trucks + art

Brooklyn is quite the little artist. She has enjoyed drawing, coloring, painting, chalking, etc since she was 2, but just in the past two months her skills have really sharpened. She learned how to draw hearts and sat at the table during "home work" time and drew hearts all over her paper like a love sick teenager. I was just beaming watching her beam at herself. She also loves drawing pictures of our family. The other day she made one that had three people of different heights. She announced proudly that it was a picture of our family and when I asked where daddy was she said "daddy is at work, so  he can't be in the picture".

Ben is officially obsessed with trucks. I am not going to lie, I adore this. I think it's not only hilarious- the way he gets really high pitch and screeches with joy at the pictures of all the tractors, excavators and fire trucks, but really cool to see the difference between boys and girls. Brooklyn at this age was OBSESSED with babies. She would bring me multiple baby dolls and ask me to swaddle them over and over and over.

So this is a totally different scene. A hot date in our house has become Monday mornings when the garbage, recycle and yard debris trucks come up and down our street. I have been trying to get a picture every week, but keep missing it. He quite literally flips his lid over those trucks, and all trucks for that matter.

Brooklyn has begun to ask some pretty interesting/insightful/difficult questions. She asked the other day how big God is. As I stuttered and stammered to explain the ALMIGHTY, I watched her face, gazing out the window soaking the answer in and formulating her next question.

Tonight while Matt and I were cleaning up dinner she came running in from the back yard saying "mom, dad, can you come handle this situation". She was referring to the fact that her baby brother had climbed up on top of their play kitchen that we have in the back yard.

As I was leaving the bank today I said to Ben who was whining the WHOLE drive "Benny please stop whining", Benny "Whhhyyyy?" Brooklyn "Because it's making her crazy", Benny "Whhyyyyy".
How can I not laugh at that. It's seriously priceless gold.

I have also been noticing more and more lately that Brooklyn's love language is words of affirmation. She absolutely loves and tends to crave praise and appreciation from us. As I was out helping her ride her bike today she kept getting overly frustrated, which in turn made me frustrated and we both (being that we have such similar personalities) butt heads. It's a very easily combustible situation. I have to make myself find something to praise her on rather than correct her, which always gets her back on track. She was so frustrated with something on the bike ride and finally when she got back on track I said "GOOOOOOO Brooklyn" and clapping. She light up like a fire work.

School's out for summer!

I keep wanting to sit down and write, but by the time I get a moment to do so...I'm ready to just sit and veg out.

There are so many things I don't want to forget that have been happening lately, so here goes on a few.

This summer has been filled with fun! Lot's of dates with my babies to the park, friends houses, moms nights out, and quiet mornings and afternoons at home in the sun.

Tonight we went to my friend Robyn's house to have dinner and she got this great pic of all the little's.

Robyn, Benny, Brooklyn & Braeden

Tonight is also Matt's last class! He just sent me a text that he got an A on his final project (well earned and deserved) so his month off can officially begin NOW!

This class has been a total doozey. Some r&r is going to be happening in the Feenstra house for sure! On more bummer note, Matt has an mri scheduled this Wednesday to take a look at his knee for a meniscus injury. He is for sure out for the marathon in October, and to say he is bummed would be an understatement.

I have so many things I want to write about the kids these days and the hysterical things they say and do, so that post will come soon.

Brooklyn did ask me in the car today "mom, what does bad credit mean?" haha. She must have heard that on a commercial. She also asked me on the drive home from dinner how the sun and moon can be shining at the same time. I love how her mind works, and is always working! Such a talkative little sponge she is.

Matt's 35th Birthday

I'm a little behind on posts. Matt's birthday has come and gone, but wanted to share some pics from the celebrations.

We went for a long run together, then met Chuck, Lisa and Buff for dinner at Bridgeport Brewery that night. Very fun night.

Family snuggle time before bed

The following weekend was the little party I threw for the old man. Big thanks to Mimi & Papa for taking the babies for us for the whole night.

It was great food, drink and company! I wish I had a big group shot of everyone, only ended up with a few pics of the night...too busy having fun!

she's not going to be happy with me for posting this :) beautiful erin, hogging all the dip

Kris and Em, loooooooove these two

Tygh, Bobby, Matt and Brandon- Sigma Chi brothers

Matt and Tyler



Happy birthday babe. Crazy to think how much God has done in your life, and ours as a family in 5 years. Your 30th left a lot to be desired, sad party, sad time in our lives...but without that we wouldn't be able to celebrate ALL the miracles and blessings that have unfolded since then.

