I try and try to get him to write his name while practicing with crayons. . .give the kid and a stick and he starts workin’ it in the dirt!

– Sent from my Palm Pre

Kaden tries to keep up with his mom while arranging CA Grown flowers

pretty impressive natural talent to flower arranging.  Kaden jumped in to show us his stuff while mom put the flowers together.

Kaden's reaction to a long week on the road

Beau and LC protesting our decision to leave them while on vacation.

Okay, so, this year’s vacation was a week shorter than last years, which means that we just focused on our one week at Black Butte Ranch and will choose another week at a different time to visit my family, in either Colorado, Washington or Montana. . .that is still up in the air.  This was a good move.  Two weeks, although tempting, is just too long to be on the road with the little man.  Maybe once we get our airstream, I’d be more inclined to stay out and enjoy the amenities of home, while on the road, but until then, its good to touch base before we go back out.  Part of it, definitely has to do with our 2.5 dogs.  You can tell by the picture that they are upset with us before we even hit the road, imposing a “sit-in” protest while we packed.  Just look at Beau’s face. . .

Whatever.  We left them, thanks to our friends Kelly and Jesse, who willing to take on the task of watching our house, our dogs and their two dogs while we were gone!

Our traveling multimedia must haves. . .

With all of the electronics we packed this year, you would have thought that we were headed to some social media conference.  Two laptops, a flip camera, a still camera that shoots video, a palm pre, an iPhone, a wifi hot spot, bluetooth and two iPods all came along on this year’s trip.  The iPhone was really the new addition.  This is likely the last plane flight that Kaden is considered an “infant” and able to ride on our laps.  We debated

Kaden waiting for his "carriage" to arrive

and debated on buying him a seat, but ultimately, it came down to money.  Meaning, that we thought it would be cheaper to buy him an iPhone/iPod touch on this trip to play with and sit tight, then it would be to buy him his own seat.  Therefore, we’d even have something to keep for years to come, rather than paying for a seat on a plane for one trip to Black Butte Ranch.  It was a gamble, but it paid off in spades!  I would give the flight up a 6.5 out of 10, simply because we didn’t give Kaden the iPhone sooner.  You could see he was excited and

Exactly why we don't get him his own ticket, he'll just go on without us!

into it, but he just didn’t know how to work it, so frustration ensued.  Where as on the flight back, I’d give it a 8.5 out of 10, all because he had a week to learn how to play “Peek-a-Boo Barn,” and all of the others.  Amazing.

Kaden's pool hat. For sale: $5

I would say that one of this year’s themes for the trip was “hats.”  Tarah is big on staying out of the sun.  Ah, the irony. . .  Anyway, as you can see in the photos, we each have one.  Kaden sported this new sun hat for the time in the pool. . .this one time ;).  I, on the other hand, wore mine the entire trip and was only asked to change the sprinkler heads out on the golf course twice!  I’m kidding of course.

You might recall that it was at Black Butte

Kaden maybe trying to take his hat off in this picture!

Ranch a year ago that Kaden learned to walk.  He was 9 months old and we really think that it was his time in the little kiddie pool that sped that along (for good or for bad ).  This year we spent almost as much time in the big pool as we did the kiddie pool and are certain to enroll him into swimming lessons here at home.  He just loves the water.

Pool time!

The Goodwin’s have been coming to Black Butte Ranch each summer for about 20 years.  Tarah’s been there all but one year.  Its a great family tradition that now involves a third generation, who seem to love it just as much.  There is a lot to do at Black Butte, but I’d say we find ourselves lounging around the house most of the time, when we’re not golfing or at the pool.  The

Play time at the house: Grammie blowing bubbles for the kids.

house is great for the kids to play on their bikes on the back patio or driveway (as soon as they are all older, I’m sure we’ll be hitting the trails, but this is our time in life right now and its just as fun.  Kaden sure enjoyed his time with his cousins.  They all played very well together.  Kaden loved to say Leila’s name, so much so, that he would often call Kinsley, “Leila.”  He loved to hug on Kinsley though.  They were just about the same height and Kaden would just walk right up to her and wrap his arms around her.

iPods: Play 'em if you got 'em!

Another theme for this trip, might be the iPod.  You’ll note from our previous post, that we bought Kaden an iPhone for this trip.  Well, between Kaden’s iPhone, Chad’s iPhone and Raylene’s iPod Touch, each of the kids could be seen playing on them at the same time.  It was a sight to see.  Five, three and a 22 month old, all sitting down, playing some app of their choice, hopefully learning something.

