Silly Salamander

Continuing with our amphibian catch and release program, we had a new capture yesterday. When I went out to roll our garbage to the road, I found this western long-toed salamander under the garbage can. He was barely moving (it was only a couple degrees above freezing out there), and I'm surprised I even saw him. I haven't seen a wild salamander in years, and was not expecting to see this one.

So I picked him up, put him in a mason jar with a little room temperature water to warm him up, and the boys had a great time learning what a salamander is.

After Chris got home from work (so we could give him a full report) we took Mr. Salamander outside and released him near where I found him that morning. Maybe we'll be seeing more salamanders over the summer and be able to catch and release a few more new friends.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Conner!!

On May 21, 2010 Conner had his first birthday...I'm still a little shocked that it has already come and gone. What a year we had! On the 19th I took him for his 1 year dr visit. He was almost the same weight (22 lbs) but had shot up in height, 31 inches (85th percentile). He was really unhappy about the shots--and so was I, so hard to watch cry.

I made Conner's cake, and I had to be creative with what I had in the house. I knew he would like Mickey (I don't know why but he loves that Mickey Mouse!) so I just made it work with what I had. I went for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Toodles look. I don't know if I really pulled it off, but they looked pretty good considering.

I made two cakes, one for Conner, and one for the rest of us.

We went to dinner at our favorite pizza place (Primo's in La Grande). Their salad bar is great, the pizza is whatever you want, and Conner loves their pasta salad. [sorry about the side ways picture again]

We actually did cake and gifts on Saturday morning. (We were having a rough Friday night--teething and whatnot). There is his big Mickey from Charlie and Sally.

Waiting patiently, not really getting what's going on.

What a good little boy, not trying to peek into the gift bags like his brother there!

More Mickey stuff! Notice the Mickey ears on Dallon and Jace.

These are from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Cindy--Lightening McQueen and anything CARS is always popular at our house. He especially loves the cup as you can see :)

Dallon beating Conner to the candle. (Yes my hair is wet in this picture, it's actually like 7:30am.)

Yum! That looks sugary!

So Many Grandparents, So Little Time

We decided to take a road trip on the 14th of May. We headed out that afternoon for Washington. We crossed the river at Cascade Locks (my first time on one of those flimsy looking bridges crossing the Columbia!) and stayed the night in a hotel. It was a nice place I got on priceline. The only problem was that the search I put in for an outlying area of Kelso/Longview took me farther south than we had planned, landing us in Washougal. It actually ended up being pretty convenient. We had a shorter drive on Friday, and our hotel was right on the river. So we went down to a nearby dock and park to play and watch the boats and barges.

Conner got to try the new umbrella stroller I picked up. The one I used for Dallon and Jace had a broken shade and was generally worn, but it only cost $13 when I bought it so it wasn't heartbreaking.

Bianca REALLY wanted to go play with her boys, who were running around wild after having been couped up for 5.5 hours.

Jace trying not to get his picture taken.

Sorry this one is sideways, not sure why, but I had a little too much to post to worry about it!
Anchors away!

The next morning we headed to Kelso to visit Grandma Ruth at the home she was staying in for the weekend. Aunt Chris went to a wedding in Spokane, and we decided Grandma could use some visitors while she was away from home. She is one tough lady! She told us when we got there that she had rolled out of bed during then night--yikes! She was helped by a passing nurse, and she was fine when we saw her.

It was actually a nice warm weekend--I know shocker! So we put her in her wheelchair and took her outside. It was a little difficult trying to have a conversation. Grandma is slowing down a lot (I think she is 94 this year?) so it was hard for her to repeat herself. Chris couldn't hear her voice very well, and she couldn't hear mine. So we had some confusion, but enjoyed our time anyway.

After visiting Grandma Ruth, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Portland for a quick visit to Grandpa Bill and Grandma Dottie. We had a nice visit with them as well, spent in the back yard enjoying the sunshine. Bianca particularly enjoyed the birdbath.

Dallon and his pal.

Grandpa and Jace.

Grandma is not supposed to lift anything more than 5-10 lbs, but that baby was apparently irresistible.

Enjoying the grass.

And some early birthday presents!

A stuffed Woody doll and a new Toy Story 2 book will be well loved at our house! For more of our weekend see the next post.

