Father's Day

"The Dads"

For Father's Day we were invited to our neighbours' for a Father's Day BBQ with yummy ribs, salads, and delicious pico de gallo! It was great.
Even better was the dad's spending time with the kids in the backyard after dinner!

Best of all was dessert: Strawberry Shortcake on the yummiest bisuits ever. Here's the recipe for the super duper yummiest biscuits ever! I crave these! Luckily I have a generous neighbor who shares them with me :D

I'm so glad Brad is such a great dad and loves to do things with the kids. They really love it when he takes time to do things with them. We're very lucky that his family is his first priority.

The kids made some cute cards, but I can't find them right now... I'll have to post that tomorrow.

Samantha's Belated Birthday Party

Ever since Samantha's birthday our weekends have been totally booked, so Samantha finally got to have her friends over last Thursday night for her "party." They spent a lot of their time giggling and being silly. I think they had a good time.

You probably can't tell, but the cake has a bunch of musical notes. The girls were talking about what notes were on the cake and as I cut into a 16th note the girls said, "So what does that make it now?" and they all laughed as they joked that it was now a 32nd note. LOL!

I'm glad they are all self professed "band geeks" and really good girls :D

Yee Haa!

Friday night we decided to whoop it up at the Sisters' Rodeo for "family night" aka, 12 and under get in free. Dang that birthday of Samantha's! We've got to pay full price for her everywhere now!

One of the coolest things was that the parking attendants were all on horseback. Very cool!

It was a beautiful night, but it started getting too chilly for the kids around 9:30, which was fine since the rodeo was just about over. Next year we will have to be sure everyone has a bit heavier jacket, and pants.


The kids' favorite event was the barrel racing, but I didn't get any pictures of that, it was too dark by then.
Funny story- Ethan really wanted to enter the drawing for the new car, so we had to go down and do that. He is such a lucky kid, he's always certain his chances are good he is going to win. We even had to check out the trucks and cars and he had to climb in the minivan and test it out... in case we won. On the way out of the park he was concerned because they hadn't announced the winner yet, but I told him they wouldn't announce the winner until Sunday. A short time passed and then he asked me "Did you put our phone number on the card?" I said, "Yes, it was part on the entry form" To which he replied "I just wanted to make sure because we might be at church when they pick the winner" lol!

School's Out!

Wednesday was Abby's last day of school and the kids' "field day" at school, so I went a took a few pictures.

Here is Abby with Ms. Annett and Ms. Mindy and Phoenix on her last day of preschool!

I don't think she really "got it" that it was her last day. She got in the van and I said to her "Wow! You're last day of preschool, now you get to go to Kindergarten!" She sat kinda quiet like she was thinking and asked me "But I can still go back and play with my friends, right?" Luckily Ms. Annett told us that any time Abby would like to come over and she has an opening she is welcome. So, we may just do that, or have Phoenix over to our house to play some time.

I found Elise wandering around the field "too cool" to play all the games. Field day had a Hawaiian theme, hence the beautiful outfits.
I found Ethan wandering around from station to station having a great time! Hooray for the return of warm weather!

I am excited about the summer. I love not having to get up and get going and being able to plan fun days outside.

Balloons over Bend

We live right next to the kids' elementary school which is the designated take-off point for the annual "Balloons over Bend" event. So, we reluctantly woke up all the kids Sunday morning at 6am, gave them each a poptart, and put on their WINTER jackets to go watch the balloons take off. It was a very chilly 36 degrees!!
I have to say it was VERY cool though. We got to see 7 balloons take off, and they let you get real close and everything. Very neat!! (I understand they had a bunch more balloons on Saturday, so we'll have to catch that next year) Here are some pics and video we took.

Vacation from our vacation

You all know what a radio junkie I am and a few months ago I won an auction for a nights stay at Sunriver Resort and a massage at the Spa. It expired the end of June, so we made reservations for Friday, June 6th for a vacation from our vacation. :D

Brad thought it would be fun Friday morning to start our weekend with a bike ride. He thought it was fun- not me (for the most part). Don't know if you've heard but it has been sooo cold and windy here, (I had on a long sleeve shirt, my bike shirt, and a jacket with my winter leggings) and that's what we were riding in along with some sleet... just for fun. We DID see a buck on our ride which was pretty cool.

Friday after the kids got home from school we took them to their respective friends and Brad and I enjoyed a nice dinner together out at Sunriver. Sunriver is only about 20 minutes south of Bend, but we felt like we were a million miles away.

The room had a wonderful view and a fireplace in it. This was the view out the window. I think that should we get another house I would really like a fireplace in my bedroom! We only wish it had been warmer!

In case you can't tell, the thermometer reads 38 degrees!!

Saturday morning we went for our massages. Brad had never been, so it was a new experience for him. He was pretty nervous about it, but I think ended up liking it in the end. Alas, all good things must come to the end and we picked up all the kids by 1pm Saturday. It was nice to get away though, even if it was for only 20 hours.

California Adventure- Wednesday- Day 6

Wednesday we decided to go to California Adventure.
Abby and Ethan checked out the cool swing at the "Redwook Creek Challenge Trail"

We enjoyed the ferris wheel ride on the "non-rocking" car, while the other kids went on the cool rocking car. I'll try and get the video posted.

Since California Adventure has a bunch of rides that Abby was too small to ride we ended up splitting up for awhile. Abby and I went to the "Bug's World" area and Abby enjoyed a break running through the water, and some of the smaller rides.

Here's one of Flik's flyers (once we got back together)

Churro break!!
Chillin' with "Frozone"
Riding back to the parking lot on the tram, another long day.Abby spent some of her money on her Minnie Mouse hat and Ethan bought his huge sucker.

I think one of our favorite things there that day was the Animation Studio. The Crush Turtle talk was so cool, and the kids loved doing the voice overs for the movie clips.
The Tower of Terror was also very thrilling; Abby and Elise both backed out.
Another great long day!