Mt. St. Helens Mini Vacation

Since Gabe and I are taking the big vacation this summer by ourselves, we wanted to do a little something as a family.
Off we went on Thursday up north to spend a long weekend exploring Mt. St. Helens.  The camping was fun.  Levi met lots of friends to play and ride bikes with.  And we finally made ice cream!  It was way too hot to have a fire and make s'mores.  So a cool treat was perfect!

We explored the northwest side of the mountain on Friday.
We took in lots of amazing views!

And we did some hiking.  2.5 miles was more than Levi could handle.  The hike on the Hummocks trail had him in tears because his "legs hurt".

Saturday we explored the east side of the mountain.  It was a lot of driving, but the views were worth it!  And we stretched our legs with a little more hiking...without tears over tired legs.

The amount of logs in Spirit Lake is still pretty amazing.

At Windy Ridge there are 367 steps up to a view point.  Levi and I conquered all those stairs together.  I was able to convince him that he could do it if we took lots of breaks.  And lots of breaks we took!  But he did it!

And the view was amazing.
From the top of the view point we could see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainer.  Here's Mt. St. Helens with Spirit Lake.

And here's the view to the north with just the peak of Mt. Rainer.

Levi and Gabe took the trip down together...and more breaks were taken.  Mt. Hood is in this picture, but barely visible because of the high noon sun.

We learned lots about the 1980 eruption. 

It was lots of family fun...although I could have done without the mosquitoes.

Oaks Park

Portland summer fun has officially been had!  Levi and I met friends at Oaks Park last week and had a blast!
Every ride was enjoyed.  The Tilt-A-Whirl a few too many times for me.  I'm getting too old to do it again and again and again like these boys want to!

The boys even road the "roller coaster" a  few times on their own!
They are in the very front pink car.

Holiday Weekend

The 4th of July holiday weekend began on Blueberry Hill.  Oh how we love fresh picked blueberries!  Between the three of us, 22 pounds of berries were picked.  Plus, it's also very nice to meet friends to pick with!  I put blueberries in many delicious baked treats over the course of the weekend.  Blueberry lemon muffins...of course!  An amazing Blueberry Rosemary Focaccia bread.  And blueberry crumb bars.

This kid is turning into quite the berry picker this summer.  And he still wants to go pick blackberries later this month.

We enjoyed another great evening at the Shaut's 4th of July BBQ.  Delicious food was eaten, corn hole was played, water balloons were thrown, cold hoppy beverages were enjoyed.

And I can't forget that sparklers were lit and colorful explosions awed over.  Everything the celebration of America's birth is suppose to be.  And I loved Levi telling me (while the big mortars went off), "Mom, hold me!"  That just meant I had to put my arm around him.  He loved it and I was happy to be his reassurance.  We actually didn't leave Dave and Carley's house until after 11pm.  After all, I did tell Levi we could stay as late as he wanted...

The rest of our weekend was spent with bike rides to the park, chatting with friends visiting from the Netherlands, rides with said friend in Gabe's "race car", and another BBQ to celebrate Jackie's birthday.
Great weekend with lots of friends and fun.  Perfect!

Happiness: July

This month the happiness focus will be on money.  I firmly believe money can't buy happiness but I do believe the opposite is very true.  Money can cause a lot of unhappiness.
I'm a saver.  Gabe's a spender.  This difference has brought us both unhappiness at many points in the last 10 years.

The focus this month will be on these three areas:

• Take time to really examine our budget and find ways we can cut back on things we don't really need.  Give something up!
• Indulge in a modest splurge. (Maybe one for both of us.  I know Gabe won't be happy this month if I cut him off from amazon and steep and cheap completely.)
• Spend out.  This month I want to focus on spending more love and generosity.  That could be financial but it could also be time.  Time is extremely valuable in our house too!

Happiness Project: June Update

The goal I set this month to make new friends was difficult.  I knew it would be.  Life is busy, and it's hard to get people to take time away from what they know and give me a chance.  In addition to trying to get some people together to pick berries, I've also made a huge (for me) effort to be more friendly and talk to other moms at Levi's swimming and sports camps.  I've been amazed at how just saying "good morning" opens people up to engage in more conversations.  I've especially hit it of with a mom who's two daughters (ages 6 and 4) are in Levi's sports camps.  I haven't worked up the courage to ask for her contact information...that's my goal before Thursday.

