"Do!!!!!!"

That's Owen-speak for "two!!" because he is SO excited he is now two! All weekend he kept saying "do!!! do!!!!" whenever we asked him how old he was. 

So cute. 

We had quite the weekend of celebrating our sweet BoBo!!

His birthday was a Friday so we started the day with a birthday donut and singing Happy Birthday, which he was pretty thrilled about...

Then off we went to work and school and he had a good day playing outside with his little friends. I brought in little ice cream cups for his class and his teachers said all the kids were all really excited about the little cool treat!

When we got home we let him open up presents from us. Of course big brother was RIGHT THERE to supervise and try and "just see" the goodies he was opening up. 

He got a bit plush "Marmel!!!" (Marshall) from "Paw Po!" (Paw Patrol)....

Then since it was hot as Hades, we went outside to do some swimming... which is more like jumping in and out of the pool and splashing a bunch. 

Neal's got the whole #DadLife down pretty well, I'd say. Ha. 

I was laying on a towel and kinda reading a book when my babies (who are definitely not babies anymore) decided to dog pile on me...

"Owen! Quit licking your brother!"

Seriously. I can't believe I grew both of these... they are so big now!

The next day, Saturday, we had a pretty laid back day and didn't do too much, but once the sun started to set we made a fire pit and made S'mores!

The sunset that night... wow. Our backyard has a pretty nice view, for being right in the 'burbs.

Then on Sunday we had the whole family over for Owen's birthday and had presents and cake and chaos. I didn't get a lot of pictures but, Owen loved all his new toys and had a blast. 

Both boys crashed by 7:30 on Sunday, which was pretty awesome... that meant Mommy got to go to bed early too! 

And just because I like to remember... here are a few other things about Owen at 2 years old...

-weighs about 27lbs

-is almost 3 feet tall

-he loves food and is still not picky, even though he's not crazy about cheese, much unlike his older brother who is 99% cheese. Owen loves meat, fruit, veggies and hummus a lot. 

-he talks ok, but still babbles a lot. He's got "bru-ber" (brother) down though, and always calls for his brother, or asks where brother is. 

-is obsessed with Austin. OB-SESSED. Wants everything like Austin. If Austin has socks and shoes on, there is NO WAY Owen is wearing sandals. Socks and shoes for him too. Same goes for food portions. Everything must be the same. Always. 

-he loves to look at books but usually looks at them upside down.

-gets frustrated easily and has trouble trying to use his words so there is a lot of whining and crying still. 

-likes to cuddle and will watch movies on our laps and puts his hands on our faces to get our attention if we are holding him. 

-jumps up and down when he's excited about something

-loves to build with the Magna Tiles, then pulls one of us over to where he's been building and gestures with his hands at his structure and says "dis!" and is so proud of what he's done.

-plays with my hair when I hold him, which I love.

-goes to bed easily (for now) and sleeps with several stuffed animal "babies"

-has no fear and will climb anything brother does, and usually gets hurt. That kid has had a black eye, a few bloody noses and several fat lips. He's got guts.

-is observant and will sit quietly and check out new situations for a bit. 

-is goofy and silly and sweet and just awesome.

Happy Birthday BoBo! We love you!

Adventuring to the "Max"

Ok, not really because our little adventure wasn't THAT exciting, but I had to make a pun. 

Everyday on our way to school we pass the Max train and the boys have really wanted to ride it to "downtown Porwtland!" so one Sunday night we drove to our nearest Park-n-Ride and did just that!

If you ever want to know if you are a germaphobe, just ride public transportation with your young kids. 

"Stop biting the seat, Owen. Icky!

"Owen, stop licking the bar!"

"Guys, quit touching the window and sticking your fingers in you mouth!" 

"Austin, leave that raisin that fell on the floor! No, do NOT pick it up!"

The ride was about 30 minutes and Austin was pretty enthralled with all the things we passed by on the "twain".... but got stir crazy because of all the stops and kept asking when we'd be there. 

We got off downtown right at the building I had my first job at when I moved to Portland! I had to take a picture.

That was the biggest thing I've done in my life... move to a big city I didn't know well, really really take care of myself... and look what happened. I got my family. I'd say things worked out!

We walked around, went to a fun candy/soda store called Rocket Fizz, and people watched!

We had dinner at a sandwich shop called Pot Belly (delicious) and the boys liked sitting by the window to watch the folks walk by.

And their chips. They liked their chips. Naturally. 

Then we were off on the Max again to head home. What a big time downtown adventure! LOL. 

