Kevin celebrated his 46th birthday today. We couldn’t be more blessed to have him. He takes care of us so well. We love him more than words could say! P.S. cake by, Abbie-Cakes
Preston made up a song for mom and played the guitar!
Hard to believe how fast the time is going by. Hopefully this is the last post from formal lockdown as things are starting to open back up.
The kids did another round of meals for the family!
Date night - take out from El Sancho taco shop
The annual kids walkathon at school this year was virtual so we did a family hike up Black Butte! There was some snow near the top that freaked Kelly out a little.
The school dropped off a graduate sign for hunter and we made sure to follow social distancing for a picture with his friend Nathan
Noah and his friend (also named Noah) have been working on adding levels to the tree house tree and had a sleep over in it after we got the door fixed!
Holly chillin’
Hunter turned 15!
He got a new backpack from mom and dad along with some cowboy style work boots and some sweet new tools from Papa! Abbie made Hunters cake!
The last couple weeks have been more of a blur with a little more routine in place. School, home and relatively similar weather each day makes the days just fly by.
Kelly, unfortunately has been stuck inside the past couple of weeks due to severe tree pollen allergies. They seem to be getting better which is a relief.
A couple things we have tried with the kids. We got some box projects from the DIY cave.
The second project was having the kids plan and cook meals this week. They each planned a meal and we got groceries for them. They picked a day out of a hat and they prepared dinner for us all.
Abbie made kabobs.
Noah made chicken quesadillas with grilled peppers and onions.
Hunter made spaghetti bolognese.
PJ made homemade chicken strips with carrots and peas.
Other highlights:
We got our garden planted except for tomatoes which need more heat.
Hunter playing/practicing AC/DC thunderstruck on his guitar.
Hunter’s been working on fixing and modifying his remote control car a lot.
Abbie working on her art for her book at school and makes yummy egg bites one morning for breakfast.
Hunter has definitely hit his growth spurt and we are using dad as the measuring stick on his height.
Abbie got old school rollers for her hair!
The weather was expected to hit 70 so we decided to try and find another somewhat obscure Oregon landmark in the Ochoco mountains about an hour east of Bend past Prineville called Stein’s Pillar.
However since we are all in lockdown there were about 10 other cars also at the trailhead today. Oh well it was still an amazing hike through ponderosa pines with a great view at the end.
Here’s a shot of the pillar from the road below. Very impressive rock feature that rivals Smith Rock’s monkey face pillar.
Spring is starting to show itself in many ways- birds, animals coming out of hibernation, grass sprouting and Abbie wearing sun dresses. Some memories from our 4th week of COVID19 lockdown.
Sunsets
Kelly doing a morning coffee get together with girlfriends ... on zoom
Kevin needed a haircut and not able to go to his barber.
Holly can’t believe her luck - that her peeps are home all the time!
Easter
Hunter is finding animals and bringing them into show everyone. He also brought in a snake too!
This week the temps were expected to pop up close to 70 mid week. In addition it’s the end of the school quarter so the kids were off Wednesday and Thursday with Good Friday a holiday. Since last year I have wanted to go see the Alvord Desert but spring and fall are best for temperatures.
This week seemed like the ideal time to go! The Alvord is in the far south eastern section or Oregon. Very remote. Here is a picture of the start of the route off of East Steens Road and Highway 78.
We got to the Alvord Playa and it didn’t disappoint. What a wild experience. You can drive over the cracked ground that when dry is extremely hard. You will see pictures of water but it’s only about an inch deep. As it’s clay though - not something you want to drive through and get stuck.
Murphy’s Law came into play on the trip. One of my tires went flat at probably the most remote place possible in Oregon. We got the spare out and limped along for the rest of the trip until I could get the tires replaced. The boys have never seen a tire get changed so they thought it was cool.
With the spare on, we went and found a spot to camp out on the playa. No shortage of space and with no people it was easy for social distancing! It was quite windy so no fire in the evening but great for flying the kite!
This week was a full moon (super moon too I believe) so we got some cool shots in the early morning of sunrise, moon set. Also there was no wind so we were able to do a fire to warm up and take the chill out of the air.
We likely would have stayed at the desert another night, but with the tire issue we needed to work our way back towards a repair. We limped to a crossroads called Fields, Oregon where I was able to pump up the spare more. From there, we headed to another small hamlet (everything is dead right now because of the Covid closures) called Frenchglen. Hunter and I stayed here a couple years back. We found an open spot near Frenchglen to hang out and camp for the night.
Friday morning we made it to a Les Schwab Tire in Burns, Oregon where I got a new set of wheels on. From there it was a relatively quick and painless 2 hours back home.
Great adventures in the Oregon Backcountry!
Another week in lockdown. Back to school this week so a little more routine which was good for the kids.
Kelly found a favorite hike in the trails around our neighborhood. It’s about 6 miles door to door. She does it most days.
In classic high desert fashion we had more snow falling a couple times this week along with sun typically the same day. We also rock climbed on the cliffs outside the neighborhood and got out the badminton set.
Noah’s friend Blake turned 12. No party so they did social distancing drive by’s for his friends. They brought donuts. We made them cupcakes accompanied with some ‘elbow bumps’.
Kelly cut about 4 inches off Abbie’s hair
Kevin went to the store and then organized the pantry - Kelly was excited!
More spring cleaning including Hunter washing and vacuumed Kelly’s car! (Might be a first)