Here are some photos from Levi's swimming and sports camps for the grandparent readers:

This kid rocks the back float!  And his front glides are really looking good too!

Apparently it can get boring waiting at third base!

Levi and I also randomly ran into one of his friends from school at the library this afternoon when we went to see a clown presentation.  I'm so glad we did!  Levi loved sitting next to Roman, and laughing with him at the clowns silly rhymes.  Plus, they are getting out their slip and slide tomorrow and asked if we would be interested in coming over after baseball camp.  So awesome!


We've also been fortunate this month to spend time with some long time friends.  My friend Sarah is back in town for the summer from Japan, so all the girls (and kids) got together last week to visit.  We've also been lucky to spend some time with my dear friend Peggy and her boys during their visit from LA.  We enjoyed a presentation from knights at the library about the science of sword fighting.

Played some at the park.

And picked raspberries (between rain showers)!
Hopefully we'll be able to spend some more time together before they leave on Thursday.  I know for sure Peggy and I are going to go out without the little boys!  A true best friend is definitely one you see twice a year but somehow it doesn't matter because you can always pick up right where you leave off!

OK...I've put off doing my homework for my summer class long enough!

End of June???!!!

Levi has been busy already this summer with swimming lessons and sports camps.  Our mornings have been spent going from one activity to the next.  Luckily, they are all at our community center so it just involves us moving from the pool to one field, and then another.  Between all that activity, we've also had some time to spend with friends.  (I'll get to more about that later!)  Honestly, we had such a busy week I was a bit relieved his two sports camps were canceled on Friday because we got some serious rain on Thursday and Friday.  It gave us the chance to get things ready to head down and spend the weekend with Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey.

Friday we took off and headed south to hear Grandpa Tom play at Agrarian Ales.  It's such a nice spot and is very kid friendly.  Plus, they have the best musical entertainment!

Levi took this picture of Craig and Tom with Mom and Dad's big camera...pretty good job!

Saturday we went into Eugene and took in the sights, sounds and smells of Eugene's Saturday Market and Farmer's market.  The highlight for Levi was the balloon sword the "clown" made for him.  We also enjoyed some time throwing rocks at the river.  Joanne's birthday is today.  (Happy Birthday Joanne!)  So we were lucky to be able to enjoy the birthday feast Tom made for her as well as cake.  It was nice to celebrate a little early with her!

When we got back into town yesterday, we met my parents and the Osborne's at the Hops game!

It was a great game!  (Just hot when the sun came out from behind the clouds.)

And they won in extra innings.  That's always exciting!

And of course the boys had to celebrate.

We are looking forward to lots more summer celebrations this weekend.  Check back next week for the run down of the 4th of July celebration and BBQ's (of which there are suppose to be many!)

Foster Lake

First camping trip of the summer happened over the weekend!

We went down to Foster Lake and camped at Sunnyside County Park.  It was a bit cool Saturday morning so we decided to do some "hiking" and waterfall viewing.  We hiked around at the falls at McDowell Creek Falls park.

We had a very nice picnic lunch at this winery.  The glass of wine and the view was great.
When the afternoon started to warm up, we decided to take a swim at the lake.  Even though it was the perfect sunny day, the lake was really cold.  Couldn't get Levi to get off the inflatable.

We are excited about many more camping adventures next month!

Summer-Week 1

I'm enjoying the sunshine in the back yard, watching Levi ride his bike around the drive way and climb in the maple tree as I type this blog post.  Oh, the wonders of summer!

We started our summer off right by asking a few of Levi's friends from school to join us at the berry patch.  Several were off on vacation, but it was fun!  The kids did a surprisingly good job picking and we had a nice picnic lunch together after all our hard work.  Levi and I made home made strawberry ice cream, a strawberry pie, and strawberry oatmeal bars with our berries.  Plus, we got some in the freezer for smoothies in the winter too!

