Goodbye Caitlin

Todd, Ethan, and Natalie drove to the airport this morning to see Caitlin off. The girls had a wonderful week and I hope that when Natalie is sad and moping around the house later today because her friend is 2000 miles away, that she will remember to thank the Lord for the blessing of Caitlin's friendship through the years in spite of the distance.

Monday's Adventures with Caitlin

We started the morning out with a visit from our friend Christianne and her 2 week old baby girl, Gabriana.

Then we headed for the mountains...Mount Hood to be exact.

The snow is still piled too high to see out the lodge windows.

Cente wanted his picture taken too.

We had to throw a few snowballs

I don't know what the girls were thinking wearing flip flops to the mountain.

A bit of the view from the lodge.

We hurried back home to make it to the boys' baseball game. It was in the 80s when the game started but the clouds rolled in quickly and we were freezing by the time it was over. At least they won.

The other team had some huge players. Here is Ethan playing first base (he's #5) standing next to a player from Gresham's team.

Here are the girls relaxing before bedtime, looking through a couple bridal magazines. We watched "Bride Wars" several nights ago and they have been talking about their future weddings ever since. Todd asked what in the world the girls were doing that for. He said "Is this normal?" I assured him that it is.

Today the girls have also been scheming about how they soon they can schedule their next visit with each other.

Photos from Sunday

Getting ready for church.

Croissants.
Nan and Caitlin with Elee.
Grabbing lunch at Wendy's.
Playing a "guess what you are tasting" game.
Of course, only Nan and Levi tasted the mystery foods. There is absolutely no way Caitlin and Ethan would be tasters. They have similar tastes in food....plain and simple.
Dinner! Good job girls.

Adventures with Caitlin: Sunday

After dropping Cente off in the nursery, and Levi in his Sunday school class, Nan, Caitlin, Ethan, and I walked to Grand Central Baking Company and bought pastries and a loaf of sourdough bread. Caitlin got to hear Todd preach on Matthew 18 and then after the service, Natalie introduced her to a number of our friends.

We had great plans to vist Multnomah Falls yesterday. But evidently, so did several thousand other people. There was a long line from the parking lot back onto Interstate 84. After inching along that line for about 30 minutes and making little progress, we turned around and headed home. We'll go see it tomorrow morning.

The kids hung out at home the rest of the day. Todd and I had a memorial service to attend at 5:00. Nan and Caitlin made a delicious spaghetti dinner for us and Nan introduced Caitlin to "The Brady Bunch" first season on DVD.

The kids enjoyed a" jump on the trampoline in the dark" thrill. While jumping, they kept hearing a voice say "Come over here guys!" Finally, I said "I think that may be somebody talking to you guys." So we called out "Are you talking to us?"

It ended up being the voice of a 10 year old Russian girl who lives kiddy corner behind our house. So Caitlin and Natalie walked to the fence and met her and asked her about her family. There are five kids. We could hear the mom calling for the girl in Russian. I told her to come over and play sometime when she hears us in the yard. She seemed very excited about that.

When Todd and I went to bed at 11:00, we could hear the girls in the room above still chatting away non-stop.

Saturday - Part 3: Baseball

Natalie and Caitlin are getting very good at posing for pictures. The boys really liked having Caitlin at their game.
Toys are an essential part of the game entertainment to Cente.

Cente likes to cheer on the boys.
The Miles brothers.
Ethan up to bat.
Levi warming up as pitcher.

Saturday - Part 4: After the Game

Ethan caught 2 in-field fly balls in tonight's game in the last inning as he played first base. It makes me nervous when the ball is hit to them. I am scared they will drop it, but Ethan assured me after the game that the fly balls were easy to catch.
Levi is having a great year at baseball. He is playing up in baseball. Which means all the kids on his team are 11 and 12 years old and he is just 10...but he gets to pitch and play shortstop. He thinks he is on his way to the major leagues...but his momma knows he's going to be a preacher. (Hee...we have a running debate over how well professional athletes are able to share the gospel and live lives that please the Lord.)

Tired and sunburnt after the beach and baseball game.
Dairy Queen for dinner.

Saturday - Part 2: Cannon Beach

Saturday - Part 1: Steps for Life

Natalie raised $1010.00 for Pregnancy Resource Center in Portland. She was excited to reach that mark. (Last year her total was around $300.) Caitlin, Natalie, and I went downtown and did the 2 mile walk and enjoyed the festivities in Pioneer Square. Todd and the boys met us there afterward and dropped Cente off with us for our trip to the beach.