Oregon Adventures XIV

Our Junia turned 7 at the end of last month and here are some memories from her special day:

Her new CC friend, Julia, has a twin brother and both spent the day with us.

We went back to Air Salem and this time, I didn't take ONE picture, thankfully Ben did.  See Ezra's birthday blog post if you want reminded why I didn't take pictures this time.

Then we went to a buffet called, Izzy's, for a fun lunch.  Juni was sung to by the staff and got this exciting piece of cheese cake, which I ate for her, since she didn't like it.

She was much more excited later that evening when she got the cake she had chosen herself: CHOCOLATE!  That's my girl!  Actually, her Daddy likes it too, and since his birthday was the day before, we relit those candles and sang again for him and they shared the cake.

Fun Juni fact: When Juni was one her front tooth had to be pulled when it broke above the gumline in a bathtub slip.  Now, the remaining front tooth is loose!  She has waited a long time for this!  We will keep you posted.

OK, for the first time in a long time, I am caught up!  The pictures below were taken today.  That's right! Today.  This is what we did today.   Just have to keep saying it!  It's way more fun to blog about current events than old ones.

Today, the girls and I went to Oregon's Mennonite Festival!  We went mostly for the children's auction, where kids get paddles to bid on fun things (see Phoebe's win below).  But, it's famous for their quilt auction.  We looked at all the pretty quilts and listened to the auction for a while.  All proceeds from the festival go to world hunger relief.

 I noticed a very elderly lady leaning against the back wall, behind bleachers filled with auction goers as she wrote down the sale price on her program listing all the quilts.  I could see her wheels turning, plotting out the most lucrative quilt for next year's auction.

 We also played in a maze made of hay bales, which made me sneeze.  We bought lots of apple cider and had fun together.  I saw people from all the different Mennonite churches we have visited.  One sweet older gentleman greeted me and said how good it was to see me again.  I do wish I remembered which church we met at, he was very sweet. 

Ben and Ezra met friends in McMinnville at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum while we were shopping.  This is Ezra in front of the Spruce Goose, the world's largest wooden airplane.

Ben said their collection rivaled that of the Smithsonian.  He was very impressed with what he saw today.  This is the SR-71, the world's fastest airplane.  This is Ben's favorite aircraft and he loved finally seeing one in person.

Ezra was pretty impressed too!  This is a full size replica of the Apollo Mission Lunar Lander. They got to try landing it using a simulator.  According to the simulator, only 14% of people attempting the landing do it successfully; Ben nailed it first time and was the only one today to do so.

 This evening Ben and I unpacked boxes of more things we own.  We have been married for 18 years now and have accumulated far too much stuff.  We are making every effort to reduce some of this baggage.   Moving is exhausting, goodnight!