Westmoreland Asays

Eddie lost a tooth today. This wasn't his first, but he's literally lost all the other baby teeth before he could put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He almost pulled the same trick with this tooth. A kick to the head (courtesy of Aaron) loosened it up and it came out during dinner. Meg and I encouraged him to put the tooth somewhere safe, but he insisted on holding onto it, which included running around with it outside. We were all outside enjoying the sunny warmth--the older boys talking and tradin' Pokemon cards with some neighborhood friends, while Meg and I watched Ian on the front porch--when Meg called the boys to come in for the evening. I happened to have my camera at the time and, at Meg's suggestion, I recorded the following video of Aaron and Eddie coming home. Eddie Loses His Tooth from mike asay on Vimeo . While all of us were searching the grass on hands-and-knees, I remembered that I had captured the scene on video. Shortly after Meg re...

Our Stake (church) held a father-and-son campout at Trout Creek Campground , which lies on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon. I took a half-day off work so we could beat the weekend rush hour traffic, but it still took us about 2.5 hours (we dropped Meg off at the Kaiser in Clackamas for an appointment--maybe she'll blog about her adventures some day--before leaving her there and heading east over the mountains). The boys whined the usual amount when on a long drive, and weren't impressed at all in the huge change in scenery from western to central Oregon. The last four miles were on a gravel road that gradually descended into the canyon and close to the river. It was pretty steep at some points, and I was mildly worried about the van getting stuck (no incidents to report, thankfully). We arrived about 4:30 p.m. and were fortunately able to set up camp before the rain arrived. Here are the highlights and other random thoughts: Upon hearing that we would be camping in t...

Eddie created his own verse to the infamous song, "Follow the Prophet." I found it be very apocalyptic.

Meg took the older boys to a friend's birthday party in Salem, so Ian and I enjoyed some 1:1 time for much of Saturday. The sun was shining, so I took him for a ride to the Rose Garden (about 13-14 miles round trip). The fountain there turns on during warm days, and kids seem to enjoy playing in it. Ian fell asleep in the trailer, but after I roused him, and he took a few minutes to acclimate to his surroundings, he eagerly ran into the streams of water that gushed out of the ground and seemed to enjoy getting wet. The ride itself was the fun part for me. although there were a lot of people riding the trail (weekend, sunny day, Rose Festival), and even though I was pulling the heavy trailer behind me, I still passed a ton of people while cranking in the same gear that I commute to and from work in. Ian at the Rose Garden Fountain from mike asay on Vimeo .

From Kickball and Meat Grillin' in Brooklyn Some friends from church (I also invited my friend from work, Angie, and she also attended) had planned a kickball game for this evening, and fortunately the only day this week without record rainfall was today, so we had a warm and dry time. I suggested to the family that we all ride our bikes the 2.2 miles to the event (Brooklyn School Park)--I pulled Ian in a bike trailer, but everyone else rode (Eddie is on training wheels, but he rides pretty fast without issue). Within 20-25 minutes we had safely and effectively reached our destination.  From Kickball and Meat Grillin' in Brooklyn After a quick meal of grilled meat and lots of fresh fruit, we formed teams and reverted back to being kids (at least the adults). Aaron played the whole game, except when he got frustrated and needed a self-imposed timeout; Eddie stayed true to his self by inserting himself into the game at random times; Meg and I played the entire game, while...