Enchanted Forest

Another event in our Summer Fun in '09 Series. This week required a bit of traveling. Cristy and I headed about 40 miles south to Turner Oregon to a lovely little place called the Enchanted Forest.
I had been there before with Maya and Kai a couple years ago during one of our trips to visit Nana and Papa in Oregon and totally loved it.
So when Cristy, Sara and I were talking about doing a bunch of fun things together with our kids this summer, I just knew this place had to be on our list.
It did not disappoint. We only wished Saralyn, Emma and Thane could have come with us.
The kids had a blast!



The kids took a ride on a candy train...

and had a blast on the bumper boats...

Maya with the seven dwarfs...

Maya and Rachel trying to take it all in...

Finishing the maze in Alice's Wonderland...

Maya and Rachel in front of Mary and her little lambs...

Maya, Kai, Jonah and Rachel in front of a cottage.

{Sorry for the indiscretion, Kai REALLY had to pee}...

There is a little old western town the kids got to walk around in and one of the spots allowed the kids to get dressed up in old west clothing and take a picture with Abe Lincoln. Everyone got in the picture but Maya. She didn't want to for some reason.

So here is the picture with the kids with old Abe from 2 years ago.

I thought it would be cool to put the two together to see how much Kai has grown. {so sad. *sniffle, sniffle*}

Luck would have it that he put on the exact same outfit. I guess Maya didn't want to get in this picture either. Weird.
I also believe that is the same Abe Lincoln guy is in both shots. I guess he found his calling in life and he is sticking with it. I wonder if he needed a college degree for this gig?

Addie and I going down the slide at the Old Ladies Shoe. I guess I should have taken the fruit leather out of her mouth before sliding down. WOopsie..

It was such a fun day.

We will definatley be back there again. Anyone want to come visit? We can go again right now.....

Happy Birthday My Love

33 years ago, today....the love of my life was born.
I am so lucky to have you Anthony.
You are my world.
I will do my best to make sure you have the kind of birthday that you deserve.
I am in love with you.
I adore you.

Pickin' Berries with Aunt Saralynn

It has become one of the kids favorite traditions. Last year Saralyn took Maya and Kai berry pickin' with her and Emma and they had a blast.
So as Maya saw the variety of berries growing around Oregon she kept asking, "when is Saralyn taking us to pick berries again?"
Saralyn took the kids last week and they, of course, LOVED it. This year was blueberries. Yummmmmm-o

They picked A LOT of BLUEBERRIES!!!!
So besides just eating the blueberries like candy (which we did a lot of) I also cooked up a bunch of blueberry pancakes. These also freeze well so you can make a ton and eat them often.
Here is the Pabst Family favorite pancake recipe. The kids and Anthony LOVE them and I love them because they are so healthy {shhhhh}. I love being able to sneak healthy things in where ever possible and this recipe has a ton of healthy possibilities....

3/4 C. rolled oats {I will usually grind the oats up a bit in the food processor. it helps hide the healthiness...if you know what i mean}
3/4 C. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 C. buttermilk (a sneaky trick I learned because I never just have buttermilk on hand: 1 T. of vinegar and add enough regular milk to make 1 1/2 cups
1/4 oil (canola oil is the healthier choice)
1 egg
1/4 C. sugar

And then, of course, BLUEBERRIES!!!!!!

Mix the dry ingredients,

mix the wet ingredients,

mix them both together. *here is where I sneak in the healthy stuff, usually 1/4 C of wheat germ and a couple of tablespoons of ground flax seed. They will never know the difference*

if they seem too runny then just add more flax seed or wheat germ.

Top them off with this oh-so-yummy BLUEBERRY SYRUP

3 C. of berries with 3/4 C. of sugar and 1 T. lemon juice. Blend

Tuesday Nights at the Commons

The city of Tualatin offers some really cool summer activities for families and kids. One of our favorites is Tuesday Night at the Commons. We usually make an afternoon of it and take our swim suits to play in the near by water feature and a picnic dinner that we eat on the grass while we watch the show. This last Tuesday night the Beddes kids (Rachel and Jonah) came with us. It was so hot that they moved the puppet show indoors to the library so we played in the water and then dried off to go into the library and then when the puppet show was over we came out and played some more.

The kids slept good that night.

Meeting the puppets after the show (I did not come prepared to go into the library and so yes, the boys are without shirts in the library. woopsie)...

OMSI

Our most recent activity in the "Summer of Fun in '09 Series" was a trip to the OMSI with Saralyn and her kiddios and Cristy and her kiddios. We were going to go to the outdoor water park in downtown Portland BUT Oregon has been suffering from a week of record breaking heat and so we (and every other mother with children in the greater Portland area) decided to "take cover" indoors at the play area inside of the OMSI. The kids had a blast and we were all able to stay somewhat cool.

Addie, of course, LOVED the water part...


Kai had a blast with the hoovering ball...

So did Emma and Addie...


Kai also had fun with the building blocks...

Maya took some "warming up to" the idea of touching one of the snakes they had on display...

turns out, she didn't like it...

Thane and Saralyn...

Addie loved crawling through all of the little bear caves...

ALL of the kids had a great time in the sand pit...

Portland Children's Museum

Cristy and I took the kids to the Portland Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago for one of our weekly outings. The kids had a blast!!!


Maya and Rachel going on a horseback ride....


Addie was hooked to the water play area...

As we were playing in the water Maya came over to me crying...She had chipped her tooth on that big metal crank!!! That was not fun...

The dig center..

Kai was a crack up on the stage. He put on a dress and some makeup and started pounding on the drums...I was just waiting for him to start chanting some Indian tribal dance.

Jonah and Kai had a blast at the train track...

Addie helped Jonah drive the ambulance...

Paging Doctor Kai...



Addie was in love with all the little plastic baby dolls...