What is a summer break with out running a lemonade stand?! Our young budding business owners love the marketing, set up and SALES!!!
Still loving our paddle board! Lakes, rivers, daytime or sunset summer evenings with the beavers.
We kicked off the summer with our first 4 Peaks music festival which was located in Tumalo, about 15 minutes from town. Our friends had one of the many super cool VW vans to camp in next to our deluxe super size costco tent that has served us well over the last few years. We enjoyed 3 nights of music, meals and memories...this weekend will definitely have to be done again next year.
It happened to be Fathers Day weekend too...just look at these happy amazing dads!
The head liner was Rusted Root the first night, which did not disappoint! Such great songs to remind me of my college days! All weekend, the music was great...whether we listened from afar or right up at center stage.
The kids activity tent changed activities every two hours, so the kids had a blast crafting it up and we too liked getting in on all the hands on fun.
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| I loved dancing with my lil' festival girl. |
It was cool to see the kids appreciate the talent on stage, they were captivated by the instruments and awesome jam sessions they put on...for a while, then they were off and running wild like all 5 1/2 year old boys should be.
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| Kids exploring the perimeter of the land. |
I am happy to be loving living life with this man by my side. It was a great weekend!
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| A little summer reading! |
On June 28th, we celebrated the boys half birthday with water guns, cookies and swimming at the pool with a few friends. We never knew that we would have 3 kids, but I can't imagine life without any one of these kooky kiddos. Calvin and Jett share a birthday, but they are such cool, unique individuals. I like recognizing their half birthday, especially since their actual birthday comes just 3 days after Christmas. Here is a snippet of inside scoop on their personalities...who they are, what they are like at the age of 5 1/2
Calvin, now known as CJ is our inventing boy...he loves cardboard boxes, string, duct tape and scissors. He loves to build and destroy, usually leaving a big mess in his wake. CJ has lots of questions and is really trying to wrap his brain around big concepts...it is so fun to watch his wheels turning and see him taking in all the information around him. He loves being told stories, riddles and math problems. He is mischievous and a jokester, whether a prank or knock knock jokes, he never gets tired of them. Calvin does push our buttons, often crosses lines that are drawn, but will usually accept his consequences and pay his dues the best out of all our kids. He is very loving and cuddly, often he will nuzzle in to my neck and get lost in my hair. He holds my hand where ever we go...across the parking lot, down the street to the store and especially long hikes. He is sensitive and caring of others. He will talk to anyone and easily charms smiles out of everyone. He can drive me crazy with power struggles, but he melts my heart every time when it is all over. Calvin Judah, I love you inside and out, top to bottom, back to front, forever and always, infinity plus one.
Jetty Spaghetti, my sweet, strong boy. Jett is a cool kid, how could he not be with a name like "Jett". He is easy to get along with, loves building legos, playing soccer and fighting like a ninja warrior. He loves books and drawing pictures, especially race cars. He has his own opinions on what he likes to wear. It use to be super hero costumes, but now he has moved on to soccer jerseys, swishy shorts and tall socks. Luckily Dave's mom saved all of his old jerseys, so he is usually rocking vintage see-through mesh jerseys that are noticeably cool! Kids seem to seek out Jett at the pool or playground to play with him. He makes friends quickly and is a loyal and true friend to those he picks out as his favorites. Jett is also a good cuddle, especially when he quietly crawls in bed with me, just before it is time to get up in the morning. He holds my hand and loves to be tickled. His sweet, innocent, tender insights show off a big warm loving heart...a beautiful soul that I love so much. Jett loves to be fast, he loves to win and he is willing to put in effort. He is good at finishing a task, following through, and enjoying the fruits of hard work. He has a bit of a perfectionist bug that bites down hard and can make somethings harder than they need to be. He is the best of our kids at independent playing. And he has a scream that can bring the house down if he is pushed too far by his siblings. Jett Everett, I love you inside and out, top to bottom, back to front, forever and always, infinity plus one. 
Fourth of July fun in the neighborhood!
