August

August is always such a fun month! The weather is glorious, our travels have usually winded down, and the "Back to School" panic hasn't quite set in yet. This year August was filled with some of the usual: yardwork, Clark County Fair, and hanging with friends. But we also added in some new activities like a terrain race and concerts in the park! 

We live just 2 blocks from Crown Park - one of the largest parks in Camas. One night we heard music playing and wandered over. Turns out they have concerts in the park once a week during the summer! It was past Briggen's bedtime, but it was worth it to keep him up!  

Our good friends, the Parkinsons, are leaving in September and we are SO. SAD! Briggen and Laykin are just 6 weeks apart and have grown up together. And Torin is like a big brother. We'll for sure miss them! 

Briggen's first experience with sprinklers - so happy to be in a yard with grass!

balloons + trampoline = endless fun!

TV and movies are a rarity for Briggen, which I guess is why I document when he does watch them. 

We go to the Clark County Fair every summer, but somehow I have missed "The Bug Guy" in the past. Or maybe I was intentionally not acknowledging him? Either way, this was the year we chatted and he convinced me to hold his pet tarantula. It took some persuasion and several minutes to pump myself up, but I DID IT! Spiders are definitely not my fave, but even still, I was surprised at how soft and light it was. The tarantula's handler insisted on holding my wrists to make sure I didn't freak out and drop the spider (which was very probable, so good choice there). 

Walking with Grams 

In the Grand Stands for the show. This year it was a BMX terrain race - not as good as past years, but still worth the watch! Briggen was entranced and frightened all at the same time. 

There were several failed photos before this one - it was the end of the night and Briggen was getting cranky. The only way to get that smile was to get out the bear. We can always count on Boo Boo to produce a smile :) 

Back in November we fell for a marketing ploy for a terrain race. It was advertised as free entry, but then the registration fees were $15 a person. Not free, but still not a bad price. I promised myself I would train . . . but let's be honest, I'm not the best at keeping those type of promises. So, while the race wasn't free AND I hadn't trained, it was still a good time! 

We had read online that parking gets crazy, so we threw our bikes in the back of the car and parked about a mile away. We then biked in and felt pretty cool when we flew by all the cars that were backed up. It didn't feel as good once we got to the parking lot and realized we would have to walk our bikes through the mud to the starting line though. If we do it again next year, we'll have to decide if the bikes were worth it!

before the race

after the race

Now that the ground is all prepped, we are ready for pavers! We had SO many pallets of pavers delivered to our front yard. I think the pallets stayed there for several months. It so long that actually I forgot the pallets of wall block were there and I even backed into one (yikes!) There is now a lovely corner dent to forever remind me of the incident. In my defense, I was hurriedly backing out of the driveway in search for Cosmo. Cosmo had gotten out and it was reported back to us that he was hit by a car! Long story short: Brodie found him hours later just a block or two away from home. It was raining and cold, and he had some road rash. But other than that, he was fine. Phew!

If you look closely, you can see Briggen helping drive the Vermeer with Poppy

Briggen is now 18 months, which means he is in nursery! What a relief :) He is quite the busy body and was no longer happy with sitting at the foot of the piano while I played in Primary. He cried a bit (I made Brodie drop him off), but then he did just fine. Which is good because he'll be starting day care in about a month, too!

Aaand of course. . . August always includes a little bit (or a lot) of back to school prep. Just last summer Briggen was snoozing on my classroom floor as a 6 month old. This year he was running into the hall, making all sorts of noise, and climbing in and out of the cubbies. It's crazy how much difference one year makes! 

July - Seattle

Each year we look forward to spending a few weeks in Seattle at my parents house! We plan our time to overlap with my siblings so we can all see each other. Last summer, Charlie and Briggen were just little ones that took lots of naps and had to be carried everywhere. This year, these two were running all over the place! It's fun to see them grow up and play/get into trouble together. We fit in a little bit of everything: parks, hikes, beach, splash pad, and berry picking!

Family Game Night at the Country Club 

I tried to get a cute picture of him smelling the flowers, but this is the best I got

Briggen's favorite corner 

Reading books with Paco & Davey

Enjoying cookies on the deck at the cabin

throwing rocks at Gold Creek Pond

playing in the sand

First time on a boat! He wasn't a fan of the life jacket. 

Briggen was a lot more brave at this splash pad than the one in Sun Valley!

Quarter rides at the mall 

try as I might, he still ate berries off the ground (which also included a lot of dirt)

"No, mom. I haven't been eating dirt. Why do you ask?"

berries for delicious jam (thanks, Mel)!

July Misc.

July is usually our busiest summer month, and this year was no exception! We kicked it off with a trip to Sun Valley (see previous post) and ended with time in Seattle (coming next). In between all of that was a bunch of fun and a lot of work. Brodie started the backyard project, and I'm sure that will keep him busy for the rest of the summer!

Celebrating Grams' Birthday!

Library Story Time

I cut 10 inches off to donate my hair! 

The beginnings of our backyard project . . . here is what the yard looked like when we moved in. Spots of dirt with patchy grass. Brodie has a vision of putting in a new fence, large patio, upper deck, and firepit. There is no way we would be able to do it without the help/equipment of Shovel & Thumb! Still have a long ways to go. I'll post pictures throughout the summer to show the progress. Our next step is to lay the pavers and build the seat wall.

Cohan used the excavator to remove the top layer of our yard. Briggen was his copilot!

Then the yard turned into a bunch of dirt. It looks worse before it gets better, right?

Prepping for the patio - laying gravel and pouring concrete for the deck supports

Briggen's love for dirt definitely increased this summer, probably from watching Brodie work!

Sporting his Shovel & Thumb hat

After long days of working in the yard, these boys deserve some chill time

One thing we look forward to every year is Camas Days. It's a festival downtown with yummy food, a parade, activities, and contests. It lasts the course of 2 days and it's very well attended! Unfortunately this year it was raining. In July! Last year we were hiding on the porch of a downtown home to get out of the sun, and this year we hid on the same porch to get out of the rain.

Hoods up! (Doesn't work so well when you have a bun in your hair)

 Brodie spent a lot of time in the yard, and in the garage working on this GORGEOUS table. I showed him pictures of what I wanted, and he was able to build it! It perfectly matches the dimensions of our couch, too. 

And then we ended the month with Briggen's first dental appointment. He was a champ! I'm sure the TVs attached to the ceiling helped with his good behavior :)