Weekend in Portland

We went to Portland so Geoff could run the spartan race (previous post) and so we could visit our friends the S Family and do some exploring.  We had a fun weekend doing fun things with the kids.  Zoo!  Attempting to get a group pic...Avery wasn't having anything to do with it.

 Cool floating sea lion

 Crazy cute cuddling cheetahs.  I mean, seriously.

 Awry baby elephant kept trying to keep the big elephant from napping, she was even crawling over the big elephant.  I could have watched her all day she was adorable.

 Hey boys!

All the girls

Then she crashed at the zoo.  Poor sleepy baby.

 We got to go to a really cute park and splash pad.

 She has pointing down pat.  She also can say "no" quite clearly and "more" which comes out like "MOW oh"

 She was having a big old time.

 I think the boys could have stayed there all day as well.

 She had so much fun with Daddy pushing her on the swing.

We went to Multnomah Falls.  We went the first month we lived in OR but it was in the winter and we thought the kids might want to go again.  Avery was wearing Geoff's headband from the Spartan race and she wasn't taking it off.  

 The kids played in the water afterwards.

 Jen, big Avery and I went over to the "Street of Dreams".  There are nine homes built (million dollar homes) on one street built in different styles by different builders and you can tour the homes.  We only had an hour before we had to leave town but I could have stayed for 3 hours!!  The kitchens, the mudrooms, the laundry rooms were insane.  I only got a few pics before my phone died.  I though this bathroom was really unique:

 This was literally one corner of a mudroom, that also had a built in desk, and more storage areas right off the garage.

 This was a media room in one of the homes.  Wow.

 A few of the homes are custom built, some are already sold, and the rest are for sale.  They even sell some of the staging furniture in them too.
Final pic of Avery trying to sneak her way into the back seat with the boys.  :)

Wishing my dad and Papap a very Happy Birthday!!!!!

Spartan Race

Doesn't this look fun?!

Or this?!  I love barbed wire.

 How about lugging 30 lbs uphill?  And back down?   Followed by crawling straight uphill in the mud for 30 yards under more barbed wire?  

Kind of like basic training huh?  Without all of the yelling.   Geoff joined our friend Brick to run this Spartan Race in Washington.  Here is a pic of Geoff exiting a huge slide into the mud.  The race is a 5K with obstacles.

Brick's wife Jen, all the kids and I were sitting at this rope climbing obstacle and we were able to stop them mid-race for a pic.  Geoff is crazy muddy because he had just lost his watch under the muddy water and went underwater to get it.  I would have left the watch.  No way would I have put my head under that water.   But he found his watch.

 There are even volunteers at the finish line ready to whack you with a pugil stick. (I googled that)

 Brick's son said "all you got when you were done was a medal and a banana?"   Excellent question.  They also got a shirt and a beer.

 The guys had fun.  Geoff said when he was showering (they had a shower stations for everyone to hose down) that the mud just wouldn't go away and that he felt like he was creating more mud.   I love how Wyatt looks grossed out here and is keeping his distance from Geoff.

Geoff is now ready for American Ninja Warrior.

Lake of the Woods

Geoff had water survival training to do at the lake so we went up for the afternoon.  The boys stayed with Geoff to tent camp overnight.  The above picture really looks like water survival.  One adult vs 10 kids.  Crazy.  (Kidding, Geoff was the only one in the water at the time).

W was holding and snuggling with A.

 Here is our little dare devil in the raft.  By herself.  Ready to take on the world.

Harvest

We picked our first tomatoes!  Technically we should say "harvested" our first tomatoes, but I feel you need to have at least a dozen at one time to say that.  We would be lying.  We also got one cucumber and one zucchini.  It was a pretty exciting morning.  The boys and Avery were about as excited as they were last Christmas.  :)  Who knew?!  A lot of our plants seem to have some sort of virus or fungus so we may not get much more.  Everyone says homegrown tomatoes are so much better than the ones from the grocery store.  They were right.   

Our one zucchini was perfect...we baked zucchini bread first thing that morning.

  Avery was watching the boys smile while holding the zucchini so as soon as she got a hold of it, she did what she needed to do.  And she always carries a spare bowl around with her.  Just in case.  That is what she brings us when she wants to eat.

Superheroes

Here are the boys looking pretty tirrrred after four days of gymnastics camp.  They loved it as much as last year.  The camp emphasize qualities of "superheroes"...both real life superheroes and fictional ones.  They sword-fighted on the balance beam, did water balloons, played games, made these cool capes, watched movie clips from Pirates of the Carribbean, Avengers, Spiderman (scenes emphasizing super qualities), met with a real policeman, did bungee cords, jumped on the trampoline, swung from the ropes, and were chased by their coach with biting mats (he was pretending to be a shark).  That is just the parts I know they did.  :)

 Our superheroes W and J!