july, back in oregon

Owen's Lego reward for smiling for 2 weeks.  Not a bad deal for anyone involved.

Laurel was happy to have her cousin back. The two of them set up a waterpark theme park in the backyard, hoping to attract neighbors and make a lot of money.  They did get neighbor Owen to come over and try out the waterslide.  I don't think they made any money.

July's full moon from our back porch

We returned from our trip back East and ready to begin the Oregon phase of summer.  Mid July is also known around our house for the Tour de France, something Owen watched with Richard this year.  Not sure how much of it was out of interest and how much of it was procrastinating going to bed.

After the heat back at our folk's houses it was ok that Oregon was a bit cooler- for a while- but then the rain and cool seemed to go on too long this year.  It even rained during DaVinci days, which had never happened before.  Summer was very late to show up to Oregon.

When we got back into town, we picked up our summer exchange students. Sunny and Waterfall, the kindergarten parakeets, spent the rest of the vacation at our home.  It has been a good experience for Owen to learn about taking care of a non-fish pet, during which he's decided he doesn't want that responsibility yet.  The birds wake up with the sun and begin their jabbering, and the noise lasts most of the day, escalating when they hear talking or the TV.   They've been cute to have around, but no one is overly sad to send them back to school tomorrow.

I forgot to mention in June that Richard and Owen planted a garden in the back yard.  It thrived during our vacation thanks to help from our extra green thumb Master Gardener neighbors Ruth and Owen, and we came back home to the first of the peas.  We've enjoyed harvesting peppers, tomatoes, peas, and strawberries all summer from the garden, as well as tons of raspberries from the neighbor's bush that hangs over the fence line.  This is all possible because we had deer fencing put up at the beginning of the summer.  Now that they don't have access to the backyard, we don't have to be on constant alert for deer poop, and the deer seem to have moved on (the turkey family seems to come and go, but they are a lot less destructive and don't go into the backyard).

In July we took Ben to see his first movie in the theater, Winnie the Pooh.  Ben is a big Pooh fan, and we thought he'd enjoy the experience (while in the back of my mind remembering that Owen's first experience was terrifying and didn't go again till he was 5).  Ben did great, sitting in Richard's lap for most of it, enjoying the movie treats and sat through the entire show.