Let the renovation begin!

We went to pick out some new tile for our master bathroom today and Matt is in full fledged demolition today! The marble tile that was originally put in was not sealed properly when it was originally installed and water had seeped behind the tile and into the sheet rock. We have found that several other homes in the neighborhood have had the same problem. The good news is we caught ours before there was any dry rot! The neighbor next door....not so lucky. Her tub had to come out and the contractor ended up cutting out the back half of her house and pulling the tub out to replace the sub floor along with everything else.

Day trip to Vancouver Washington

On Saturday we decided to travel north and check out Vancouver Washington! We toured the city and then headed to Vancouver Lake. The lake itself is huge and the grounds with walking trails are GORGEOUS. The downfall is that the lake is inaccessible due to high levels of ecoli, so we weren't able to play in the water. Brandon and Ryley are not pictured because they are spending the week at their Grandparent's home in Winchester, OR!

Sarah, Tyler, Tori and Ryan at Vancouver Lake
Ryan and Tyler trying to show off the frogs they caught!
Matt and Tori with the snake they caught!

Celebrating Tori's birthday!

On Sunday Tori celebrated her 9th birthday. Instead of having the traditional at home party we decided to celebrate her birthday in downtown Portland! We went to Pioneer Courthouse Square http://www.pioneercourthousesquare.org/ which is known as Portland's living room! Yoshida's Sand in the City event was taking place and we had the opportunity to view some amazing sand sculptures!

Made in Oregon's sand sculpture!
Tori with a dragon sculpture behind her!
Kids on the block sand sculpture!
After doing some shopping at pioneer place and having lunch we headed to "Saint Cupcake" http://www.saintcupcake.com/
This quaint little bakery has several different gourmet cupcakes and much to our delight they were FABULOUS!

Ryley, Tyler, Brandon, Ryan, Tina, Sarah and Tori enjoying our cupcakes!

Beverly Beach State Park

The kids and I took a trip to Newport, Oregon and stayed in a yurt (that's as close to camping as I can manage with 6 kids!). The weather was great and we had a fabulous time! Next time hopefully Matt will be able to take some time off and join us...with his new job it wasn't an option this time around!

Canby Grove Day Camp!

Brandon, Ryan, Ryley, Tori and Tyler spent this past week at Canby Grove Day Camp! It is a fabulous non-profit Christian Camp located on acreage in north Canby! The kids spent their days swimming, BMX bike racing, fishing and rock climbing. You can check out the camp website at http://canbygrove.com/SummerPrograms.html. They can't wait to go back next year!

Tyler, Ryley, Brandon, Tori, Ryan, Sarah and unknown lady at the after camp barbecue Friday night!

The kids stopped for a photo at the entrance of a tunnel that led us to the swimming pool, soccer field, volleyball court and BMX track.

The kids on the BMX track...Ryan had to show us the tree he crashed into!

Fourth of July celebrations!

One of our favorite things about living in Canby is the city's Fourth of July celebration they host every year. The city closes the downtown streets to traffic and they have an open air festival with booths, activities, etc. all centered around the downtown playground. It is what you might imagine as a "Norman Rockwell" festivity. Everyone around town comes down and you simply spend the day relaxing and visiting with friends.

Brandon, Ryan, Ryley and Tori spent the day at summer camp (they didn't want to miss out fishing, bmx bike racing, and swimming) so Matt, Sarah, Tyler (who was recovering from being ill and skipped camp) and I spent the afternoon downtown.

Mallory Block, Sarah, and Morgan Block turned to smile at the camera while watching the Canby parade!

That evening we invited the Block family and the Woll family over to celebrate with us. The best part about living in our neighborhood is the city fireworks are set off at the school two blocks from us. So, we just walk down to the end of our street with our chairs and enjoy the show.

Matt, Brandon and a sleeping Tori watching the fireworks!


We finally finished celebrating at midnight! Tori and Ryley had headed off to bed already!

Saturday's baseball tournament