And the river rises....

The rain just keeps coming and coming and coming. This fall has been a great deal different from last for us. We had very little rain last fall/winter until the last couple of months but this year it has arrived early and with a vengeance. We received 4.85 inches of rain in just 4 days and there is more on the way tonight. The Rogue River (the one we live on) rose 9.4 feet and the flood level is 10 (if I have the numbers correct). Needless to say, the bottom third of our backyard was under water and we thought it may move up to the next third. Many a full size tree floated by the house heading toward the ocean. It was quite amazing actually. The river receeded overnight to almost its normal level but is likely to rise again but hopefully not as much. Mom just to give you a reference, Robin and Al's firepit was completely submerged and their irrigation hose is headed out to sea as well.

Michael is doing great!!! He is becoming more agile with his walking and basic balance. He is still prone to lead with his head when he falls and has many a bruise on his face but he is taking it all in "stride". As with all boys, he loves to run naked through the house after his bath or any chance he gets.

 

Buns of steel, I tell you!!!

 

Michael is also starting to work on his verbal skills and his sign language skills. He uses sign language for some of his most basic needs - milk, water, more, help, all done and thank you. For some reason he prefers to sign "cat" than say the word or sound it would make. Some of his words are ball, gurl (girl), tacktur (tractor), gog (dog), daa daa (Daddy - still NO Mommy or any version there of), aw dunn (all done along with the sign). The list is increasing almost daily. He is also working on his counting skills. We count to 10 and he gets some of the numbers himself and is so proud of himself when he reaches 10.

 

 

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We spent 3 days camping at our friends, Ron and Joyce, house along with Ron's dad, Joyce's son's family and our friends Virginia and Dave. We had a great time and Michael enjoyed all of the animals - chickens, horses (or "Neigh" as he calls them), dogs, and kittens.

 

 

 

It might be time for us to consider getting a dog

 

 

Dressed in someone's clothes to take a wagon ride. Really, I don't know who's clothes they are.

 

 





Halloween and happiness.

We have enjoyed our 2nd Halloween with Michael. He did not go Trick-or-Treating but helped his west coast Nana (Diana) and her husband Mike hand out candy at their house. He seemed to have a great time.

Our track star

 

We helped him "sprint" to the door each time the doorbell rang so that he could greet the kids, show his excitement at the costumes, flirt with the girls and then close the door behind them. He did this repeatedly for almost 2 hours. Needless to say, he was all tuckered out by the end of the night. I guess next year with be his official debut on the trick-or-treat scene.

 

I can't help but post this picture of Michael's friend, Benjamin, in his costume. His mommy is very creative, if you ask me.

 

 

Tim and I are working hard to get our yard ready to lay our irrigation lines followed by our raised garden beds and fruit trees. We invested in a tractor to assist us in this undertaking and we will be spending most of our free time focusing on this lofty goal. Michael is a big help loading rocks into the wheel barrow. He is also helping us move massive amounts of dirt. He usually accomplishes this by carrying the dirt into the house on his clothes and shoes. He is loving life.

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, Michael loves being outside. I am going to be doing a lot of muddy laundry and sweeping the floors more often. Between Tim and Michael, I am not sure if there is more dirt in the yard or the house most days.

 

I hope you all are enjoying your fall weather and making plans for another memorable Thanksgiving. We are planning to spend the weekend with friends. We will send photos of the festivities.

 

 



Michael walks!!!!

The big day has arrived and Michael has started walking. Don't get too excited because it is not consistent but it is becoming more frequent. He took his first official steps on his 18 month birthday, then it stopped for a while. He is back to walking a few steps at a time several times a day and he is, as we call it, "wall walking" consistently. You can see his attempt at walking in the video that follows. This is one of his favorite spots to "practice".



I here that the weather back East has been starting to feel like Fall. We have been warmer than usual at this time of year. We are still hitting the mid to high 80's during the day and it cools off to the mid to low 50's at night. Really the best weather if you ask me. We have not had a drop of rain since late June so things are very dry right now but the rain will be here before we know it. We are in a total burn ban which is not helping us work on cleaning up our yard since we had several trees dropped to may way for garden beds and fruit and nut trees.

Michael is still a bit on the smaller side. He is almost 21 pounds now. Not blowing up the growth chart like some of his cousins (Elliott, Piper and Peyton (Tim's nephew's twins born in February 2012)) however. I am afraid to ask how much Eleanor weighs now.

