Camping in Utah

We left for Utah at 5am on Friday, August 21st. The girls did pretty well on the trip. Eleanor amazed me, entertaining herself most of the time and even helping Phaedra stay cheerful. I had bought Eleanor a few new coloring books and colored pencils and markers. She wasn't allowed to use them until we were on the trip, so she was excited for that. We got a batch of hand-me-downs from a friend just before we left, and they gave us a backpack that was perfect for holding all of Eleanor's new stuff. I also had gone to the library and checked out a bunch of books for her to look at in the car. She would look at something for a while and then ask for something else out of her backpack. Phaedra enjoyed tossing her stuffed bunny from person to person. She was pretty good and getting it up to the front seat. We all cracked up over that.

We made two long stops along the way and one urgent, Phaedra-can't-take-it-anymore stop. Both kids did really well, considering. Toward the end of the trip, Phaedra really started screaming, and I tried everything to calm her down. Eventually, the thing that did it was a big chunk of apple for her to gnaw on and play with. The next morning, I found that one of her top teeth had cut through the gums (her top left, I believe), so that might have been the reason for the screaming. Poor girl.

The first night, we stayed at my sister's house. Eleanor tried to have a sleepover with her older cousin, Grace, but she ended up crying for Mommy and came to sleep with us. It had been a long day, and we hadn't done much of her usual bedtime routine to get her settled.

The next day, we hopped back into the car and drove out by Strawberry Reservoir to camp with the whole family. My dad was out there with his camper, and it turned out that all my siblings and my Aunt Kathleen were able to go meet there for a camp out with all of us together. The camp ground had a playground that all the kids enjoyed.

Phae liked playing in the sand.

Eleanor is always happy with a shovel in her hands.

She even looks prissy scooping dirt. Such a girly-girl!

Callie and Ethan.

Grace.

Eleanor and Sam, sticky with watermelon.

We got to celebrate birthdays for Austin (15) and Isaac (4).

Austin enjoying his birthday cupcake with candle still burning.

Dads and babies. Paul and Grant like talking politics together.

Isaac opening his cape (last minute, plastic bag wrapping).

Kenzie, Eleanor, Callie, Grace.

Eleanor got to sleep in the girl tent with her cousins (Kenzie is actually her aunt). We did more of a familiar bedtime routine for her, and I think she did well with the older girls there. She loved being able to have a sleepover with the girls. They slept in a tiny little two-man tent that I used to sleep in when I was little.

It rained that night. Grant and Phaedra and I slept in a borrowed tent.

Some other things that happened were fishing, the kids got to decorate sun visors and choose prizes from a drawing Grandma Sheila put together, Austin enjoyed sneaking up on me and scaring me out of my wits, and our camp had 4 raccoons sneaking around the outskirts. It was a really fun first day in Utah. Stay tuned for more!

No Need for Words

The pictures tell what happened.

Labor Daybor

The Matthews family likes to go on some sort of excursion every year on Labor Day. The requirements for the excursion are these:

• The location cannot be decided prior to Labor Day morning.
• Must be an activity involving water or a hike (or walk) near a body of water.
• There is also often a picnic involved, but I don't think that's a requirement.
• That's about it.

This year, we stayed close because we knew it would likely rain on us. We went to the Willamette Mission park with kids, bikes, lunch, and jackets. It was a good time.

Grant and Phaedra.

Looking at the water, trying to stay dry.

Lucero and Isabel.

Grandpa and David.

Daniel in the wagon.

Alex: Oregon's most eligible bachelor, winter 2013.

Isaac and Daniel.

Stepping in puddles.

Tossing rocks in puddles.

Eleanor was so determined to ride her trike, even on the rough terrain where I had to give her a push every foot of the way when she got stuck. She did much better on the road :)

Gabe, caught with a scowly face.

Phaedra riding with sister.

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Phaedra's first birthday this week. The actual day of her birthday was the day the pears were ripe, so we were over at Grandma's house canning pears. I had wanted to make cupcakes, but I ran out of time. Grant picked some up at the store. Phaedra enjoyed her first chocolate cupcake. We had gifts for her, but we decided to wait until Friday when Grant had the day off and we would have more time to celebrate as a family without delaying bed time.

This picture shows Phaedra's wave. She loves to wave at people everywhere we go. She was scooting across the floor, pushing the toy in front of her, and I said, "See ya later, Phae." She stopped and turned to wave at me. She seems to recognize when people are saying goodbye (even if people don't actually say "bye"), and she starts waving. She gets a lot of attention with her wave. If she's waving at someone who isn't waving back, she'll point at them, wave, point at them, wave, so she makes it very clear that they are the one she wants to wave back.

Phaedra needed a little help with the concept of opening presents. I'm sure next time around, she'll have it all figured out. Eleanor helped me choose a gift for Phaedra from her. She really struggled, telling me which toy she wanted to give to Phae and then saying, "But I want it for me." She has needed many reminders that they are Phaedra's toys, and she shouldn't put them where Phaedra can't reach. It has been very difficult for her to have it be Phaedra's birthday before hers when she has been excited to have a birthday for so long.

I made mini cupcakes, and we sang happy birthday to Phaedra. Grant and Eleanor tried to show her how to blow out the candle. Eleanor ended up having to blow it out for her. We also put a candle in Eleanor's cupcake for her to blow out just for fun. This time, we gave Phaedra some ice cream. I got cookie dough ice cream, the first kind of ice cream Phaedra ever got to taste (when we were in Utah). She was trying so hard to manage the spoon, but I ended up spoon feeding some to her to help her out. When she was down to just a little puddle in her bowl, Grant took the bowl to start cleaning her off. Apparently, she wasn't ready to give it up, and she bawled, so offended by what her daddy had done. She is very fond of ice cream.

Reading her new story before bed. Harry the Dirty Dog has been a favorite of Eleanor's from her grandparents' house. Eleanor was eager to read it to Phaedra after she opened it.

Blog Overload

We just got back from a trip to Utah on Sunday. I have hundreds of pictures I'm trying to go through so I can post some. Plus, I have plenty of things I wanted to post throughout the summer. Not to mention that both the girls' birthdays are this month, which will make for several posts each, I am sure. I guess I've got to get busy with current stuff and catching up. If I manage to get it all done, it will be blog overload. Right now, I think a better title for it is "blogger overload," because I'm the one overloaded! I'm still trying to catch up with all our laundry from the trip, and I keep finding more things that need unpacked. So this is my post to make known my good intentions, and we'll see where it gets me! :)