House Painting

We bought this house about 18 months ago and I've never been happy with the paint color.  When we first looked at the house I put it in the "No" pile because, even though it had everything we needed inside, the outside of the house looked so weird.  At least I thought so.  Later we revisited it and decided it was the house for us, but I still hated the color.  Scott said we had enough money to paint it and during our home inspection the inspector even said it was going to need paint soon 'cause the previous paint job wasn't done very well and the seams of some of the siding were showing along with some other paint problems which could cause problems down the road.  Here is the house on the frosty day of our closing.  Minty green, blue trim and red brick.  I thought it was just too many colors and the green looked bad in person.

We had the interior of our house painted before we moved in and I wasn't happy with the color.  I didn't do paint samples in the house before we painted and I was sorry.  The interior color is fine, but looks pink in the morning sunlight.  And its a little lighter than I wanted.  So for the exterior we did a few sample colors on the house before hand.  We decided to go with the color on the bottom left: "Relic."  We picked a green grey color and wanted to change the blue trim to white hoping it would go with the brick and not be too many colors.  You can see the difference between the old green and new green here...one is more blue one is more grey.

 

Before

Here's the property picture of the house paint when we moved in:

Minty green for the main part of the house with a blue trim.

 After

In this picture you can't tell the difference between the green colors very much, but in person it looks different and pretty good I think.  This green is neutral and greyish, not minty and blueish.  And the trim is now white.  I think it looks really good and our painter did a great job covering up and fixing all the places that needed caulking etc.  I'm happy with the paint job. 

T-Ball

Matthew and Anna are both playing T-Ball this summer.  Matthew is playing "Combo Baseball" where the coach pitches to them a few times and if they don't get a hit they put it on the tee.  It seems to work well for the transition from t-ball to baseball.  Anna is playing T-Ball for the first time.  We got Matthew a new glove for left handed throwers so he is a lot more comfortable now.  He had a glove for righties before 'cause that's all we could find in Okinawa, but now he's a bit older, we're in the states where left handed gloves abound, and Matthew is a little more serious about playing, so it was time to get him the right (or correct, or left) glove.  Anna is a righty and has a nice pink glove.

 Here's Anna taking some practice swings at the ball.  She did pretty good!

Here she is after her first hit...she hit it so fast I missed getting the picture.  Good job Anna!  And she ran around the bases the right way.  We're off to a good start.

 Here's Anna on (I think) third base, getting ready to run home.  She did great and was having fun!

 Here's Anna hitting again.  She did really good hitting off the tee.

 And here's Scott helping Anna run the bases.   She did good at her first T-Ball game.

And after Anna's game was Matthew's game.  Here's Matthew getting ready to hit.  He was able to hit the balls the coach pitched to him and didn't need to use the tee this time. 

He tipped the ball this time, but got a good hit on one of the next ones.  He ran the bases well.  He also got to play the pitcher position during one of the innings.  This just involves getting the first crack at fielding the ball.  I think we might need to practice what to do in the field, but he did pretty good and threw the ball to first base a lot when he was supposed to.  Overall, the kids both had a good time at T-Ball and that's what counts.  Now all we need is this HOT (100+ degree) weather to let up a little so watching them play is a little more pleasant.

Visiting Uncle Will

All good things must come to an end, and so did our vacation to Oregon.  On our way back we went up to Tri-Cities, Washington to visit with my brother Will and his family.  Will actually lives in Cheney, WA up by Spokane, but his in-laws are in Tri-Cities so he came down to so we could get together.  We played at the Playground of Dreams in Kennewick, WA and Will brought some fun bubble blowing contraptions that he made.  My kids loved it...so did all the nearby kids at the park.  Here's Will showing Matthew and Grant how to make a few bubbles. 

