Warming up for swim lessons

Mouthful of Hay

This is from our trip to the pumpkin patch last week. Despite the mouthfuls of hay, the boys wanted to go again and again.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Saturday soccer game

Getting ready for a bike ride

Sean has been coming up with some rather fetching combinations of clothing lately.

Homework

This is one of the biggest differences between kindergarten and 1st grade...homework! We have a few pages of reading and/or math plus we are working on 20 minutes of Jackson reading to us out loud each night. Keeping Sean occupied during designated homework time is sometimes a challenge.

Jet boat ride

On Saturday, I took the boys out for a Willamette Jet Boat ride. It was a "moms and sons" expedition ,organized by our local park and rec department. The boys loved it! The boat goes up and down the Willamette river and offers great views of downtown and the surrounding areas. Of course, the big draw was that the boat goes very fast and as an added bonus, the driver does several high speed spins and quick stops along the way ensuring everyone gets sprayed with water (unless you duck down). Fortunately it was a warm sunny day and we all dried off quickly.

En route to school

Heading upstairs for bath time

Portland Pirate Festival

This is what we did last Saturday. It was a fun event and amazing to see how many adults enjoy dressing up in pirate attire.

10 years today

From the archives

Last of summer

After two weeks of perfect weather, it looks like we are finally headed toward Fall. This may have been our last outside swim for a while.

Three kids, three dogs, one busy weekend

We were in Central Oregon this past weekend to babysit for a close friend I've known for almost 20 years. She went on an overnight hiking trip with her husband, and Jim and stayed at their house to watch their daughter and two dogs. We brought the boys and Talus and had a lot of fun going swimming, playing at the park and enjoying the beautiful views from their house.

Why September is our favorite month

Sean's first day of school

First Day of First Grade

Today was Jackson's first day of school. He was very excited and happy to see all his friends. It was crazy at his school...all the parents were catching up while trying to drop of huge bags of school supplies. The kids and siblings were running around, photos were being taken, and the poor teachers looked a bit overwhelmed. Jackson was very calm and confident and was ready for me to leave his classroom. He put up with the incessant photo taking and did his best not to make a funny face.
Tomorrow is Sean's first day.

At The Oregon Coast

We took an end-of-summer day trip to the Oregon coast on Friday. We decided to bring Talus with us and he loved it. He kept running in the water to chase the waves, but as soon as he got his paws wet, he ran right back out. He was exhausted by the time we headed home. The boys loved it, too. In typical Oregon fashion, it was sunny and clear for 15 minutes, then clouds rolled in with a little rain, then the sun came out again.

Sipping on a lava flow

Lava Flow

I was just looking through our Hawaii photos and found this.....we all had to have at least one oversize friuty drink with an umbrella in it. In this case, a non-alcoholic lava flow.

At The Lake

This is what we did almost all day on Friday in an attempt to keep cool when it was 100 degrees outside. Our friends Laura and Andrew joined us.

Summer Fun

It has been very hot here the last few days. The boys have decided it is too hot to wear a shirt so they spend most of the day wearing only shorts.
It is also becoming very apparent that it is time for haircuts. But at this point I'm just going to let their hair be a little messy until we get the official back to school haircuts.

Sean hits the waves

Surf photos

Jackson did really well with surfing. He got up almost every time. The rest of us weren't so lucky...more photos to come.

Too much vacation

Boys playing in ocean at Kapalua

We had a great week in Maui. Did 2 days of snorkeling, a surf lesson, visited the Ocean Museum, ate lots of pineapple and enjoyed a lot of time at the beautiful beach.

Morning at the beach

More Hawaii

The beach in Kapalua

Jamison Fountain

This is one of our favorite spots downtown. Normally the boys would be in swimsuits and playing in the water, but this was just a quick visit on our way to get ice cream. I knew if we stayed much longer, both boys would be in the water. Fortunately, the prospect of ice cream was able to lure them away.

Waiting for candy

As all the floats go by, candy gets tossed out to all the spectators. So, of course, this is the focal point of the parade. After all the floats have passed, the kids (as well as strollers, wagons, scooters and dogs!) get in line and parade down the street.

Decorated bikes

Watching the 4th of July parade

Triathlon Weekend

We had a fun and HOT weekend in Sunriver, OR! The boys participated in the "Splash, Pedal and Dash" on Friday...first the kids go down a water slide/wading pool, then they do a 1 mile bike ride and finally a half mile run. They wear official race numbers and a timing chip on their ankle. They finish with a triumphant run down the finishers chute as the announcer calls out their names and hometown. At the end of the chute, they were awarded a finishers medal, which both boys displayed proudly for the rest of the day. Jackson had so much fun, he asked if he could do the race again!


The last photo is me....I finished my race as well! I felt great on the swim, great on the 58 mile bike and hot on the run...it got up to 96 degrees so I'm guessing it was already over 90 by the time I started the run. Fortunately, there were water stations every mile and I was able to stay well hydrated. I was very happy when I finally saw Jim and the boys at the finish line.

Possible Christmas Card Photo

Summer is finally here

We had an unusually long, wet spring....it's still not balmy but seventy degrees and sunny feels pretty good after weeks of cool, rainy weather.

Night at the museum

One of the year end activities for Jackson's class was a night at The Children's Museum....his class had the museum all to themselves. The museum visit was courtesy of a family from his class...they won it at a charity auction and graciously offered it to the graduating kindergarten class. Siblings were welcome and as Sean likes to say, it was "awesome".

More Ranch Photos

Jackson and Sean had a great time hanging out with all the other kids at the ranch.

Central Oregon

Jim's office had their annual work retreat at a ranch in Central Oregon last weekend. We rode horses, ate smores by a bonfire and played horseshoes. The boys loved the horses...though Sean was a little upset he wasn't allowed to gallop across the field.