The Crazy Bike

Tonight CJ rode this bike into the air at Chuck E Cheese. We were there for a birthday party. She had fun, as usual.

Dinner Out With The Girls

Saturday Bike Ride

This morning we rode our bikes to the Used Gear Sale at REI. We all found some goodies to buy. Afterwards we took CJ out to enjoy the sun at Jamison Fountain (via the ice cream store across the street - notice the chocolate on her lip).

Here's CJ modeling her new find - this super cute flower helmet. Perfect timing as we'd just noticed a crack in her old one.

Freezer Jam

Step One: Mash the berries.

Step Two: Mix the sugar and pectin.

Step Three: Mix the sugar/pectin into the berries.

Step Four: Pour into freezer containers. Let sit 30 minutes and then freeze.

Step Five: Enjoy!

Berry Picking

Three years ago we went to a birthday party where we picked blueberries and raspberries. They were so yummy. Mama had plans to go back and pick berries again, but didn't realize it would take three years. Wow.

It was a hot day and we had the place pretty much to ourselves:

CJ found some great berries hiding in the bushes:

We cooled off in the farm sprinklers:

And sat in the shade enjoying much needed sno-cones before heading home:

Observant Girl

Much of Mama's short run with CJ on bike is along Bike Boulevards. On one of them we noticed that someone had a little fun with the paint.

We saw Batman:

Smiley Faces:

And even a bunny alien:

Flower Girl

Excited that Mama doesn't have any decks to stain today...

Staining Day, At Last

Mama took advantage of a sunny day and decent forecast to get outside and put some stain on the decks. CJ was so patient as it wasn't the quickest process.

CJ's stairs came out much better. Not sure if it is because the wood was newer or because there was more shade on that side during the drying time.

Still need to paint the new siding Daddy put up and the door he installed on Saturday.

Roller Coaster Rider

Today was the first time we rode the little roller coaster at Oaks Park. We went to the "preschool rides" and it was the first thing CJ wanted to do. Does she look dizzy?

The line to get in was long, but once inside we never had to wait long to get on any rides. We hit the roller coast first and then went on many rides together and she rode a few of the smaller ones alone. We even went on a dark "Lewis and Clark" ride (3 times!) we haven't tried before, not last year, not the year before, or even the year before that. Boy she looks like she is growing up, doesn't she?

3.63 Miles

Mama was wondering how to exercise with CJ home for summer break. And since we no longer have the stroller she used to sit in while Mama ran (not that she'd fit in it), we decided to try something new. CJ agreed to bike along while Mama ran. So we chose a shorter run in the neighborhood without any big hills. And CJ did wonderful. She completed the whole run without any complaining. 3.63 miles! CJ is becoming quite the little bike rider.

Two Inches

For some reason, CJ still loves to get her hair cut at the kids salon. It's totally not convenient to our house and with long school days we haven't made it there in some time. So we took advantage of the summer break to head out there today and get a trim. The stylist asked "what do we want to do today, Mom?" but before I could answer, CJ told her that we just wanted to get a trim. "like two inches". So that is what we did. CJ never wants to watch the movies they offer, but likes to sit in the pink/purple car, play with the toys afterwards and get her stickers and lollipop when we are done. She did skip the sparkly spray since we had another round of swim lessons starting tonight. (They went really well and we got the great teacher we had requested, who remember CJ's name two years after we had this session with her.)

Sunday Parkways

We finally made it to Sunday Parkways!

This picture of CJ in front of Mt. Hood didn't come out as well as I had hoped.

She loves collecting free loot. Fudgsicles, bracelets, stickers, sweat bands...oh, my.

And a special air-brushed sparkly tattoo of a rose from the Blazer stand:

Showing off some hula hoop skills - even using two at the same time:

Stopping to cool off and refuel:

We really only made it around one of the two loops, but had a blast nevertheless.

We'll have to try this again sometime.

