Tualatin Giant Pumpkin Regatta

Today we went to a great fall event: the Tualatin Giant Pumpkin Regatta. They carve out the giant pumpkins and people race in them around "Lake Tualatin". They also had trying to hit a golf ball into a pumpkin which was in the "lake." It was a great fall day and the festival was fun. It was nice to be outside and spend time as a family.

Fun fall pictures

We met a few friends and took some great fall pictures of our boys. It was a great day. Derek is wearing a sweater knit for him by one of our friends.

Derek is 10 months old

Mike gave Derek a mohawk last night during his bath. Well at least he now has a few hairs for a mohawk.

Derek is 10 months old today. He is happy, walking along all the furniture, chasing the dogs (they still don't know what to do about it), and babbling a lot. He says umm, mama, dada, and baba a lot. I like to think he is identifying things with his words but I am not so sure. His favorite toys lately are the coasters. He loves to pull them out of the basket and play with them. He still loves to bang on everything and has just discovered the keyboard and mouse. The mouse has a cool light that fascinates him. The keyboard buttons are fun too. He gets quite agitated when I try to redirect him to real toys!

Happy boy

Evergreen Aviation

On Sunday we went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum home of the Spruce Goose. The Spruce Goose is the largest air and sea wood plane ever built seen here in the top picture. It is huge- bigger than a 747. Howard Hughes had it built (before he became OCD and just plain crazy). The museum also had tons of other old planes. There was also a space museum there that we went to. It is an amazing museum and in a small city. We had lots of fun. I think I enjoyed the children's museum more than Derek did, but he did enjoy the small airplanes he could ride on. We were amazed at how small one plane was. I barely fit. As you can see, Frank did not fit. Evergreen also has a vineyard on the property and has begun making wine. We did a tasting. On the way home we stopped at a great BBQ place. We all (including Derek) enjoyed BBQ pork, turkey, and ribs. Yummy. Then we stopped next door at another winery for a tasting. We discovered that BBQ and wine go great together.

It was a good day and part of a great weekend with Frank. Come back soon Frank- we miss you already.

The Coast

We took Frank to Cannon Beach today. We took a nice long walk on the beach until Derek got a bit cold in his carrier. We saw the a hysterical dog show. I think even Lucky and Alex could have been in it but they were at home. Dogs raced to get a tennis bell and there were awards for the fastest. I guess they had other events as well. Some dogs went the wrong way, some didn't go at all, and some were just slow. We had a good time laughing at it all. We then had a yummy lunch of fish and chips. Derek ate a ton of fish. It was a great day! Here is a picture of Frank as a cone head.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Lee Farms Pumpkin Patch on Friday. Our friend Frank is visiting us this weekend. We had a great time finding a pumpkin, eating a caramel apple, and looking at the animals there (chickens, baby pigs, baby cows, and goats). Derek was not quite sure what to think of the baby pigs when they started squealing. He was quite intrigued with the day.