Gabe and I did our second of four 5K races on Sunday.  (Gabe kept telling me the best Father's day gift would be me telling him that I was actually teasing and didn't sign us up for a race on Father's day.  I think we made it up to him by taking him to lunch at Fire on the Mountain.)  Levi ran his first of two 1K races.  He did great!  Gabe and I also improved our times from our last race.  I ran mine almost 3 minutes faster!

Since it's been overcast, cool or raining since summer vacation started, we took a trip to the library on Monday to pick up the summer reading packet.  Levi is super excited and we might need to make another trip this week for more books.  I love how much this kid loves to read!

We were (more like I was) very thankful that Levi's summer craft box arrived yesterday afternoon in the mail.  We were running out of things to keep us busy inside while it rained.  A tent and "fire" for roasting marshmallows was perfect!

We've also been keeping busy with swimming lessons in the morning.  Levi back floated for 10 seconds today without his teacher holding on to him.  Now...putting his face under the water is another story.  That's his area for growth!
I also enjoyed an evening with my friend Alexis yesterday.  We went to Powell's to hear one of our favorite authors (Jeannette Walls) speak.  It was fun and I probably wouldn't have bothered to do it if I hadn't set that goal about friendship this month.  I figure it's nice to spend time with old friends while attempting to make some new ones.

We're off on our first summer camping adventure this weekend!

Happiness: June

My happiness focus for June will be on Friendship.

Lucky for me...my best friend Peggy will be here at the end of the month visiting!
But I also want to try and make some new friends.  (Which I've never been very good at...too shy)  I think the best way for me to achieve this goal is to include Levi.  Since I don't stay at home, he hasn't been able to have play time with kids outside of the time they spend at school.  He has told us several times this school year that he wishes he could play with many of the kids in his class.  So the goal this month will be to:

• Make three new friends.  (In the process, Levi will get to have play time with three friends from school).  Since making friends is hard for me, I'm going to have to make an effort to be friendly by smiling more frequently, asking questions, and trying to look accessible and warm.

Happiness is the end of May!

I really meant to get this post up yesterday.  But we were so busy playing (celebrating a birthday here, enjoying time with friends, eating cake and ice cream, taking "naps") I didn't have a chance!  I figure it was fitting for May's happiness focus on play.

Here's a quick update on how else we played the month of May away.
The holiday weekend we spent with Jen, Rich and the boys at their house in Sunriver.  The Nichols family was there too and it was fun to have everyone together for the weekend!  Since this is the second year we've done it that means it's a tradition right?
Levi loved riding bikes and "playing" with Addison.

We all went for a hike to Tumalo Falls.

And of course we had to go splash around at the pool!

It was such a fun time.  Getting all the kids in bed and having just adult time (with beverages of course) might have been the highlight of each day!

We also celebrated a huge milestone this week...Levi's completion of preschool!

Here he is getting his goody bag and "yearbook" from teacher Debi and teacher David.
He's pretty excited he is on summer vacation and I can't wait to join him!

I also heard this very interesting series on NPR a few weeks ago.  It's about how our obsession with our cameras (especially on our phones) may be impacting our memories.  Very interesting.  It has made me think more and take one or two pictures...instead of a dozen.  Check out the story and let me know what you think!

Happiness Update:  We sure did a lot of playing this month!  But I never did have a chance to try learning to sew like I wanted.  I did research where I can take lessons...that's as far as I got.  I feel like that might be a good project for the fall since our summer is already full of fun adventures.  Seriously! I think as of right now, we'll only be home 2 weekends between the start of my summer vacation and going back to work.  I love summer!  Just wish it was longer...

Weekend Highlights

Gabe and I ran our first 5k of the summer!
I'm happy to report we both finished and are going to use our times to improve at the race next month.  Strangely, they haven't published official race times yet.  It surprises me because they now have these timing chips that should make the process easier.
Here we are staying dry under a tree before the race started.

And here we are after the race.

We also got to celebrate baby Elijah's first birthday this weekend!
Can't believe it's been a year.  Sure wish we could slow down the clock every once in a while.

He wasn't really sure about his cake.  Silly kid!
Levi wanted to capture the excitement as well.
I haven't checked yet to see how his photos turned out.

