fall lake fun

we spent a lovely weekend up at the lake cabin a couple weekends back (as usual my posts are a little behind).  my brother and his family came up for the weekend.  the kids had a great time playing on the lake together.

we took in a little lawn mower races...these are AW-SOME! seriously there is nothing more rural america than sitting in the sun sipping cheap beer and watching men (who may very well believe they are nascar racers) race around on suped up lawn mowers.  god bless america!

....an all around great weekend!

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crush

its official riley has a crush...his first and it's pretty darn cute.  her name is fiona and they met the last week of summer at the gorge peace village camp.  they love each other.  turns out she lives right down the road.  she and her family have been living abroad in china for the past 4 yrs. her dad works for specialized (the bike company) in the shoe dept.  he was setting up the china office and what was supposed to be a couple years turned into four.
so we have been in our house now for four years and never even knew they existed, but they have owned their house the entire time and now they are back.  she is a sweet girl, also 8yo and also in 3rd grade and they are a very nice family (so psyched for good new neighbors too!)....so now riley's first crush is just a quick bike ride away.  its very adorable.

here is a picture of the kids....

gorge triathalon

the kids did a fun little kids triathalon this morning.  it was a really fun event.  both kids did it but riley enjoyed it more than lucy. 

here are the kids at the start in their respective age groups.... (riley is second row with his buddies)

...riley went first, and here is doing the 'swim' (mostly they all just waded)

...then off for the run...

...lucy starting the bike portion of the race.

...and then finishing strong with the run!

...post-finish smiles with mom...

 ...and all the kids together at the finish who did the race....

...super fun little event for the little people of the gorge!

summer wrap-up

so this is the wrap-up post to our summer. we ended our summer with a visit from todd's dad and step-mom (jim and lynn). they usually come visit labor day weekend, but this year made an extended visit and came out for a week with their friends marti and pat who had never been out to visit the northwest.  we had a very full and enjoyable week.

first stop was cannon beach.  the weather was blue sky amazing...what a way to show off the oregon coast!  we played in the sand (marti was a sport and let the kids bury her), and flew kites, and just relaxed....what an enjoyable beach visit.

they spent a couple days in portland and had some urban adventures, then it was back to hood river.  we had lots of fun but a highlight was blueberry picking (i think lynn had died and gone to heaven!).

not pictured (at least by me) we also went to the farmer's market, went wine tasting, watched the windsurfer's, ate lots of yummy meals and had an all around great time.

it was a really lovely visit to end our summer!

first day of school

a quick note to share our first day of school (which is always the day after labor day in oregon).  this is a household event but this year an even bigger deal as lucy started kindergarten!!  our youngest is now at the 'big kid' school.... holy crap when did that happen?!

she was super excited... and maybe just a little bit nervous (but it helps that she has been walking in that school everyday for the past 3 yrs with her brother).   i on the other hand, got a little choked up....man these milestones are hard for a mama!  lucy just put on her new backpack gave us a hug and was off!

riley was more excited for lucy than anything else (which was pretty sweet).....but of course was thrilled to see his best buds (who all ended up in the same class).  he posed for the obligatory 'first day of school picture' and he too was off....

todd and i celebrated our first kid-free morning by going on a hike. and not just any hike but a hard, switchback, NOT kid-friendly hike.... and well worth the climb as we were rewarded with stunning views of the gorge.  it was lovely.

happy first days of school to you!!

p.s......there are a couple end of summer posts (we were literally too busy to blog) that i still mean to get out so stay tuned!!

big vacation week

***disclaimer!!!  i wrote this post weeks ago but didn't publish as i hadn't added the photos...so the end result is that this post is a couple weeks old!!***

last week we had a multi-adventure vacation week (sorry for the delayed posting).

our week started with a few days up at my dad's lake cabin with some good old fashion lake swimming and dock jumping. the weather was hot and the water so refreshing. 

then we went white-water rafting down the deschutes river....very fun.  the kids had a blast.... and actually i was the only one who fell out of the boat.  my dad bought the photos so i will post when i get copies.


wednesday was the second annual yes day.   the answer is always "yes" on yes day to offset all the other days of the year when we say 'no' to many requests.  it was more or less a repeat of last year (they are not very imaginative truth be told) but it was a super fun day....
can we watch TV?  can we have burritos for breakfast?  can buy some snacks at the store (aka junk food)? can we go to alpine slides again this year, and do the bungee trampoline and putt-putt golf? can we all wear matching tie-dyes?  can we watch a movie, have ice cream sundaes and stay up late?

and for the last half of the week we headed to the coast for a little beach time with my mother and brother (and most importantly their cousins).  it was in the upper 90's at home so the cool 60's at the beach was so lovely!

a very very fun week of adventures!