28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 5

DAY 5 (August 24th): Highland Park

This is the park from my childhood.  My grandmother lived near this neighborhood, so more often than not we found ourselves playing at this park as little kids.  The wooden structure in the above picture was brand new two decades ago and used to be the high light of the park.  Unfortunately, nostalgia is about all that recommends this park...for parents at least.

I find one thing very humorous, though.  Kids and parents have a whole different rating system for parks.  Kids are happy with any park that has slides, swings, or climbing sets.  It does not matter how clean or new they are.  This park had all of these things and was definitely NOT clean or new.  The boys had a blast.

The boys are getting a lot better at crossing the monkey bars.  Pretty soon they won't need Daddy's help.

The climbing spiral is always a favorite spot for the boys, no matter what park we go to.  If the park has a spiral the boys will spend at least five minutes climbing up and down it.

Gordy went down the Fireman's Pole for the first time all by himself.  I missed the first one because it happened so unexpectedly, but he was more than happy to do it many more times for the camera.

AJ had lots of fun.  Playing tag and hanging off of equipment that was finally tall enough for him to do so.

These three toys are actually about as old as, if not older than, I am.  I have seen pictures of myself playing on these exact toys when I was about Gordy's age.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 4

DAY 4 (August 23rd):  Babysitting Cousin & Garage Sale!

Well, I'm pretty sure Thursday was destined to be a not so adventurous day.  First of all, my niece came over to spend the day with us today.  We love our Little Miss, so it's not like it was a chore, but jealousy usually runs rampant on those days so I was expecting Gordy's attitude to be less than ideal.  And, of course, he did not disappoint.

My usual course of action is to get them outside, or if the weather is not great have them re-organize the toy drawers (a.k.a. taking everything out, mixing them up and then watch Mommy/Auntie put it all away). Well, the weather was okay, so after breakfast we headed outside.  We played on the swings, climbed on the playset and played with the balls.  While the kids we playing hide and seek I managed to get a swing to myself.  I was pumping away, and before I knew it I was swinging REALLY high!  Once the boys noticed they wanted me to push them really high.  No sooner had I sent AJ to fence top level than I felt my shoulder pop.  NOT COOL!  I managed to satisfy Gordy's swinging demand and them we all ambled back into the house.

Thank GOD Todd got home early!  He was able to do the heavy lifting and watch the kids while I managed to sort the rest of the baby clothes for the next adventure of the day: THE GARAGE SALE!

(BTW:  Little Miss will probably never allow Uncle Todd to "cuddle" with her again.  She learned "cuddle" is code word for nap.  Kudos to Uncle Todd for that success, though.)

The garage sale was more successful than we expected.  Seeing as it was Thursday, we didn't expect much, but we figured "Why not?".  We managed to sell a few items, so that was cool.  The boys entertained themselves by playing tag with Daddy, or showing browsers how the Total Gym Worked.

We are continuing the garage sale Friday and Saturday, so hopefully more stuff will be unloaded on these days.  Definitely going to at least a park during these days.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 3

DAY 3 (August 22nd)- Ross Park (M & 11th Streets)

On the suggestion of a friend, for Day 3 we went to Ross Park.  I learned later that my mother had babysat in this area as a teen and had taken her charges to Ross Park regularly, so this added a bit of nostalgia to our trip.  Of course there is little else that is nostalgic about Ross Park now.  Nearly everything at the park is new and improved!

Our first stop was the Monkey Bars.  AJ started it off, but got gun shy, so Gordy pushed his way to the front and barreled right on through with Daddy's help.  After that AJ was willing to make one more attempt, this time with Daddy helping a little bit (or giving him a wedgie!).

This was seriously the tallest slide I have seen in a while.  The day ended when Gordy fell over backwards from the bottom trying to get off.

Rock climbing!  This was a cool feature.

This is a balance board.  The key is to try to balance with no hands.  AJ attempted it, but decided he preferred the stability of using his hands.

I have said in the past that Gordy has a very odd "fear factor".  He is afraid of monsters, ghosts, spiders, bugs, carousels and loud noises.  Yet he has no problem climbing tall structures and hanging precariously by his hands until he can drop safely.  My odd little Dare Devil.

