Pumpkin Patch

Let us now join all our other blogger friends in posting pictures of our kid surrounded by orange pumpkins.

This was at a farm in Boring, OR. But it was far from boring. Crowded and muddy yes, but not dull. An ambulance and firetruck showed up when a glow stick exploded in someone's face! We didn't witness that event, but the emergency vehicles kept us in the parking lot longer than we intended.

Obviously, all of this is new to Oliver so we tried to let him touch and hold as many different kinds of squash, tiny pumpkins and apples as possible. We decided that with the mud and the crowds, we'll wait until next year to do the hayride and the corn maze. This sunny Sunday, we just strolled around to see the animals, the produce, and the pumpkin fields.

I should have stopped him from licking this pumpkin sooner, but I didn't. Sometimes a funny picture trumps hygiene. Worse yet, this is not a pumpkin we took home.

Oh! And another milestone! After we got home, Oliver took his usual spot pressed against the glass of the front door looking outside while Jenny and I prepared our shopping list nearby. Jenny suddenly looked down and said, "Oh my God!"

Oliver was TAKING HIS FIRST STEPS TOWARD US!

-Keith

Lake Quinault

Two weeks ago, Jenny and I went to Lake Quinault, in the Olympic National Forest of Washington. It was beautiful. The lake is huge, and the lodge was one of those giant old buildings with lots of natural wood and a big roaring fire. One of the most interesting aspects of the area is that, surrounding the lake are several world record size trees! It was raining slightly, but that didn’t hold us back from taking some trails to see the trees.

There is also a trail that runs deep into the woods where you suddenly find a very interesting abandoned farm. Old rusty trucks are always fascinating to me, so I took a couple pictures of an ancient Chevy. Jenny’s big find along the trail was $6! The $5 and $1 bills were just laying on the ground – clearly dropped by another hiker. We didn’t see anyone else out there on the trail, so we figured that the six bucks wasn’t the difference between anyone’s grandma’s heart operation and it was ours.

The trip was nice, but it was our first weekend away from the little guy (whose grandparents stayed at our house to keep an eye on him and his dog and cats). We probably left for home sooner than we could have. -Keith

When mom is away the boys will….

...play the piano.

Last week, I was in Sunriver for a long weekend so Oliver and Keith had some guy time to goof off. They took a little side trip to McMinnville to see family and just get out of the house. One of their stops was Union Block Coffee, where Keith used to work. Union Block is not very far from Linfield College and Keith and I had our first date there. From what I understand, the place was pretty empty so Keith proceeded to tell the staff that Oliver was a child prodigy on the piano. Actually, Oliver had never sat at a piano before (except his little plastic one).

Below is the coffee shop video displaying Oliver’s amazing piano playing skills. -Jenny