I have noticed it has been quite awhile since I have written. Not doing as well as I wanted to. However, it is almost the new year and one can always try again ...right? I have learned less is more, especially if you do it more often. :o)
Anyway, today I will try to make a quick entry about the last few weeks of my life. On December 10th at 11:55 pm we met Rodrigo Delgado at the Portland airport. He is a young man from Costa Rica who is Oregon on an exchange program. He has blessed our lives by being part of our family.
He is 16 years old. He has one brother who is 30 years old, so he was in for a surprise when it comes to my two boys and their not so pretty brotherly love. He instantly had our hearts. Look at that smile and those dimples :o) You can just tell he is a great kid.
We have had a lot of fun showing him around and keeping active.
Our ward Christmas party and a visity with Santa....
A trip to Best Buy...he says all his electronics are from Best Buy although he has never been in a store.
A trip to Red Robin...where he shared a Monster Oreo Shake with Keaton, ate a Burnin Love Burger and bottomless fries. He said he wishes there was one of these in Costa Rica.
As an exchange student he is required to attend school with his Host (Keaton) That includes early morning seminary and swim practice and meets. They asked him to be a timer at the swim meet :o) and he attended his first live basketball game.
Go Vikings!!! He is a natural fan. Then came Christmas break, what to do, what to do? Well if any of you know me, I can't just stay home....this is no different. So off we go. Our first stop is Wings and Waves Waterpark.
Paden and Rodrigo try a double tube...
Keaton, Paden and Rodrigo in the wave pool.
A triple shower...wouldn't it be nice to have this in your house...it would sure make shower time go quicker.
The pile up...
This is after having 100 gallons of water dumped on you.
Rubba dub dub...three boys in a tub (hot tub that is ;O)
Then came the visit to Intel....
Bruce loved having someone to listen to him talk about his work :o)
The worlds largest keyboard and three cute boys to send a message :o)
Keaton and Rodrigo inside a computer.
My four boys in nerd heaven :o)
Humm. what do we do next...oh yeah, our traditional family trip to the beach but with a few side trips :o)
We stopped in Astoria and climbed the Column..it seemed like 100 winding steps, not sure how many. We made sure we bought some gliders before climbing...
These pictures are not in the order i chose them...i do not know how to fix the situation. I am so sorry. Hopefully you will be able to piece them together......
The picture to the left is of course Entering Washington. In Astoria there is a big bridge that crosses the Columbia river into Washington. Rodrigo wanted to go to Washington, so we did :o)
The picture to your right is my family after climbing the Column and having a great time. The view behind was a breathtaking, but not as beautiful as my family.
The next picture is Rodrigo and Keaton doing some Karate Kid poses while attempting to fly the gliders.
This is a picture of the truck down below...it seemed to be a magnet for the gliders. The first one was sent down my Keaton. Everyone started calling out where they thought it would land...the bench, the roof and then a bystander calls out the bed of the truck and sure enough...that is where it landed...along with three more :o)
This was a view of the Bay near Astroia from the top of the Column.
This is the three boys, in Washington...:o)
A family tradition of ours is to go to the Hat Store in Seaside and try on all the fun hats....Here is Paden with his Moose hat on.
Here we are at the Astoria Marina where we stopped to look at some big boats and this huge anchor.
Here we are at the beach in Seaside. It was cold and rainy but when in Oregon you can't let the rain stop you or you wouldn't do anything.
My handsome husband as Crocodile Dunndee :o)
The boys playing in the water, looking for jelly fish, etc.
Rodrigo was hesitant at first to try on the hats...thought it was silly I guess but he finally got into the fun..
Keaton was very excited about seeing the Coast Guard Boats since it is his desire to join the Coast Guard.
My token hat, token picture...to prove I was there.
My Viking...through and through.
Now this picture was suppose to go first. Before we ever made it to the coast, we stopped at the Elk Reserve.
They were pretty awesome to see.
He we are at the top of the Column with our gliders in hand and ready to send them soaring.
All in all it was a great day at the coast. We had a great time.
