Kruger's Farm

Today we went to Kruger’s Farm, just outside Portland on Sauvie Island.

Here is a video of Oliver almost getting his hand bitten off by a ferocious swine. Close call!




This is a long Labor day weekend, and we’ve been surprised by some rainy weather. We left the farm shortly after these photos, when the rain started to pour.

Around the house, we’ve been focusing on painting the kitchen. The flooring should go in this week and hopefully, the piece to fix our cabinets will come in, so that we can get our countertops ordered.

A Little Kid Comedy Classic

Trying on everyone's shoes!

Hot August Days, Singing and Counting

A couple days ago we received a surprise visit from our old friends Dan and Victoria and their beautiful children, Esther and Elliot. Dan and Victoria used to live next door. It’s funny, but it doesn’t seem that long ago that they bought a house in the next neighborhood and moved away, but in that time, we’ve all started families and suddenly we have three kids on the sidewalk saying Hi to one another when it used to be just be our dogs!

We’ll post more on the kitchen when it’s finished, but we’ve met with a snag; our cabinet designer and installer messed up a key measurement, and the result is that the passageway to the side door and the basement is much too narrow. Fortunately, they’re working to make things right and we should soon have an adjustment to fix the situation. All the other cabinets look great. We’re ready to do some painting, and we’ve selected our flooring. But the cabinet fix, floors, and countertops will take some time, so it looks like we’ll be using our makeshift kitchen for a bit longer. We eat out a lot.

Oliver is talking and singing all the time. Here is a clip of a song he repeats over and over again. It’s to the tune of the ABC song, and it usually starts off with “Now I know my…” before it goes off into his own language:



He’s also really into trains. Every time we hear the train whistle a mile away, he gets excited about the “choo-choo.” Yesterday we decided to take him on the train at the zoo, which we did earlier this summer, but that was before he knew the words “choo-choo.” Now that he knows what he’s talking about, he's much more enthusiastic.
So we took the train from the zoo to the Rose Garden and had a nice picnic there, as we’ve tried to do each year around our anniversary. There is a little amphitheater with a grassy area below and a wooden stage where you can various performances. Yesterday it was empty and kids where playing on it. Here is Oliver running on the stage (and tripping) while demonstrating his ability to count to 10:



And a couple pictures of the pool in the backyard. We had a couple 100+ degree days recently!

Eating Outside

Here is Oliver, snacking on a fresh cucumber (he was just supposed to take it inside). The cucumbers have done OK in our small potted garden out front. The squash, which usually become fruit producing monsters by this point, haven't done as well. I think next year we'll give them more room to breath.

I think a better title for this post would be "Eating out" because we're doing a lot of that these days. We're in the middle or remodeling our kitchen. All the old cabinets are out (see them out in the front yard behind Oliver? Classy, huh?) and as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going remove the old plumbing lines and put in some new copper pipe. Right now, the delivery time frame for our new cabinets is unclear, but we're assuming the install could start next week, so I need to keep busy!

Going without a kitchen is tough. Here is our temporary cooking area, formerly the dining room, with a tiny dorm fridge and butane cooking stove. I'm tempted to unwrap our new fridge in the corner, just to have more room for food, but for now it will have to wait.

Here is where I mounted our old cast-iron sink over the bathtub for a dishwashing station. Yes, we do a lot of walking between the dining room and the bathroom.

Getting the kitchen finished will take some time, so I'll post the "after" pictures when all is done. I also need to post the "after" pictures of the garage project, but it will be winter before I've completed the interior.
-Keith