This weekend we went to Vancouver to spend some time with Janae and Kiera, and of course, Heather, Jeff, Andrea and Chris. While we were there I caught this moment on camera. Kiera is 10 months old and has figured out how to bother her sister Janae who will be 4 years old later this month. This brought back so many similar memories of when Heather and Andrea were that age.
On Friday night, while in Vancouver, we went out to dinner with Heather, Jeff, Janae, Kiera, Andrea, Chris, Tami, Dan, Evan and Siena. Afterward, we went back to Heather and Jeff's house. When Kiera went to bed we put in a movie to help the older kids stay quiet. I thought they all looked so cute I couldn't help but take a picture.
On Saturday, we went to the Clark County Fair. Janae and I went on the Tea Cup ride and had lots of
fun.
Janae and Heather went on the Roller Coaster. Janae loved it. She even got brave enough to put her hands in the air!
Kiera is right on the verge of walking. She has great balance but needs to build up her confidence a little more. She does really well pushing the stroller around. I'm sure she'll be walking on her own very soon.
Two weeks ago we went to North Carolina. Steve served his mission there a few years back (ha ha!) and has wanted to go visit for a long time. We had a great time and met a lot of nice people. North Carolina looks like Oregon, green with lots of trees but unlike Oregon it is hot and muggy.
Steve showed me most of the areas he served in and he even found a few of the apartments and houses he lived in while 
there. He has a great me
mory when it comes to people and places which I already knew but I was impressed that he could find these places after so many years away.
While we were traveling around we managed to visit South Carolina and Tennessee also. You will notice that we even drove through Bat Cave, North Carolina.
We spent some time on the Outer Banks. This was our first time on the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful day. It was windy but very hot. The water was about 82 degrees. We enjoyed the fact that you could wade in the surf and not have numb feet and legs when you were done.
We took an exciting walk up to the Mile High Swinging Bridge on Grandfather Mountain. The bridge is the highest swinging footbridge in America. The bridge really does swing when you walk on it but, thank goodness, it's made of steel and not wood. The bridge is suspended more than a mile above sea level. When you get to the other side you realize you are standing on the edge of a cliff. I was surprised that there were not any railings or fences. I'm not afraid of 
heights but I found m
yself watching everybody's kids to make sure they didn't get too close to the edge (just like an over protective grandma). It was really beautiful and you could see for miles and miles. Steve spent part of his time taking pictures of other families with their cameras. He wanted them to have pictures of their whole family together. Everyone was very appreciative.
We spent several hours touring the Biltmore House and Gardens. This place is amazing. It took over 4 years to build the house, they finished in 1895 making it the largest home in America to date. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but it was very impressive. Some of my favorite interesting facts are: the house sits on 8,000 acres of land; the library contains more than 23,000 books; there are 43 bathrooms - most houses in 1895 didn't have even one; electric lights throughout the house; one of the bedrooms displays two Renoir paintings, 
Child with an Orange and The Young Algerian Girl; there is a bowling alley, swimming pool and gymnasium in the basement; they have an early form of walk-in refrigerators, a laundry room with a belt-driven barrel washer and an inside drying room; etc. Mr. Vanderbilt and his architect were very forward thinking.
There are several gardens and they are all beautiful. The conservatory is open to the public and you can buy hundreds of varieties of plants. I could have spent all day there looking at each and every type of flower and plant.
We learned a lot and really enjoyed our time there.
We spent the 4th of July with Heather, Jeff, Janae, Kiera, Andrea, Chris, Evan and Siena in Washington. We had lots of fun together. This video is of Janae and Evan with their sparklers. Siena didn't want to do sparklers so she's not in this video.
Evan and Siena are our nephew and niece. Their parents, Tami and Dan, were on vacation in Italy and Andrea and Chris were taking care of them. We were are their house doing fireworks.
I couldn't believe how many people were doing fireworks. The neighborhood was filled with smoke and it sounded like a war zone but it was a lot of fun.
We celebrated my Dad's 73rd birthday this weekend along with Steve's. We spent the evening at my parents house. We had a barbeque and ate lots of good food. Kim made the birthday cake in a cake decorating class that she is taking in Corvallis.
Dad is a wonderful father and grandfather. We all love him very much.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Last weekend we went to the Portland Zoo with Heather, Jeff, Janae and Kiera. We had lots of fun looking at the animals and watching the girls reactions to them. Kiera was somewhat oblivious but she seemed to be enjoying the ride in her stroller. One of the highlights of the day was feeding the birds. If you haven't had the chance to experience this it is worth the time and $1 it costs for the bird food. Heather was brave and let a bird land on her finger and eat. Janae was right there and not a bit afraid as you can see in the pictures below. We also took a ride on the Zoo Train. When the train stopped by the Rose Gardens for people to get off, the train conductor came and talked to Janae. The weather was perfect all day, no rain. Janae had so much fun that she is already making plans for our next trip to the Zoo!
There's nothing quite like Spring! I love it when everything starts to bloom. These are some of the flowers in the front of our house.
Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.
This was a great weekend, almost all of our family, including Tami, Dan, Evan and Siena were here to attend a baby shower for Gary and Jill's newborn, Mallory, for Steve and Dan to play golf in the Thurston High School Golf Tournament and to celebrate Mother's Day.
On Mother's Day the kids all gave me a new digital camera, a Sony Cyber-shot. It has a special "smile detection mode" that automatically takes a picture when your subject smiles plus many other features including movies with sound.
So I had the special treat of recording Kiera, 7 months old, figure out how to crawl for the first time. Thanks to all of you for the great gift.
