Abbie had a dance competition in Portland. Normally Kelly takes Abbie to her competitions but I went this weekend, and we had a great time not only at the competition winning some medals but also doing some explorations. We were near the Portland airport but instead of heading into the city, we decided to see what was the other direction so went to the little town of Troutdale just east of Portland and then spent the rest of the day at McMennamins Edgefield.
This year for Mothers day we went out exploring as a family along with Pat and Sue who were visiting. Our first stop was the head of the Metolius river. The Metolius river runs for about 30 miles and starts just west of Sisters where the water bubbles out of a hillside and turns into a river. Its a beautiful spot and a short walk to get there. We took the kids their once way back when we first moved to bend in 2011.
Since it was in the same general area we then headed to the 'head of the Jack' - the start of another small river/creek that springs from the ground. Lesser known of the two but still a fun little hike. The kids and I all drank the cool fresh water coming out of the hillside.
For Hunter's birthday and Pat's birthday (April) we got them both a ticket to fly on a ford Tri-motor from the 1920's. Its probably one of the last ones of its kind to fly. You may remember seeing it in Indiana Jones movies. It was an amazing experience.
After finishing a marathon at his school the day before Noah ran another race today to raise money for Africa - a 'short' 6k race but he told Kelly in the morning he was going to win... and he did beating out a 21 year old.
We had a birthday dinner for Hunter the evening before and donuts the morning of the 3rd.
Holly’s big fluffy hair is cute but needs maintenance. Since she has never been groomed we were noticing a lot of matted fur so wanted to take her in to the groomer. Turns out the matting was worse than we thought and the only solution is to trim lower than the matting. The groomer said the fur came off like sheep’s wool. Also the matting actually causes bruising because it pulls on her skin so she needed a reset. The groomer said she would not go short like this again but we have to go for regular grooming so that her hair doesn't matte again like that. She went from fluff dog to naked dog.
This weekend, as an early celebration of his 14th birthday with his friends, we did a ski day up at Mt Bachelor. The snow conditions this spring are amazing. The coverage of snow is incredible considering its almost May. Kelly packed us an amazing lunch that we ate in the parking lot for lunch. After skiing we stopped in town for pizza. If you are trying to pick out Hunter and Noah - Noah has the bright green pants and the blue jacket on skis. Hunter is in all black with a grey helmet on a snowboard.
Family Friends - the Murphys over for Easter Dinner Saturday evening
Church service on Sunday followed by Easter brunch at Pine Tavern in Bend
We go the kids a badminton set for Easter so we had fun learning that in the afternoon along with an Easter egg hunt with eggs placed by Noah this year outside!