Thank you for all you do for us on a daily basis. I wouldn't change one single day of our lives together. Can't wait to see what the next five years hold for you, and our family.





Spokane: long drive, worth every second

Brooklyn and I had our first girl's weekend of the summer. We took off last Friday for Spokane to visit my dear friend Erin and Brooklyn's friend Wes, who have known e/o since they were 15 months. Erin's husband Andy hung with Tatem (whose Benny's age) so we could get crazy on the town just the 4 of us. It was so liberating to only be in charge of ONE child, and to throw caution to the wind and not stress schedule or nap. A BIG thank you to Andy for being such a trooper and helping so much.

First, if you have never been to Spokane, you must go. It reminds me so much of Central Oregon in so many ways, lot's of outdoor activities, small town feel, beautiful scenery, the river running right through downtown. Adorable city, I fell in love immediately.

We got in like I said mid-day Friday and decided to just chill. The kid's immediately fell back into the rhythm of playing great together and Wes had a blast showing off his new digs to Brooklyn. We played in the hose, scootered, and they made us a wonderful dinner Friday night (thank you so much you guys!) Then we headed to their neighborhood ice cream shop called "the scoop" for some tastiness and live music.

Saturday was busy! We went to the rose garden's, the Japanese gardens, had a great lunch right in the middle of all of it at a great sandwich shop. Then headed back to their house and both kids napped (unheard of these days) so Erin and I capitalized on the rare quietness and went to get coffee and pedicures. Such a treat.



After naps we hit the road again and headed to the carousel that is right on the river front. To say Brooklyn was excited would be an understatement. Tatem and Andy came with us for this, and I loved watching little T's face light up at the horses. All three of them were in hog heaven. 

sweet friends



Then we headed to pizza at the legendary "flying goat" and it lived up to the hype. mmmmmm.
It's funny, we took our time eating, the kids colored, got a little antsy, but for the most part Erin and I were able to just sit, enjoy our food and talk. This is a luxury, the exception, not the rule these days for both of us. The babies are...well...babies, and they don't like to sit still, so we don't enjoy meals sitting down very often. It was truly nice. So after dinner we decided "what the heck" let's take the kids to another park. I'm so glad we did because this ended up being my very favorite part of the whole weekend. It was 7pm, but really hot out, so when the kids asked if they could go in the fountains we said sure (even though we didn't have a change of clothes or a towel). They had a blast and we sat and talked and talked and talked :)

The picture below is of "annabelle" and "arf". Brooklyn has been playing "puppy" these past few months. She named herself annabelle and she is our puppy and we have to pretend to bathe her and feed her and all the other things you do with a puppy. So...it was a delight to discover that Wes has been playing the same game, his k-9 alter ego being "arf".

They were naked, drying off in this blanket in the back of E's car barking and sniffing each other. So funny. I think the best part however, was the fact that during all this puppy play, Erin's keys went missing. We seriously spent 30 min tearing her car apart looking for them. We kept looking at each other saying "what is going on? are we on camera". We must have been a sight to see! Our naked kiddos sprawled out on the side of the road jumping around like wild dogs while we were on all 4's searching the bottom, top and every nook and cranny of the car for the keys. Great memory...now :)

Sunday we went to a great local bakery, let the kids split a cup cake (even though it was only 10am) and then went to yet another amazing park. I would move to Spokane just for the sprawling park scene. For reals, it's amazing.

We were so sad to leave, not nearly enough time. I was very happy to be greeted by our boys though, waiting at the front window when we pulled up.

Can't wait to come again (soon!) O's. Thank you for an amazing weekend.

so much change in a year

I have been wanting to do this post for a while. I finally coaxed little miss into her "first day of school" outfit so I could do a side-by-side comparison. 

What do you think? Do they look like a 10 months of change?! 

Brooklyn & Benjamin, I command you both, stop growing this instant! I am your mother, you must obey me :)

China

Lauren forced asked me to take over the blog to share some stories about my China trip.  I took the trip as part of my MBA program.  We were given the option of either staying home and taking a seven week class on the global business environment, or spending much less time in class and learning by doing in China for nine days.  14 dummies (kidding) ended up staying home and attending class, while myself and 7 other adventurous types decided to take the plunge.  We visited Shanghai and Beijing during our time, with a high speed rail trip in between.

