July's Summer Fun

We managed to keep some of our summer fun schedule going in-spite of my laziness and crazy vacation /holiday happenings in July.

One Movie Madness Monday we made our own banana smoothies and watched Curious George

For one Story Time Tuesday aunt Charisse had us over to her neighborhood park to read stories and have lunch.

For the only other Movie Madness Monday we had in July we made deliciously evil poisoned apples and watched Snow White, one of my favs to date!

The kiddos LOVE movie Madness Monday and it seems to be the only day of scheduled activities we managed to keep up with and we may just continue this Fergy Family new found tradition on through this up and coming school year too.

Intermittent July Happenings

Here are some of the things we did in July. Phoebe learned & repeatedly to drew Mike from Monster's Inc. 2; we haven't seen the movie, just the commercials for it. She is dying to go see it.

We finished Sophie's bird room and I am in love with how it turned out! (The walls are really grey the camera color just turned out kids purple-ish.)

One day Sophie got in the pantry and found the party hats and her and Josh just thought it was funny to wear them and play, which is a bit surprising since both of them screamed when I made them each wear them on their b-days.

We all got the flu and tossed our cookies for a whole 24 hrs & even though the wee ones were sick too they gave me a foot massage, such sweeties! Cami was my biggest pain in the rear because she kept sneaking food which only made her sick again, stinking kid!

Sometimes Phoebe just feels left out that she is not one of the twins, so one day she dressed Cami up to match her and they acted like they were the twins; she is the right size to be one.

July passed in the blink of an eye this year, I can't believe it was here and long gone already!

Cory's Big 33rd B-day Bash

This year Cory turned the big 33 which was the same ole to me since I messed up last year and thought he already was 33.

The kiddos really got into Daddy's birthday this year and Phoebe made daddy a card and insisted we had to get him a candy bar to put with the card, too cute! Josh then feeling left out on the gift giving process ran into the kitchen and grabbed a mostly drank bottle of water to give daddy for his birthday, which we all also loved! 

For Cory's big birthday breakfast we had one of his favs homemade biscuits and gravy with fresh fruit!

This year we just hung out at home the whole day a first for Cory's b-day we normal go have a big gathering with the Fergy gang, but instead with just had them visit us for a bit. Here is a "loving" pic of the two b-day boys:

After the family left Cory went and planted his birthday flowers and the kiddos ran in the sprinklers until SOAKING wet then tried to dry off on the warm sidewalk

For our dinner Cory chose to have shish kabobs, but unfortunately, 1/2 way through cooking then the gas in our grill ran out so we had to finish them on our George Forman grill (totally not as yummy).

The big birthday cake this year was a new experiment for me, lava cakes. The verdict on them...the BEST chocolaty goodness to have ever touched our lips and Cory says he has craved them fortnightly ever since.

We then once again went out like the 4th of July and put out little blankets on our lawn and enjoyed watching all the fun fireworks going off all around us. This was a very relaxing and fun birthday this year and might just be the new family norm. 

THE BIG GIFT:

For Cory's big b-day present from me this year I got home a gift certificate to Tucano's Brazilian grill and tickets to the Jason Aldean Concert that was only 3 days after his b-day. The dinner was delicious as Tucano's always is! After dinner we then went to the concert where 3 big country starts were actually performing, Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen & Jason Aldean. The venue was the big soccer stadium ad we have front row seats of the bleachers, which in my opinion was perfect because we got to see without standing the whole night. Sitting was a key factor for me because Cory had a wish earlier in the summer to take me to a country concert and have me dress up like a little cowgirl so I had new boots on that night that were a bit painful after the longer walk from the car to the stadium. The front row also provided an awesome people watching spot. We saw only 1000s of cowboy hats and two even made out of old beer boxes. We saw this classy gentleman in his half snapped up overalls and then the matching girl complete with trucker hat later that evening, I wish I had a pic of her too. We saw a couple of Joe Dirt look a likes and lots & LOTS of drunk people.

 I would diffidently go to some more country concerts they provided some of the best character watching I've seen since collage. This was a pretty fun night very relaxing and the weather couldn't have been better! 

Oregon My Oregon Summer Va-Ca Pt 2

Every year we spend a day at the beach. We start off by having breakfast at the casino, Cory's favorite part ,then when head to the beach. On the way we pass a cute little farm that has always been closed, but this year we lucked out and it was open so Grandma & pa Potts treated all the kiddos to pony rides, a first for our wee Sophie. All the kiddos LOVED it and would have been thrilled to ride on for many, many more rounds.

When we got to the beach the forecast said it was going to be in the 70s, but it lied! It was foggy, windy and all around freezing (as can be seen by the girls facial expressions). 

The wind was a sharp chill that went right through you and trying to set out the blanket was a difficult task in of its self because it just wanted to fly away.

We just all cuddled up as much as possible and enjoyed the warm-less sunshine and pretty beach. Some of us couldn't warm up as much as preferred, because certain munchkins were coat thieves. 

