Another week.

This week we started out at the playground each morning (except Friday) before we settled down to schoolwork. There is a massive playground right across from the college. We pretty much have it to ourselves in the morning before 9am.
Prepare yourself for a ton of pictures in this post, and my apologies that everything is out of chronological order.

Thursday:
We started at the playground, did some work at the library, read books on Officer's Row, went for a nature walk, and met a really nice lady, had lunch at Ft. Vancouver, and ended with a walk in the gardens before we picked up the girls.

 Myles made this little morning glory bracelet for Elsa.

 

 

 

 Teeny weeny strawberries. They are the size of my pinky fingernail.

 Front and back of these lonely sunflowers.

 
 Lots and lots of pumpkins!

I was trying to live my glory days of spinning round and round on the bar. I made it halfway around. I tried it again, but each time I'd get to the halfway point and got to giggling too much.

Poor Meg got distracted by the jets that take off from the Portland airport and ended up falling backwards.

 Myles and Elsa found some rocks. This is one that Myles found. They had fun rehiding them.

 Having lunch while watching for airplanes.

We Found a bunch of these on our nature walk. We brought this one home with us and looked it up on Google when we got home. The kids enjoyed throwing them because they kind of bounce. Myles tried juggling them, minus the spikes. Now we know what chestnuts look like.

 

 Elsa found this huge maple leaf. It measured a foot across and a foot in length.

 Fun at the playground:

I have to admit, I really like playing on this playground. It's not just for kids, right?

 Myles wanted me to strike an explorer pose. "To the North, Men!'

Tuesday morning fun at the playground. Can you tell which structure is Myles's favorite?

 Myles was helping Elsa make it to the top of the spider web.

 

 

Myles was flying his jet across.

 

  

 




 

Myles was trying to get his jet in the picture.

 After schoolwork we did our walk and playground at Ft. Vancouver. We found several painted rocks, and someone found the one Myles made and hid. It was posted on the Facebook site, and he was ecstatic.
The kids wanted to check out where the post hospital was. We found it along with the Red Cross building of 1919, the mess hall, barracks, the post dentist office, and some quaint houses.

Barracks:

 Red Cross Building:

 Hospital:

 Houses:

We did all our school work at Officer's Row Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday we ate our lunch by the little airport/museum and watched the planes take off. We finally had to leave because Meg was getting hysterical. She absolutely loves airplanes. We get to see a lot of the big ones taking off from the Portland Airport. Sometimes she reaches up and says "catch it!", but most of the time she will start to cry because she wants to be in one so badly.

When we walked in the door on Monday, after getting home from picking up the girls, this is how I found them. Actually, Aeva was face down but then she heard the camera come on.

 

 

Chris surprised me with roses. They smell so good. Elsa always loves it when he brings roses home.

 Wednesday we made it to the library for schoolwork. I was so excited that there was still parking available at 9am. On Thursday afternoon we decided to go to the 5th floor. You can go to the terrace and look out over Vancouver and Portland.

 

Friday we parked at Officer's Row and read. Then we did a walk, and the kids collected more chestnuts. They want to see about roasting them and have dreams of selling them.  We picked up the girls and went to the Pearson Air Museum per Aeva's request. It was pretty interesting. The exhibits inside focused mainly on WWI and what was going on with the area around the Fort at that time. 

 Myles ducking for cover!

 Remember, Meg absolutely loves airplanes......................that is she did until we walked into this museum and she saw these airplanes up close. I am guessing she thought airplanes were small. I suppose looking at them flying in the sky they don't look terribly big; like you could catch one in your hand. She hugged my leg tightly, buried her head and said "Airplane too big, too big!!" She now has no desire to get on on airplane.

 

It's been a wonderful week. Myles and I had a discussion the other day about how Heavenly Father gives him little blessings each day. He wants a dog so badly, and several days when we were on our walk or at the playground we encountered a dog. We've gotten to spend some time petting a basset hound, a husky, and a Italian greyhound-chihuahua mix. The owners have all bee so patient to just let the kids sit and pet the dogs.
We've all be so excited for this weekend.....General Conference. I love that we get to sit as a family and listen to the words of our prophet and apostles. I love that the kids were excited for this weekend to get here too. What a true blessing.
And with that we welcome October!