Oregon Camping 2019

For the 10th time, we met our friends the Pilons for a summer camping trip.  This time we chose Prineville Reservoir just outside of Prineville, OR.  This turned out to be a great choice as the weather, campground, and lake combined to offer a great camping experience!  We arrived on Friday after a lunch in John Day at the Outpost Pizza Pub & Grill and quickly set up camp.  Despite not seeing each other for two years, our girls hit it off immediately with Cecelia (10) and Mallory (7) and they were quickly playing in the tents and exploring the woods near our sites.  We had a great night making smores around the campfire and enjoying each other's company!

On Saturday we woke up early (thank you to the chattering birds!) and enjoyed a nice breakfast.  I went on a short kayak trip and hike to the nearby island while the girls watched a ranger presentation about hiking safety for kids.  The camp host and Park Rangers had an amazing amount of activities for the kids to do all weekend, which was fantastic! Afterwards, we met up on the beach, where the girls went swimming for several hours.  They had a great time other than Claire getting a fish hook in her foot.  Luckily it was easily removed and she recovered after 30 minutes or so.  After swimming, we had a relaxing evening until Nora crashed her scooter in the evening.  Despite injuries to her head, lip, both elbows, and a knee, she recovered quickly and was cracking jokes about "Knee-asporin".  But it was an early bedtime for the kids after a busy day filled with injuries!

Sunday was our day to depart and we had an uneventful drive home.  We stopped in Burns for a late lunch and let the kids play at an old-school playground in nearby Hines.  They had a great time and it was a great end to a great weekend!

Oregon Camping 2019 Photos!

On Turning 41

Back on June 18th, I celebrated yet another birthday! I was lucky to wake up to a beautiful sunny day, and I got to spend the morning watching the girls' swimming lessons, and end the day by having a great dinner with Zach and the girls, as well as some delicious cake. For dinner, I chose one of our favourite restaurants - Gramercy Park Pizza Grill - and then we went home for cake and presents! The girls chose the cake & they did an excellent job - white cake with raspberry filling, and it was a big hit with the whole family.
All in all, it was a wonderful 41st birthday, and I'm glad I got to spend it with 3 of my very favourite people!

Here are some pictures of the cake, because as we all know, that's the main event!

Birthday Cake & Silly Kids!

Learning to Ride a Bike

I don't know why, but learning to ride a bike without training wheels feels like a major life milestone.  Nora has been riding a bike for awhile but she wasn't ready when we took the training wheels off her bike in the past.  On May 14, Nora and I were walking to pick up Claire from school.  She asked to try riding her bike without training wheels so I took them off once we got home.  Sure enough, she had figured it out and no longer needed them!

Since then, she's been zooming all over the place on her bike with few incidents.  She even completed a six mile ride on the Boise Greenbelt without issue just a couple of weeks later!

Also included is a video from when Claire achieved the same milestone on February 11, 2017!

Girls Learning to Ride Videos!