Lake Sylvia Camping Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oregon Country Fair 2013

Seven under seven!  That's a lot of little ones to have camping behind the button booth.  As always, the Fair was a lot of fun for all of us, young and old.



 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Bar Master

Look at him go! Such a big kid.

Climbing Fun

We went to the Highland Games on Saturday and had a lot of fun. The highlight was a climbing wall "ride" that Conan just loved. The guy running the ride was really nice and let Conan play on the wall for far longer than I expected each time. He's a great little climber, no doubt about it!

It was fun for grown-ups too.

Pew Pew Pew

Badguys Beware!

Prepare to be documented!

On Friday we received a 'welcome' packet from the adoption agency.  Inside, along with some pretty pictures of smiling kids and letters congratulating us on deciding to adopt, were two CDs.  On the CDs are lots and lots of forms, questionnaires, and checklists which we will need to complete as part of the homestudy process.

Now, I love a well documented administrative process as much (ok, probably more) than the next person.  I am truly at home in bureaucracy. Compiling documents and data, marshaling affidavits, and navigating intricate, hierarchical processes  is something I do very well. I actually enjoy filling out forms, checking boxes, attaching appendices and validating affidavits.    But... wow. This is a daunting pile of paperwork to contemplate, even for me.

I know it's all important.  Obviously, they need to know if we have criminal backgrounds, or are financially unstable, or religiously opposed to medical care.  It makes sense to ask about our education, our relationships with our extended families, and our medical health.  And naturally, there's going to be some regulations regarding the condition of our home and various safety protocols.  We knew going into the process that there would be a lot of questions to answer.  But seeing it all laid out in one place, one set of documents, well, it's just shy of overwhelming.

Of course, the agency'll help.  Just having compiled all the documents and forms and questionnaires for us is a big help.   I can already tell I'm going to love the checklists.  Marriage licence? check.  Birth certificates? check.  Two years of tax info? check.  Immunization records for the cats? check.  Lock box for cat medicine, separate from lock box for human medicine? check.  Fire escape ladders for each upstairs bedroom? check...

Games

Conan loves to play games.  He frequently beats adults at Uno, Connect 4, and Memory.  He loves Sorry, War and Chutes & Ladders.  He learns rules quickly, understands taking turns and scoring points, and he can plan and pull off simple two turn strategies to set himself up for a win.

Recently we got a game called Blood Bowl, which, simply put, is a card game where monsters* play football.  According to the box, it's for ages 14+.  It's quite complicated, with several decks and a gazillion little chits and tokens.  Naturally, Conan really really wanted to play it.  So they set it up and played.



Conan loved it.  It took nearly an hour to play, which is an eternity in 4 year old time.  He keeps asking when we can play again.

*Yes, I know that Warhammer is a lot more than monsters, but I had to sum it up in one word from a 4-year-olds vocabulary, Ok?