The boys made personalized chia pets at school, ha! The pics were taken at the beginning of the school year, they look so little compared to the pic above. What a difference a few months make!
We got the results for one of the charter schools lottery we applied to. We are on the wait list as #19, 31 and 74. This is for 30 kindergarten spots! As you can see even with three try's not a single one got in, it's just THAT unlikely to get into a charter school in Portland! I wasn't holding my breath or anything, I knew it'd be next to impossible, ha!
Like I mentioned before, last weekend was very nice and warm and we were itching to do something new. I caught mention of this park in the neighboring town of Vancouver, Wa. I looked it up and Salmon Creek trail runs right by it which was supposed to be good for biking and walking. We were pleasantly surprised by the gem that is this place. If you are a local you need to put this place on your summer bucket list, it might just become your new favorite spot as well. I have a feeling we'll be here a lot this coming summer!
The trail was fully paved and went on for several miles alongside this beautiful creek (which has some nice spots for wading). The path was perfect for kids since it's flat and wide. And NO cars!
Taking a break from riding : )
Such a beautiful place!
When we finished our bike ride we went to Klineline pond to cool off (there is a parking lot right next to the pond and the start of the trial, so you don't have to do any driving once there)
The boys getting goofy!
The water was super shallow at the shore. We didn't do it this time but the pond is stocked with trout so you can fish here as well.
Eli knows how to sunbathe!
Eli in a hole
Behind this is also a splash pad and playground. What more could you ask for in a place. I think I could live here!
We had some beautiful weather last weekend! On Saturday we checked out a new park in the neighboring town of Lake Oswego...
We brought our bikes hoping there would be a good biking trail for kids but about a half mile into it we turned around when it lead us onto a street bike lane. So biking was a bust : (
The river was cool though!
Eli
Thomas
Caleb
I just couldn't keep them out of the water : )
After the park we walked around the town a bit and got frozen yogurt : )
So we finally tried the "preschool skate" session they have at the skating rink. The boys kept saying "it's too hard, it's too hard!" Out of the 50 or so other kids, there were maybe two kids who where actually skating, ha! I don't think we'll be trying this again!
Waiting for their lesson to start.
Stretching. The lessons actually helped some but they still had a hard time with it : )
Action shot!
You get to see these skinny little arms and legs again due to summer like weather we've been having : )
It's so crazy how you can be in a moderate rain-forest (west of the Cascade mountains) and within less than a 2 hour drive you can be in the desert (east of the Cascades)! So let me tell you about our central Oregon mini-vacation...
Our first stop was a rock ranch where you can dig to find thunder eggs.
This is where we dug and dug and dug till we found....
Thunder eggs!
These little phenomenons are naturally occurring rocks that form into the shape of an egg. They can cut them open for you at the rock ranch. Aren't they cool, each one is different!
Love this one! Hoping to get some polished because they look even cooler when they are all shiny.
We stayed in a cabin at Prineville Reservior.
The cabin was so nice! This is the main area with the kitchenette off to the side just out of the scope of this pic. The bathroom and an additional room were to the right. We certainly were not roughing it since our cabin had a heater, hot water, microwave and mini-fridge. I guess you could say we were glamping, ha!
Just a game we came up with using the boys' glow sticks : )
We fished the reservior and within the first 5 minutes Caleb caught a trout or as he calls it "a strout." Even though Phil fished the lake several times this was the only fish caught, crazy right! We cooked that fish and divided up amongst the boys with Caleb getting the lions portion since he caught it. I tell you these boys just looooove fish, they even ate the skin, ew! I'll only eat the skin if it's crispy and let me tell you, it wasn't, ha!
On another day we went to the painted hills!
Aren't they so neat!
Family pic!
It's like you're on a different planet, nothing grows on these hills!
On yet another day we went to hike around Smith Rock.
They are too small to see but there were tons of people rock climbing all along those rock walls.
Mr T
Central Oregon is such a neat place with so many things to see and do. We didn't get a chance to do it all, like dig for fossils or visit a ghost town. So we'll definitely be back!
Here is a little video Phil put together but it's almost 9 minutes long. So this is only for the most devoted of Pitts Trips fans : )