Sand In Every Crack

Yep, we went to the coast a few weeks ago. 

The coast with little kids equals sand EVERYWHERE including the ears, the eyes, the mouth... total hose-down required when you get home. 

We got to Cannon Beach early and found a partially dug huge hole (leftover by some kids who later came back to "claim" it) and the boys were excited to dig. 

Owen is saying "hole!!!" 

They dug for a long time and Neal and I just got to sit and watch and sip our coffees and relax. We are at that point where the boys PLAY together and it's amazing. 

I took them both down to the water and it was like herding cats. Seriously. Or drunken flies. Either or... just wandering every which way, so I had to distract them with a "look what I am doing!" trick in the sand...

Their names! If only they could read...

We got to the water and they both just loved the waves crashing!

This was Owen's first time in the Pacific Ocean! The last time we were at the coast with him, he was 3 weeks old and stayed strapped to me the whole time. He LOVED it, even when  little wave knocked him over and he got soaked from head to toe.

Austin liked feeling the sand go out from under him when the waves receding...

On the way back to our spot they decided to build a road because, well, they're boys.

We trekked back to the car and changed clothes and went and walked through the little town. We got ice cream, went into the toy shop, and found the big whale statue!

I'm pretty sure they meant keep off the actual whale and not the railing... but if not.. then we are total rule breakers. 

The boys got to pick out one small thing from the toy shop and found these sword and shield sets (which were pretty cheap) and we went back down to the sand for a bit so they could defend it from invading armies.

Too bad the invading armies captured them and buried them in the sand though.

Then it was time to head home and both boys crashed out in the car! We got home, showered the sand out of every crack, and had a party in the driveway. Austin wanted to take a picture of all of us, because he's in a slightly vain phase and likes to look at himself afterwards. Owen has food in his mouth, like usual. 

I am trying to remember the fun days with these kids because Lord knows there are many difficult days in the mix too. 

Our First Family Vacation- Sunriver!

So we finally took our first real vacation as a family of 4! I know, we are a bit slow on the whole "vacation" thing. 

Our friends Scott and Allyn and their two daughters spent a whole week in Sunriver and we joined them for just a long weekend. 

We packed our car to the BRIM (note: buy a roof storage thingy for future trips) and headed off for the 3 hour trip!

Somewhere in there... there are two children. I swear. 

The boys did really good on the long trip. They watched a movie, and I had a big bag of toys and snacks up with me and I'd give them something new every hour or so to keep them entertained. 

We got to the vacation house (or "holiday home" as Austin was calling it because he watches Peppa Pig which is British) and the weather was gorgeous! We got right down to having fun...

We just hung around the house for the rest of Thursday and settled in. 

Friday we woke up and got right to coffee outside and bike riding!

The house had several bikes already there and we were on a loop, so we'd all just ride around the loop over and over. 

Allyn and I got to escape for a massage, and then come home and took over the kid duty so the guys could escape and go golfing. We decided to take the kids to the Village to walk around.

The boys were excited to get going!

They loved the little train ride and at a few bucks a ticket we bought them several trips around the Village. 

The bouncy houses were also awesome and I was so impressed that Owen had NO fear. I look up and he's climbing the "rock wall" on the biggest bouncy house like all the big kids!

One of these kids is littler than the other.....

The best picture in the entire world... trust me, he actually LOVED it and would go "more more more!" at the end of each slide.

We had to get ice cream too of course!

Back at the house for dinner and the kids just played and got along so well. We threw bedtimes out the window and they'd go hard until about 10pm then just crash with no complaints every night. 

Saturday we lounged around for a bit in the morning... Owen's bedhead is one of my most favorite things...

Then we all headed to the Village for some mini golf!

That night we just relaxed at home again after dinner and then the next day, Sunday was our last day. We packed up and checked out of the house at 11am and went straight to the pool!

Holy cow the pool. It's huge but never felt super over-crowded, so that was nice. The boys were both fearless and went down a little slide over and over and over. Owen would get mad when we tried to help him swim. He so wanted to just do it himself (he had his little waterwing/life jacket thing on) and actually did really good on his own. 

Our hope was that they would tire themselves out for the ride home... and well, mission: accomplished. 

I had never spent time in Sunriver before this but I am a HUGE fan now. We've already decided to go back next year for a longer stretch of time. It was relaxing, but yet there was a lot to do... the weather is great.. it's just kinda perfect for a family vacation. 

Till next year Sunriver!