Wisdom in a compact body

I will occasionally use my blog to gloat about one of my favorite things. Bean and I were in Tae Kwon Do last night. He did a jump round kick essentially, and threw out his hip, or it popped and hurt him. In all the years that Brandon has trained in Tae Kwon Do I have NEVER seen him stop training for anything. This time he stopped briefly grabbed his leg and trained on his left leg.

Our instructor gave him an out during self defense but he opted to work out anyway as he declared that in a real life situation should he be injured his attacker would be unlikely to await his recovery before attacking so it would be wise to learn to defend himself when not at full capacity.

Then at the end of class he was still limping, which I have never seen him do either, but in spite of discomfort, he offered to assist our instructor with carrying her bags. Such a well mannered wise young man. I truly respect the person emerging from the little bundle of joy I fortunate to know 10 years ago. Since I cannot show his picture I decided to honor him with this redbelt image.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY

October 18th, Amy's birthday, we started off by going to the dog park to let Finnegan and Stanley play, and went for a walk to cool them down. Then we came home for a quick lunch before heading out past Oregon City to Dream Stable for a horseback riding session. Everyone there was great!

Horseback riding was Amy's choice for a birthday adventure. At the stables we were greeted by Karen, and Dale, the owners and Carol another outrider. This stable is clean, the horses looked beautiful and well cared for. Two of the horses we rode were 26! One of whom was in a rodeo just last year. Dale and Carol minded Diz and with a lot of patience and allowing Diz to do things HIS way in HIS time, got him riding a horse comfortably and happily.

Neil was given a horse that essentially babysat him. what was wonderful was that rather than just putting us all on horses and turning us loose on the trails they gave a basic lesson in handling the horses, played some games with the horses both in the indoor arena and then the outdoor arena before heading out on the beautiful trails. In the end Neil, who was hesitant and still mindful of past bad experiences with horses, even said he might do this again.

Amy, of course was as comfortable with horses as she is with dogs. She had a horse who preferred not to stop but to go, go go. I was proud that she was able to let the horse know who was boss. Brandon handled the horse like he'd been doing it all along. He loved his week at Bar M Ranch, so learned much from riding up the mountain trails there, and apparently still retained most of the training. Jeff looked pretty comfortable on his horse as well and said in the end that he really enjoyed riding. I loved it of course, but I always have.

Rissy was out intrepid photographer as she was busy contracting, walking and preparing for her youngest son's arrival. They were a little uncomfortable with her riding being so heavily pregnant. They were afraid the saddle horn would hit her belly. In this particular picture though, I was able to catch the fact that the horse, Pistol, would nuzzle her belly at the start of a contraction. How awesome is that?

Following the horseback riding we went to La Hacienda restaurant for dinner and margaritas.

Amy was treated to a special birthday flan, complete with song, well wishes and a sombrero!

My favorite part of the whole day was the fact that we at long last had Amy with us to celebrate her birthday.

Pumpkin Patch

Today was sunny and warm with a bit of a breeze as the day grew later, but we headed out to the Pumpkin Patch. Our thinking was that we could get the pumpkins before the rains hit as we KNOW they are coming! It was the perfect day to go out. While it was busy, it wasn't so swamped that we felt crowded.

We took a hay rack ride out to the field to select our own perfect pumpkin.

We then took the pumpkins back to car and tried our skill at shooting a car with the pumpkin launcher. Amy came the closest to the target, an old car, Neil was a close second, and Jeff next. My first shot fired six of seven pumpkins simultaneously and coincidentally a bird got hit with a piece of pumpkin but flew it flew off.

We then headed for the kids maze. Charissa, Amy and I stayed on the outside. The maze was really dark as it was surrounded by hay. Then they had an additional maze attached to the hay maze that you could see over.

Buzzard Bowling was next with the little pumpkins. I was the ONE and ONLY person to hit the buzzard! Go me!

It was a really enjoyable day and I am so pleased we were all together and all having a good time.

Dizzy is 4!

Happy Birthday DIZ!

Today, the 7th of October was Diz's 4th birthday, though we didn't end up celebrating until almost 7:00 at night. But he did come over and open presents and had ice cream cake. He took a little while to blow out his candles but in end he got the job done.

He was very pleased with his bathtub bubble maker, and some aliens he recieved.

Grandpa Vergara got him a Lace and Trace set that he can keep himself busy with. Jordan is really into writing, drawing, puzzling...anything that utilizes artisic abilities.

So in 4 more years he will be an 8 year old, I find that hard to beleive!

GREAT Wolf Lodge

Saturday the 4th of October we all descended upon Great Wold Lodge to celebrate Diz's birthday. This was his birthday adventure choice. Jeff and I got the idea from Stephanie Vergara, years ago for a birthday adventure. Since many children these days are often over indulged with material things but lack adventures and experiences we try to balance the scales with experiences. Many years ago, Beans favorite part of the adventure was the togetherness, and it kind of stuck.

Jordan decided months ago that he was going to go to Great Wolf until we went to the zoo, and he was convinced he'd rather spend a day with the animals, namely the zebra's, petting them. There are only certain things we cannot do. THAT would be one of those things. Once out of the zoo, he went back to Great Wolf. We celebrate the weekend before Diz's birthday as his birthday was midweek. Amy just started her new job out here, Jeff is working, Bean volunteers, and Neil has his office to run and Rissy is closer and closer to the date they will welcome their new son, that we figured it would be better to go earlier than later. We had a blast!

This was Amy's first time there. Rissy was able to opt out of the tornado which is a HUGE waterslide that she doesn't particularly like. We stayed int he wave pool a LOT with Dizzy letting him tug us around on the innertubes. Rissy laid on her belly for a change and it felt nice. She also mentioned that she didn't realize how comfortable the water made her, but realized it when she got out. I guess it is a good thing she is a fan of the water as she is planning a water birth:-)

Amy, Jeff, Neil and Brandon spent a good deal of time on the big water slides, but got together and held on together while the big waves threw them around. Coincidentally, Monday morning, everyone's muscles complained a bit especially their pectorals and calf muscles from the innumerable stairs.

Saturday night, we ate at the lodge restaurant and finished off with some yummy s'mores fondue complete with crackers, strawberries, marshmallows and of course Piece de Resistance...oooey gooey CHOCOLATE of which I had none, but it smelled delicious!

Sunday morning we awoke and went for breakfast in the buffet, a favorite of everyone's as it is massive and diverse. There is something for anyone...even me!

We played in the pool some more and at the end of the day the boys slayed the dragon on the Magic Quest the perfect end to a perfect weekend!

I am glad that Jordan chose this adventure as we of course benefit from their choices as well.