The 15th on 28th

It doesn't happen very often, but tonite CJ enjoyed some time with a babysitter while Mama and Daddy went out to celebrate their 15th anniversary. Yikes - where does the time go?

We decided to head over to 28th Avenue, where there are tons of restaurants to choose from and we thought we could walk around for a bit after eating. After we parked, we headed to the place we were thinking of, checking out several other menus on the way. When we sat down and looked at the menu, Mama got cold feet that we'd chosen the wrong place. So we went up the road for a great beer and some soft pretzels and then walked back down to one of the first places we'd seen, Tabla. We had a yummy tomato salad and then split the signature ravioli and the pasta with truffle oil. Both were really great. Nothing on the dessert menu struck us, so we walked a bit further up the road and ended up at Spints Alehouse, where we were served by the super knowledgeable owner and we shared an awesome blueberry bread pudding. Yum.

Next time we either need to stay out later and/or give more specific instructions to the sitter because CJ was still up when we got home.

CJ's Latest Masterpieces

Here's one of Little B. CJ made sure to use the colors of the rainbow when writing the title.

And here's one CJ put together before dinner. It's a loft bed with a ladder on the left and down below there is a mirror and a dresser with different shaped drawers. There are letters on the drawers to show what goes inside each one.

Seal, Part II

Back Crawl

Shooting out the slide

Enjoy the Friday treat

Rainbow Fairy On The Runway

Last Day of School

Today was CJ's last day of school and they had a Celebration of Learning to mark the occasion. The kids showed us what they learned about mountains via little songs and hand signals.

Then there was a contest between the children and parents with questions on the rock cycle. The kids won by a landslide (ha, ha). After this, the children modeled costumes they made with t-shirts, wands and wings. The intern for next year has been helping out already and he did an excellent job describing the outfits as the children modeled them.

When the main events were over, we were invited in to the school for a gallery viewing of the children's work and a chance to comment on some of the pieces.

CJ showed the car she made during their learning of wheels and axles and also the writing she put together with a drawing and technical drawing to show how it all came together.

She is really going to miss the place over her summer break.

It Was Sad

Today CJ's school took a field trip to see Charlotte's Web. The whole class saw the same movie this time, which was nice. It was a good movie, although obviously it had some sad parts. It's been so long since Mama had seen or read this story.

Wet, Wet, Wet

When we cleaned the deck last week, the forecast looked pretty good - just "chances of showers" a couple of days and Mama thought they might just pass us by. Nope. It's rained every other day since then and today was the worst. It poured and looked liked winter. CJ finally finished birthday thank you notes and then she and Daddy went to the climbing gym while Mama ran some errands.

Summer, we are waiting for you.

Silly Saturday

We stuck close to home most of the day, but got out late for a ride on our bikes. We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza and hitting the park before we headed home. CJ was in a silly mood, sliding and swinging with her bear, trying to not let Mama get a good shot of them.

Cold Days

We haven't had many sunny swim lessons this year, but at least it has been dry. CJ claims it is warm in the pool. Here she is modeling her new swimsuit - she'd already tossed the new pink goggles off. She's doing great with her front crawl and we haven't had to fight crowds of other families.

Summer Movies

Today Mama joined CJ's school to see a movie. We hopped on Max, got off at the mall and split up into two groups to see different films. The teachers treated us to buttered popcorn before we boarded Max back to school in time for lunch. Not a bad way to spend a drizzly morning.

Deck Cleaning

Daddy had finished our deck some time ago, but he didn't stop there. He added a little pyramid staircase outside CJ's door and patched in the missing siding. The original plan was to let the decks go gray as we had seen ipe do around town. But then we had a change of heart and decided we missed the rich tones in the wood. So we found a nice day to clean them.

Here they are wet:

And after the cleaning:

We went ahead and did the brightening, even though the manufacturer didn't think it would make a difference on the ipe:

And here they are dry and ready for staining: