Spring Break!

Okay, so we don't have kids in school, so it isn't a real spring break. But it was in April and we did travel to Bend, Oregon for a little family vacation with some great friends. What did we do? Well, funny you should ask. I might have a few photos...

We rode bikes. The house that we shared with two other families also had bikes! Fun! And yes, I said two other families. We also brought a couple of teenagers to babysit, since we had 6 kids. So, it was 14 people in all. Great fun was had by all!

Trinity and Teagan were helping me navigate.

Teagan and Trinity wanted nothing more than to throw rocks in the river. Why? Because we were going to Sun  River. Of course there's a river!

Gratuitous photo of who-knows-what. Huh?

There was also a playground within walking distance of the house. Guess what? There was a slide too! Go Ava!

Go Alex!

Go Trinity!

Apparently, in addition to the sliding, there were juice boxes as well.

Wait, I guess there were two slides.

Trinity is demonstrating her sliding technique. It involves leaning forward. Very difficult to execute.

Ava uses a more traditional sliding technique.

Nothing clever here, just Alex sliding.

Apparently I ticked all the kids off at some point because they trapped me at the top of the carousel and spun me around very fast. Good thing I hadn't eaten lately!

This is a great shot of all the kids and Courtney and Michelle, who were our rock star child care for the trip.

Did I mention that there are a TON of photos here? Well, I can imagine that you have figured it out by now. We also went to a huge warehouse that had nothing but inflatable toys. Giant ones. If you have never been to one of these, go NOW! They have big slides!

They have entire obstacle courses that are inflated...

You can even push infants off of huge slides...go Emerson!

And then, somewhere along the line, Trinity turned into an honest to goodness little girl. Wow, she looks growed-up.

We also made our own pizzas!

Such fun for all the kids!

I do think, however, that Maddie had some help...

Even the older kids liked building their own pizza

Then we saw the most amazing thing...

Okay, maybe it was just the pizzas cooking in the oven. But it was a hot oven, like 724 degrees hot. Seriously.

And of course there was this. Yeah, mine is the one stretching her mouth out. So proud.

Then there was nothing to do but enjoy the pizza!

And smile with your mouth full!

The last day arrived and it was a little sad. But we squeezed in a quick day on the hill with the older kids, who all are learning to ski.

We used the harness some, but ditched it about halfway through since Trinity can go down mostly by herself.

The world's best teacher.

How was the vacation? You be the judge!

A Good Day

Guess what? The weather's getting better and better. But not fast enough! I know that the end of August will have me yearning for cooler temps, but until then the cold is what I complain about. I guess that's one thing I really like about Baker is that the seasons are about the perfect length. That said, yesterday's rain didn't have me excited for the weekend. But the sun was trying to peek through the clouds this morning, so we forged ahead, trying to get ourselves outside. Guess what? We did!

Rabbit trail: Autumn's wedding ring and her grandma's wedding ring (from decades previous). See any similarities?

We went up to the trails at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center this morning after a swim at the pool. We thought the kids would like a hike, and it allowed Autumn and I to get a short run in to boot. No, we didn't run with the kids, we took turns watching them.

Trinity is a little concerned about where her mommy is. I think she is down the hill in the background somewhere. The kids and I dropped her off at the bottom of the hill and met her at the top.

Trinity is doing her best mommy impression.

My girls (and a wagon or two).

The Interpretive Center has some great exhibits, great for kids of all ages!

While Autumn was inside taking care of a few last minute things for dinner, I took the kids in the bike trailer to return some cans and bottles. 5 cent refund here in Oregon. I strapped a few bags full of cans and plastic pop bottles on the trailer and rattled my way to Safeway. Yep, I was THAT guy today. And yes, the kids are in the trailer, you just have to look carefully.

We met Autumn at the store and goofed around a little before heading to the park for a little energy burn. I swear that the kids just need an outlet for all their energy every once in a while. Teagan was digging the big slide.

So was Trinity, but it looks like she mussed her hair...

All in all it was a great day. We were able to get a little something for everyone today and we even ended the day with an indoor picnic! What a great day!

Side story: last weekend My dad and Sue came over on Saturday and Sunday. After church we all went to Zephyr for treats!

So this is a funny picture. Why? Well, Autumn didn't get the GPS mapping program stopped right after her run, so it kept recording for a while. The funny part is that the part where she had the kids looks like a small child just scribbled on paper, while the part where she was alone is smooth sailing! Seems kind of accurate, don't you think?

Egg-zactly!

Ok, so that's a bad blog post title. It's a bad anything title. But it's there and that is that. Easter did in fact just happen a couple of weeks ago. We the kids hunted eggs until their little legs wouldn't carry them any further...

Then they sat and ate until they could walk again. Then they hunted some more!

Victory is mine! (Although, truth be known, Teagan really wasn't as into it as I thought he would be. Still fun though)

One thing I like about our kids is that both share really well. Most of the time.

Yeah, could have zoomed in more. The shot is still a good one though!

Ava, strutting her stuff! Wait, that might be the funky chicken!

Teagan could be seen showing off for all the young ladies...

Another thing that I like about our kids: They're a little goofy.

Coloring eggs. Interestingly enough, neither child picked up the real eggs on Easter morning. They knew which ones had the good stuff!

Egg-strordinary egg coloring helper. Thanks Kate!

Hunting before church.

Loot!

Cute picture. Yep, a little proud. Yep, a little biased (and proud of that too!)

Like I said...goofy

I say it, but not enough: I am blessed to be married to Autumn and we are blessed to have two awesome little kids. Happy Easter and bring on the summer! Wait, this is Eastern Oregon. We could be waiting until July for summer. Well, Happy Easter anyway!