Our Town...

...is a small town.

I was a little worried (OK a LOTTA worried) when we drove into our new town. A small town. Looking like a very wintery-bare and dreary town. And quite honestly, a little poor.... a little depressed.

But I kept hearing how much people love it here. And we have met a lot of people who aren't from here...but have been here for 15+ years. So there must be something. Something that gets them to stay.

The first couple of months were rough. The kiddos + no sleep + staying at several different places = grumpy family. But now that we are feeling more settled we have had some opportunities to explore. And see things. And meet people.

I can't say that I am in love and want to live here forever. But I can say that I am fond of several things about this town.

So here is the list. The top 10. The top 10 things I like about this town (excluding our friends and our house):

1. The climate. I love seasons. I love how diverse this area is....last weekend we drove to the "shopping" town that is about an 1 hour and 15 minutes away. We left our house early in the morning...it was maybe high twenties and sunny. Just 30 minutes away and there were WALLS of snow, hail, and the temp was in the 20s. And on the other side of the mountain...sunny and 40 degrees. Looks like snow clouds:

2. The people. We love our builder. We really like our soon-to-be landscapers. We like our neighbors. And the brownies, cookie bars, cards, and free car-wash coupons our various new neighbors welcomed us with.

And listen to this. Geoff just told me about a lady. A lady at Walmart. A lady at Walmart who just walked up and swiped her credit card and paid for his groceries. Just because. Geoff was in his uniform that day and that is why he thinks she did it.

3. The coffee. There are so many little drive-in coffee stands here. It is very northwestern-y. Human Bean. Matteos. Quakenbush. Hillside. Dutch Bros Coffee. Starbucks. And although I love Starbuck's and wish there were a drive thru Starbucks here...it is a little refreshing to see that they don't rule the roost. And how many places these days can you only say there is one Starbucks? Normally there is one every corner. I just need to find my new favorites at the local coffee joints. But back to #2...people and #3 coffee. I tried out the coffee shop Matteo's the other day. It is right near our house and they just opened a new shop with a fireplace and drive thru. I just switched cars with Geoff and went in to buy a latte. I placed my order and realized that my wallet wasn't in my purse...it was in my car. So I told the barista..."hold on, don't make my coffee yet, I don't think I have any money." And he said "are you sure? I can make it and you can just pay another day." What?!?

4. The trains. This.is.a.train.town. And since J and W love trains so much right now it is awesome. We can see trains from our window at least four times a day. One day at least eight trains went by. We are close enough for a great view...but far enough to not be disturbed by them. Train mountain is here. We just went to a train day at the local museum (pic below). And just heard about several train events throughout the year.

We got a ride on some of "train mountain" trains again at a local home and garden show. Here is a pic of W just before...the driver stopped the train...moved W to his seat...and grabbed my camera to take a picture of the three of us. I turned around to see if J could see around me...and all of a sudden the train started going backwards...very fast! I turned around and saw the poor driver man chasing the train! W decided to really be the engineer and had started the train!

Here is W at home...pretty excited about a track he just built:

5. The runners. People around here love to run. And they love to run outdoors. There are so many local races in the area. I ran in a "Run for the Music" 10K today. And it was nice. People who were running at a very fast pace in the opposite direction (as in they were way ahead and already turned around at the halfway point) were smiling and yelling "Good job!" And at the awards, they gave a medal to a 94 year old woman who participated in the 1-mile race. And the guy who won the 10K...I think his time was 40 minutes and change. And he is 57 years old...quite inspiring.

6. The Green Blade Bakery. I love this little bakery. Family-owned. A simple menu. All good. They buy local as much as possible and are close to our house. We love the whole wheat sourdough bread and the cinnamon swirl bread. It is scary how fast we can finish a loaf.

7. The outdoors. I can say whole heartedly that I wish there were a Target here. And a Costco. But I can also say that when those things are nearby I go to them too much. And I think we will be more apt to get out and do outdoor things with the boys without all of the shopping distractions. Like skiing. And hiking. And OK, maybe camping (not my favorite though). And I am pretty certain that the boys will remember that more than any trip to Target.

