Lindsay's Room

This pictures are late, but this is what Lindsay's room looks like. We still have a few final touches like trim and posters for the walls (we've ordered one of Paris of course, and Van Gough's Starry Night) and we're looking for a vanity/desk. The floor looks great and we're already planning on doing our room. Click below for more photos!

From Lindsay's Room

Graces New Room

Two weeks ago, we caught a wild hare and decided that the girls needed separate rooms. We'd remake the toy room, the old nursery, into a room for Grace. It started out with just a couple cans of paint. Then we decided that this little room would be a great place to try out laminate flooring. The results are stunning ...

From Grace's New Room part one

From Grace's New Room part one

Moving Day for Grace

Today's the big moving day for Grace. I'll start moving her furniture into her new room this morning while she's at playgroup. Will post pictures when all the furniture is in and arranged!

From Grace's New Room part one

Grace's New Room

About a week ago, we agreed that it was time to get the girls their own rooms. They go to bed at different times now, and Lindsay likes "alone time" to read before bedtime and during the day. So we decided to take the "toy room" which they never play in and remake it into Grace's room. Grace chose the colors and everyone pitched in. See the great pix of phase one below. Once Grace's room is done, it's Lindsay's turn.

The Dalles and Cherries

Way behind on my posts. Last weekend we took a trip down to The Dalles. Found Lindsay a new bike and picked Cherries with Aunt Mindy.

The Dalles in July

It's the latest venture for us in what is turning out to be a busy summer. Here's the rundown on summer so far...We had a fun little 4th of July at Dun Elsie in Grays River. Saw a Beaver Game in Portland went to Eastern Washington to for Emily's first birthday. Grace graduated from pre-school. Click through to view the whole gallery.

To the Portland Beavers Game

Pasco and Emily's First Birthday

Westport

Pre-School Graudation Day!

Visit to Meme's

Had a good visit to Mémé's in this weekend. The sun was out and we got watch Elliott play baseball, watched some dog romping and planted some flowers. Pics below. 

New Dog at Dun Elsie

We were lucky enough to get a new dog this week. This dog's life reads like a movie script. He was born on th estreets of Thailand, lost and eye when he was hit by a car. Lost a leg and his tail when he was hit by a train (hencthe name) Brought back to health and to the US by a Vet on a medical mission trip. Finally adopted from Must Love Dogs NW to a nice little family in the country when cows and chickens and  cat named Gus. He's a happy dog, poodle or poodle mix so he doesn't shed. Doesn't bark much (only at the cat). Loves to play tug of war with the girls. He's really the perfect dog for us. Might have to do something about the name, however. Amy sez it is cruel to name an animal after something that once ran it over. I'm thinking maybe we should call him Lucky..

Spring cleaning

We've been on a mission to clean the house inside and out now that the weather is nicer. Grandpa Hank has an excavator that the girls call "Big Wall-E" after the movie. He offered to bring it over and tear out some sickly looking Rhodies and a Verbina in our front yard. He did that and more, clearing out a lot of the vinca that had taken over the back of the house and even knocking down a maple tree that was threatening to fall on the front yard. Now, I've got a lot of work to do to clean up all this brush, but Hank did in a few hours what would have taken me all summer. Thanks! 

Click on the picture to see the whole album of photos.

From Spring .. first act

Spring Weather At Last!

Great day working outside. The Girls helped grandma pick up sticks from the hay field and I worked on clearing out the old holly tree and building my fence in the back yard. Photos below.

Snow and Science!

Out my window this morning...

This afternoon the snow was gone, the sun was out and we were conducting experiments in gravity in the back yard for Lindsay's science fair project. Bowling Ball in One Hand, Soccer Ball in the other (Lindsay taking the picture at a safe distance). You'll have to wait to see how it comes out next week!

Mt Hood Gettaway!

This weekend we went up to Mt Hood. We go up every year to go sledding and play in the snow. The girls haven't tried skiing just yet and we have lots of fun sledding and avoiding the crowds. This year we got to go for a hike to Trillium lake and stayed as we usually do in the Huckleberry Inn -- they have some sort of magic pastry called a Persian Roll which is just stupid good. On the way home we stopped off at Multnomath Falls and hiked up to the bridge. Enjoy the pictures! Click through to see the pictures full size!

