Here's the proof!

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for...
Drum roll please....
Welcome to Golden Gate Park, in the heart of San Francisco!

We were really looking forward to riding the Carousel, but --FYI -- it doesn't open until Memorial Day. Still, they have the coolest playground on the planet, with a superslide that runs down the side of a steep hill and a jungle gym that looks like a spider-web!

Here's a few shots of Grandpa's shop...




Some of their projects are a still a work in progress, so you'll have to stay tuned for the finished products!

The Rhododendron Park/Nursery/Secret Garden of Delights was so much fun! It was just the right size for getting lost (and found), and exploring, and not so big that we couldn't rush to the bathroom for an emergency potty break.

(I still can't believe that Sophie stayed accident-free for an entire week away from home! Well, almost -- of course, she had to ruin her perfect record on the last night! Sorry, Grandma...)

Emma carried her sketch pad everywhere she went all week, and she's turning into a budding Michelangelo. Her egrets look like egrets! Her flowers looked like flowers! She got a little creative and made up some interesting flowers along the way, but that's what imagination is for, right?

Introducing...

The world's newest Three-Year-Old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SOPHIE!

Sorry about the delay -- here's the promised birthday pictures!

We are currently unavailable to post any photos due to technological difficulties. Actually, it's not a question of difficulty, but unavailability. Grandpa doesn't have a flash drive, since he gave it to me for blogging, and of course, who brings their flash drive on vacation??

Yes, folks, you heard it right -- WE ARE ON VACATION! We NEVER do this! Hardly ever, anyway -- the last time we came south was for Jamey and Becca's wedding TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO! We finally decided it was time to get off our duff and go DO something for spring break.... which we have.

We have had a wonderful time, hangin' with Aunt Mel (a.k.a. Melissa, Lissa, Mitsubishi, or ... Missy?) and Uncle Kurt and cousin Kristie (who we cut school to have lunch with the week before when she came to Ashland!) and Uncle Steve and Aunt Sonya and cousins Ben, Nate (another birthday boy!) and Allie, who announced her ENGAGEMENT to our new cousin-to-be Joe, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Cara and of course, Grandma and Grandpa Wasden.

Phew! It's been a super fun, relaxing week of climbing trees, exploring the woods, building stuff in Grandpa's shop (I can't wait to show you what the girls made!), and oh, I almost forgot, touring San Francisco! That wasn't relaxing, but it was fun driving with Aunt Maniac Melissa -- we are now empowered! If you can navigate your way through the world's craziest city during rush-hour traffic, then you can drive anywhere! And it was worth it -- we found BRITEX!!!!!! Holy BA-NA-NA-Z! We're talking FOUR STORIES of fabric and notions, and more fabric, accessories, and fabric, and fabric, and more AMAZING FABRIC!!!!!!

Aaaaaahhhhhh.........(sigh of supreme satisfaction).

Of course, we couldn't afford anything, but it was sure nice to just LOOK! Just heaven...

We also paid homage to the great Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory, a prime objective for any visit to the Bay Area, as well as the Jelly Belly Factory. The tours are old hat for us, but you can't pass up the chance for free loot! And actually, I could tour the Sticker factory a dozen times, just for the chance to see their amazing lazer cutting machine. You know those extrememly intricate lacy stickers they make? Well, those puppies are blasted at 10,000 degrees by this machine, which literally explodes the design out of the sticker through a copper stencil that can withstand temperatures hotter than the sun.

We're talking Wow, with a capital W.

Anyway, we did our best to support the sticker industry on a small scale, then put our feet up for the rest of the week. Grandma spoiled all of us, of course, and the girls love creating stuff with Grandpa in his playhouse (a.k.a. woodshop).

The saddest part of the whole week was that Roy was unable to come with us. He had a fire training to prepare for his BLM volunteer fire duty this year, and unfortunately, he has to wait with the rest of you to see the evidence of our wonderful week.

Hope you all had a wonderful spring break!

Hooray for HEAT!

Out with the cold...

In an effort to reduce the exorbitant costs of heating our home with the heat strips from our dilapidated, outdated, and inefficient beast of a heat pump and refrigerant-leaking air filter, the thermostat has been set to an all-time low of 66 degrees for the past month. If it was the middle of summer, no one would complain, but-- hello -- it's spring here in Oregon, which means cold and wet. Thank goodness there have been patches of sun and warm weather to tide us over in the afternoons, but our early morning risers have had little cheer to wake them.

Until now.


Ladies and gentlemen, please give a WARM welcome to the newest members of our family:

The Lennox High Efficiency, Signature series Air Handler and Heat Pump, complete with all kinds of bells and whistles that will circulate the air throughout your house, reduce the allergens floating in the air, maintain an even temperature or program the temperature variance by the time of day you desire, fetch your newspaper and sharpen your pencils...all at the touch of a shiny, green touch-button keypad.

Wow.

Okay, call me silly or even pathetic, but sometimes it's the little things in life that put a "happy" in your heart. Today, it's the expensive things, but the heart is still happy....and warm!

Harmony in the Home

Do you ever wonder what your kids are up to when you leave the house? Roy and I went to the temple last Friday night for a few hours (sweet bliss!) and came home to find the house all clean and everybody ready for bed, with our dinner on the table. Lovely, but suspicious....

Well, it's taken me a few days to clean off my flash card, which I thought was full of Young Women VIDEOS, and lo, and behold, look what I found...!

I wish I could give a running commentary, but I'm giggling too hard. Apart from the evil-Sophie (I can't help but wonder what was going through her mind at the time), they are sweet girly-girls! In some ways, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a sisters-bonding-moment, but it's enough to make my motherly heart proud!