Austism Walk

This past weekend we attended the annual Autism Awareness Walk at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland in support of team "Remarkable Ryan".  We are honored to be a part of such an important event and represent an amazing little boy!  After the walk, we took in some of the rides at the park.  Gabe was alittle disappointed that he could not go on all the crazy, scary rides due to the fact that I get motion sick very easily and he is too young to go by himself.  We decided Dan will have to come with us next year so they can hit the big rides!



The boys found the train tracks during the walk.  Ian leads the pack with Ryan and Gabe bringing up the rear.



Gabe's Room

Dan and Gabe spent the second week of spring break in Pendleton for their annual spring visit while I stayed back and enjoyed some "alone" time.  Even though I was working all week, I managed to get quite a bit done around the house.  Once again, it was time to update Gabe's room.  I had fun transforming it into a good space that he can play and organize all his stuff.  He was very surprised when he got home.  He kept asking "where did you get all this stuff?"  I told him that most of the stuff he already had, it was just piled up so he couldn't see it.  He has spent alot more time in his room playing this week.

There is alot of storage now, with room to grow. 

Easter Fun

I do not recall an Easter Weekend where the weather was this beautiful and temps climbed to 70 degrees.  We started off the weekend with an Easter Egg Hunt at the Philomath Middle School on Saturday morning.  Gabe was instructed to run right past all the first eggs and head for the back where the pickin was easy...and that's exactly what he did!  It took him no time to score his allotted 15 eggs.

Later on in the afternoon, I set up all the egg coloring stuff on the patio and he got right to work coloring eggs.  Brown eggs take longer to color so you have to be very patient.  Note to self for next year: get some chickens that lay white eggs :)

On Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny (aka Dan) showed up with an Easter basket and hinted that there might be some more eggs hidden around the house, so Gabe, now being an egg hunting expert, collected those right up.

The Loot

Going Down the List

With warm weather coming on unusually early this year, we have managed to get a pretty good head start on some of our outside projects. So far we've....

 

 gotten tired of slopping thru the wet, muddy grass to reach the pole building 



 So, now we have a nice path!

had three dump truck loads of Gravel delivered and partially spread (Dan did alot of that by hand).

 

 The dump truck driver took us for a short ride down the road.  Gabe thought that was pretty cool.  It was also a first for me :)

 

We removed all the weeds and rocks from around the pumphouse and food storage shed and laid down landscape fabric.  Gabe takes a break from riding his bike to help dump some bark mulch.



 

Added a few stone paths, and it is now much more manageable and looks better too!

Added compost to the garden boxes so they will be ready to plant.  Garlic already coming up. Onions, Kale, and Beets planted.

Chicken Coop Expansion

Last summer when we moved the new coop in we immediately begin making plans for an expansion.  The 8 hens we have didn't seem to have much room to move around in the 4 by 8 foot main floor of the original coop, although we really liked the design and overall appearance.  We have now added a 12 by 4 foot run so they can more easily stretch their legs.  Just another project we have been wanting to do for along time.

Wire fencing must be buried along the entire parameter to prevent animals from digging under.

The chickens enjoy their new addition.

 Dan also put up some birdhouses he made. Ahh...spring is in the air!

 Final day of chicken coop expansion, and Gabe was exhausted!