THE BOYS HAVE A NEW TREE HOUSE!!!

This is the chestnut tree before the structure was in place.

I told the boys to go and draw what their ideas were for the tree house. This is what they brought their Dad...too cute. They explained there was a ladder, door, windows, and a skylight in the roof!

So the work begins....with lots of help for Dad!

Luke is playing around waiting to hand Dad the next tool or board.

As you can tell by the top of the step ladder this is quite hight off the ground. Darin is having too much fun.

So this was the finished product. A platform really high off the ground. I was a bit uneasy so I requested some railings!!!

I love this picture. Check out Martin's eyes. Darin told him to make sure the board stayed flush and even with the other board. He took this job VERY serious.

The board was getting a bit too heavy so Martin got Luke up there for an extra set of hands. This is one serious work crew!!!!.

This picture cracks me up. I was high on the ladder talking to the boys in their tree house and I look over and here is this squirrel laying down on this branch. His eyes are open in this picture, but they were closed earlier and he was sleeping. At first I wondered if it was dead, but then it jumped and opened its eyes. I had never seen a squirrel sleeping in a tree before....too cute!!!!

So the boys and I took a trip up with Grandma Lulu to help her get some stuff done on her house and have a last mini vacation before school started. We had a lot of fun and had nice weather too. 

We took the boys to the arcade in Longbeach. It is quite high tech now. You pay the cashier the amount of money you need for the games and they give you a credit card with that amount on it!!! You swipe the card at every game and it will tell you the balance that is left on your card. Very clever, but I think it may give kids the "credit card" bug a little too soon. All I know is things have changed since I went to the arcade. 

The boys wanted to dig in the yard so Grandma gave them this job. The pipe needed to be replaced and so they needed to dig down until they found the connector...that was quite a lot of digging, but as you can see they loved it! 

The boys have been wanting a basketball hoop for quite awhile and now we have one thanks to Craig's List. I scored it for FREE! Gotta love it. It was in great condition and adjustable too. Obviously Darin took this shot, I tend to stay closer to the ground :-) 

Darin and I had our 11th wedding anniversary on August 5th. We decided to take the Mt. Hood Railroad day excursion tour. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was amazing. The train left from Hood River and went to Parkdale. We had an hour layover so we grabbed some lunch at a local cafe and hopped back on the train back to Hood River. We rode in the open-air car on the way back and that was cool. This photo of Darin is so appropriate...note Mt. Hood in the back ground :-) We left Hood River and headed to Mt. Hood and hiked some trails for about 2 hours. It was a fun day

Here I am looking out the window of the train. It was such a beautiful day and the fruit trees where loaded with fruit.  

Darin took the boys to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville in August. They had a fun time. It was a father and son day as I dropped them all off at the Museaum and took a little drive over to visit my Grandma Williams, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Allen.  

Doesn't get any cooler than a tank that you can actually touch! 

I think the boys liked this plane. 

When I asked Darin how it went, he said "well I think the cool factor wore off after about the first 30 minutes and then they were more fascinated with the airplane seat." He captured that statement with this photo of Luke.

Here is Luke at Red Robin for his birthday dinner on June 16, 2006. This is is favorite place to eat (Just like his Dad!) Grandma, Grandpa Tom, and Auntie Amelia joined us for the celebration.  

So Luke did turn 6 in June. We had an Incredible Hulk party. I thought it was an odd choice, but when I asked him why he wanted the Hulk he said "because he's really strong, green and really cool! (then it made sense) Trying to get 8 boys ages 6 & 7 to be serious is quite a joke as you can see from the photo. Luke had a great time and that is all that matters.