brazil!

Richard and the boys left Virginia and headed to Vermont for part two of their vacation.  Meanwhile, Dad and I took a very special side trip.

We flew to Indiana to spend the weekend with Susie and Uncle Curt and family in order to attend a special concert in honor of Grandpa Carl's 100th birthday.  Here's a link to information on the "Carl Kumpf Centennial Concert," held on July 3rd in Brazil, Indiana.

We were able to meet Susie at the airport and all drive to meet the crew in time for dinner and a Euchre tournament.  Susie and I hadn't seen Curt, Linda, and Chris for a long time so it was great to catch up.

We made it to Forest Park for the concert early- time enough to get to enjoy Dad's bench project for the first time.  Dad has spent the last two years changing out the parks old, uncomfortable benches, with personalized benches donated by people in the community.  The benches were officially dedicated last year, but this year he had sold the complete 200- enough to replace all of the old benches.  Dad spent tons of hours and sweat on this project- working with the bench manufacturer to make and deliver them, with the community to sell all of those benches, and he personally installed the majority of them.  The community rallied around the project and it was a huge success and a wonderful improvement to the park.

The Fourth of July concert was packed with Grandpa's favorite marches and all the elements needed to make it feel like the holiday, including a military salute, the piccolos during Stars and Stripes Forever, and an abrupt ending to the concert due to a oncoming summer thunderstorm. Dad and Curt played with the band, and Susie and I got to catch up with family we hadn't seen in years.  Dad was honored during the concert for the bench project, and Matt Huber gave a touching introduction to the concert, detailing Grandpa's history and importance to the band and community.

It was a quick side trip to Indiana, but one I will always remember.  A proud weekend to be a Kumpf.

virginia!

The last week in June we made our annual trip out to see Grandpa on the Rappahannock.  Each trip with Ben is interesting, not knowing whether he'll sleep and how the flight will go.  This one started off with a bang- we had an early flight so we spent the night before at an airport hotel.  We had a fun family dinner, watched Disney on TV, and tried to settle in for the night.  No such luck, though, since Ben had no interest in falling asleep.  Ultimately Ben and I headed down to the lobby to play in the gym and with the pool table for most of the night. A tired Ben on flight day may be the way to go- he curled up and slept for a majority of the first flight, including the 3 hour medical emergency landing in South Dakota.

After we made it to dad's house and everyone caught up on their sleep, we had a great week.  This is the year of the boat.  Owen decided around Christmas time that he most wanted to drive the boat far enough to get to see Grandpa's house from the river.  In order to do that, the boat would have to go fast.  In order to do that, Owen would have to be brave.  Once Owen had made up his mind that he wasn't nervous about going fast they had a great time cruising the river.  They went out on the boat almost every day.  They cruised upstream to see the house and waved to Ben and me.  A school of dolphins swam right into the boat and they watched them for a long time.  Of course they went fishing.  One day they caught more than 20 spot.  Owen tried his hand at fishing, but most enjoyed being first mate, watching the instruments and looking around the river.

We also made good use of the marina pool, cooling off there daily.  We found an inner tube that fit Ben and he had pool independence for the first time- kicking around the perimeter of it (with Mom or Dad always a hand reach away- not THAT independent yet- the boy sinks).  He had a ball.  Richard and Owen would make pool float islands, and Dad would shoot all of us with water from the noodle cannon.

 One night we had loud thunderstorms- a treat for us since we don't have them in Oregon often.  Owen was a bit nervous about them- having us all stay inside- but was happy to watch the show through the windows.  Ben and I found two box turtles one day, and he was on the lookout for them the rest of the trip.  We all enjoyed the nightly sunsets on the porch, and looking for crabs on the beach.

You may notice Owen is smiling in these pictures.  He and I worked out a deal that he'd get a point for every picture he smiled in, and if he got enough points he could get a new lego kit when we got home.  It worked like a charm.  And yes, he got the legos.  Happy Owen, Happy Mommy.

summer begins!

setting up the tent at Champoeg State Park

self portrait from the tent

Ben learned about the joys of Bubble Baths

Owen lost the other front tooth!  Now he's a toothless shark.

Ben emptied his crib instead of napping...

