Legos, Video Games, Grandma Camp Awards

I came home from Spokane last Friday and picked up Nico from my parents' house, bringing home with us a crock pot full of sausage and sauerkraut that Nico had put together: dinner!

Grandma sent me these pictures from their day together on Friday. Apparently Nico REALLY won Monopoly!

Nico has ALL the money and properties!

Friday night it was a very simple decision to open up our lego from Grandpa Russell to start putting it together - we were finally all together in the same spot! Nico started in on it and got a lot done, we picked up the rest on Saturday and finished it on Sunday.

The lunar lander! Nico played with it for quite some time on Sunday night.

Saturday it was also imperative that in the afternoon we go to Fred Meyer to BUY Monopoly. Guy took him, and they didn't have the version he wanted, so he bought the regular version. Nico and I played it after they got home.

That night we watched Wonder Park (Guy's choice) downstairs (Jeff & Allicia and kids were away), and ate yummy pizza. We've had a long string of great movies, we haven't seen a bad one in a long time.

This week was the LAST week before school starts! And it's one of the only weeks this summer that Allicia and I were both home on a Monday, which is our day to hang out. So on Monday morning we sent the kids downstairs to play video games while we stayed upstairs to play board games. She taught me a new board game called Azul, and I taught her how to play Pokemon.

Tuesday, Grandma Camp started out at Bruce and Rory's apartment complex's pool. It's huge!

Guy and I had a date that afternoon for lunch. We went to Pho Le.

Afterward, we went to St. Vincent's next door and found an A&W mug we bought Nico, and a new shirt for Guy. Nico loves A&W root beer. 

Wednesday was another video game day.

Today was the last Grandma Camp of the summer. To celebrate, there was a BBQ and Awards Ceremony. Check out the video at the end of the blog! Each grandkid was awarded a serious award and a silly award. It was a great way to end the summer and look back at the same time.

School starts next Monday. Nico received a post card from his speech therapist, Mrs. Williams. 

What a great bunch of people he's got at his school.

The promised video is below. This has snippets dating back to June! Enjoy!

Grandparents Russell, and Portland!

Friday the boys went to breakfast with Grandpa Russell, they went to Goldy's. 

That afternoon we all went over to the hotel Grandpa and Grandma were staying at. The pool is on the 5th floor! Guy and I hung out in the lounge chairs while Grandma and Nico swam.

After swimming we walked downtown to The Lemon Tree sandwich shop and had an early dinner. The food was very good, just like I remember.

After getting home that night we let Nico open his birthday present. We told him he was going to need it the next day. The Nintendo Switch! This boy saved up $150 to cover half of this, and we paid for the other half for his birthday.

Saturday was party day! We had 17 kids total, and we met at a trampoline park called Jump Time. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves! 

Sweaty kids eating pizza

Jason, Liz, Rory, and Lexie

When it was time to open presents, everyone gathered around him in the corner to watch.

Saturday night was pizza night, we watched episodes of a show called Corner Gas, a 90's Canadian comedy series that Grandpa and Grandma introduced us to. Nico loved it, as did we all.

Sunday we had a busy church morning and met up back at the Clubhouse that afternoon and evening.

Saying goodbye.

We said a temporary goodbye as we would see them later that week (read to the end and you'll see why and where!)

Monday was Nico's actual birthday. We bought him a small gift that he could open that day (some pokemon cards), and I asked him what he wanted for dinner that night. He said Pizza Pie Cafe, so that's where we went! At exactly 5:57PM we sang him Happy Birthday (the time he was born). That hasn't ever been a thing we do, but this year it was!

Then we drove home and cut into the cake I made for him earlier that day.

He has been playing the Switch every moment he can. We have been purposefully lax on the rules for screen time because... it's summer, it's a new game system, and, it's summer! We took the Switch downstairs several times to hook it up to the big screen.

On Tuesday was Grandma Camp! They mixed up some meatloaves, went to the Creperie, and went to see The Lion King.

At the creperie. They have gluten free crepes??!

Wednesday was prep day for our trip to Portland for Tom and Emily's wedding! We went grocery shopping, packed, and... played the Switch. Very important.

Then this morning, off we went! We caravanned to Portland because I am leaving from here to Spokane on Saturday while the boys head home. We were prepared with Walkie Talkies so we could always be in touch. Most of our chatter was, "Nico found an Alabama license plate", or, "There's a rest stop in two miles, let's go". At every rest stop, they checked license plates.

We stopped near Portland to see Multnomah Falls. We climbed up to that bridge you see in the picture, and Nico and Guy walked across it. I couldn't bring myself to. I fall over from dizziness when I'm near high things these days, so it was safer for me to stay on the side. They said you could feel the spray from the waterfall.

We arrived to our Airbnb in the evening, and then went to the rehearsal dinner. It was SO good to see Tom and Emily again.

The dinner was at a Chinese buffet and Nico tried some new things. Sushi with imitation krab, and clams! He also tried a crab leg. He said his favorite was the clams.

Tom and Emily!

We cannot wait to see them married tomorrow!

Then we went back at the Airbnb and the boys played Battleship.

Games, VBS, and the Grandparents Russell!

Last Friday our church had a family game night. I accidentally left my phone at home, so we have no evidence! It wasn't board games, it was outdoor games, most of which included water and water balloons. It was fun but wet!

On Saturday I did henna at the market and then for pizza that night Nico chose Three Stooges to watch. We had the downstairs available because our housemates were out of town. We spent a lot of time down there this past week playing video games!

Long range Match-a-Pair-of-Birds game.

VBS started on Monday.

Tuesday was Grandma Camp day - Box City! They used up old boxes to build stuff - Bruce and Nico built a penguin! Nico is inside the penguin, you can see a bit of his face. The part at the bottom is where eggs come out.

This is from Papa's Grandpa Camp project. These are cuttings from another plant that he's showing them how to grow.

His tallest card stack yet!

On Wednesdays Nico is going to start going to the Youth Group at Papa's and Grandma's church. They are taking all the grandkids there! What fun! This Wednesday night was Messy Game Night. They played Twister with ketchup, mustard, syrup, and flour on the different colors. Nico came home smelling like syrup! He had a lot of fun though. He told me that they talked about "messy hearts", and about how sin makes your heart messy.

And then today, Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town!! Grandma brought a new shape of cookies with her so we could make Sponge Bob cookies! I put some of the colors into henna cones so they would be easy to apply. Nico did a great job!

He opened some gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, one of them was a pair of SpongeBob pajamas! Grandma made the bottoms, they fit great with room to grow!

A book before bed time.

We will see them again tomorrow! We've got a fun birthday weekend coming up.