A little of this...A little of that...and Mitchell's birthday, too

I was really worried about Mitchell because he wasn't handling the move very well and then he was getting a little uptight about his impending birthday and I was getting REALLY uptight about the birthday because of the problem of a party, his lack of acquaintances in our new locale, the fact that I'm often neurotic and the potential problem that we were going to be out of town for his birthday. Of course, I seemed to be forgetting that we were going to be in Vancouver, WA with his gramma Sarah who has hosted probably somewhere in the range of a hundred children's birthday parties and knows just what to do: have cake, open presents and play. So we did just that. With lots of cousins. And I think it may have been his best birthday yet. Why do I usually work so hard?



So after Thanksgiving and birthdays and whatnot we had some time to play and being the mother that always promotes learning we needed a visit to Fort Vancouver which is a really fantastic historic site. Fort Vancouver, the original Vancouver, served as a major headquarters and fur trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company during the early/mid nineteenth century. Jane, of course, is working on a report for a homeschooling project. Somehow, its not done just yet....... So I thought I would post a few pictures mostly as a reminder to her.

Grandpa Ron and the blacksmith

Gramma Sarah in the gardens

Justin, Jessica, James and the non J's, Kate and Clara, hidden from view,
snuggled in the stroller.

And possibly the favorite spot at the fort: cannons and cannonballs. Anything that shoots and has ammunition goes over really well with all THREE of my children. Isn't Jane supposed to be very ladylike and enjoy dolls and quiet activities such as reading, sewing and needlepoint?

Of course, we couldn't leave the trip at only one museum. Not with this mom! So we ventured out to Astoria for a look at the Maritime Museum and a rocking and rolling look at the light ship...literally rocking and rolling; Jessica and I felt a little seasick by the time we disembarked.



It was a good thing we decided that we should see everything out of doors at the start of our visit...minutes after we went back inside the museum, the light ship was closed due to really terrible weather. So went inside the museum where we were the only partons for most of the afternoon. Who can resist hanging out in a museum for three hours after you've just driven almost three hours to get there?

Ah, time with cousins: Nathan, Mitchell, Nina, Jane and Ben...minutes before we were sort of asked to leave the museum because the kids were running amok and we had apparently overstayed our welcome.

So our trip was wonderful: Mitchell had a great birthday, Luke relearned how not to sleep from his cousin James, and Jane learned about (in a very literal, trying on sort of way) heirlooms from Gramma. Here she is in her Gramma's graduation dress.

And then I got to fly back, by myself with three children (because William had left a couple days earlier) having just come down with strep throat. Needless to say, there are no pictures from that rather long, difficult day.