PECO 2012-2013 Season

December 2012: Christmas Through the Years with special guest, Ray Summers

January 2013: Singing the National Anthem at a Portland Trailblazer Game

March 2013: How Firm a Foundation

June 2013: Sounds of America

{Exploring} Eugene: sans kids!

A couple of weeks ago I sold a little piece of my Oregon identity...my jog stroller!

My boys (when combined) were maxing out the weight limit and they both would rather ride their bikes, or even run alongside, than ride in it so it was time.

But I was a little sad nonetheless....

But the upside is that I used the money from selling the stroller to buy myself a new piece of Oregon identity...a bike!

(seriously, you can't live in Oregon without one!)

With my new Oregon identity (bike) in tow, my hubby and I took off to spend a couple of nights on a train/bike adventure just for two!

Wednesday afternoon we kissed our kiddos goodbye, divided our belongings between the back of my bike and the back of my husband and we rode our bikes to the local commuter (MAX) train station.

We took the train across town and I maxed my hubby out on his shopping quota...approximately 43 minutes! 

Then we jumped back on the train and headed downtown where we rode along the Waterfront Park ~ Eastbank Explanade Loop and enjoyed the beautiful views of the city.

From our pleasure ride, we booked into the heart of downtown to grab a bite to eat (food cart - no shock there!) and then we rode to the Union Station to catch our Amtrak ride south to Eugene, Oregon.

We arrived in Eugene 2.5 hours later and headed (via our bikes) to our hotel to get a good nights rest in preparation for the next day.

Thursday we jumped back on our trusty bikes and explored Eugene...

Little known fact about my hubby...despite his Oregon State diploma and his blood running orange and black...he did actually attend U of O for two years.  

So we spent most of our morning exploring the campus of the University of Oregon and Rich's old stomping grounds and it was beautiful!  I think there was only one building on the entire campus that wasn't made of red brick!  And the trees and greenspace ~ don't even get me started! 

Eugene is a biking town.  I have NEVER seen so many bike racks as what exist in and around campus.  In fact, much of campus is only accessible on feet or on bike.  

They even have dedicated bike lanes and bike signals!

After our campus adventures, we hit the bike paths in and around the city. 

We started by riding the Amazon Park trail and then headed toward the river...

There is a Riverbank Trail System that was beautiful...one minute you were on the banks of the river and the next minute you were on a lush forested path and then you were in view of open fields.  

We spent most of the afternoon riding the different paths....from Skinner Butte Park to the Owen Rose Gardens to the Delta Ponds to Alton Baker Park.

We crossed the river numerous times...

Luckily for me (and my new identity) none of the paths were too steep and I was able to keep up with our adventures at a reasonable pace.

I was actually surprised (and thrilled) that Friday morning I woke up still able to peddle my bike...cause I didn't really have a choice but to get back on since that was our method of transportation back to the Amtrak train station in Eugene....

and then back to the train station in Portland....

and then back into the heart of downtown (for some lunch at a food cart) only to catch the MAX train back to our own little pocket of town and back on the bikes to home!

It was a fun little adventure...

And the best part is that I didn't crash my new identity once!

Something Blue

Rich went out to collect eggs yesterday afternoon and found a little blue egg that was simply beautiful!

It is the first egg laid by one of our newbies and based on the color we know that it was our girl Mohawk that did all the hard work!

I hope that this is a sign that Ivory and Oreo will begin laying soon too.

(I placed a normal egg next to the new egg for size comparison - the eggs of  new layer start out small but will increase in size over about a month's time until the eggs begin to be what you would expect)

{Girls Camp 2013} Standing Around the World

I am not sure when K became old enough to attend girl's camp, but despite my disbelief, attend girl's camp she did.  

And based on the (nearly) 300 photos that she took, I think she had a GREAT time.

 

Our ward had two leaders, two YCL's, two 3rd years and one 1st year (K).

The report that I got back from the leaders was that K was the social queen of the camp.

Those that didn't know her didn't believe it was her first year to attend.

When they did the slide show at the end of the week, K's photo was everywhere and a cry of "Kaitlyn" went up from the crowd every time.

What a silly girl!

Birthday Boy turns FIVE!!!

Time to update the sidebar cause yesterday my baby boy turned FIVE!

Taking the birthday plan that I used for J back in December, I waited until the last minute and then invited T's best buddy, Simon, to join T for an afternoon at Pump it Up.  We grabbed pizza on the way home and had ice cream bars for a birthday treat.

T was thrilled with the "party" but his friend realized it was all a facade and called me out on the fact that a party needs more friends and candles to blow out.

Simon didn't realize that that was just the beginning of T's 36-hour birthday celebration so there was no reason for him to be critical :)

The next morning (T's actual birthday) we all were out of bed by 5:30 a.m. and out the door to attend the Festival of Balloons in Tigard.  

We found a small hill to set up our camp and we watched the balloons float into the sky as we ate donuts (one with a candle for T to blow out) and chocolate milk.

Every time a balloon launched we told T that that was his birthday balloon.  

He never tired of hearing that.

In the afternoon we had grandparents join us for the opening of gifts and birthday cake.

Right before the cake was served, T said, "remember how on J's birthday he got to eat as much cake as he wanted?"

I was game, so after serving cake to all the family, I plopped the platter in front of the birthday boy and handed him a fork.  

He didn't even make a dent in it!

After cake the kids headed outside to enjoy one of T's gifts - the ultra stomp rocket.

We ended up with rockets in the trees and on the roof...all signs of a great time.

They also discovered that the rockets are pretty dang fun to aim at people and, boy oh boy, does T belly laugh when someone gets hit!

Seeing as this was T's fifth birthday I thought I would share FIVE reasons we love T....and since there are five family members here at the house right now we will each take one reason:
#1: T is sweet and has the cutest personality (from K)
#2: T is really good at sharing (from J)
#3: T likes to smile (from C)
#4: T is a lover...he is always giving hugs and kisses and won't let anyone leave the house without getting "one more hug" (from mom)
#5: T is ALWAYS happy and has a terrific giggle (from dad)

We love you T and are SO, SO, SO glad that you are a part of our family!