This is one of the only features in the park that is not new.  It is an old spring centered teeter totter.  It would be pretty difficult to launch anyone from this considering Todd needed to help the boys just to get it to go up and down.

Bottom line, we had a great time at this little park!

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 2

DAY 2: Freshwater Park (August 21st)

This being a pretty busy week, I decided that the best options for getting us out of the house this week would be to simply go to a different park every day.  I really wanted to go to as many parks that we hadn't been to as possible.  I recalled a friend of mine mentioning going to Freshwater Park last week, so I picked this park for our first stop.

Gordy, of course, went right for the playset and slide.  This kid would live in a tree house with slides and swings if that were an option.  He had blast running around a new playset.

Next, both of the boys ran for the sandbox.  I don't think either of them had ever seen an actual sandbox before, so this was a WAY new experience for them.  AJ immediately wanted to make a sand castle, so that was pretty much it for him, until we went for the water.

We all noticed that one of the swings had been broken from the top.  Instead of a typical reaction of a "normal person" (which would be something like "ah, that sucks"), Todd thought "Hey, I can climb up there and fix that".  Well, it didn't work.  But his ability to shimmy up the pole inspired him to start doing pull-ups.

Gordy wanted to do pull-up too!

Finally we made it to the water.  The last time I had been to Freshwater Park was 8 years ago, and the swimming hole had still been under construction.  Never had I imagined that the swimming hole would be this nice.  It was awesome.  I felt bad for not bringing the boys' swim trunks (for like 30 seconds, until I remembered it was cold and over cast).  They still had fun and we did let them wade in the water for a little bit.  I promised them that the first Sunny day next week I will bring them back for a swim.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 1

Yesterday my oldest son finally asked me the question that I will probably get asked a million more times (but this was the first time).  "Mommy, how many days until we move?"

The answer both shocked and inspired me.  I counted it out and told him that we had about 30 days left in Eureka.  Of course he had to ask how many 30 days was, and I tried to explain it by showing him on the calendar.  In doing this I started to think that it would be cool to create a calendar to count down the days until we leave, except that might simply depress me, or worse, freak me out.  Instead another idea popped into my head.

I have been researching things to do with kids in Salem for over a month now, in an effort to build up excitement for the move.  Well, yesterday it finally occurred to me that there are actually a lot of things to do in Nor Cal that the boys have never, or rarely, done.  Why not do some of these things in the month leading up to our move.  My mom even gave me the idea for a scrap book just a few days ago.  So here we go with Day 1.

DAY 1 (August 5th) - Mad River Hatchery

I know, I know...I cheated.  But I hurt my neck on Sunday and didn't really want to leave the house yesterday, so I figured since we had already gone to the hatchery two weeks ago I had one "freebie".

After church on August 5th, my parents, my sister and her family, and our family all piled in our cars and drove to Blue Lake for a picnic at the Mad River Hatchery.  I hadn't been to the hatchery since I was in 3rd grade and no one else in our group had ever been until this year (my sister had taken her family for the first time the week before).  We have a family friend who works there, so the idea had crossed my mind to take the boys, but I just kept putting it off.  Then my sister went and I realized how much the boys would really love seeing all of those fish and getting to feed them.  So that was it.  No more putting it off.  We were going to do it.

It was a beautiful day for a picnic.  Sunny, light breeze, hot but not sweltering.  We were in heaven, until...  We got to the hatchery and the first thing I notice is the missing diaper bag.  I had run out the door after my youngest and had forgotten to go back in the house for the diaper bag after putting him in the van.  Silly Mommy!  Lucky for me my sister was willing to share my niece's diapers.  (Poor G!)

After lunch the real fun started!  We got to check out the fish (and the resident cat).  The baby fish were too little to feed, but they were still pretty active and interesting to watch.

