Balloon Ralley

 

 

 

 

 

The Prosser Balloon Ralley is almost like a Holiday at our house. Thankfully for me it doesn't include presents or days of cooking! But in suspence clothes are laid our the night before, and the kids are ok with going to bed on time! The kids wake up early without complaint and they are anxious for the starbucks treat and some early morning excitement. The kids got to take several rides on balloons last year at my parents house, so I think they all saw it differently this year. After watching the balloons we took the kids downtown where the enjoy the activities. Malakai and Zion chose to have their faces painted, where Silas was all about the pony ride. It's a great thing about living in Prosser. Sadly the weekend went by too fast but we have next year to look forward to!

Malakai's first Fall Soccer game

 

Malakai's soccer team held strong against Sunnyside. Prosser got stomped on but put up a great fight. Malakai made two awesome passes, one with his head and one with his chest. He almost made 4 different goals! He showed really strong team leadership! We are really looking forward to watching him this season! Go Malakai! Some of the other parents nicknamed him Massey! lol He liked that.

Silas' helper day

 

It was Silas' helper day today! He has been really excited all week for it. He took his turtle, "Robot," for show and tell. Robot was a huge hit with the kids. The did lots of fun things and lots of learning things too! I am so thankful that I get to help out and enjoy my kids while they are in class.

Zion's first helper day

 

The first day of school was also Zion's first helper day! So I thought I needed to make a second post! :) He got to bring the snack, which he chose as colored fish crackers, string cheese and some juice! He also got to lead the lines and do the pledge of allegiance, calendar and weather. For show and tell he took his bunny, Mr Bubbles! What an amazing little boy we have been blessed with. I hope I am as ready as he is to take on the world and let him fly from the nest! Here it's just the first day on preschool and I feel like he is looking for his first apartment! lol

Zion's first day of Preschool

 

Well I did it! My baby started preschool! I think I had a harder time then he did. I was really excited about how great he did! He said his favorite part was the snack! lol Zion has been waiting forever for the new school clothes and backpack. He is the most independent out of all 3 of my kids, watch out world here comes big Z!

Silas "off the hook"

 

Silas started 4 day preschool this week! He was very excited to start school, but also a little bummed. He thinks he's ready for Kinder and doesn't need another year of preschool! lol He had a fantastic first day! I am so proud of my little man! he has his first helper day on Friday, more pictures to come!

Family Night

 

Last minute we decided to have a family Night with the Andrews family. Both Josh and Dan were able to get away from working harvest and a great night it was! The kids had one lane and we "adults" bowled in another lane. Of course the kids had bumpers and but it was the adults that really needed them! Haylee took first and Malakai took second, out of all of us. After that we played in the dark at Howard Amon park. It was a great night!

Fall Soccer Season

 

Malakai has started soccer! I really enjoy watching him play. Since its the sport I know the least about so I can actually watch quietly from the sidelines! Silas in anxiously waiting his turn for soccer next year!

Zion's firsthair cut and Silas' haircut too!

Zion has these beautiful golden locks that draw attention everywhere we go! People ask to touch his hair and always say he looks like an angel. Zion loves his hair! These past few weeks he's been talking about getting it cut. But he would say only the front so I can see my paper at preschool! Today was the big day! We waited until dad went to work and I made an appointment at Monkey Dooz and we were on our way. He did a great job! He loved finally getting to sit in the car chair and get all the special stuff on his hair. We kept a few of his locks and I took some pictures too! What a special day for Zion!

Silas get his hair cut one way and only one way. He is his fathers son, high and tight! Silas is all ready for preschool now! Where did my baby go? :) Had has some beautiful curls not long ago!

Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery

The first planned stop for our vacation was at Cascade Locks fish hatchery and sturgeon viewing. We spent nearly two hours there! The kids got a treat in the gift shop, and I got a coffee, I needed it! It is a very interesting process that the kids soaked up like a sponge! They learned all about the process of egg collection, egg keeping, as well as the release of the baby fish. Our favorite part was feeding the fish! Good thing we had a pocket full of quarters. The fish will jump out of the water and come so close you can touch them. A really neat part of the Hatchery is the sturgeon viewing. We met Herman and his friends. Herman is a 500 pound sturgeon! He was magnificent. All the boys could talk about was how they could catch one that big! I think they will need to upgrade from the batman and cars fishing pole to catch a fish that big! It was a great kick off to our little mini vacation!

Rock Shop

 

My Uncle Carl us to take my brothers and I to this Rock Shop located on Satus Pass. It never seemed like much at the time, but now that he is gone it's a memory I'll never forget. Josh and I stopped and took the kids to the Rock Shop on our way to Portland. Every little boy loves rocks, they couldn't imagine a store that just sold rocks. The owner is a 91 year old woman with a blind lap dog. It took her nearly 15 minutes to open the store. I had tears in my eyes the entire time. She answered questions patiently and talked with the boys much like a grandmother would. All that work to sell $2 worth of rocks to 3 little boys. Before we left I got the courage to share my memories with her and asked about the gentlemen that use to run the shop. She looked shocked for a moment and then shared that her husband ran the shop and had been gone 18 years. Had it really been that long? So long ago, but so close to my heart. Embrace the little moments in life, it's well worth the memories that will never be forgotten!

New Pictures

I decided to have some pictures taken of the kids while we were in Portland. Malakai, Silas and Zion!

If you can imagine it, you can be it!

What an amazing place it is at the Children's Museum in Portland. The kids' imagination came alive and was so awesome to watch them! We spent nearly 5 hours at the museum. It took almost 4 just to get thru it all! Then the kids wanted to go back and do some of their favorites. The water room, clay room, and vet hospital was their favorites! My camera was taking a beating in there so I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, maybe I need a little pocket camera too! On the way back to the hotel I asked the kids, what was your favorite? They said, All of it! Can we go back tomorrow!?! It was a success! An amazing family vacation! Lots of time in the swimming pool, playing board games, eating at lots of different places, and just being a family. I sneaked in some shopping too! So it was a great weekend all around!

Mad Dash

 

The kids made a frantic dash around soon as the museum opened, it took some work but we talked them into taking one room at a time so they didn't miss anything! Here are a few pictures of the first few minutes!

Children's Museum

 

After our trip to the zoo a couple weeks ago, the kids were dying to go to the Children's Museum. It is the most amazing place! I guess it brings out the little kid in you because Josh and I had as much fun as they did! I took so many pictures, I will be blogging them in groups!

Just Us

 

While we were waiting for the Children's Museum to open we tried to take some pictures of us with the kids! Doesn't happen often! Zion was a lot more willing then the other two!

World Forestry Center

 

Outside the Children's Museum and Portland Zoo is this old locomotive as part of the World Forestry Center. I promised Malakai that we would make sure we had enough time to play on it! We went two hours early for the childrens museum and play they did! They made up entire scenarios and each took turns collecting tickets and being the conductor. Malakai especially was all over it! He was underneath it "fixing" it, above it making sure all was clear! Malakai truly loves trains, but all 3 really enjoyed playing on the old engine.