We also enjoyed our time with little Kaleb.  He is sure a sweet kid.  As soon as you pick him up, he wraps his arms tight around your neck.  He basically melts into you and just loves to be held.  Of course, Kaden wasn’t too sure about how long this relationship was going to last and insisted that he at least be a part of it.  Tarah snapped some great pictures of the two boys and I hanging out at the house.

Kaden's first picture

With the iPhone comes a camera and with a camera comes Kaden’s first photo.  He loves seeing the pictures we take, so the next step is to teach the kid to fish and by fish, I mean shoot his own photos.  Our first lesson, didn’t produce anything earth-shattering, but it was a start.  We took this photo while we sat outside one of the shops in downtown Sisters.

So, that pretty much sums it up: Black Butte Ranch, Kids, Pool, Happy Hour, Golf, Hats and iPods = Family Vacation.

Me and the boys

The fabulous foresome: Tarah, me, Courtney and Chad

IMG_0376

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

. . .well maybe an environmentalist would take issue with the suggestion here, but global warming and politics aside, Kaden found this random watering hole both thirst quenching and entertaining.

First of all, he hadn’t enjoyed the pleasure of a “public” drinking fountain (granted, this fountain is inside Black Butte Ranch. . .so hardly “public,” but whatever, someone else, we don’t know, has also drank from this same fountain). Second, he could stand on the edge of the fountain and not have to have any help from Dad, which is preferable in basically all circumstances at this age (unless its to watch SuperWhy, he needs me to work the remotes still). And finally, for some strange reason, this fountain, when turned all the way on, would spit water fifteen feet into the air! Oh, this was now a toy, for all involved.
We probably spent thirty minutes playing in this water, getting totally soaked and never really getting further than a block from the house on our “walk.” It was just the same, he was going to either find this or a stick to hit the dirt with and the water was certainly cleaner.

The rouge water fountain at Black Butte Ranch

The next day, while we were golfing the course that this water fountain serves, Tarah told the story to Chad and Courtney who were with us. As we passed by the fountain, I stopped to show them this rouge fountain and confirm our experience with Kaden, but to our surprise, when I turned the handle, the water just trickled out. This simply furthers our conspiracy theory that you are never really alone at Black Butte Ranch, “they” are always watching. . .

Who is “they?” The environmentalists, of course! Next they are going to shut down the play water fountains at Glaze Meadow pool, just you watch.

This picture will warm your heart. For whatever terrible reason, we don’t do this enough; take the boys to the beach and dig. However, we recently purchased some pretty cool shovels and took the 4th of July weekend to inaugurate them. Kaden and Baker had a great time watching the waves lap up agains their upside down castle, maybe it was a fort, either way, they had a great time. We had a great time watching them. Thanks to Grandma and Papa for all the cool beach toys too!

The first day of Summer!  And what a difference a year makes.  Kaden is basically sitting out on the patio with ol’ Dad talking about our day.

Pretty special.

– Sent from my Palm Pre

Each morning–when I am in town–I have the pleasure of taking Kaden to daycare. We have cereal together, he watches the beginning of Sesame Street, I pack his diaper bag and get him dressed, then we’re out the door. Recently, I’ve committed to sending my mom (g’ma) a "good morning" picture text each morning. Its helped to ease the tension for my lack of blogging recently ;). However, the new part of the routine has been fun for Kaden too. He gets his big grin and says "cheeeeeesse" and I quickly text it off to g’ma. He doesn’t really know what we are doing, but he’s fascinated with my phone and generally expects to see how the picture turned out. Everyone’s happy.

Now if I can just get him to keep his feet of the back of the seat. . .then "everyone" would be happy

CIMG0046

Tarah’s parents, Bob and Raylene, DROVE down for a fun weekend visit.  As soon as they were out of the car, Kaden had them walking down the road with his truck.  He was showing them his orange tree, his lady bug patch, where he likes to go fast down the hill in his truck.

Kaden does pretty well saying "poppy," but we are still working on "Grammy."  He certainly was spoiled with the toys and attention this weekend.  He even had his first Banana Cream Pie.  Spoiled.  

He’s going to be asking for them next weekend!

– Sent from my Palm Pre

We finally got Kaden his own scooter.  He has been scootering around at daycare since he was 15mos old and we wanted to see it for ourselves.  It’s a riot to see him kick, kick and cruise.  He loves it and it is fun to watch.

Enjoy!

– Sent from my Palm Pre