Here are some more pictures of Michael.

 

Michael's favorite toy

 

Just waking up from a nap

 

Sitting in a "big person" chair

 

Daddy's little buddy

 

Chilling at Klamath River near Hornbrook, California

 

Watching Daddy make kindling for the campfire

 

Hanging out in Ron and Joyce's camper

 

Even when I have a cold/flu, I am smiling and cute

Summer continues

The summer has been beautiful. We are in the middle of our very hot days. Last Saturday (8/4) it reached 106 degrees but the night time low was 65 degrees. I am still amazed by a 41 degree change in temperature. The heat here is not accompanied by humidity however. The humidity hovers around 30 to 40% or so. We also do not get any rain throughout the summers months either. The lack of rain and high temperatures do put us at a much greater risk for fire. There are many activities that are prohibited during certain times of the day. Between 1pm and 8pm, we can not cut grass, run chain saws, welders or anything else that can cause a spark and subsequently a fire. This applies to residential and commercial jobs. So much different than the east coast.

The nice thing we have here however is the Rogue River in our back yard. The temperature of the water is a balmy 65 degrees. A bit cold until you get used to it. Just last week, Tim, Michael and I went down to the river's edge for some light fishing and it was quite shocking at first but once my feet became numb, it was actually quite refreshing. Michael was not sure what to make of the trout we were throwing at him.

We went camping with some friends of ours at Diamond Lake a few weeks ago. It is so beautiful there. This photo was taken from our campsite. Truly spectacular.

We rented a boat and the guys went fishing in the morning and we all went out in the afternoon. Michael is not thrilled to have to wear his life jacket, at all. He seemed to enjoy himself that weekend. The temperatures were in the high 70's during the day and it was in the low 40's in the morning. A little chilly when you are tent camping but we all did well. Michael is already trying to be just like Daddy with his morning coffee.



Enough boring news, let's get to the real reason you are here. Pictures of the little man. He has great news to tell you, he recently weighed in at 20 lbs, 1 oz. It only took him 17 months to reach that goal. Whew Who!!!

Daddy telling Michael some early fish tales.

Michael's much needed bath after 3 days of camping.

All of us enjoying the water fountains at one of many free water parks in our area. Just what we needed on some of these hot days.



The heat is on!!!

I am sad to say that my mom, as many of you know, has returned to the east coast and with her she took the cool weather. We are now running in the upper 90's close to 100 during the day. The only salvation we have is that we do not have the humidity that the east coast does and we cool off considerably at night (usually around 60-65 degrees). With the hot weather also comes the threat of fire. As many may or may not know, we have very little, if any rain, in the summer. This causes the fire threat to raise considerably and we must irrigate our lawns and gardens, if we hope to grow anything. Just today, many activities are restricted during certain times of the day (no cutting grass, running chain saws or other fire hazard activities during the hours of 1pm to 8pm). This can be tricky but is very necessary. The nice thing about the lack of rain is that there is no threat of a "rain date" when we plan our picnics and outings.

I hope my mom enjoyed her time here. We tried to keep her busy and tried to show her as much as we could of the area and its activities. Hopefully she found it to be a fun and new experience. Her presence will be missed by all but we will just have to rely on Skype for our visits for now.

Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Crater Lake

Harris Beach

Bath time with Mom Mom

Strike a pose!!!

The boy has skills. Wouldn't you say?

Michael's is growing but not like a weed. Michael had his 15 month check-up this week and he has grown 1 and 1/4 inches and gained 2 ounces (yes, 2 ounces), since his 12 month check-up. So in summary, he is only weighing in at 19 pounds, 13 ounces. I've had puppies weigh more than he does.

Michael has finally mastered the art of crawling but he still will not let go of our hands when walking. He has also mastered his own language, which I find fascinating and adorable. "Da" is his favorite, and for the most part, only word. We believe we heard "Choo, choo" a couple of nights ago when the train went by. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

As many of you know, my mom is visiting us and Michael is loving the extra attention. It has been unseasonably cool since she has arrived and even have had some rain. We are trying to keep her entertained. We still have a few things planned before she returns East, so let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather, which currently looks terrific, will cooperate.

We have had a great many things going on since we arrived back in OR but I will leave that for later. I will end this entry with more photos of the little man - literally. Love and miss you all.

They were here when I got here.

Some light reading with "Da".

I know, too cute, right?