{WA} Skamania Lodge & someone is officially "vintage"

Someone celebrated the big "50" this week and that someone is RICH!

For his birthday I arranged for the two of us to get away for a couple of nights at the Skamania Lodge on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.

The weather completely cooperated by giving us sunshine and blue skies (pretty remarkable for May) and it really was beautiful.  

The first day we mostly explored the grounds of the lodge (golf course, spa, fitness center and pool) and we just kicked back and relaxed with books and movies.

The next morning we explored the Gorge Loop fitness trail, which starts right there at the Lodge.  After breakfast and cleaning up we rented bikes and rode into the town of Stevenson to explore.  There was a path right next to the Columbia River where we saw River boats docking and we also grabbed lunch at a small diner there in town.

It was a nice getaway.  

The kids were great to accommodate our getting away and our neighbor also gets kudos for helping our getaway happen by climbing into our home through a second story window to help K when she got locked out of the house.  Needless to say we were close enough to come home should we be needed but we were appreciative to get 48 hours without any emergency-warranted reasons to return early.

{T} Beep Test Hall of Fame

Boones Ferry Primary has a monthly fitness test called the "Beep Test".  

It involves the kids having to run across the length of the gymnasium before a "beep" is sounded and the beeps get closer and closer together requiring the kids to fun faster and faster.

T has always done well and this year he has been the #1 runner for his class and grade every month.  All of his track practice has evidently paid off this month as he set the all-time record for the entire school at 83.  

The most amazing part is that he is only a 3rd grader.  I know a group of 5th graders (J included) that all had goals of setting the school record this year.  They would have done it had the 3rd grade track star not come out of nowhere to take top honors.

{K} Taylor Swift "Reputation"

These two cute girls determined that they needed to make a road trip to Seattle to see Taylor Swift live in concert as part of her "Reputation" Concert Tour.

The concert just happened to fall on a Tuesday (school) night and the driver with more than two months of driving experience has actually never been to Seattle so I gave permission for the concert only if I was the driver.

We headed out early in the day so that we had time to explore Pikes Market, grab a donut (or two) at Top Pot and get a bite to eat for the girls before the concert.

Then the girls joined 70,000 other screaming girls/women at Centurylink Field in welcoming Taylor Swift to the stage.

While the girls sang & dance into the night, I connected with Ryan and Sheri (Rich's sister) for dinner and to see their new place.  Connecting with the girls after the concert was a little harder than we'd anticipated due to me being on a train underground with no cell service when the train shut down because of crowds.  We did finally connect and the girls crashed....I'm pretty sure they were glad they had me as a driver as they slept until we pulled into town at 4 a.m.

{T} Two more weeks of Track

Last week's meet was back at Jefferson High School, where T ran his first meet.  

We have a few meets behind us and are pros now getting from event to event.

T continues to rock the 800m, taking 1st place with a time of 2:45:76

T ran the 1500m but the timing had an issue and the entire race was thrown out without times for anyone but I think T took 2nd place??? 

T jumped in the long jump with a distance of 9' 09".  He hasn't been able to beat that first week's distance so far.

 T's Turbo-Javelin distance was 60' 01" for 3rd place

There was not an official meet today but one of the youth teams hosted a 1500m run with all of the kids running together.  It was T's third time to run that distance and having some older kids to chase must have pushed him because he shaved a few seconds for a time of 5:25:43 which was 1st place for his age bracket.

{J} conversation over gyros

The last couple of years I've been pretty good about monthly lunch dates with my boys...pulling them from school to grab a quick bite one on one.

This year my boys have been less willing to miss recess and time with friends.  A natural transition but I sure do miss our dates.

I was grateful that J was willing to play hookie and go to lunch with me today...this boy is truly amazing.  I love having conversations with him.  I'm fascinated by the way his mind works and the things that he thinks about.  If you ever have a chance, you'd do well to spend a lunch hour with him.

{T} a Home Field Trip

T's 3rd grade class had a field trip to OMSI today and T asked me last week if he "had to go"?

I've never forced my kiddos to attend a field trip so I asked T what he would like to do if he didn't attend the field trip with his class.  He had given it some thought because he had an agenda for the two of us and we had a great day hanging out together.

We started the day by taking his scooter to the skateboard park where he was able to practice his jumps and tricks without the crowd of older kids that are generally at the park.

Our next activity was a couple of games of bowling.

Lunch was at home....T's favorite sandwich of grilled peanut butter, nutella, & raspberry jam on wheat bread.

We wrapped up the day working on an Eric Dowdle puzzle together.

I loved having a day for just the two of us.  I'm glad that when T wasn't up to spending the day with his class that he would choose to spend the day with me.

Tanner & Hailey's wedding photos

LOVE these two!

LOVE these photos!

So fun to celebrate their one month anniversary by getting the photos back from the photographer....