Will and Courtney have two little girls, Whitney and Rachel.  Whitney is just over two and Rachel is almost six months.  Here are Whitney and Anna thinking about getting in the play boat together.  I didn't take very good pictures of our short visit, but it was fun to see them.  We'll have to see if we can get together longer next time.  To see better pictures of our visit, check out Will and Courtney's blog post about it HERE.

Matthew's Fishing Trip

Matthew has had a little obsession with fishing lately.  He's been asking to go A LOT since we went fishing at YMCA of the Rockies.  So Scott set up a little boys trip while we were in Oregon.  Grandpa Guptill and Uncle John went with them too.  Here they are posing with Matthew at the stocked pond they went to.  Grant also wanted to go and was sorry he was left behind...someday buddy.

 And here's Matthew and Dad.

Here's Matthew before hand getting some bait.

 And all set up to fish.  Looks exciting, no?

From what I hear, Matthew had no trouble catching fish.  He caught six of them.  So that was fun for him.  Here Grandpa helps him with a fish.  Does Matthew look a little freaked out?

 More fish!

 They are so fun to hold, right?

Despite what it looks like, I'm told Matthew had a great time.  He said he had a lot of fun!  I love his disgusted looks every time he is near the fish.  

The pond they went to looked really pretty.  Maybe we'll take Anna and Grant next time.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

We always like visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory while we are in Oregon.  This time we only had a short visit, but we still had fun.  Well, some of us had fun.  Matthew posed as a dairy farmer.  Anna didn't feel like posing.  :)

 Cheese samples!  We loved the cheese curds!

 The factory was mostly shutting down for the day, but it was still fun to watch the conveyor belts.

 Grant enjoyed the cheese samples too.

 And we had to have ice cream at the end, right?

Matthew wanted to ride the cheese bus, but we just got a picture outside the bus instead.  Next time we'll ride the bus.  That's right.  We'll be back.

Fort Clatsop

 

We drove out to Astoria one day to see Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark's westernmost camp before heading back east.  While driving out there we happened to see what we think was the USS Ingraham leaving the Columbia River to head back home.  Perfect timing.

 Here are the kids learning about beavers at the visitor center.

And by the statue of Lewis and Clark.

 

 Dressing up as a trapper...or something

 And at the fort itself.  I hear the fort caught fire a few years back and had to be rebuilt.

 Checking out the rooms in the fort.  Matthew and Anna liked these little chairs.

Little chairs for little people!

 

 An outdoor cooking area near the fort.  Anna is making a silly face.

 Posing by a big mossy tree...very Oregon!

 Taking a walk down to the canoe launch area.  Matthew is looking very casual.

The fort was cool and I liked watching the movies about Lewis and Clark.  I want to read a book about Lewis and Clark now!  The kids were tired after our visit to the fort.  :)

Rose Festival Floats

While we were in Portland we got to see the Portland Rose Festival floats up close!  I don't think I've gotten to see floats up close before, so it was pretty cool.  Matthew liked the PGE float and the ones with the big piano keys.  Anna liked the elephant and I liked the sled dogs.  They were all very impressive!!  I'm glad we got a chance to see them!

USS Ingraham

While we were in Portland, The Rose Festival was going on.  Scott's Dad is heavily involved with it so he set us up with a tour of one of the Navy ships that was there for the occasion, the USS Ingraham.  We didn't have to wait in the two hour line for a tour.  It was very cool!  Here we are on board along with the sailor who gave us the tour.

The Ingraham is a frigate and the last one of its kind built.  Here we are checking out the helicopter landing area.

Matthew liked the guns.

 

Here we are on the bridge.  Lots of cool controls.  Our tour guide was the navigator so he told us all about navigating and what goes on while they are under way.

Matthew taking control of the vessel.

Grandpa Guptill gives it a try.

And Matthew and Anna in the chair

Matthew likes talking on that phone!

 

Matthew had to check out every little...or BIG...thing!

And every nook and cranny

The kids found a nice place to sit!

Grant was a little fussy.  I think he would rather have been running around.

It was a cool tour!!