Keen's for vacation: very small, small, and not very small

Kindergarten finished up amid field day, a class trip to the beach, and lots of parties.  Owen really enjoyed his Kindergarten year.  We were very lucky to have Mrs. Messer who was patient, calm and experienced.  She ran a wonderful room and brought out the best in Owen.  Owen made close friends with a few of the girls in his room, all of whom he will be excited to see this week when he starts first grade.

To celebrate then end of the school year, Owen and Richard went camping at Champoeg State Park.  They stayed for two nights.  They brought their bikes so they could look around the area and Owen did a great job riding the few miles to the old town of Champoeg and back to the camp site.  I believe there was some ice cream incentive involved.  They were both proud of the campfire they built.

We only had a week of summer vacation between school starting and our annual Eastern Pilgrimage.  Owen spent that week at Zion's summer program, where he and a handful of kids had lots of field trips and two energetic teachers coming up with creative crafts and themes.

goofing around in may

May brought some warmer weather, and the boys continued to enjoy the monkey jungle in the backyard.  Richard and Owen went on several camping trips this summer, and kicked off the season in the backyard.  At the end of May, Owen and Richard flew to New Hampshire to be at cousin Liza's baptism, where Richard became her godfather (the only picture I have of the event is this one from O'Hare).

I'm most disappointed that I haven't maintained my blog because of all the cute tidbits that I want to record have been forgotten in the past 6 months.  You can see in these pictures that Owen has only lost one of his front teeth- the second one has fallen out since then and no replacement teeth have come through yet.

I just cross-referenced Facebook for any insight from May- I learned that it was cold when Owen and Richard were out in the yard camping, and that the rain turned into hail that night.  I also learned that in the picture above Ben had stolen my milkshake, but it was too thick so he couldn't drink any and his eyeballs popped out more then usual.

it's been a while...

Actually a whole summer.  I don't have a good excuse.  I guess between playing in the yard, refereeing the boys, keeping Ben from running away, and going on some fun trips we ran out of time. I was going to do a whole lot of posting this Labor Day weekend, to catch us up before school starts, but now it's Monday morning and I'm just getting started.  Assuming today goes the way the rest of this summer has gone, I doubt we'll be caught up.

Owen starts first grade on Wednesday.  His teacher is Mrs. Schaffer, and he is familiar with her since she subbed his Kindergarten class for a month last year.  He likes her, so that will help.  Same kids from last year, minus one, so there will be 11 kids in his first grade class.  We are all looking forward to the school year.  Owen's most recent achievement is learning to ride his bike without training wheels.  Richard took them off a couple of weeks ago, and now he is FLYING on his bike.  On Friday, Richard and Owen did a 10 mile round trip to Philomath, which they are going to repeat this morning.  He is thrilled with how much more fun biking is without the training wheels, and we are both so proud of him.

Ben is still very large for his age, but now his height to weight ratio is a little more appropriate, and still super sweet. He is at Monroe Center during the weekdays, with his friends Natalie and Vivian.  He graduated to the "big kids room" and he gets to enjoy circle time there, we've heard he's an active participant and always knows the answers.  He's not potty trained yet- we all think he could do it but he is not at all interested in it.  I think they moved him to the big kids room so that he would stop sitting on the very little kids (an expression of love).  Ben's most recent achievement is moving to a big kids bed this weekend.  He would rather it was called a little kids bed, so we've obliged.    Nights have been a little rough still- he keeps popping out of bed and playing in his room till much too late- but he's got to get the hang of it soon, right??  We found a bunk bed system with a trundle underneath, but put the top bunk on the floor till Ben's older.  Richard has spent the entire weekend working on a play loft to put back on top of the system.  He finished it last night, and the kids are thrilled about having a fun hiding space.  He put down a soft padded carpet and pillows, and I think they'll enjoy it for a long time.

mother's day

On Mother's Day weekend, we spent the night at the Resort on the Mountain at Mt. Hood with Russa and her family. The kids enjoyed the outdoor pool, even in the rain, and the mini-golf course, even in the rain. The mom's enjoyed Sunday morning at the spa. We re-convened for a wonderful brunch.

An even better present: Owen's kindergarten class had a Mother's day party at school, and he presented me with this picture of him and I. On the back he wrote nice sentences about me, and he stood up in front of his class and the moms and read them to me. I was so proud of him, and I love my picture. What a special treat.

spring

May has given us some sunny days and some optimism of spring. Here are the boys enjoying bubbles, parks, daddy and dandelions.