Weekend Activities!

We've decided to stay really busy this weekend! (to keep our minds off the heat wave) Friday night we went to our friends' Greg and Kristen's house for a pre-concert get-together, then walked to the park for an evening of music sponsored by Dan's work, Insitu. Amya liked their bear ottoman
concert on the park Sadie and Amya are a couple months apart in age
a little down time
Saturday, it was off to the fair!

The Beach At Sunset

***I should probably check the blog before posting! I didn't realize Dan already posted about this! Oh well, there are new pictures anyway!***

We are having a heat wave right now (104 today!), so last night we decided to go cool off in the river. This is the beach the town just built, next to the new children's park that is still under construction.
Amya decided to join this family for a little while. They were nice to her. Thier kid played ball with her.
Dan splashing Amya!
I forgot to take off Amya's diaper, so we brought a lot of river water back to the car with us!

All cuddled up and ready to go home

heat wave!

we are having a heat wave. temps have been 100+ for 3 days! the good thing is that its so dry and as soon as the sun goes down, it cools right down. last night we all went down to the new kids beach that they just put in down on the columbia river right down town. it was great!

after that, we walked to "thursday familiy nights"...every thrusday night at 7 they have a different band playing music in the park and half the town shows up to watch, listen and dance. Last night there was a salsa band playing and they were super cool. there were also tons of little kids running and jumping all over the place like fleas on a dog. amya actually wandered off once and got "taken down" by one quick 4 year old. She got back up and didnt even cry....she probably was too excited about how she was "playing" with the big kids...

gone fishin

So amya has been begging to go fly flishing almost every night. i usually take her down to the hood river in the back pack carrier and catch a few trout. if i didnt have to wake up early to go to work, she'd keep me there all night. last week she told me she wanted a new pair of waders for her dadda so he could take her out to the really good spots, and a fish basket to hold the keepers. ill have to pass that bit of info along to ah-ma (mom)....

Clifford

So, as I'm watching Clifford The Big Red Dog right now, it occurs to me that Clifford's voice is very familiar. And then I figured it out...John Ritter! Then I got sad..........

Congratulations Sonya and Pete and Petey!

...another fellow blogger and friend is going to add to her brood!

Another Day

I put Amya's hair in cute little piggies the other day. She couldn't keep her hands off them (she loves hair!)...they were so cute. I really thought she enjoyed them. Then at the end of the day I was taking them out and she started clapping and cheering. I felt so bad.
Amya passed out in her high chair after lunch

Congratulations Stacy and D.J.!

Mom, Stacy works at PCCS where I taught pre-school. That is NOT a misprint next to the "weight"! Congrats! She is beautiful!

Movie In The Park

So, last night we went to the park after sunset to watch "Shriek II". Our town has "Movies In The Park" every Saturday night in the summer. This week's sponsor (the hospital that Amya loves to go to) passed out glow ropes, so the whole hill was illuminated! Amya and Sadie didn't even blink for the first half of the movie. The looks on their faces were priceless!

Amya Loves Her Cousins

So, in this household we never watch a video once. Amya can hear the sound of a video playing from any room in the house and runs over to the computer to watch. Again, and again and again....

(is that really what my voice sounds like?)

Morning

This morning the light was beautiful outside. While Amya was having a slumber party (she loves doing this) on the living room floor, I snuck outside and snapped some photos of the pumpkin patch!

Hangin' Out In The Yard

Swimming in the pool

Amya ALWAYS picks the un ripe ones....it doesn't matter if it is a strawberry, blackberry, tomato...the green ones are the best!

Girl Clothes Fun!

Ok moms of girls....you have to admit it is fun to dress little girls! Amya wore this outfit out to dinner last night. She loves her tutu (thanks Kara!) and her bracelets (thanks Aunt Cece!). When she wants to wear a bracelet, she shows me her arm, points to her wrist and says, "Huh?" But if truth be told, this t-shirt best explains Amya's attitude towards "dressing up"!

Today when I came in from the laundry room, Amya had taken off her diaper (all she was wearing) and had put on her shoes and was running around squealing with delight! I don't know where she gets it from! (all Nelsons shall remain mum about my clothing habits as a child!)

Fall Harvest

Wild blackberries growing in our back yard...yum!The pumpkin seeds we planted are doing well! This is the first time I've ever planted pumpkins. Can't wait for fall!
When Judy was here, we planted a fall harvest of more lettuce (we've been eating salad all summer from one package of seeds!...probably saving about $80 worth of groceries!), and some peas and beans. Within 5 days, they had already sprouted. I'm so excited! I love "free" food! Thanks Judy!

(these sprouts are one week old!)

This is my "weed tree" as I don't know if it is a weed or some exotic flowering tree! I let it live because I realized that a bunch of stuff I thought were weeds (and pulled out) were actually plants. If anyone can recognize it one way or another, let me know!

D&C Brewhaus

so we decided good beer is too dang expensive to buy so we are going to make our own. here we are bottling our first 5 gallon batch of D&C bewhaus IPA after 2 weeks in the fermenter. Another 2-4 weeks priming in the bottles and it should be ready!

cleaning the used bottles

rinsing the cleaning solution off the bottles

transfering the "beer" from the fermenter to the carboy

our first batch!

Amya Is Breathin' Smooth

So, many of you know that when Amya gets a cold (which is about once a month or two), she has breathing difficulties. This weekend she got sick, and even the nebulizer wasn't doing much to keep her airways open. So, off we went to the hospital...again! This time she got admitted because they were concerned about pneumonia (which she doesn't have). We spent last night and most of today entertaining the nurses and doctors at the Hood River hospital. Amya is feeling much better now. The video below is an example of what albuterol (the mist medicine she has to breath in to open up her airways) does to Amya's energy level! Cousin Kadence can relate!

Playin' At The Park!

My Sister, The World Traveler

My sister, Cheryl, just returned from Thailand, where she was teaching English through a Christian ministry. I encourage you to check out her blog, read some stories and look at some pictures of her adventure!....... Click on "Cheryl and Kevin" under "Other People We Think Are Kinda Cool" to the right.