Tim came home for a 24 hour visit this weekend. Much of the time was spent sleeping, going to church, and taking care of practical stuff, but we did squeeze in some time for fun. He and the kids spent a chunk of the afternoon playing several games, then he and I went out for burgers at Nancy Jo's on his way out of town.
Just a few days shy of five months since this job assignment started, I'm struggling with it now. Although I'd never choose to live separately, I was fine with this temporary season right up until his last visit. Suddenly, I wasn't. It's hard.
I'm thankful he's employed, likes his job, and gets paid well. I'm thankful he has a good attitude about long hours and challenging living situations. I'm thankful that all assignments, but specifically the ones with hours or locations I'm not crazy about, are temporary. We'll survive and life goes on. And I'm not complaining about it anymore.
The kids and I made a spontaneous decision to spend the evening hanging out in our front yard. I pulled out snacks and we all played corn hole, ladder ball, tetherball, and Connect 4 while listening to music and watching a pretty sunset.
And we tried doing headstands. Let the record state I did one, but it wasn't captured on camera and I fell every single other time tried. Of course.
Tim, Devon, and I spent the morning splitting and stacking firewood, but then we all headed to Centennial for fireworks and festivities. The event hasn't happened the last two years, so it was great to enjoy it again. Tim and I were engaged on the 4th of July, so I like to joke that our community puts on quite a bash to celebrate our proposal anniversary.
Devon quietly finished high school two months ago, but we hadn't done anything to celebrate yet. He didn't care about having a party and a family dinner was challenging to coordinate with four different work schedules, one of which is for a person living out of town most of the time. So it just didn't happen.
Last night we had a bit of a texting frenzy to figure something out and we were able to all meet up for dinner at Olive Garden this evening. Success! Plenty of food, conversation, and laughter as our family marked this milestone in Devon's life.
This boy of ours is smart as a whip and hates formal schooling, so he's weighing options for long-term career goals that don't require a college degree and working in the meantime. I'm excited to see what's in store for him!
Unbeknownst to me, Devon saw directions for making a wooden candy dispenser in Boy's Life magazine seven or eight years ago. Also unbeknownst to me, he's wanted to make one ever since.
He came home from work last night with an odd assortment of things for a mysterious project he wouldn't tell any of us about. He came to me later in the evening with a huge grin and excitedly told me to come see what he'd made.
It's a wooden candy dispenser, just like the one he saw all those years ago. He decided to just wing it, making one solely from the memory of the one he read about when he was younger.
How cool is that?! I suspect he'll be making more in days to come, whether to give as gifts or sell as a side gig. I also suspect he'll be purchasing some better tools to simplify and speed up the process.
I'm so impressed!
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I walked upstairs at church tonight and saw all four little Ws together. And they were all dressed in black. So I made them pose. Which they thought was ridiculous. But I didn't care. The end.
Not the end. They actually wear black a lot or always, depending on the kid, but it struck me as funny to see them all together that way. It's like a sibling uniform or something.
I realized yesterday that the weather was going to be beautiful today and that we had nothing on the calendar until evening, so I told the little Ws I was going to do something fun with them. My original idea fell through, but another plan worked out. Then Tim unexpectedly had the day off and got to join us.
We loaded into the van first thing this morning, told the kids we were going to visit two Oregon coast icons that we'd never been to before, then hit the road. About two hours later we stopped at Pig 'N Pancake for pre-icon food, as five cases of being hangry would have put a serious damper on our fun.
Our next stop was the first icon of the day, The Astoria Column. We bought some gliders in the gift shop, climbed 164 steps to the observation deck, enjoyed amazing views in every direction, and launched our gliders. So cool!
There were several empty cargo ships out in the water.
The building in the top right is the gift shop and this is the direction we launched our gliders.
The peak below the sun is Saddle Mountain, which Tim's hiked once, Silas and Devon have hiked multiple times, and I've hiked once. Just beautiful!
The only sound in this little clip is the wind, but I walked around the whole deck to show the view.
Tim's the one who suggested we go there and we're all really glad he did. It's a neat stop. If you're afraid of heights, go anyway because the view from the ground is also incredible.
Our second Oregon coast icon of the day was the Seaside Carousel. We started to take a group picture before getting on our animals, but the operator told us to move over to the bench, remove our masks for the pose, and he'd take our picture for us. Awesome.
We did a little browsing and shopping, then walked down to the beach. I think it's cool they have a swing set there! (They also had three volleyball courts, which is also neat, but I don't personally care about playing volleyball.) We spent a couple hours walking, digging, climbing, swinging, throwing, splashing, and collecting.