After 30 minutes or so it seemed that things warmed up a bit, or we were just became numb to the cold I am not sure, but the kiddos definitely began to really enjoy more of the beach-y fun. After a little running around in the cold wet sand the kids came back up to our dry sand to be buried & to warm back up. It was a pretty day, I just wish the wind would have stopped to we could have enjoyed it a lot more!

Another kiddos favorite when visiting Oregon is to ride on the carousel. Each kid ran to pick our their own horse, luckily they were all next to each other.  Both Phoebe and Cami were thrilled to have a horse that had a type of cat on the back, which they wanted to point out for all passing by.

After the carousel ride we walked over to a fun little splash pad in the same park where the kiddos ran around cooling down from the hot day. Sophie was our most water logged bug, while Josh saw to it that he left nearly as dry as he arrived.

After the park we ran home, ate dinner, and threw the whole gang in bed so Cory and I could visit the yummy little cake shop I took all the kiddos to when we stayed last winter, it was still as delish as always!!! 

When in Oregon we MUST partake in the great blueberry harvest, it is what we plan our trip around every year! Phoebe was much better at picking berries this year, she even filled about 1/4 of a bucket all on her own before demanding that we should have brought her a chair and an umbrella (even though it wasn't a sunny morning). It was the twins first year for berry picking and wow, they were extra "special" helpers. Cami got in the field and helped me pick about 12 berries before needing me to take her on the long trek back to the bathroom, although it was better than Josh who just had an accident right there in the berry row, then told us he needed to potty (...umm I think it's too late for that son). When all had pottied we got down to the mad berry harvest, well some of us anyway. Josh got quickly bored and just decided to sit as pull all the grass out, which was at least more productive than Cami who kept dumping what little berried she had in her bucket out on the ground for us to step on so she she could wear her bucket on her head like a hat and poke us with a stick she found on the ground. When being a berry picking nuisance became too much for Cams, she took a little cat nap in the middle of the row. In spite of all the extra help the kids were, we still managed to pick out 40 lbs of berries in about 1 1/2- 2 hrs. On the way out I also just had to buy some of the largest most delicious black berries I have ever seen/tasted!

 

Upon coming back home we found Sophie curled up on the chair sound asleep even though it was only 11am, I guess grocery shopping with grandma was just exhausting!

On the way back to the car from picking berries Cami fell in the gravel and scrapped her knee all up. She was eternally saddened by her wounds so when it came time to clean her up and put at band-aid on it we gave her a cookie to soften her pain and it seemed that just by holding the cookie was enough to to console her a bit.

The kiddos love hanging out with Grandma and the dogs on their bed and one night as we were walking by we had to take a pic of the whole gang just hanging out together.

The Saturday before we left we took the gang down to our old home turf, Eugene. It had been several years since Cory and I had visited, about 5yrs. There was tons we wanted to see and do while down here. First on our list was to partake in the unique yummy goodness of VooDoo Doughnuts. We all got different yummy doughnut goodness and I would love to go back again and again to try them all.

After eating we strolled though the classic Eugene Saturday market to look at all the fun tie dye and see the cool locals who hang out downtown. After shopping and strolling there we we waddled on over to spend eternity and way too much money in our beloved Ducks bookstore getting all new duds, as some of our old shirts and clothes were getting very dated. We then stopped in to swim & eat with friends. We sadly missed seeing Josh last year so it was nice to be able to get a Josh & Josh  pic again this year! 

After a cool dip in the pool we headed back to campus to eat and then take a stroll. It was a prefect evening! The sun was setting and it had cooled down for the day. Most everyone was gone so we had the place practically to ourselves, it was AWESOME!!! Our little future duckies loved flashing their "O"s and yelling Go Ducks! They got a kick out of following all the Puddles tracks down the sidewalks and running in and out of all the O shaped bike racks.

We made sure to stop by the new buildings on campus and check out all the coolness and I just had to take a pic of the kids under the welcome new student banner because it will be too perfect to display at their high school grad party right before they attend the UofO. It just shows that they really were true ducks from the very start.

Before heading out of town we stopped by my favorite ice cream parlor, Prince Puckler's, for delicious cold treats. While there some firefighters also came in for some creamy goodness and they gave us all badge stickers, which is why we have them all in the pics. We truly spent a whole day in Eugene and LOVED every moment.

The day before we left Grandpa Potts had bought these ridiculously large marshmallow pops for the kids, which about made me sick from the super sweet small, but they didn't seem to matter to the kids, they LOVED them!

In the evening we had a little early b-day party for Cory where mom made a delicious BBQ dinner and we sang and had yummo cake. We also got to visit with Uncle Rob & Aunt Lucy one last time before heading back home.

Going home is always a bit sad because they kiddos don't get to see Grandma & pa Potts that often, but it is always nice to get to sleep in your own bed again.

Thanks for another super fun Family Trip Oregon, on of my most favorites yet!