                                  

The big fish were where it was at though.  There was a food dispenser that cost a quarter to feed the fish.  Not sure exactly what the money goes toward (probably keeping the facility open to the public).  Either way it is a worthy cause in my opinion.  And we definitely did our part to contribute.  I'm pretty sure we nearly drained that food dispenser.  Everyone, even the adults, was getting a kick out of watching the fish get excited over the food.  At one point the fish got so excited they actually broke a dividing board in the tank.  Todd fished it out so the maintenance guy could see it on his rounds.  I think everyone had a wonderful and memorable day.

On To the Next Adventure!

I am writing this post as I sit among boxes, piled clothes, and utter chaos.  There can only be one explanation for my house being in this condition...we are moving!  In five weeks we will be pulling out of Eureka and will no longer call this picturesque city home.

I have lived in Eureka nearly my entire life.  I actually counted the exact number of months I haven't lived in Eureka the other day and discovered that it was only 18 months.  That means in nearly 32 years of life, only 1 1/2 of those years were spent away from the city I thought I would always call home.  Of course, God had a different plan for my life.  So in 5 weeks, with the help of our families, my husband, sons and I will make the 7-hour trek to Salem, OR, where Todd will begin his job as a Carrier for the United States Postal Service after patiently waiting 5 years as a Clerk in Arcata for the same opportunity to open up here.  It never did, so here we are.

My feelings about this move are definitely bittersweet.  I have a full list of Pros and Cons, so I decided to share them here.

CONS

• I have never in my life went longer than 6 weeks without seeing my mother.  I have also never lived longer than 6 hours away from her.  I am going to miss her like crazy.
• I have never missed Christmas with my family, but due to the nature of Todd's chosen career (which is the same as my father's), we will not likely ever be able to spend Christmas Day with my family again.
• I will miss my Daddy, too.
• My sister and I, while always close, have gotten even closer in the last two years since her pregnancy and the birth of my niece.
• I was looking forward to my sons and niece growing up as close cousins.  My boys adore my niece and she loves them.  It will be hard to give up that dream.
• No more sleep overs at Grandma and Grandpa's.  This is one of the boys' favorite things in the whole world.  Mommy's and Daddy's too.
• No more "free" baby sitting.  I always knew that if I had an appointment or needed to get something done, all I had to do was ask my parents, sister, or grandmother to watch the boys.  If they could not do it, I had some lovely friends to back me up.
• Our church family and friends have been super supportive to us over the last 8 years.  We will miss them dearly.
• I will miss living so near to my grandmother.
• We have our oldest son enrolled at NCLA here.  At the observation appointment the class and teacher seemed perfect for him.  I hope his new school will fit him just as well.
• I will miss the ocean.

PROS

• Cheaper housing - by A LOT!
• Ag country means lots of fresh fruits and veggie varieties!
• Ag country also means USDA Housing Loans.
• More variety of stores, which means lower prices.
• Oregon = NO SALES TAX
• Four seasons!!!!
• There is a YMCA is Salem, so we WILL be signing the boys up for swimming!  It also has free childcare and Kids Club, so I can take my youngest with my while my oldest is in school and not have to worry about who is going to watch him while I work out.
• The Discovery Village at Riverfront Park looks really cool, and a family membership there will also get us free admission to Seattle Science Center, which Todd has fond memories of from his childhood.
• Instead of driving 1-2 hours to find the best camping/swimming holes, we only have to travel 15 minutes.
• We will be only 3-4 hours from Todd's family instead of 10-12 hours, which means a lot more visiting.
• My best friend (whom I have missed terribly these past 6 years) will now only be less than 90 minutes from me!
• New Community = New Opportunities
• The Willamette Valley Chapter of Romance Writers of America is based in Salem.
• The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants!
• Cheaper gas prices (Thank you I-5)!
• We do have some friends already living in Salem.
• Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Chang's Mongolian Grill, and Red Robin.  I think that is self explanatory.
• If it isn't found in Salem, Portland is only a 45 minute drive away.   

I'm sure there are a lot of other reasons I am sad/excited about this move, but regardless of them the bottom line is that this move is an adventure for our family.  I hope to blog a lot more as I start a new outlook on life of treating everyday like an adventure.

I won't just be blogging about recipes, but about places, activities, and personal musings.

Here we go!!!