We made a quick stop at Seaside Candyman so all the Ws except myself could use some of their personal spending budgets on treats to eat later. (I'm not exactly responsible in the sugar department, but I'm more tempted by other treats.) It's quite a sight to see 172 flavors of salt water taffy and 68 Jelly Belly flavors all in one place!
Tim and I had promised to treat everyone to ice cream before the day was done, so we crossed the street to Sea Star Gelato and loaded up on frozen goodness. Only four of us made it into the picture, but all five of us enjoyed our gelato.
To be in a season of life where spending money on gas for a day trip, a restaurant meal, a carousel ride, and dessert for everyone is something we had the freedom to do is such a huge blessing, one I don't take for granted at all. To have everything work out for our whole household to go in the middle of the week was icing on the cake.
All three kids thanked me separately for the day and said they had fun, which meant a lot to me. I'm not very good at spontaneous outings, especially when it takes a whole day, so I'm thankful that everyone had a good time and that they expressed unsolicited gratitude.
Tyler had some friends come over for a few hours on Sunday and they all decided to play Uno with college rules for a while.
After dinner they made oobleck and had lots of fun playing with it. Well, they tried to make it in the individual bowls I gave them, but that quickly proved to be impractical. Devon and Naomi swooped in and saved the day. They dumped each boy's oobleck into a larger bowl, added a bunch more cornstarch and water, mixed it all up, then refilled each boy's bowl with their own portion of oobleck. I was thankful for their help!
One of Tyler's friends happens to be one of Natie's brothers, so the two siblings were able to spend a little time together at the party. I snapped a picture for their mom's benefit, but it's cute and I'm including it here.
I asked them to all strike a pose after Tyler opened cards and gifts they'd brought. One smiling.
And one silly, of course.
Next up was an indoor snowball fight, which was a huge hit. No pun intended. They pelted each other for an hour, right up until they left for home.
It was a fun time with tons of laughter!
Today was about celebrating with family. (The exception being reading all sorts of birthday messages posted on my Facebook page and getting a text from a man at church he's friends with.) He got a text from an aunt, started a birthday greeting text exchange with a cousin who was born on the same date a decade earlier, answered a video call from some bonus Ws, talked on the phone with grandparents in two states, ate the dinner of his choice with me and the sibs, was taken to pick up his free birthday drink at Dutch by a brother and sister-in-law, and spent time opening gifts and cards from various relatives with the Ws.
This is how Silas hauled Tyler out to the car when they left for a birthday drink. There are some things that only big brothers do. This is one of them.
Tim had to unexpectedly work late, which made a whole family picture unattainable, but I made sure to get one of all the sibs. They have their share of conflict and they drive me crazy at times, but they also laugh together a lot and put thought into gifts they choose for each other. I love that.
And that was that. The end of birthday fun for Tyler.
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It's been a while since we took a group picture with our Thanksgiving crew of bonus in-laws. I asked for one this year and everyone played along. There are two kids and a spouse from my generation that weren't at the gathering, but I'm grateful for this whole family. So many years of Thanksgiving memories, including yesterday!
Natie recently suggested we all get together for some pumpkin fun, so she and Silas came over yesterday. Tim and Devon were at work, but the rest of us headed to Al's for some $.99 pumpkins. We got busy as soon as we came home - carving up various designs, eating salad and pizza, then finishing off the night with some pumpkin pie and whipped cream.
Naomi carved Charlie Brown.
Silas wrote the word "home".
Natie created Snoopy and Woodstock.
Tyler designed the Mandalorian.
I made a W.
Devon and Tim both got home from work in time to visit with Silas and Natie for a bit before they went home, which was great. Tim opted not to carve this year, but Devon cut Elmo into his pumpkin after Silas and Natie left.
We lined up the first five and lit them for a picture, but we had to do it inside because it was too windy outside.
I'm always thankful for time with our original bonus W, including the few hours he spent with us today. So glad Gabi was our neighbor for a season so that he could become our friend!
Devon had a rare day home back on the 6th, so he spent some time stretched out on the trampoline to read and snack in the sunshine.
Two days ago he decided to expand his paracord skill set. He's made countless whips, but this time he made a sling. His ammo? Tons of little tomatoes from our yard.
Four days ago Tyler decided to make sit in the morning sun to read some school books. The perfect classroom.
We don't get to hang out with my bonus in-laws very often, so it was awesome to have them spend a few hours with us this afternoon. Taco bar and popsicles, conversation and games, and the second of our combined seven kids about to launch into life away from their parents' home.