8. The dogs, the horses, the deer, the jack rabbits, the chicks. People love their dogs here. I haven't been out in town once without seeing at least one or two dogs in cars. And if you drive about 5 minutes down the road we can see lots of horses and lots of deer. Most people say the deer drive them crazy for eating everything in their yard. But we haven't experienced that yet. We just saw 12 deer standing together by the lake the other day. 12!! I just stopped the van right on the street (no one was around) and the boys and I watched them walking in a group. So neat. And we do see jack rabbits right outside our house. And we went to the local Big R store and saw their baby turkey chicks, hen chicks, and rooster chicks all at a local farming store. This is quite an area for birds apparently - they even have a winter wings festival (but we missed it). I am anxious to see the bald eagles.

9. The library. This may not seem big but I was relieved to see the selection at the library. Mostly to see that they had a great selection of magazines for checkout. (not all libraries do this) but I discovered this about five years ago when I was with Geoff in Las Vegas. I had a lot of free time and I remember going to the library and seeing the bar code on the magazines. I remember asking the librarian in disbelief "I can check these out??" Really? I could read a variety of magazines and take them with me to the gym to read while working out. I love that. So here I can check out Health, Runners World, In Style, People, Shape, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Living, Rachael Ray, etc. without paying a dime. The other day the boys and I decided to see how many children's "train" books we could find to checkout.

Here is a photo of the boys...barely in the door (excuse the mess) and flipping through a train book:

10. The pediatrician. OK, this is a big deal for us. We have a really good pediatrician. She knows what she is doing. She has a nice (super clean) office. She has a friendly staff. And the boys just had their 3-year well baby check (we didn't know they needed that which is why they are getting it six months late) and we were actively seeing the tech, the resident doctor and the pediatrician for an hour and a half. And we waited about 5 minutes to start the actual appointment. They were very thorough. I was filling out a multi-page questionnaire on the boys' decision making skills, their physical abilities, etc. The staff had read through their chart and knew about their medical history before the appointment. Shocker! And they asked us lots of questions about potty training, dental care, etc. The pediatrician recommended a multivitamin every day (vs. every other day like I have been doing) for the Vitamin D. And informed us there is no fluoride in the water. Good things.

OK...so I can just as easily type up ten things that I don't like about this town. But I could do that for pretty much every place we have lived. And this list was more fun. =)

Dick Howard's Meat Center

Ok...so we needed to buy some chicken. And apparently the place to go in town for any meat product is Dick Howards. I don't eat red meat so I hadn't been before- until I heard they have really nice pre-marinated chicken breasts. So the boys and I went after haircuts at a local barber (complete with a large deer head and various other animals on the walls) called Lews. I really wish I had my camera...for both Lews and Dick Howards. If this place wasn't the go-to place I never would have stepped foot in the door. It certainly doesn't look like much from the outside...a very typical hole-in-the-wall looking place, has a small parking lot and is right next door to a gentlemen's club of some sort. Nice.
It was simple on the inside....just one massive deli-type counter with anything you could imagine: pepperoni sticks, elk jerky, deer jerkey, buffalo, ham, beef jerkey, crabs, kebabs, red snapper, stuffed chicken breasts, cornish hens, grass fed beef and on and on. I didn't even look too closely at the meat side but I can only imagine the choices. They also carried several local products: organic cocoas, chocolate, jams, BBQ sauces, pre-packaged local grains...etc. So it was kind of fun to look around. The man who helped me was so nice and patient and I didn't feel rushed (although the place was busy) and so it had fantastic customer service. I bought some italian marinated chicken breasts, "pop's" special seasoning chicken breasts, and some terijaki chicken breasts. And right before I left I saw some marinated chicken fajitas complete with peppers and onions so I bought a couple of pounds of that for dinner. They were SO good. The four of us ate almost the entire 2 lbs of it. And they were reasonably priced too. I was excited to find a good alternative to eating out since there aren't a ton of restaurants here.

I just saw some reviews for Dick Howards and this place is known even outside of OR:

by Annie 11/09/2009
Howards is the best butcher shop around, hands down. I live in Northern California and when I come to K Falls I ALWAYS stop at Howards to buy meat to bring home; lots of hamburger, marinated steaks, sausages, ribs, elk, and buffalo. Howards will freeze my order until I'm ready to go home. I've even mentioned Howards to friends that travel, they now stop every time they pass through town. The service is friendly too.

And this one I thought was funny:
Their marinated steaks ARE THE BEST ! UMMMMMM-UMMMM! Just finished microwaving and eat one - DELICIOUS ! Also, they have the best selection of meats in the area -- as a matter of fact, they're the only game in town. Funny how they're located next door to a strip club. Weird. But DELICIOUS MEATS, NONETHELESS !

