Spring

It seems that I have been letting the pictures pile up on my camera.  Here are a smattering of some of my favorites this past month.

These Easter Bunny outfits were such a hit this year.  They are special hand me downs from the Shaw family who also happened to be part of an older sister and twin brothers dynamic.  Thank you Pat Shaw for saving these gems for 30 years to pass on to us!  =-)

We were invited out to Sisters for an annual Easter Egg Hunt Party, it was a beautiful day!  Fun friends, good food and TONS of hidden eggs!

Me, Maggie and Piper had a biking date in Shevlin Park a few weeks ago.  Lots of stops to explore in the woods.  I love where we live!

Notice the T REX face in the rocks

We had a nice visit with my mom who came for a visit the beginning of April.  Unfortunately I got super sick, ended up with this crazy 2 week flu - so my mom got more than she bargained for as I was  laid up on the couch! =-(  Thank you mom for the endless laundry doing, clean up and love you poured  onto me and my family.  You are the best!

Any guess how this picture was captured?

Biking and hiking and climbing...getting dirty in the dirt...this is just the beginning of the summer I have planned for these monkeys.

Well when it really gets warm the pool will be a big part too, but for now...we are at our best when we get outside!

This was a recent Monday where Piper had the idea of double dates.  First Piper and I headed out on the trail-a-bike for a long ride that ended at a frozen yogurt shop.  Meanwhile Dave and the boys enjoyed the  indoor kiddie pool for a special "boy's outing."

Then we switched it up and Piper and Dave headed out for their date to the toy store, while me and the boys went treasure hunting in the woods.

We started out on bikes, but they ended up ditching them and running off trail to climb hills, explore gullies, scale fallen trees.  There were lots of treasures out there, but the best were the metal dragon and old weeble wobble I had hidden for them to "find" as part of the hunt.

Love this girl.  Now 5 1/2 years old officially on April 26th!  We celebrated with a doughnut in the morning and pumpkin cookies for desert!

David and I got to sneak in one more spring skiing date while the kids were in school.  We stuck to the groomers, but had so much fun on the soft, soft snow.  It felt like we were water skiing it was so slushy in some sections.

Mostly just great to be out with my man!

Calvin the Great...out enjoying some spring snow in town.  It was a surprise dumping that all melted by  the afternoon, but fun while it lasted.

Look out PUMP TRACK!!! We have big fans here of riding in the dirt.  Calvin and Piper loved hitting the trails, it is so fun to watch them!  Here is a quick youtube video below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIJJtR3LD1c&feature=em-upload_owner

Progressive Park Adventure + more

The progressive park adventure outings have been a favorite weekend activity.  We even have upgraded the boys to trail-a-bikes status which marks them officially as big boys!  Piper is a rock star bike rider! It gives me so much joy to see the HUGE smile on her face while she is racing down the streets.  Piper has no problem keeping up on these all day adventures where we log over 4 1/2 miles round trip.  We take lots of breaks to play at different parks, including Riverside Market where the adults can refuel with a frothy beverage while the kiddos play.

We showed our friends the Greens how much fun a park hopping bike ride could be...such fun friends...and they even rewarded us with dinner at the end of the day.  That is after they showed us what it means to climb the hill back home when the day was done.  Troopers!

Superheros have been the rage at our house lately!  I love these muscle men!!!!

Calvin and his super vision binocs.

 

 We are still loving getting out to play in the snow!  We will see how much longer it lasts, but it has been a great season to get out and enjoy the xc trails.  These pictures are from going around Todd Lake, just past Bachelor.

We had a busy visitor weekend recently with Dan and Alyssa Shaw and family overlapping with Grandma Alice.  It was a full house indeed, but lots of fun... in fact so much fun I rarely pulled out the camera =-(  I hope to add more pics when Alice can send her top pictures my way.  One highlight was visiting a friend of Alyssa's families farm, which happened to be across the street from our first house in Tumalo.  They were sheep farmers who happened to sell their last 8 sheep that morning, so we missed the livestock excitement.  The kids still had fun roaming the pastures and barns, climbing hay stacks and collecting sticks.  

Piper and Payson played really well together, in fact its been 2 weeks since they left and she is still asking about him.  We are proud to say that both Calvin and Payson learned to ride pedal bikes in our back ally during the visit!  

Piper, Calvin and Jett all went on individual "special dates" with Grandma, by far the highlight of the trip for all of them.  With 2 other siblings to normally share attention with, the individual time is cherished by everyone.  

