Camping Cruz Style

Some weekends seem packed with activities, some slow and boring.  This one falls in the former category.  Luis and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Friday with a nice dinner out at Salty's.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening.

Yesterday we headed out to Gaston to the Wapato Showdown where Papa Ron's 442 was on display.  On the way, we stopped to check out the office building we purchased a month ago.  It may not look like much, but it's ours!

It's located in downtown Hillsboro, hopefully a good location for years to come.

The kids tolerated the building visit detour and we headed onward to Gaston.  Here's Yaya by Dad's 442.

Look who was at the car show - Mater himself.  He was pretty cool indeed.  And the only vehicle Siena had any interest in.  After this she bailed for the playground that was at the entrance.

Mason found Mater's pal Lizzy.  B&W seemed appropriate for this old time car.

Here's my future car - Corvette.  I'm sure Papa Ron will be dismayed that I don't know the exact year of this beauty.  '56? '57?

Part of the fun of car shows for me is seeing the old and unique.  Now this car has personality.

The Grateful Dead mobile - complete with 21 windows.  We all thought this was pretty cool.

How come trucks don't come equipped with grills like this anymore?

I think Mason found his Vette too...

The coolest rims of the day.  Apparently the going price for these is about $3k these days.

This Vette gets the prize for my favorite rear end.  It's like 2 rockets coming out the back side.  Again, why don't cars have designs like this anymore?

A vehicle that needs no words...

Dad's car one an award.  Here he is with Miss Rodeo Oregon 2012 to receive his trophy.  No, she's not standing on a box - she's a tall girl...

The 442 in action...

On the drive from Gaston, we stopped at a fruit farm to get some fresh berries.  The kids found this awesome play structure.

It was converted from an old combine tractor.

Awesome.

Since I hadn't actually been for a ride in the 442 since I think our wedding night (that's 10 years if you're paying attention to this blog), I decided to bum a ride back to my folks' place.  It was awesome - but perhaps a little windy...

Saturday night was the annual Cruz family camp out (in Yaya and Papa Ron's back yard)!  Unfortunately, someone couldn't find the tent so Luis and the kids had to make do in the play structure for the night.  For what it's worth, I had a nice camp out in the guest room.

To make the, uh, shelter comfortable, Luis borrowed a mattress and lugged it outside - sheets and all.  Yup, we're hard core campers.

The kids loved the blueberries we got at the farm - they're half gone by now already.

Getting our chairs situated for our camp fire!

The camp set up.  Looks pretty darn comfy if you ask me.

It took Luis a lot of wood to gather the wood for the camp fire.  He had to walk all the way to Dad's wood pile!  Told you we were hard core.

Man makes fire.

This is the life...

Speak softly and carry a big roasting stick.

Sliced watermelon - at your service!

Mason's happy dance!

It was a monumental weekend in another way - Mason made it across the monkey bars for the first time!  And more than once too!  Siena has mastered these too.

S'mores!!!

Siena is a master marshmallow roaster.  Except for the one that fell off her stick (see the small white blob just below and to the right of the marshmallow on her stick.

Papa Ron steps in to demonstrate to all the proper way to roast a marshmallow...

...and this is what became of the maven's marshmallow.

After roasting, it was time to tell camp fire stories.  Not scary ones mind you (neither kid was interested in that) but fun stories nonetheless.

After that, Yaya, Papa Ron, and I retired to the house while the kids slept in their outdoor set up.  This morning, Yaya made us a wonderful breakfast of apple puffed pancake, hot cakes, and fruit - true camping style. 

Siena has become a huge fan of the Nerdy Nummy videos.  After our cake pop disaster of a few weeks ago, it was time to try again - this time Angry Bird cupcakes.  I'd say it's a definite success!

Draw a Blog

Just because we haven't taken a lot of pictures lately doesn't mean we haven't been busy.  For some reason, the camera just hasn't come into play.  Guess we're too busy doing and not enough snapping.

It's been hot the last couple of weeks, as August in Oregon sometimes is.  The Cruz house has held up well though thanks to some strong air conditioning and runs through the sprinkler by the kids.

Mason started soccer a couple of weeks ago and is continuing to improve.  He practices twice a week and his games will start up in September.

Siena is really into watching Nerdy Nummies on YouTube and is anxious to bake - in particular cupcakes these days.  The kids had a sleepover at Yaya and Papa Ron's on Friday and brought home some cupcakes so we might defer until next Sunday to make the Angry Bird cupcakes she's so excited about.  In the mean time, she's providing me with all sorts of baking tips so this is sure to be a success.

I've been getting the waverunner out as much as possible this year.  So far we've had it out the last 4 weekends in a row.  However, this week it resulted in the loss of my cell phone.  I had it in my pocket and forgot to put it in the holder until 2 minutes up river.  Unfortunately that was 2 minutes too long.  Phone gone.  Add to that the speeding ticket I got last Tuesday and it's been a very expensive week.

We spent last weekend at the beach house.  It was the annual Taft sand castle building contest so we walked down the beach to check that out.  We also did some school shopping for the kids at the outlet mall and had breakfast at our favorite haunt - the Spouting Horn.

Siena is here blogging with me and has requested that I add "Siena likes to swim a lot".  So in case there was any doubt, now you know.

We also had our big fantasy football draft on Friday as well as the annual "Cock Fest" badminton tournament yesterday with Luis' friends.  Today I met up with my friend Sarah for coffee.  So as you can see, we've had a couple of fun and busy weekends.

Summering

I may be a week or two behind in blog updates, but that doesn't mean we've been doing nothing.  Instead, we've been enjoying the sun, the river, and the city.

Last weekend Luis and I went with my parents, Ron and Lucie, and Brian and Debbie to see the show Jersey Boys.  If you're not familiar with Jersey Boys, here's a couple minute montage that gives you a good idea.  The music and the performance were amazing and we had a great time.  We also had a nice dinner afterward.

We finally got our waverunner out for a ride last Sunday as well.  It had been a long year's wait and we had a great time out on the river.  

After another busy week of swim lessons, soccer practices, and a bee sting (for me), we were ready to enjoy another sunny weekend.  The kids had a sleepover at Yaya and Papa Ron's Thursday and Friday and Luis and I took the opportunity to play.  We had a nice Italian dinner out Friday night.  Yesterday morning we worked out together, then took the waverunner out again for several hours (the perfect way to enjoy a 100 degree day) and then had dinner up at my parents to pick up the kids.

Today was the annual Fairoaks Neighborhood Block Party.  Here's some sites from the block party:

Yup, water balloons.

Water balloon tossing instructions from dad.  It's worth noting that Luis and I were the Champions of the grown up balloon toss contest.

Map of the 'hood.

The neighborhood kids got to draw their portraits on the wall.

I discovered when I uploaded the pictures that at some point in the day, Siena got a hold of my camera and took some self portraits.  They made me laugh so I included a few of them.

The kids spent the last hour playing with a hose.  It was a hit!