Birthday Week

Last week was a busy one with my birthday, V-day and Lindsay's birthday all in the same week. Lindsay also had Cheerleading camp all week ... so things were crazy. We're all a bit wiped out this week, but we sure had fun. Photos below!

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Geocaching

A few months ago, Mindy was telling me about a Geocaching adventure. You use GPS coordinates to find hidden boxes. Some boxes have trade items, others just have notebooks where you can write your name and the date. It reminds me a lot of the Orienteering and Mailboxing that I did when I lived in Ireland. I decided to look into it and thought it might be a fun way to get the girls out hiking. I bought a Garmin Etrex off Ebay for $50 and today we went on our first trial run. We found the cache near the Grays River Bridge and had lots of fun. Check out the pics. 

Cleaning Up

We've had sunny -- but cold -- weather here the past few days and I've spent much of it outside cleaning up the stuff that washed up in the flood. I've also started to get to work early on some of the projects around the yard that we want to do next spring. Give that it doesn't stop raining here until July, we've found it's best to start spring projects whenever the weather permits -- even if it is 30 degress. I've taken down the picket fence and cleaned up a lot of the fallen tree branches in the back yard. We've had two big burn piles and I'm working on a third. Amy's dad came over last week and cleaned up the deep silt that was still on our driveway. Pictures later this weekend.

Floodwater subsiding

Looks like the floodwaters have gone down quite a bit. Chickens are and about (and gave us an egg in the middle of the storm last night!) We got about 3 inches of water in the basement but all the important stuff is fine. The girls all have a stomach bug (Gracie started it Monday night) and so we're all flopped around in the living room watching the water.

I tried to run to the store earlier today but SR4 is closed at Seal River and at Skomokawa. There are some major slides in the Naselle area from what I hear.

Luckily we don't have anyplace to go. Dun Elsie is our fortress once again, safe from the world outside.

Still raining, and the water is still rising...

It's still raining and the water is still rising. My my marks we're at the level of the 1996 flood, which is a benchmark around here. We drove around on SR 4 and it looked like it was still passable over Seal River but we decided not to chance going to town and risk not being able to get back home.

That was smart -- we just got word Seal River is completely flooded. Sounds like there's a lot of water in Naselle too. One of Lindsay's friends is now over visiting because her mom couldn't get back across Seal River.

We're still fine here. It's strange with no traffic on the road ... just the odd truck cruising around looking at the high water. Grays River is completely impassable. Back home, I had to cut a trail around the picket fence so that we could get to the truck -- the water on the driveway is now too high for our boots. In the basement, we have about two inches of water that has seeped up through the floor. WE keep everything up high and so there's no damage. Our wood supply and pellets are elevated as is everything else -- and it all drains right back out through the floor as soon as the ground around the house is less saturated.

High Water

First photos of the flood are up. I'll be adding more as things go on. At about 10:00 am the water started coming up fast and the school called to say they were sending kids home. The bus driver told me that she had to drive through water on SR4 to get to our house "and I don't think it's done coming up yet." 

Our cars are moved to high ground and the garage and driveway are underwater. The house is high and dry as always. The weatherman says this sort of storm system hasn't been seen since the big flood of 1996 -- we'll see how it goes as the day goes on. Should peak about 4 p.m. this afternoon. 

I get all the news I need from the weather report...

The headline is a quote from a Paul Simon song and just about sums up the news in Grays River today. We received more than an inch of rain last night and they are expecting another 4-5 inches of rain over the next 24 hours. The fields are flooded out in front of the house and the radio reported that Grays River is expected to peak at five feet above flood stage at 17.6 feet this afternoon. Don't worry, we'll all still be high and dry and watching the water go by. We've got power, the wood stove and plenty of food so no worries.

Amazingly, thus far Portland and the valley has had more flooding with the now melt that we had here at the house. I guess the Grays is better built to take it  -- that and we don't have storm drains to get clogged like they do in the city. 

Looks like I completely forgot to post Christmas pics. Here are few below. I'll get some flood pics on line later today.