Parks and Rec

One of the things I love about Albany is the number of parks it offers.  For a relatively small city (population 50,000, about 1/3 the size of Salem) it seems to have as many parks as Starbucks.  Many of them sit right on the river and make for gorgeous walks amid beautiful scenery.  Our first stop was Simpson Park.

Any slightly curved stick immediately turns into a bow for my little Katniss.  

And if I said to you, "let's go hiking" isn't this the outfit you would put on??

Midway through our walk, I happened to notice that Austin's pant legs seemed to be differing in length.  A closer inspection confirmed it...  Apparently one leg had previously gotten caught in his bike chain, so the logically conclusion was to just cut it out and not tell Mom.  And then keep wearing the pants...

Our next stop was Talking Waters Gardens.  The website describes it like this:

"The Talking Water Gardens project, an engineered treatment wetlands, is open to the public seven days a week, sunrise to sunset.   Talking Water Gardens is a public works project that cools treated wastewater before entering the Willamette River.  Wetland cells are connected by soft-surface walking trails.  Many trails are elevated to give visitors a beautiful view of the natural system at work including the plants and wildlife that have found this place as a new home."

It's basically a really cool 50 acre park with trails and water and animals, and we only saw maybe the first acre or two.  

Alas, the beloved pink cowboy boots met their demise on this trip... they will be missed.

The Newest "Member" of Our Family

This precious little bundle spends 3 days a week with us, and as Jacob says nearly every day, "It's nice to have a baby in the house again!"  I think he may be a little biased, since this handsome guy was named after him.  I have to agree with him, although my baby skills are a little rusty.  My baby will be 5 in less than two weeks!!

Leah has her moments of thinking he's a dress up doll...

 but for the most part does a pretty great job of being my "Baby Jacob Helper".

More Snow

The snow is literally up to the threshold of our back door...

 and up to the porch in front.

 Jake buried Austin up to his neck.

 Warming cold tootsies by the fire.

Snow

Let's count this as an epic fail on my part as both a "photographer", blogger and a mother.  I took pictures of our snow day today, and when I downloaded them onto my computer, there were still pics on my camera from Christmas.  What can I say...

Yep, that's it.  Those are the grand total of  pictures I took on Christmas.


I took a few more today.  This snowfall is just a bit insane for Oregon.  We got almost 8 inches by 2:00 in the afternoon, and the forecast is calling for still more to come. School was cancelled for today and it's already been cancelled for tomorrow.  Brian braved a mid day run home from work to bring me a Diet Coke.  What a good man.  :)

 It's really a winter wonderland around here.

 Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes.....

And just for a little time lapse:

2011

 2012

 2013

 2014