Thank you Shaws and Gma Alice for taking the time to come visit Camp Staley! 

Before and after pictures of Mango's new summer haircut.  It is always such a sad day to cut those luscious locks of his, but a must with the trails turning to mud and the dreds matting up.  Poor puppy...we love you with or without your fuzziness! 

This is a picture of "The Lot"...the location of the newest, hippest, soon to be your favoritess hang out and spot to eat amazing street food while enjoying a pint of local brew.  Stay tuned for pictures of progress while we build a 1200 square foot covered eating structure with attached bar and bathrooms.

The idea sparked two years ago when Dave and his brother ate lunch at a "food cart lot" in Portland.  This spark is finally coming to fruition.  There are still a few hoops to jump through, but we are all in and excited about being local business owners in Bend!

winter 2013

David has been giving his time to volunteer with Oregon Adaptive Sports once a week this winter.  This has been such an unexpected highlight, in that he kind of just fell into getting involved, and has totally loved being a part of this group.  Volunteering on a regular basis has allowed him to work with the same people several times, giving him the chance to get to know the participants and instructors better each time.




On top of the satisfaction of helping out for OAS, David earns a free lift ticket for each time he volunteers.  This has been a fun perk that we both have gotten to benefit from.

Thursdays are the days that we have two out of three kids in school, so we have been using this special one on one time to try to teach one lucky kiddo to ski.  I have to admit Isee the lure of putting them in ski school so someone else can endure the whinny resistance that they seem to pour on during this "fun" time...but for some reason I keep coming back. We have had some beautiful blue bird days, so simply being outside has been nice and there are windows of time that I see them having fun.  Hot chocolate and m&m's have been key in the "fun", but really I am encouraged that each run is giving them more and more confidence.  Hopefully we can get on the bunny chairlift soon!

It is hard to see the scale of this work of art here, but this beautiful picture that Piper made for me is on a two foot by three foot section of cardboard (still the left overs from those beds that the playhouse was made out of).  I absolutely adore this picture and all the work that Dave and Piper put into the frame as well.  This took them hours, a little at a time to patiently create the double layered frame with the rainbow inside and bubble/stencil outer layer.  Super impressive persistence for both David and Piper.  They even let the boys have a go at part of the frame.  This is not only the finest family portrait that Piper has ever drawn, but the love it represents just fills my heart.  I love, love, love it and am proud to hang it as a center piece in our living room.    

Piper and I joined friends Julie and Hazel for a local performance of "Little Orphan Annie" a few weeks ago.  I got the tickets because I thought Piper would enjoy it, but I was blown away with the quality of the show.  The kid performers were local kids ranging from age 6 to high school, but most of them in elementary school.  I am not sure if my kids would ever be interested in acting in a play (except for Calvin, I totally see him in drama club), but I was so impressed and felt so proud of these kids pouring their hearts out singing and smiling and really putting on a show. It was a super fun outing.  Piper was most impressed that the performers received flowers at the end from their fans.

We utilized the library's free High Desert Museum passes for the new butterfly and humming bird exhibit recently on a random Monday.  It was a fun day and so nice to go during the week when not many other people were there.

There are some great cross country ski trails around here, in fact xc skiing has totally been my thing this winter.  Getting out twice a week either on my own or with friends.  Night skiing has been a highlight as well.  Last weekend one of the snow-parks put on their annual event called the luminaria where they lit the trail with candles all the way to a shelter.  It was a huge community party with a bonfire and lots of people enjoying the beautiful clear night.  The kids were troopers with the tight fit of all three squeezing into the chariot, and I guess really so was Dave to pull the weight of 90 lbs of kid the 3 mile round trip outing.  The couple big hills were a little sketchy, thankfully we didn't run anyone down, there was no stopping Dave on the down hill!         

It's been cold but sunny the last 2 weekends, still so refreshing to get outside.  We have had fun getting back on our bikes.  Piper riding her own and the boys either in the chariot or on the trail a bike.  

I get so much joy watching Piper ride her bike.  She has so much fun.  Always a huge smile as she pedals her heart out.  She loves going super fast, but is very good listener when it comes to staying safe on the streets.  

We have fun making the rounds and stopping at several parks a long the way.  Last weekend we were out biking and playing at parks more than 5 hours.  We were all wiped out, but it felt great.  Winter is fun, but I am looking forward to the warm weather so we don't have to be so bundled up!

Fun at the gymnastics gym!  

Calvin's MOVES  click the link for a cute Calvin video