Happy Birthday Grandma Ensley!

My mom's birthday was on June 9th but we celebrated last night because we wanted to wait until my sister Jona was back from college. It was a really nice night and was perfect for hanging out on the deck in the back yard. We had my dad's famous spaghetti followed by the BEST cake ever - the fresh banana and whipped cream cake from Larson's Bakery!

There was time enough after cake and presents to test out my mom's new croquet set...Aidan and Alan had a blast and Rob provided the entertainment with his take on the rules.

The huge wooden mallets didn't make the most ideal toys and someone ended up in time out...

Alan soon got tired of hauling his mallet around and decided that digging in the dirt with Grumpa was a much better idea...

After his time out, Aidan talked Auntie Randi into jumping on the trampoline with him and it wasn't long before Alan joined in...poor Randi!

It was a great night for family...I love you mom and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Alan's Catch

Last Saturday afternoon we took the boys on Grandpa Cox's fishing boat on the Columbia River. Rob had been saying how great the shad fishing would be and how it would be a great chance to stock up on the bait for our crabbing trip in July. Also, the boys LOVE going fishing - especially on Grandpa's boat. I had plans to go shopping that afternoon but somehow got talked into coming along. Rob's mom and dad also joined us. We loaded up the boys and all of our gear (including a bottle of wine for Christie and I to share), found a spot and anchored down. We hadn't been out long and the boys were already getting restless. Aidan was getting into everything and couldn't sit still, and all Alan wanted to do was eat the cookies Grandma brought. Pretty soon Alan's fishing pole started to dance, but Rob was convinced it had just snagged the bottom. He reeled the pole in anyway and on its way up Rob said, "well if there was one on here, we lost it". Alan didn't like what he heard and started to whine...but all that whining turned to shrieks of excitement when he saw that there actually was a fish on his line! Now it's not much of a fish, but you can tell by the look on Alan's face that he didn't care what size it was. He was absolutely elated to have caught a fish! Turns out the shad fishing wasn't that great after all...but Alan caught himself a baby salmon and couldn't have been happier.