The Rose Gardens in Full Bloom

The Rose Gardens are smelling delicious. Note the "diamond" earring in Carson's lobes......Grandma Judy was here and we took her for ear piercing.

STRAWBERRY

Spent the day with the kids and friend Meredith. Went to Sauvie Island Farms to pick strawberries and got carried away. 23 pounds of carried away! We made 20 jars of strawberry jam, made some strawberry sangria to drink, two rhubarb strawberry pies and still had about 8 pounds left over. Mer took half of the berries, a pie, and about 5 jars of jam home and left me a tummyache. We took photos of the jam making and Mer kept sneaking her head in the photos which was really funny since we were drinking all that sangria!

Gramma Judy was here for the celebration.

Gramma Judy came all the way across the country for Sam's Birthday Party. WAHOO! The weather cleared up for just enough time to celebrate Sam's 4th with a B-earth-day party. The earth cake was hilarious. It was a joint project with mom, me, and Carson. Sharon stayed far away from it. Although she did hold it on her lap in the car and keep it from rolling away. The kids planted little Trees in a Box, cracked their own geodes and did leaf rubbings. Carson was in charge of the "activities" and did a great job with the 8 four-year-olds. She said, "mom, they aren't listening......I should talk louder". And with that........she was large and in charge. We skipped the Rose Festival Parade and went to the Columbia Gorge instead to see Multnomah Falls. Carson and Sam were so glad to show Gramma a banana slug they found and then we went to the Bonneville Dam to see the fish ladder.