Using Our Zoo Membership!

After visiting Bill and Dottie, we met Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Sally at the Oregon Zoo. They bought us a zoo membership for Christmas that is good for dozens of zoos, including the Oregon and Boise Zoos. Our boys love the zoo, and it was great that it only cost $7 for all 7 of us to get in! We were a week too early for the dinosaur exhibit they will have this summer, but they had a few things out to look at, like the remote control dino.

Looking at bald eagles. After watching "The Squeakquel" they were excited to see real eagles (the mascot in the movie is an eagle).

A wing-span of 2 boys.

Cute little hatchlings.

Salmon fishing.

They didn't quite all fit at the same time.

These two are truly my children, they LOVE cotton candy. So when took a sugar break.

Going on safari. He's looking right into the cheetah exhibit.

This penguin would come up to the window and actually try to play with the boys, they could have stayed for hours, but penguins are too smelly for me!

Two of these things are not like the others....

We went to Red Robin after the zoo, and had them sing happy birthday to Conner. I'd have posted some pictures, but I'm a little overwhelmed today! I'll get some on here later ;)

After a long day, we headed to Forest Grove and stayed the night with Charlie and Sally. They gave Conner a big stuffed Mickey for his early bday present, and we eventually settled down for bed.

The next morning we took our time getting up, and headed on our way. The trip home seemed like it would never end, but we made it.

More birding

Despite the FREEZING spring we've been having (we've had snow on and off through the month of MAY!!) I am still seeing more birds around the property. I saw hummingbirds 2 days in a row. The first day was a female calliope hummingbird (smallest hummingbird our here), and then the next day I saw this male calliope trapped in our enclosed porch. It was snowing outside, so I think he flew in when the sliding glass door opened and the warmth was irresitible. Taking a picture of the poor little guy was just as irresistible for me. So he was a little stress while I quickly took a couple of shots. You can see how tiny he is on this nail (try not to look at the cobwebs).

I've also seen another golden eagle flying outside, and I saw a great blue heron fly over the house. I also saw some sandhill cranes a couple of miles down the road. I also saw a Lewis' woodpecker for the first time. I've seen a Black-headed Grosbeak in the yard recently, too.

On another wildlife note, I've been seeing pronghorn antelope in some fields just off the freeway on the way to La Grande. Mama's and babies mostly.

I'm excited to see what truly warm weather will bring! And even more excited that we might get some warm weather at all.

I'm Dreaming of a White....Cinco de Mayo?

Just when I thought spring was finally here, I woke up this morning to a thick blanket of freshly fallen snow. And its still snowing!! So Happy Cinco de Mayo, and hopefully someone somewhere is enjoying some warm weather :) I went out later and took some unusual pictures in the snow.

Long Overdue and New Family Member

We've been busy with life, and this blog hasn't been a top priority for a while. I'll have to work on that. I've been neglecting my camera as well. So yesterday I took advantage of the opportunity to take some nice pictures of the boys and Chris' new horse. Chris has wanted a horse since he was a teenager, and he has been thrilled that we found a nice 10-year-old buckskin gelding. All three boys love to watch the horse (who we sometimes call Buddy or Bucky or Horse, whatever comes to mind--he really needs a name). Last night they got all cowboyed up and went outside. Chris rode a little while the two boys watched from the fences. It was perfect for some nice pictures.

Chris and his new best friend.

Jace watching from the stands.


We have a few trees/shrubs that are flowering. I decided to take a few pictures while I had my camera out, and play with them a little.

Yesterday we went to town and finally went to the Baker Heritage Museum. We were afraid that the boys wouldn't enjoy it, but they did great and seemed to enjoy it a lot. It was a great museum, and I'm excited to go back. For the last month or so Chris has been working a lot of overtime. He did a couple of 70 hour weeks, which were really hard on all of us. It was wonderful to have him home with us yesterday so we could go out and have fun together, it was a great day.

Conner will be having his first birthday in 3 weeks, and I've got to figure out what we'll do for him. I can't believe how the time has flown! Generally things are going well, and I'm making some great plans for summer vacation so we won't just drive each other crazy all summer long :) Hope we'll get a few chances to make some visits to family and friends, and you're always welcome to come to Baker, too!