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 : )

We made the news : )

Our marketing department at work uses a PR agency for one of our clients, Energy Trust of Oregon. The PR agency landed a story with the local news and asked Ashley and I if they could use our house (a typical old, energy inefficient Portland east-side home) for the story.

A news crew came out to our house and did some filming, interviewing, etc. It was fun to see how it all gets made. We ended up in a news clip (however briefly) and the clip is posted on the homepage of our client’s website. If I had known I was going to end up in it, I would have blow dried my hair and put on some make up! Scroll down and its on the left. Random and funny, but you can kind of get an idea for the inside of our house!

http://energytrust.org/

A visit to Porrcupine State Park

We went up north this weekend to shut the cabin down for the summer - clean out the fridge, remove sheets, take the ATV back up and out of our shed, etc.   We went to the porrcupine mts. on Saturday and it was beautiful.   The pictures don't do it justice.

 

This level of excitement and happiness out of Macy doesn't happen often - lol.   I was happy to catch it on camera.

This one cracks me up.  Yes, that is Matt carrying the dog over the puddle because she was afraid of the water!

The girls had a blast picking up stones and drift wood.

Happy Birthday Grammy

 We stopped by to see Grammy on her birthday and surprised her with some cupcakes and flowers.

Spring Break Art Class for Brooke

Brooke took an art class over Spring Break.  She is so into everything creative!  Here is her work from start to finish.  It's now hanging in her bedroom:)