Hunting and Gathering

Fall is finally here. And nothing says it better than a weekend hunting in Tiller. Tiller is such a wonderful getaway for our family. There is no cell service or internet, so we get to totally relax together. We realized that the last time we did that was when Grant was a baby! Way too long ago! It was definitely time for a Tiller family weekend.

Daddy's friend, Spencer, joined him for a morning hunt and hunter's breakfast at the Tiller elementary school.

Then we did some gathering at the hundreds of blackberry bushes in the hills.

Grant was more than excited to shoot the BB gun, and Daddy was more than excited to teach him!

And the sling shot...

I even got to do a couple of my favorite things while the kids napped.

And Daddy got his buck!

A perfect fall weekend!

One Last Hurrah!

Our friends, the Davenports, are always so nice to take us out on their boat each summer. It was a little late this year, but we did it! Unfortunately, the water was pretty yucky with algae and it was a little too cold for swimming. But we had fun fishing and eating pizza anyway. The dads really liked fishing with the little pink fishing rod!
We are grateful for such wonderful friends! :)

Summer's End

Since we had such a busy first and middle part of summer, we decided to take it easy for the end. Actually, the necessity of painting our house called for it. I'm sure we wouldn't have slowed down one bit if it were up to us. Paul spent every spare minute prepping and painting our house. It looks so nice now that it is done, but boy did it take a lot of work! Thankfully Paul has a friend who owns a sprayer and was able to help him with that part.
So many of our weekends and evenings were spent hanging out at home while Daddy worked on the house.

 Aubrie got her first taste of food! We gave her baby oatmeal, and she was really into it right at first. Her enthusiasm has waned a bit, but she is doing well with solids overall. I was one of those crazy moms who made her baby's food when Grant was a baby. And I guess I am still crazy, because I decided to make Aubrie's as well. I don't want her to feel less important! :) I have the wonderful baby food maker that my mom gave me when Grant was little, and it makes the process pretty easy.

 The kids did get to get out a little bit at the end of the summer. We visited all of their great grandparents the last weekend of August. Great Grandpa and Grandma Caswell were our first stop. We visited them in Roseburg. It was their first time seeing Aubrie.

Then we made our way to Florence for GG's birthday party and some fun playing at the beach.

The Johnson Girl Cousins

 

 And now for some really big news that happened this summer...Grant finally let Mike the barber cut his hair! If you have been following my blog for a while, you know the struggles we have had with Grant's hair. He did very well, and his hair looks great!

My baby is growing up! She started sitting all by herself! She is such a joy to have in our family. She is quick to smile and laugh, and loves to be held. She loves Grant so much, and anything he does makes her laugh. He loves her just as much. He is protective of her and likes to entertain her (sometimes).

BB Getaway

Going to Black Butte is one of my favorite things to do. It is a ranch in Central Oregon where my grandparents built a vacation house. I grew up going there in the summer, winter, and any other time we could get there. The house is like a second home to me. It is so nice to go there and feel at home without all the pressures of actually being at home. My favorite pastime there used to be sitting and reading, whether it was out on the deck or in front of the warm fireplace. Now...with two kiddos...I don't get to do much of that. We find other things to keep ourselves busy!

I was majorly slacking when we went to the pool, so I don't have any pictures of it. But...we had a great time at the pool. Grant tried out all of his new swimming moves, and Aubrie splashed around showing off her cute suit and smile.

Bike riding is another fun activity. It is becoming one of Grant's favorite things to do. He has a balance bike, which is a bike that doesn't have any pedals, so he has to balance on it. The idea is that he will be able to move right into a regular bike without ever having to use training wheels. He is really really good at it too! He can glide for quite a while with his feet up. One morning we decided to ride to the lodge for breakfast. It is a good 20 minute ride for us big people, so it was a really long ride for him. He almost made it the whole way! He did get tired though, and Auntie Kate helped him out. It was so much fun riding through the meadow. I can remember going on family bike rides with my parents and siblings through that same meadow many years ago. And the view of Black Butte Mountain is beautiful! Aubrie loved riding in the pack. She kept looking around and was really happy the whole time!

And we always have some good hangout time at the house. Like I said...it feels like home, so it is comfortable and very relaxing.

We had a wonderful time with Gammy and Auntie Kate. What a spectacular way to get away and enjoy ourselves!

Swim little fishy...

Grant took swimming lessons when he was 8 months old.

It was really fun, but he didn't really learn how to swim. We decided that this year would be a good time to start him off with some "real" lessons. We signed him up for individual lessons at Jackson Pool.

 He was pretty excited...up until he actually had to get into the pool.

 His instructor, Vanessa, tried and tried to get him to go in.

 He wouldn't even get in the kiddie pool.

 Finally, once Mommy got in, he got in. He would only let Mommy hold him though, so Vanessa had to teach Mommy what to do.

 Aubrie might be a different story. She really likes the water, and will probably be a little fish!

I was pretty disappointed with how swimming lessons went. He went every day for 5 days. He would only get in the water if I was in there, and then he still wouldn't do the things that Vanessa wanted him to do. I don't know if it was just him being stubborn, shy, or scared...but he would not cooperate. We spent most of the time playing around in the water and just getting him to be comfortable in it. I think that paid off at least. Later in the week we went to the Grantland's pool with Poppin, Grandma, Uncle Eric, Auntie Heather, Blake, and Hailey. Grant was loving the water! He would swim all on his own (with his floaty), which is something he would never do before. He was even jumping into the water from the side! He still isn't a fish, but he definitely feels more confident in the water, and I have hopes that someday he will learn to swim!

Hot Camping!

If you have never been camping when it's really hot...you probably don't ever want to! We had our yearly camping trip planned with Grandma, Poppin, and the Grantlands way before we knew it was going to be a scorcher. Every year we go down to Tree of Heaven along the Klamath River. It is a nice place to camp because it is right by the river. We relax, swim, and do some rafting. It's a great time with great people! (Jim Grantland loves to make wonderful meals for everyone, so we all reap the benefits of his early morning breakfast spreads. It is seriously one of the best things about this camping tradition!)
This year though...it was HOT! It was the weekend when every day was over 100 degrees. We might have had a little bit of an easier time if we didn't have an infant with us. It was just too hot for her to take naps...and when babies don't take naps...bad things! She did however love laying down in the little kiddie pool we brought along. It was a last minute grab as we left home, and it saved us! The kids (and adults) were able to stay cool while we were at the campsite.
Grant got to go rafting again. He was a little more into it than last year. He really liked looking for turtles along the way.
We had a great time, but really hope it's not as hot next year!

This is how we survived!

The only time is was cooler was in the morning.

Blake and Hailey came too!

I finally resorted to nursing like this...