Welcome Em and The Young Eagles

This week was full of major events, first off on Tuesday we welcomed Emily, Tala and the boys (plus Rick and Jillian and Jillian's two kids, but that is a story for a different day) as the newest residents of West Linn.  They left AZ last Sunday and after two and a half days of driving with very little sleep, they pulled in to their driveway late Tuesday.  We had about 30 people from the West Linn and Trillium wards show up to help them and they unloaded the huge Uhaul in record time in the rain, a true Oregon welcome.  We are really happy to have them join us.  My whole family is now present and accounted for.  Now we just need to work on Jeremy's side.

The other major events of the week took place over Friday and Saturday.  Merrick took part in a program called the Young Eagles.  The adventure started on Friday when he and Jeremy, along with Ben, Quincy, Colvin, Kalani, and Kai headed out to Estacada and spent the night camping with some other kids from the ward.  They spent night in the backyard of a family that used to live in our ward.  What boy doesn't love camping with his cousins?  So, that in and of itself was an adventure.  But, the fun was just getting started.  On Saturday morning Emily drove Maude and Jillian's kids out and they all met out at the Estacada airport to FLY PLANES!  Each of the kids were taken up in a two seater plane with a pilot.  Once in the air the got a chance to take the controls and fly by themselves.  I think Merrick was nervous at first, but had a great time.  He loved that his plane had sea turtles painted on it and that he got to fly close enough that he could see West Linn.  I don't know if he will get to do this again or if it was a once in a lifetime thing, but it was definitely a memory that he will hang on to for a long time.

While the boys were gone, the girls and I hung out with the remaining Browns.  We played at their house, went to dinner, and to a park with a splash pad. I don't think Carrigan feels like she missed out on anything.

The only sour note of the whole ordeal was that Jeremy hit a big stick on his way home and ripped a hole in his back tire.  Just to make life even more fun, apparently nobody carries his size of tire so we had to order one and are now waiting for it to come in while he drives around with a doughnut.