Yum.

S’mores taste pretty good on the Beach!

Playing:

A beautiful end to a good day:

Saturday: Return to Portland, Saturday Market, and Begin the Drive home
Riding the Train into Portland, made me miss the T in Boston:

A Man at the Market:

Here are the balloon swords the boys purchased at the Market, (I think they popped about 4 minutes after this picture was taken):

Sunday: Drive Home

The Drive was long, but worth every second. We had an incredible time.
Thanks Again Teasdales!

It has become obvious that Tucker thinks that our treehouse is going to be magical, just like Jack and Annies’. He has packed up all of his books, and organized them in sections. Those going to the Treehouse, and Those staying in his room. He also thinks that the treehouse will be built rather quickly, as he is making all sorts of plans…
Ah, the priorities of a 4 year old. I wish my biggest decisions/problems revolved around books.

Thursday Afternoon is our Scout Afternoon, we have 8 (soon to be 10) rambunctious young boys ages 8 and 9, It is alot of fun to be with them, they’re so passionate for life, and full of energy, but as you can imagine, our hands are full. During this time we are usually trying to make sure our scouts are staying on task, not poking their neighbors with their pencils, trying to glue their hands to their faces, or burning themselves with the hot glue guns, as you can imagine, Truman and Tucker can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Don’t get me wrong, most of the time, Tuck and Tru are right there gluing their craft sticks together just like the big kids, but every once in a while they can just slip away for a few minutes, and Toph or I will think they are with the other person.
Tucker took one of the above such opportunities to slip away. He decided to practice his cooking skills. We had just finished making trail mix with the scouts, and Tucker gathered the ingredients he liked and took them to the kitchen where he mixed it with other things he could find…
Here are his ingredients for “Tuckers Stew”:
Lots of Water and Milk mixed together well
a few handfuls of Craisins and Raisins
1 handful of Cheerios
1/2 of the Sugar Shaker (approx. 2.5 cups)
Mix them together well, and Voila! a delicious stew.
Toph and I realized what was happening right about the Voila part. When we came in Tucker was ready to sit down for dinner. The young boys got a spoon, and decided to dig in.

Toph and I decided to pass, It didn’t look as appetizing to us.
Ironically Truman loved it, and ate 2 bowls.
Tucker was done after one spoonful.

How do children move so fast?
Sometimes I wonder where they get their speed…I could be a millionaire if I could figure it out…
Well, yesterday Tucker and his friend found the 2 BIG boxes of Legos, and dumped them all over the kitchen and living room. The crazy thing is, I was on the phone for 2:06 minutes. How do they move so fast? I found the Legos under all 3 couches, under all of the couch cushions, under my kitchen table and shelf, Of Course the boys helped me clean them up, and it only took us 20 minutes to find them all… (The pics don’t do the mess justice)


Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LEGOS? 😉

This video is so sweet, it helps me to envision how a little boy thinks, and remember what it is like to be a child, “sitting next to a giant”—What will Tucker and Truman remember, and how will they remember us as parents?

Spring is here, and so are ripe, red, delicious strawberries. Yum, yum. When I saw that they were on a good sale, we ended up with a few flats…so what did we do? We made Jam. Christopher loves freezer jam, and it is pretty easy to do, we did it all in 2 hours last night.
Now we have a freezer full of delicious jam. And Tucker found the a new use for all of those old containers. He spent all morning getting all packed. Awesome.

Click on the Link to see the chemical reaction between Tucker and Easter candy:
Easter Movie
Thanks Easter Bunny…
(To view you need Quicktime video player)

Truman adores Tucker. Whatever Tucker does, Truman follows close behind and repeats it. This morning, Tucker had worked hard to make a rocket out of Legos. I was impressed, and noticed how precisely he had built it. While I was washing breakfast dishes, Tucker came racing around the corner holding his rocket so carefully, and making swooshing rocket flying noises. A few seconds later Truman came around the corner holding 4 mish-mashed legos, and racing to catch his “woket” up with Tucks. They raced all morning, and Trumans rocket kept up amazingly with the advanced technology of Tuckers.
Heres to many more years of playing together and “racing wokets”

Tucker has found a series of books that he loves. It is the Magic Tree House Series. It is the adventures of Jack and Annie, brother and sister who find a magic treehouse in the woods by their house. With in the treehouse there is tons and tons of books. The magic appears when Jack and Annie open a book and say, “I wish we could go here”, they are magically transported to the picture in the book, where adventures await for them.
The books are educational, have a great plot, and are fun to read aloud. Tucker thoroughly enjoys them. We have read almost the whole series, I think we are on #21. Whatever we read about, form Tuckers Free Play during the week. If we have read about a pirate adventure, Tucker is out looking for buried treasured. It is fun, to see him love books so much.
Recently Tucker overheard Toph and I talking about our summer plans, which include building a treehouse for the boys sand/gravel pit. Tucker has thought and talked often since then, and has big plans, like placing leaves and grass on the floor so he can sleep with the bugs. He left this picture on Tophs Pillow (he asked me to write the words). In case you can’t read the words they say: Dear Daddy, this is how I want my tree house, Love Tuck
I just hope Tucker knows that he will not be traveling to far off destinations–Although, he does have a pretty great imagination!