Portland

We went to Portland to visit Uncle Jim, Tom and their kids.














A gun on a boat


Africa made out of flowers



Darian tickling his own belly while watching a movie








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Camping Near the Idaho-Oregon Border

We went to visit Jeff's extended family in Portland and drove up through Idaho and camped.


The first night we put the tent up and got it all set up, the boys said "you mean we all get to sleep in here?" and they felt like it was Christmas when we told them we did. It was amazing.

































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So we have about 18 plum trees with tiny little plums in our yard. And much more out of my hatred of wasting any food (especially fruit), I decided that I was tired of these plums just falling down and getting trampled on the lawn (which by the way is my other summer obsession--caring for our new sod). So, I decided to try making fruit leather. I kind of made up a recipe using something I saw online and Jeff's childhood recollection that his mom used to dry fruit on their car.








And after not a lot of work, we have fruit roll ups. They actually taste pretty good though they are messy and sour.

Location:Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Seven peaks

Summer isn't complete without some trips to Seven Peaks.












We mostly rotate between the two kiddie pools. Darian has made a lot of progress and goes down the slides by himself (with me at the bottom to catch him). Kian goes down the slides by himself with Daniel (his best friend).







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Basketball Training

Everyday Jeff takes Kian outside and "trains" with him. He does bounce drills with his left hand, passing drills and shooting. I'm impressed with his coordination, which clearly came from the Robison (former basketball state champ/basketball coach) side.


Darian has a mini ball that he tries to get into the basket. He has yet to make a shot.


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Newport Robison Trip

We had a really relaxing vacation with Robisons in Newport California. We enjoyed doing the beach-pool-eat routine over and over every day. It was great for the kids to spend some quality time with cousins and Mems and Pops who returned from Texas this month.

Pool
Beach



Beach
Darian, for the first time swam in the deep end of the pool and jumped in the pool with a life jacket. He also put his face under the water.
Pool

Pool
Kian had a great time catching sand crabs, playing on the boogie board and playing paddle ball. The boys never got sick of playing in the sand and their cousins.




Pier at Balboa Island















Beach again




Before we went to Newport we went to Madar and Baba's house in San Clemente. Kian took my camera and took these hilarious pictures of Darian goofing off.







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And finally, the AFTER pictures of our house

Here are a few pictures... more to come.