News from Corvallis

Hello, I know it has been two months but it is hard for me to carve out an hour on the computer to get this done.

In August we went to a Halbleib family reunion in Placerville, CA. All five Halbleib brothers were there as were some cousins from the Midwest. Evan and Dadoo did some rafting on the creek and Granda Halbleib did her own show (that we missed) one evening by stepping between two rafts and falling in! Then we flew 15 minutes east for a stay on Lake Tahoe with some of Mary's family. Chloe and Evan both got guitars at the craft fair (thanks Aunt Beth and Uncle David!). The hammock in the backyard was a hit as was the baseball practice stand Chloe brought. We were one block from the lake and it was beautiful especially from the air. Greg, Mike and Mary did a off-trail hike in the Desolation Wilderness, only a few miles from the house, the lakes nestled in the granite bowls were stunning and made us was five days with our backpacks -- oh and some child care!

Before this trip we took Evan on a test flight with four successful take-offs and landings (and a short aerial tour of Skip's farm) we decided to fly to CA on Halbleib Air. So this was Evan's first long distance flight and he was a super star! Mom on the other hand was not so much of one when there was some hefty turbulence over Lake Tahoe as we headed back to Oregon.

The day after we got home Dadoo took Evan to the coast and the weather was unbelievable -- just look at what Evan is not wearing while he ran on the sand dragging a piece of seaweed! This is a very sweet image for me as he is enjoying himself and not in pain (below there is more on why this is the case).

Evan loves to visit Skip's farm over in Albany; I suspect all of the large and green John Deere equipment makes it even better. He got to ride an onion digger driven by Skip and climb on anything on the farm. Evan selected his outfit this day, he truly likes bright colors!

Daddo comes up with the best adventures, he took Evan down to a park on the Willamette River that turned into a mud bog fun fest. Evan even had his sandals get sucked off his feet by the sticky mud.

Growing up and being like Dad is apparently on Evan's mind. On that note Evan starts preschool next week!

The new background reflects Evan's love for the color orange. He has orange Crocs that he picked out and he gets compliments on them quite often (he is wearing them in the tractor above).

Evan is having more GI issues so we are back at Doernbecker Childrens Hospital (aka OHSU) in Portland. We had a test last week to make sure that his guts are structurally correct, they are. Next week we go back for an gastric emptying test (3 hours long in the nuclear medicine department, this is new place for us). We are sad for him to have to endure so many tests but not sleeping, throwing up or being in extreme pain have become the night routine here. We hope to find an answer soon so we can move forward and get some sleep.