Tightrope Goats

Cold weather has moved into Oregon

and the leaves on a few of the trees have started to turn color.

Accepting that fall is now officially upon us,

we made the trek out to the Canby Pumpkin Patch

to properly prepare for the upcoming holiday.

Last time Orin went to a pumpkin patch, he was too young to choose

his own pumpkin, so this year marked his Selection Debut.

On the car ride over we tried to prepare him by offering pointers

on what to look for in a pumpkin:

size, texture, a flat face, a strong stem...

His mind practically bursting with helpful tidbits,

Orin strode confidently up to the pumpkins

and chose the first pumpkin he ran into.

He then proceeded to roll it towards the car.

"But Orin, that is the first pumpkin you looked at, how can you

be so sure that it is the perfect one?" we asked with concern.

"Maybe we should go for a quick stroll, just to check out a few more."

Orin reluctantly obliged.

At first, he was unsure about the sea of pumpkins.

There were too many to choose from:

he needed a better vantage point.

This haystack worked nicely.

In the end though, it turns out that he was right.

The first one was the best one.

Maybe he just has an eye for it.

Like father, like son.

Casey is a professional picker.

After choosing our pumpkins,

we wandered around the rest of the farm.

There were plenty of the usual farm animals including

cows, chickens, and rabbits.

But when we got to the goats, it seemed that there was something

fishy in the air. Orin spotted it first.

These we not normal goats.

They were Tightrope Walking Goats.

Very fishy indeed.

After we left to goats we forced the boys to

take some of those dorky cardboard-cutout face shots.

They tolerated it pretty well for a minute or two...

but then lost interest.

After the forced photo-op, we toured Noah's Arc,

which, you might not be aware of,

came equipped with a slide.

.

After the Arc, Cole and Dakota got to go in

the Bouncy Castle and the Nuthouse.

To finish off the day, Cole took a turn using the

pressurized Corn Shooting Gun.

Orin was denied his chance to hit the ghost targets

because he is currently going through a stage

where he derives pleasure from throwing things at people

and I figured that putting him in command of a

high pressure corn gun was just asking for a lawsuit.

And now, just in case you don't think you have gotten

enough pictures in this post

I will, without comment, post a series of pictures

of Orin looking intensely contemplative.

Just because.

Stay tuned for pictures of Orin's first pumpkin carving.

I have a feeling it could get interesting.

Another Camera Passing

Back in June I was standing in a White Castle in Tennessee

when something terrible happened: I tripped while holding a
soda and dumped it all over myself and the floor.
The embarrassment is long gone, but a scar from the incident
has remained on my beautiful Lumix digital camera,
which took the full force of the soda blast.

Since then, the shutter has refused to open and close fully
and occasionally the camera stops working completely.
The most notable of these times was in the
pitch darkness of the Ape Caves.
It took me at least 20 minutes of messing around before I could
get it to take the pictures that you saw for that post.
Recently, my faithful camera let me down at the Vista House
(pictures courtesy of Carla's camera)
and again at the Pumpkin Patch
(pictures to come courtesy of Hillary's camera).
Something needed to be done.
I was hesitant to dive back into the deep and dark world
of camera reviews, so instead I opted for an easier route:
I bought the same camera.
Well, almost. They have upgraded it a little,
but it is basically the same.
Now, I just have to wait for it to arrive.
I can hardly wait.

Camas Detour

On the last day of the grandparent's trip we decided to go to Camas.
Everything would have gone smoothly had I not been the navigator.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of assigning myself the position
and 30 minutes later we were in the Gorge, which is,
if you know your Northwest geography, not even close to Camas.
Not to mention we were out of gas.
After a detour that led us to the oldest gas station
in the history of mankind
(one pump attached to a country store)
we decided to make the best of the situation and visit the Vista House,
which, at this point, was only a few minutes away.
It was a good stop.
The Vista House is one of the best places to see the Gorge.
My dad and Carla got to take lots of touristy pictures,
and I got to pretend that it was all part of the plan.
Eventually we made it to Camas.
It was there that Orin found this leaf.
It was a nice, big leaf.
He ran around waving it in the air for quite awhile.
It was just starting to look like the leaf was going to come home with us
when Orin stumbled upon this:
Apparently, it was a perfect spot for a leaf.
Orin tucked it into the hole
and walked away, satisfied with his choice...
But only for a moment.
The leaf would be coming with us after all.
The next morning we said goodbye to
Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jack.
We were all sad to see them go,
although for different reasons.
Orin will miss playing finger puppets with his Grandma,
Casey will miss the wine, the cheese, and the conversation,
and I am just sad that I won't get the opportunity to show my dad
that I am not always terrible at golf
(just most of the time)
Until next year.

Running down the Mountain

Today we went hiking at Latourell Falls.
Heading out for the trip, I was a little nervous
about how Orin would fair.
Recently, he has decided that he is
no longer interested in being in a backpack.
In his opinion, he can walk just as well as the rest of us
and he should be allowed to do so.
But the trail was pretty steep,
so I decided to pack him for as long as he would permit.
Here we are, just starting out, notice Orin's
general disinterest in picture-taking:
He actually made it for quite awhile without opposing containment.
Just long enough, in fact, to make me carry him up the entire mountain.
It was as soon as we reached the peak that he insisted on dismounting.
He then proceeded to run all the way to the bottom.
Here we are, back at the beginning after completing the loop,
notice Orin's continued lack of enthusiasm regarding staged pictures:
He never fails to impress me with his ability to run non-stop
for any amount of time, over any type of terrain.
Nothing can slow him down.
Nothing can dampen his enthusiasm.
This kid is on the move.

Golfing with Grandpa

I have been accused of neglecting the blog again
but this time it has been for a good reason.
Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carla are visiting us from Massachusetts.
Ever since they arrived last Friday,
we have been on a tour of some of the
most amazing Portland restaurants,
outings which end each night with me stumbling home in a food coma,
plump, happy, and totally unmotivated to do anything but sleep.
But eating well is not the only thing we have been up to,
today we also played golf.
I have been eagerly awaiting my father's visit for some time now,
thinking it would be a perfect opportunity to show off
my newly aquired golf skills.
Although my plan to practice obsessively before his arrival
didn't exactly materialize the way I hoped (I only went once)
I still stepped out onto the greens today with confidence.
As it turns out, my confidence was misplaced.
After taking 10 swings on two holes in a row I was forced to admit
that I still suck at golf.
But, being the supportive husband that he is,
Casey didn't let me wallow in my golfing failures alone...
By the 18th hole, we were both so demoralized
that we didn't even add up the score.
It was crystal clear that we had been thrashed by a member
of the Nursing Home Golf League.
But I am not going down so easy...
after all there is always next year.
Maybe I will even get some practice in before then.