As for local restaurants, we have heard that there are a couple of good sushi restaurants we want to try. One even has good lettuce wraps-I can't wait to compare them to PF Changs wraps. There are a ton of Mexican restaurants here as well. The good thing about living in smaller towns is you really have the opportunity to try all of the "local" joints and not just chain restaurants. But speaking of chain restaurants, we had Papa Murphy's since we have been here and it is SO good too. I have never had Papa Murphy's before but there is one right near our house.

And if anything, we don't eat out very much anyway and it will force me to use my new Wolf range and try many new recipes!

Wonderful words....

Isn't it amazing how quickly children's vocabulary picks up? The words J and W say today amaze us. And then throw humor, exaggeration, and sarcasm in the mix and it sure makes for some fun stories.

We tried the "all natural" Cheetos-like snack called "Pirates Booty" the other day. And very shortly after J was pushing around a pirate ship toy and said in a pirate-voice:
"I want my pirate booty arrgh!"

Geoff saw that the toilet paper was pulled almost completely off the roll so he asked W:
"Did you pull the toilet paper off the roll?"
W: "I did."
Geoff: "Why did you do that?"
W: "Because mommy made me sit on the potty all day long."

A couple of more house pics.....

Some more pictures of our house that I forgot to post the first time around. I am posting some to give my family an idea of the placement of the house:
First night in new home:

Looking at the front door:

Unpacking the boxes:

View of the large crawl space underneath the house:

View looking across the street (and up the hill):

Looking out the side window toward Mt. Shasta:

Looking out the "living" room window:

Cross Country.....

Our itinerary from FL to OR was: stop in Houston for Thanksgiving, OKC to visit with Aunt JJ, New Mexico for an overnight stay and to have dinner with our friend's the Matuszaks, Las Vegas for Uncle Matt's Weapon's School Graduation, then complete the drive to OR.

TEXAS

Joining Grandpa (a.k.a. the dog whisperer) and the doggies for their walk:

Being silly with Grandpa at Old Town Spring:

With Grammy and Grandpa while Christmas shopping in Old Town Spring:

With cousins Chloe and Logan:

With Uncle Matt, Aunt Amy, Logan and Chloe:

With Grammy and Aunt JJ:

Let the hugging begin!

OKLAHOMA
Downtown OKC:

Sitting on a buffalo downtown (they are everywhere)-it was COLD that night:

Enjoying his first smore's at Aunt JJ's (I was pleased to see the marshmallow kind of grossed him out and he hardly ate any)--marshmallows scare me! Jenette also treated us to PF Changs that night for dinner--and my dear friend Katie dropped by for a visit with her youngest Henry (I forgot to take a picture though!)

W showing off the elephant pancake Aunt JJ and daddy made:

Thanks for the fun visit Jenette!

LAS VEGAS

Family shot at Hoover Dam:

W teasing Aunt Amy by trying to steal her scarf:

The Bellagio

We had to stop in to see the Christmas decorations at the Bellagio...we loved them when we were in Vegas FIVE (I can't believe it was five) years ago:

W watching trains intently.....

....and suddenly, J decides to get an up close and personal view of those trains...and before we know it he is stepping right up on the display.... !

He only crunched a few poinsettias before someone (I don't remember who I was speechless) grabbed him before anything was really damaged......

With daddy before the graduation:

We stayed in a very tiny room on base in Vegas...very tiny being that there were four of us, Katy and Bear and one bedroom with a full-size bed. Luckily there was a pull-out bed in the sofa (about 3 feet away)--and it all worked out. At least temporarily. We didn't sleep very much but we don't sleep very much anyway. =)

The rest of the drive went smooth. We had to detour through California due to snow in northern Nevada but that went well. Mark and Jan drove with us to ferry a car with Katy and Bear and it helped so much.

Before Christmas.........

During Christmas week we were staying at our friend's Alexis and Johan's house and we took advantage of any snow that fell.....

We put the little people to work right away:

We built our first snowman:

We admired daddy's snow angel:

And loved every minute of it...

$1 Cereal

Doesn't everyone do this when they see a sale on Quaker cereal for $1 a box?

And no, these are not all of our boxes...we were staying at our friend's house and this is our loot combined...and our friend K proudly showing off the tower we built.