Pocket House

If you ever find yourself in Portland and need a place to stay, Nina and George's pocket house does not disappoint! It was so fun, cozy, and homey, we found ourselves spending time trying to figure out how we could build our own in our backyard.  They really nailed it.  And, we hope to return for future visits! Link to book your visit below. :)

Staying here was a highlight of our Portland visit.

 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/31696

Here we go!

Just like our truck below, there is way too much to unpack from our journey to the NW.  I want to get in some funny stories and details I want to remember, so I am going to break it up into several posts.  Starting with the trip out.  We spent 10.5 hours in the car on day one.  That is a record for us.  The kids did great, and even more surprisingly, mom did great.  By the second day, we were eating lunch at our destination in OR.  It seemed like a cinch getting out there really.

What?  A day without smoothie?  Never!  Even on the road.  It really is the easiest lunch to make and includes WAY more healthy stuff than any other road option I could come up with.  So, window-washer fluid and all, bring on the smoothie.

Made a stop in Twin Falls and got to run around this incredible memorial.  

This is the first of many "selfies" we took on this trip. We made it! Lunch at the camp sight, set up, and then in the packs for a nap and hike to Triple Falls.  We camped at Wyeth Campground in the gorge. It was beautiful, private, and mellow.  I was in awe of all the GREEN the entire time we were out there.  SO MUCH LIFE!

Above- Owen is just napping- don't be concerned. 

Below- We could walk to this trail and bridge from our campsight.  It also led to the CRAZIEST hike I have ever done with a kid on my back.  I was freaking out...to the point that Ruby started encouraging me, telling me that it would be okay, that we were having fun, and that I was doing a good job.  She was SO sweet.  On the way back, she gets in my pack and asks, "mom, do you need more couragment on the way back?"  I assured her I could  use any encouragement she had to offer, ever.  

 PS- the crazy hike was totally worth it.  It led to this incredible and really remote feeling waterfall and pool.  I am guessing that Ruby and Owen were the only two year olds to get back there in a long time.

Next stop- Portland!

Grandparents

These tomatoes have nothing to do with grandparents but, not long ago, we harvested them in our tiny ghetto garden that I planted this year.  There are not many (compared to what I used to harvest in the valley), but they were delicious!  SO sweet.  And, even sweeter, is that Ruby and Owen got exactly what I wanted them to out of the whole experience.  They would walk out the door in the morning and ask if we could harvest any tomatoes.  They loved picking the few that we got, and eating them in the summer sun.  Done- a success in my eyes.

Grandpa visited over Labor Day weekend.  Grandpa has visited a few other times and I have never included his participation in our lives on the blog.  It just felt too complicated, and he doesn't read it anyway, so I rationalized away my feelings of disease with that.  But, as many of you know, feelings buried alive never die, and so, I never felt good leaving these visits out, despite their often awkward and uncomfortable nature.  Although it usually seems like it, this blog is not just a history of the good and easy times, but of our lives- all of it.  Some of you know about the complicated and painful family history on my side, and if you don't, I will just say that reestablishing a relationship with my dad has been one of the most difficult things for me and, like all things that you have to try really hard at, an awesome experience for growth and understanding.  

So anyway, after seven or eight years of virtually no contact, we now visit occasionally.  And, it can be pleasant.  So there, I did it.  Now, on to details.  We rode the Heber train, which was the highlight.  Ruby and Owen participated in activities on board.  Owen told a joke into the microphone (Why did the chicken cross the road?) and Ruby recited a poem her Aunt Mindy taught her (I'm a peach, I'm a plum, I'm as nice as they come!), they danced in the aisles, and devoured the live fiddle music.  They mostly loved watching the scenes go by out the window. 

We also visited the Park City Farmer's Market where Ruby and Owen tore the husk off of an ear of corn and ate almost every single kernel off of it- raw.  This is my favorite way to eat corn actually, but I didn't think 2 year olds would get into it.  It must have been THAT good.  

Grandpa left for Steamboat and only hours later Nana and Papa rolled into town to stay with us for a few nights on their way back to Ohio from Idaho.  They timed it just right so that they could watch Chip finish the Mid-mountain Marathon on Saturday morning.  We painted a few big signs to hold up for dad when he crossed the finish line, but as you can see in the picture below, we struggled to execute that very well.  It didn't matter, Chip did awesome anyway!  He came in 5th in his age group, which is huge considering he is in the most challenging age group and the first handful of people are probably "professional" runners...or at least can focus on their running infinitely more than Chip...who did this on top of working full and over time, raising 2 year old twins, and helping me maintain a household.  I hardly noticed he was training.  I am telling you, his natural talents are endless.  I hope Ruby and Owen get that.