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| This picture is worth a thousand words. I love these boys! |
We have a favorite date we love to do every summer, sometimes several times if we can swing it. To float and anchor our little rubber boat in the river next to the Les Schwab Amphitheater concerts. We get take out dinner, bring our own refreshments, treats, blankets and an often used pee jar. We toss overboard a big rock tied to a rope as the anchor and set ourselves in deep fast moving water. Even though there are thousands of people all around on land, at near by restaurants across the river and plenty of other kayakers and boaters tied together in what is known as the flotilla...we feel like we are in our own little world all cozy and comfy with the best seats in the house. We were excited for a repeat of this date and secured a sitter several weeks a head. As we stood on our porch 45 min before the sitter arrived, it was pouring down rain. Sitting in a boat on the river in the rain didn't sound like the paradise date we had been planning. Unsure of the weather, we reluctantly decided to bail on the boat and switch to biking so we could duck into a restaurant if it really started raining hard again. It was a tough call considering how much we love the boat date, but reluctantly we peddled towards town. As we crossed the first foot bridge and clouds seemed to be parting, we almost turned back for the boat. But understanding how big of a production it is to get it to the put in, blow it up, and we still needed to get dinner, we stayed the course on bikes. Slowly meandering through a few parks and pausing on docks to notice out loud how the weather is turning for the better and we should have stuck with the boat idea. It was crazy how this disappointment was taking over our date, it was a beautiful night, we were out-without the kids, and we were still going to hear the concert, just from shore instead. But knowing what we were missing, our favorite date was really messing with our heads. We arrived at the amphitheater gates and slowly rolled by, checking out the opening act. Eventually we started walking our bikes, just to stay in the area longer, as we tried to figure out where to enjoy the concert from. We decided on parking the bikes and walking over the foot bridge to try to get a table on the patio of one of the restaurants across the river. Before heading that way though, I insisted on pausing on the bridge to take it all in. It was a beautiful place above the river, mountain views in the distance and within ear shot of the music. As we stood there, we saw another couple float by in their rubber raft, much like ours. We were like. "Damn, that should be us!" "Why didn't we do that?" "We are soooo the people who do the harder things...go after adventures!" As we chatted and reminisced about the last time Sheryl Crow came to Bend, how we were in our boat enjoying the concert so perfectly. We thought about where we were at that point in life, Piper was just a little one, we were still working on the for sale by owner website. At that time, we really connected to Sheryl Crows song "Detours" and relating to the winding roads in that song. It is interesting to think about how we so strongly thought our life was heading in one direction, how we thought we knew what we wanted and as life went on, we hit detours and ended up somewhere totally different...better even. I have to believe though, if we didn't take the Big Brick detour, Dave may have ended up with a 9 - 5 steady job, that would have been really hard to leave to risk of the unknown of opening our own business. Not to mention if he was focused on some other job, we wouldn't have been open to the possibilities or probably even aware of the empty lot on Columbia. We are thankful that Big Brick dragged on for as long as it did, because of how everything else lined up with the timing of that lot being for sale, us at a point of needing to do something else, food carts just really becoming a thing in Bend and being able to get the liquor license even though we were creating a new concept of food carts doing the food and us selling the beer.
Anyway, this is a long winded way to explain our train of thought. Things ultimately work out for the best and trusting that even though at that moment we were feeling bummed that we weren't where we thought we should be. In our boat on on our perfect float date! Actually we were exactly where we should be, because that is where we were and there has to be a reason why we weren't on our boat date that night. Maybe so we even more appreciate being on the boat at the next concert, or maybe there was something else...and just as we came to peace with being where we were on the foot bridge instead of in our boat, a woman walked up to us and asked us if we would like to go to the Sheryl Crow concert! I thought she meant she was scalping her tickets, but then she said she was a business owner who sponsored the concert and she not only had free tickets for us, but also wristbands that got us into the VIP tents with chairs and all the free food and drinks we wanted! "WHAT?!" Holy Shit, this was so awesome. Now I knew why we weren't on the boat, why we paused on the bridge...date night just got upgraded to VIP!!! This night was such a great reminder that good things happen to us and we are exactly where we should be, because that is where we are! We fully enjoyed our wristband privileges and felt so grateful and awed with how the night turned out. Perfectly perfect!
Family bike ride in the warm summer rain.
We spent lots of the summer days at the pool, went biking and hiking and took full advantage of all the free summer activities that parks and rec provides. There were plays about the job of honey bees, animal tracking class, arts and crafts, library programs with books in the parks and FREE lunch available every day in several parks around town. Also we loved the $1 movies that Regal Cinemas played at 10AM each week. 
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| They learned to tie their own shoes! |
Piper and I went on a mama/daughter camp out with a few girls at Little Cultus Lake for one night. Super fun girl time with swimming, marshmallowing, french braids were done and even an after dinner paddle date for just me and my girl. It was a special outing!
Then on our drive back to Bend, my phone regained service and I got a text and voice mail from David that he was at the Urgant Care and Calvin broke his arm!!! My friend Becky was driving and she put the peddle to the metal to get us home fast. We rolled in, just as Dave and the boys were walking out with a temporary cast and sling. =-(
Poor buddy! The monkey bars got him. Calvin had been getting pretty good at the monkey bars and could do them at several other parks in town...but the River Bend Park has taller than normal monkey bars, he jumped for the first bar and just got his fingers to barely hook before swinging off and landing on his left arm. It happened so fast, Dave and Jett were still getting off their bikes and taking off helmets when Calvin came over crying with his arm visibly curved the wrong way. They left their bikes and walked/carried Calvin back to the car. Poor Jett and Dave were in just as much shock as CJ over the whole situation.
Once they got his arm in the cast, CJ was able to stop crying and was very brave throughout the rest of the appointments and healing process. The X-ray showed that he had broken both bones about an inch above his wrist. The radius (the larger bone) was at a 40 degree angle from being straight, so they had to put him under to straighten the bones.
He had five weeks of the summer in a cast up past his elbow. Especially the first few days we watched lots of movies, but then we started getting out and about again. Though it was a bummer how much it slowed us down on swimming and biking...our main staple of summer activities. We worked it out and he kept a good attitude and actually ran around and played just like normal after just a few days of being in the cast.
We divided and conquered a few times to still get Piper and Jett out on bikes and hikes and the pool. CJ was very understandable to miss out on those activities, and actually I think he really just loved all the one on one time he got with me or Dave during those outings.
The annual frog hunting hike at Todd Lake is always a good time!
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