Adventures of a Family

I officially said goodbye to my 9-5 office job a few weeks ago now. As this is the only thing I've known for about 12 years, the stay at home thing is harder to adjust to than I imagined. Every time Jonah and I go for a walk in the middle of the day, I have the sinking feeling that either 1) I am playing hookey from work, or 2) I am in a no man's land where the only people wandering around are strangely NOT at work either. I wonder who are all these people who don't go to an office everyday? I had no idea there were so many. I also had no idea how out of the loop I would feel. I got a lot of satisfaction from getting myself to work and making a buck everyday. Now I'm at home trying not to obsess about how the house cleaning isn't getting done 'cause the little tyrant wants to play! As you can imagine, intellectual stimulation is a little hard to come by these days. Don't get me wrong..I am absolutely thrilled that we stuck with our instincts...

This is from Hallie.....there were a couple camping photos that I wanted to post..so enjoy.

A healthy garden means healthy predator insects. I have never seen a praying mantis up close and personal, so to find this big girl hanging out in my garden really made me happy.

Well, we practiced camping in the backyard last month. Set up a tent, had a fire in a cement planter (on purpose) and slept out on one of the many beautiful Summer nights of Portland. That went well so we headed out to the Clackamas River (one hour from home to campsite) and tried some hardcore car camping. Jonah had his own little nest in the tent, a play area under the trees and a great time enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest from morning to night. We even enjoyed a beer by the campfire. We all had so much fun that we headed out again the following weekend for an overnighter. Just one more activity that is better thanks to our little guy.

Jonah turned 6 months old on September 6th. I bought him 6 balloons and he giggled all the way home from the store as the gentle twisting and undulating colors danced at the ends of their ribbons. Happy half-a-year-old my wonderful son.

Gus sure is cute.

When I was growing up I had some pretty great experiences. Most of them had to do with camping and the outdoors and scouting. And all of the knowledge, excitement, friendships, and adventures were thanks to Rod Stark. He was the scoutmaster and all around hero that everyone looked up to. Having him visit recently and meet Jonah was a great honor and loads of fun. He shared stories about our camping adventures to Hallie, Jonah, my mom and dad. We ate chicken (sorry about that Rod, I really can BBQ. I blame that damn chicken) and caught up on years of events. It really made me happy to have someone I respect so much meet my own child. Thanks Rod.