Stefan and Chip did a few runs together and, on a whim (maybe two weeks before the race), Stefan decided he should and could run the marathon too.  And, he did.  Love that.  

Then, Nana and Papa were off for their trek home, and we on to preparing for our big family road trip.  Yahoo!

Started with a random and will end with a random cute one that Chip took.  

Voss/DuRoss

Team Voss came to visit Team DuRoss for a two week Park City adventure.  Ruby and Owen loved having their big cousins and Aunt Tina around to play, read, and join us for a lot of mini trips.  We started on the first day with a hike in the backyard (pictured above).  Ruby created a map before we left that she is proudly showing the camera above.  We painted with watercolors in the woods- what better inspiration for beautiful artwork than the great out doors!

 

Snack time!

We got everyone in! 

  

So many outings!  Lets see- one of our favorites, a bike ride into Park City and up the "big hill" to the Java Cow where Ruby and Owen love to get cow cookies (we usually share one and they like to stake which body parts they are going to eat far in advance...but this was a special occasion), and there were lots of other treats to be explored in our several trips there.  Monkey Mt, of course, and swim lessons!

 

We all got out to go camping for a couple days at Smith and Morehouse.  This was Evan's first time camping and not something Tina guessed she would have been a fan of.  However, by the end, we were planning how many and what size tents they should get so that they could do this at home.  This is one of the things I loved about this visit.  Team Voss threw themselves into whatever it was that we came up with-present and engaged. :)

 

A-dorable.  Can we photoshop John in for the Christmas photo?

 

 

It is impossible to get us all looking, so three out of four smiles aint bad.

All in again- we are getting pretty good at the selfies.

This was a disaster gone brilliant.  I forgot to get the chocolate for smores....I know, not like me.  However, in the meantime we had acquired an addiction to pretzels and Nutella earlier in the vacation.  Evan quickly told us to stop fretting about not having chocolate, that we could use Nutella instead.  I think we were all converts.  Great thinking, Evan!

Endless good group shots. :) All DuRoss/Voss cousins here.

 

 

Fire was a big deal. Had one going almost the entire time we were there.  We got poured on (luckily tents were already set up), hiked in a thunder and lightning storm, and rowed the boat around

Okay, we made it home.  Now, off to the zoo!

 

 ...and the lake.  Chip and the kids got busy on a really cool mud/sand castle while Tina and I swam a lap to the buoy and back (well, she did lots of laps and I did one, but who is counting?) 

 

City time- Farmer's Market and then to Gateway for Hawaiian Ice and play time in the water fountain there.

 

Check out the size of these! That would explain the photos below- some of my favorites.  Gotta love those two. :)

 

 

Aunt Mindy arrived just in time for another ride into Park City for the Park Silly Market. 

 

The girls.

 

Aunt Mindy was recently in Hawaii and brought Ruby and Owen adorable souvenirs.  I wish they made this dress in adult size.  And, Owen was sporting the very cute surfboard shirt and short combo in the above pictures.  Thanks, Mindy!

We hit the splash pad a few times, this time with Mindy.  Ruby and Owen love it...and playing soccer in the field afterwards to warm up!

Ruby's signature break dancing move.  Owen does it too actually.  Hilarious.

 

Soccer turned into a dance and workout session.

For Evan and Madeleine's birthdays we treated them to a handful of rides at the Park City summer setup.  They did the zip line, the alpine slide, and the alpine rollercoaster. whoohoo!

More randomness- Evan and Madeleine (Evan especially) got addicted to riding downhill on the roads in our neighborhood.  In fairness, he did also ride on the trail up and down a few times with Chip (and Mindy).  Tina's favorite discovery of the trip were the cookies at the Ruby Snap.  They were divine...and they have a cookie named after me so, that is pretty cool.

Madeleine did Ruby's hair almost every day- she loved it.  And, Madeleine also figured out how to do a hair-wrap on her own, and did one for Ruby and Aunt Mindy. Nice work, Madeleine!

 

Thanks to Tina, Evan, and Madeleine for taking all that time out of their busy summers to come hang out with us, do life, and create some awesome memories.  We love you SO much!