Happy 4th Birthday Macy

What a beautiful day Macy had for her birthday.  We celebrated with dinner and cupcakes out by the pool.  Hard to believe she is 4 already!

Ahh, the days when they can be entertained for hours by an umbrella -  one of her most requested gifts, along with Polly Pockets:)

This One Time At Band Camp...

Morgan had her first band recital last week.  Once again, not the greatest pictures - I took a lot of video.  She was also one of several kids that had a solo - very proud of her.  I was quite surprised when I heard the first sound come out of the band.  They were actually pretty good for only having played together as a group once!

Yes, Morgan is somewhere in that sea of kids.

While the band concert was very cool, so was seeing her hang with all of her friends at Culvers.   They are getting so grown-up.  Too bad I don't have a picture of my face from later that night when she asked me if she "could get one of those things for under her shirt".

I say TOUGH, you say MUDDER

What a blast.  We had a great time camping and participating in the Tough Mudder.  I don't have many pics of the actual race because there is no way I could have brought a camera with.  Check out YouTube though.  Just type in Tough Mudder Minnesota and you'll see lots of videos.  

Our ride.

We had a beautiful campsite right on the river.  I'm so glad we weren't tent camping.  It was nice to have a bathroom and a good night sleep the night before the race.

"No Quit In Here".  This was the entrance to the "shoot" where each wave gathered before they headed out onto the course.  It was actually really inspiring - they played awesome music and had everyone chanting "No Quit In Here" and "I say Tough, you say Mudder" to pump us up. 

One of the many piles of shoes tossed after the race.

11+ miles and 20+ obstacles and we're all still smiling.  Maybe it was the cold Dos Equis beer they had waiting for us as we crossed the finish line. 

Windows installed

This weekend we picked up two new windows that replace stationary stained glass windows in our bedroom upstairs and a main floor bedroom.  The stained glass windows weren't original to the house, and with all the other stained glass in the house, we felt okay having these taken out. We are excited to have windows that open in those rooms now!

Mom and Charlie's visit!

"Well hello, nice to meet you" : ) Mom and Charlie arrived to Portland by train from Seattle on Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday night we cooked dinner, caught up, hung out.

During the day on Thursday, Mom and Charlie bummed around our neighborhood while Ashley and I were at work. We went out for Ashley's birthday dinner Thursday night.

Friday we drove up to Doug and Evelyn's to meet up with Larry, Suzie, Joe and Kathy.

Larry and Fiona

Doug and Evelyn prepared a wonderful meal for everyone.

Saturday a.m. the cruisers caught a shuttle from SeaTac to Vancouver to board their ship Saturday afternoon.

After dropping off the voyagers, Doug, Evelyn, Ashley and I headed to their boat on Bainbridge Island. It was a beautiful sunny drive and day on the island.

My friend Jeff caught the ferry from Seattle and we picked him up. He spent the day with us lounging and drinking wine on the boat, and caught the ferry back that night. Ashley and I crashed on the boat and shoved off EARLY Sunday a.m. to get back to Portland to pick up our new windows.

So glad we got to spend time with Mom and Charlie! I'm sure they are having a blast right now on their Alaskan adventure. And a huge thanks-as-usual to Doug and Evelyn for boat hosting  : )

Happy birthday Macy! (and belated anniversary Heather and Matt!)

Happy birthday Macy! I hope its a super fun day! A package should be arriving for you today. This was the most recent photo I have of you and I. Maybe we need to Skype and somehow get a more recent one. : )

And, happy belated anniversary Heather and Matt. I wanted to scan and upload a wedding photo from May 22, 1999, but ran out of time. Maybe this weekend : ) Hope you got a chance to celebrate and that you're having a good week!
XO Aunt Beth

Busy Two Weeks

Well we're half way through the month and it's been a busy 2 weeks.  Piano recital, Camp Soar, Marcy Mile, Brooke's Ballet Pictures, Mother's Day, Hershey Track Meet, 2 Dr. appts. and 3 dentist apts!  I'm a bit exhausted to say the least. Now I get to leave tomorrow to camp and run 12 miles.  Here are some pics of the happenings.  So hard to pick which ones to post.  

Tap costume before professional photos taken

My favorite!

My Mother's Day gift.  We planted a raised garden!

Mom's Mother's Day gift

Brooke and I running in the Marcy Mile

Morgan crossing the finish line

Our Camp SOAR day group.

Morgan and her buds

Canoeing anyone?

Archery

Pond Study

Our night group.

Challenge courses...

I think some of the chaperones were pooped - lol

Morgan swinging from rope trying to land on small box

Dr. Mance - our last visit.  I will miss him so much.  He's been such an important part of our family's life.  Turn's out Morgan's "wart" isn't a wart.  It's an odd growth and we have to go to a dermatologist to have it checked.

I didn't get any pics of Morgan's local Hershey Meet - I was too nervous and forgot:)  She finished first in the 200 and long jump and 3rd in the 400.  I think Robin got some pics so I can add those on the next post.

 

Meanwhile, back in Portland...

The house was painted while we were gone! So relieved the color turned out okay. In person it is probably a bit more green than it appears in these photos.

A few new windows arrive next week, we'll paint that trim and then we're close to done! Stone wall, walkways, and fence are done. We still need to rototill and replant the yard and then we're pretty close to done with the landscaping...

Trip to Santa Barbara

Our trip to Santa Barbara last week was full of all sorts of treats - good food, wine, company, sunshine, and on and on.

We arrived to Fritz and Susanne's in Los Altos Wednesday evening to big hugs and a great meal as usual.

Dad and Fritz climbing the oak to check out the honey bees that made honey combs in the branch. After some morning futzing around, we hopped in the car and drove the 4 hour or so drive to Santa Ynez, where we rented a 90 acre horse ranch in wine country near the half marathon race start.

View from the lodge porch! No other buildings in sight.

Walkway from lodge (where "adults" slept : ) to the cabin where Ashley and I stayed.

Our cute bed in the cabin.

Cooking dinner

Hats and chaps in the lodge

Relaxing with a glass of wine.

Cute Scandinavian town of Solvang

Dad and Fritz at Beckmen Vineyards

Birthday picnic at Beckmens

Picnic

Barrel tasting with Steve Beckmen

Grilling out

Birthday dinner

Saturday morning we ran the half marathon! (after a day of wine tasting. not the best idea, but hey, we finished the run!) Sweaty post run photo back at the ranch.

We spent Saturday afternoon lounging around the lodge, soaking up sun and sipping wine.

Not a bad line up for dinner!

Sunday morning we had a fabulous Mother's Day brunch at Wayne and Penny's beautiful home in Montecito (near Santa Barbara) and got a quick tour of Santa Barbara.

One of their beautiful collections

Sunday afternoon we drove back up to Los Altos. Monday morning we hung around the house, then grilled out with Hector and Juanita in the afternoon and met their adorable baby Sophia!

The week just flew by. There were so many other fun special details, too much for one post : )