The next activity would be Christmas Day :o) We woke up and got ready for Church. What a great way to spend Christmas morning. We were reminded about the reason for the season, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We were reminded of the purpose he came and how he lived his life. We were challenged to be like him and to love and serve always, just not at Christmas time. I think CHRISTmas should always be on a Sunday. We then came home and opened gifts.
Rodrigo got an apple slicer which he said was most Awesome. We showed him one when he fist got here and he thought it was so cool. Santa must have thought he needed to take one home.
All the boys got Bucky Balls in their stockings. This big boy was having a lot of fun making Bucky Ball Bling,
Here is Paden with his Bucky Ball Cube...he had just talked about how he could play with his balls all day. Too funny in room full of boys....and mom.
All Rodrigo asked for was a Red Oregon Sweatshirt...sure glad Santa found one.
My husband is so creative. He made this for me. Isn't it so cool!! I love it.
Keaton got a new pair of headphones from his brother...that's all he needs.
And the family gift...a PS3...can you tell who is most excited?
Besides an Oregon Sweatshirt, the other thing that Rodrigo wanted was to see snow...so the day after Christmas we went in search of snow. We were successful.
This was a "self portrait" of me and Bruce. I think it is one of my favorites.
This is the three boys doing a trio run down the hill.
This is when we first arrived at the Summit and Rodrigo's first experience with snow.
Such a fun Family Photo.
When we arrived, we found the perfect parking spot and when we got out of the car a couple asked us if we were going tubing, we said yes. They then asked how many? I said Three boys. They then handed us three all day passes and said Happy New Year. This was such an amazing gift.
Bruce and Keaton had their own personal snowball fight.
Tube races...was fun to watch and by the looks on their faces, fun to participate in too.
This couldn't have been captured any better. Keaton taught Rodrigo about snowballs and snowball fights and then had to run to get away from them.
Paden couldn't wait to get back up the hill for another ride.
Two against one...seems fair to me.
We then took a few days of laziness and relaxation before playing again...this time was for Paden's Birthday!!!
Paden..the Birthday Boy who chose to have his celebration at John's Incredible Pizza Company
Paden and Clayton take a ride on the bumper cars.
Clayton Paul, one of Paden's favorite cousins, joins us for the fun.
Paden wanted a video camera so bad. He had researched them all and decided this is the one he wanted.
You can see by his face he is having a good time.
Keaton is along for the ride :o)
Bruce is concentrating on the serious Air Hockey Game.
Paden turns 12...no candles for the cake :o( he says it is better that way because it is an ice cream cake and candles would just melt it. :o)
Rodrigo enjoying the party.
Yes!!! I scored against Bruce.
Bruce and I in a serious game.
Keaton and Rodrigo playing some ski ball.
The next adventure...Multanomah Falls...in the rain...but it was awesome.
We started with a stop in Cascade Locks for ice cream...a cone as big as your head. 1 lb of ice cream. They ate it all...but it took them about 3 hours.
Except these two...who opted for the smalls.
If you are ever in Cascade Locks stop at West Wind Cafe...the best hamburgers and ice cream!!!
Here is just one of the many water falls we saw on our adventure.
Here we are at Horse Tail Falls. The only other time I have seen this fall it has been calm...not today.
Keaton and Rodrigo ran up to the bridge to get a closer look.
Another view of the boys on the bridge..
We stopped to take a look at a beautiful view. The boys jumped down the hill to play on the tracks. All was well until a train started coming...they ran back up the hill pretty darn quick. They got to the top just in time to have the train blow the whistle..it was loud and made us all jump...then we just laughed.
Paden and Clayton near the bottom of the falls.
The gang in front of Multanomah Falls
A view of the Columbia Gorge from Vista Point.
The view we stopped to look at when the boys headed down to the tracks.
The boys in an old tunnel that is now only used for walking.
We have had some grand adventures. I love my boys. And I love having Rodrigo here. He only has one more week with us, but our lives have all been touched by good because he was here.
May 2012 bring many more adventures and blessings for us all.