The first thing I have to say is thank you to my wonderful wife for authorizing me to be gone for all that time.  It was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I can’t actually believe we debated whether or not it was a good idea.  It was a lot for you to take on and I truly appreciate it.  Of course it didn’t all go smoothly.  There were a couple minor injuries, including a multi-lingual announcement on  on the flight over to see if there was doctor on board (Apparently a passing drink cart collision with the knee while sleeping can induce someone into passing out.  Who knew?), and a self-inflicted Great Wall head wound.  The trip over and back was exactly how you would expect it to be for someone who is 6’2”.  Not the most comfortable 26 hours (total flight time) of my life, but well worth it. 

Other than my periodic bad fortune and sore knees I was blown away by the trip.  The people are wonderful (very nice, inquisitive, willing to help).  The food was amazing.  The pollution even abated for the days that we were there and we were blessed with sunny skies and warm weather.  I decided rather than try to explain it all just do this photo essay style and share some images from the trip, along with some comments.  China is not somewhere that I would have ever thought to go if this opportunity had not presented itself, but I would absolutely go back and would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to take advantage.  You will not be disappointed.  Thanks for reading!

Day trip to Sozhou.  A smallish city about 90 minutes outside Shanghai.  Smallish like 10 million people

Traditional Chinese garden right in the middle of the city

All of the walkways had this kind of detail.  Makes my back hurt just thinking about it



Back in Shanghai.  There were a few scooters on the roads

It costs $10,000 to register a car in Shanghai.  Drive around for half a day and you quickly understand why

Took this in the cab from the airport to the hotel.  My jaw was on the floor.  21 million people and high rises everywhere

River cruise in Shanghai



This stupid American kept getting in my pictures

Bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing.  180 mph!

View from my hotel balcony in Beijing.  We were right in the heart of the financial district

Visiting the Olympic site.  The wind was at my back.  I'm not this puffy.  I swear

CCTV tower in Beijing.  One of the 7 architectural wonders of the world

If you are ever thinking of setting off a car bomb in the embassy district, don't do it.  It's not allowed

The knock-off market in Beijing.  A 5 minute walk from our hotel.  6 floors of knock-off clothes, jewelry, watches, handbags, luggage and just about anything else you can think of.  Nothing had prices on it.  You had to haggle with a rude 18 year old Chinese girl for everything

If you are looking for a foot massage and a new driver, this is the place

Street food

How do you know there are a lot of people in Beijing (population 19 million)?  This is in the subway at 10 pm on a Thursday

One of the city gates just outside Tianamen Square

Our guide told us that they make the Asian tourists wear matching hats so they don't lose people.  That's the National Congress building in the background

The famous picture from the 1989 student demonstrations was taken on the street just to the right of this picture

I had to keep backing up to get the National Mueseum into the frame.  This picture does not do it justice

We drew crowds a lot of places we went.  This is Chris from my MBA program with about 100 people standing around taking pictures with and of us.  I probably had my picture taken at least 200 times

Inside the Forbidden City.  The largest imperial palace in the world.  Our guide told us if you visited every room it would take 2-3 years.  There are over 10,000



The detail work on the building in the background is crazy

These are the two tallest people I met 

There were about 1000 of these on the doors of the Emperor's throne room.  Apparently he liked gold

This is a single piece of marble.  It took them 3 years to move it to the palace.  They could only do it during the winter because they had to wait for the ground to be icy.  Took 3,000 men to move

"We have some problems at our Great Wall of China store"

Street vendors at the Great Wall

We climbed all the way to the top of this section

It's really steep



That's still the wall on top of the mountain in the background.  They don't know how long it is for sure, but it's estimated somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 miles

Also steep going down

Top of the world

After I took this picture I turned around and did...

...this.  Apparently the towers are not designed for the over six foot crowd

This lady tried to sell us beer on the way back down.  Thank you, no

Saturday (day before we came home) we had the day to ourselves.  We decided to visit an authentic Chinese coffe shop

One of my favorite places in Bejing.  Park that some locals had to show us how to get into



Lots of shops, restaurants, and bars in this area.  Very fun

The food was great.  Probably because we didn't eat here (I apologize to anyone who digs Sizzler)

This was one of my favorite meals.  Hole in the wall with sidewalk seating.  Less than $3 for soup and a couple beers.  So good

I can't describe how good this tasted at the time.  I love Chinese food, but this was a welcome change of pace

Our last dinner.  The one to the left of the beer was mine.  Fantastic.  My classmates that stayed a few extra days ate here 3 more times.  It was in an alley behind our hotel