We sure are looking forward to the long holiday weekend coming up!
That means summer is literally right around the corner.

Mother's Day

I am so incredibly thankful for this wonderful son of mine.
I was given lots of very special treats this Mother's day.  Levi and Grandma G baked some yummy things and made me a very sweet card.
Levi picked out his own gift for me this year.  It's a water gun!  He bought a Nerf gun a few weeks ago with money he was sent by grandparents and great-grandparents for Easter.  Daddy had to get himself one too.  I declined at the time, but said I'd wait for summer and get a water gun.  This kid never forgets.  Apparently that's what he really wanted to get me for Mother's day!  Notice it's even totally marketed for girls!

And Gabe even managed to make my traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls in the trailer convection-microwave oven.  Pretty amazing guys I have!

And I just have to say how incredibly thankful I am for my own Mom cause I don't say it often enough.  Not only did she raise 4 daughters but she is also an amazing grandma/nanny.  We appreciate her soooo much.  She does so much for all of us.  (I honestly believe she's cleaned our stove top more often than I have.)  Thanks Mom!

Memaloose State Park

I feel the itch to get out of town at least once a month.  It's hard during the school year to leave town at 5:30pm.  So we've been trying to discover "close" spots that we can get to in under 2 hours.  We came across Memaloose State Park.  It's in the Gorge between Hood River and The Dalles.  Beautiful views of the river but lots of train and traffic noise.  It's met our under 2 hour goal but didn't deliver in enough other ways for us to head back any time soon.

So we did some wine tasting outside Hood River.  Had lunch at a brewery in White Salmon.  Did a really cool hike through the tunnels of the old gorge hwy.

Levi and I doing our silly Lewis and Clark pose.

It was a beautiful weekend!  And it ended perfectly.  On the drive home we overheard Levi in the back quietly saying, "I love camping."  I think we all do!

Taking play seriously

Friday night Gabe and Levi went to spectate some of the Oregon Trail Rally out at PIR.  Sounds like they had a fun time looking at cool Subarus and watching fast cars.  I came home from work to a empty house, got a good long workout in and spent the evening reading.  The boys didn't get home until after 9 and Levi was tired...but excited to tell me everything!  It was a perfect way to start the weekend for everyone.  And Levi even slept in yesterday morning!  That was a treat.

Saturday, I decided we should all take turns picking out things we wanted to do together.
Levi picked shrinky dinks.
I picked a family run at the track.
Gabe picked dinner at Raccoon Lodge.  (And a growler full of beer.)
We also took a trip to the garden center to get plants for the garden.  Shopping for plants is one of the few shopping experiences I enjoy.

And we finally tackled that project we were suppose to get done last month.  This is Levi's stormtrooper helmet.  Made out of milk jugs...lots of hot glue...a little electrical tape...and some paint.  Gabe engineered the helmet design and construction.  I was in charge of the finishing touches.  Levi wasn't too interested in helping actually but does love it!  I think it turned out pretty cool.

Today, Gabe also made an amazing cinnamon swirl bread.  Apparently he didn't like me teasing him about how his goal to bake actually turned into me baking more.

And here we are on Sunday evening with lots of fun experiences to get us through another week of school and work.

Happiness: May

This month's happiness focus will be on play and leisure.  Fitting since we've been having some difficult weeks at work...both Gabe and me.  And we have NOTHING on the calendar this weekend!  Lots of time for play to start the month off right!

We're going to find more fun (and be more serious about play) by:

• each choosing a fun play adventure for the family to do together.  We'll probably let Levi pick the first one this weekend.
• Try a new hobby.  I'm going to try and learn to sew...finally!

Levi and I also have a project we've been meaning to get done.  But, we needed some supplies and never got around to it last month.  Since there is rain in the forecast, we'll have a chance to do it this weekend.

Gabe and I also run our first 5K of our series in a few weeks!

Decided my goal will be to improve my time from race to race.  And to beat Gabe...that's always the goal.

Motivating 8th graders in May when it's almost 90 degrees in our classroom isn't easy.  Sure am looking forward to summer!