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.

vermont!

I met up with the boys at Grandma Sally's in Vermont.  They had been spending the weekend cooling down at Roger and Ivonne's pool.  Owen and Kobe clicked on this trip instantly, and spend the entire week together having a ball.  They are like engineering kindred spirits- discussing various inventions and machines and schemes.  Most of the brunt of their imagination was towards the couch and it's cushions.  Ben kept himself entertained with Kobe's toys and the wealth of goodies in Grandma Sally's attic.

Steve and Liza visited early in the week.  This was my first time meeting my newest little niece, so it was a big honor for me.  She is a beautiful little girl- a red head with a soulful gaze.  Ben was fascinated by her.

Nancy visited from Boston, and we drove out to Lake George on a quest for mini-golf.  All the local ones were closed or under renovation.  Lake George boasted multiple options, and none of us had been their before.  We found a pirate themed mini-golf, right up Owen's alley, and all enjoyed the course despite the intense heat.  We also found a nearby ice cream place to cool down at afterwards.  A storm came through, but we drove to see Lake George anyway and walked around the lake front in the rain.

On top of Sally and Ivonne's excellent meals, we did our annual trip(s) to Friendly's to get my fix of Watermelon Sherbet and browse downtown Manchester.  We visited Bubba's store of purchase- the Bear-a-torium in Arlington- and got some chocolate goodies there.

Sally had a special treat for the boys- a magician was at the library in Manchester.  Owen and Kobe really enjoyed it.  We visited Manchester's parks to release a bit more of the boys' energy afterward.

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.