Powell Butte

I took the kids on a close-in hike on Easter. Cooper brought his bike too. It was a good climb, saw the Cascade Mountain range from the top and I had a good talk with my niece. It was great, until the descent. That was a bit of a disaster.












Cooper remained in happy spirits!
The other two were not happy.




There's our car after a 2 mile walk!




We probably hiked a total of 6 miles. 1 of those was up the mountain looking for a trail. 2 were getting back to our car. Can't wait until the construction is done up there.

Frogs!

We all went to the Sandy Delta (1000 Acres) today and hung out the whole afternoon. We found a nice quiet spot to let Luke play on the water, even Wyatt got out to play with the sticks. After playing at the water for 3 hours we hiked some more and found tons of frogs!





















We also saw many slithering snakes, a newt, a slug, tadpoles, two hawks and a heron.

Spring Break Cousin Time

Chloe and Noah are visiting this week and we are having a great time.

Hanging

We had another beautiful and sunny day this week and I took Cooper to a playground before swim class. He showed me the spider hang.



We also did lots of gymnastics and running around. It was so nice to be outside!

Road Trip Pictures

Cooper was playing with my phone on the drive home from Bellevue this week. I remembered he mentioned taking pictures for Uncle Jeff. Well here is some of what I found.
























There were about 12 pictures of the rainy drive!

Circuit Gym

Sharon took Cooper to the bouldering gym today while I had a meeting. It was his first time there and I am sure we will be back soon. I was able to meet them after 2 hours of Cooper climbing and he had much more to do. I was a little nervous watching but Sharon was spotting him (they don't use ropes or harnesses). He did great and he loved it!

Mountain Biking

Cooper and I had a fun adventure today in Issaquah, WA. We found a mountain biking park and Cooper biked, I hiked for almost 2 hours.

We went on a Multi-Use trail that connected to several mountain bike specific trails. We did Bootcamp trail that was an easier level and ended with a moderate difficulty trail, Step It Up. Cooper
also did some cool hills with jumps (not getting air). We had a great time! I am excited to get on my bike with him this spring/summer!

Dog Park Picture

Riley at the dog park before running and barking at another dog.



Luke and Cooper after a good romp at the dog park.

Today

I feel like detailing the "dailiness" of today.
Cooper and I woke up, he watched a show while I worked out. Breakfast for us both. I showered while he played with Uncle Jeff and both dogs Luke and Riley.
Preschool for Cooper, I use my time to go to Costco for gas and groceries, find a car wash that will take my car with the bike rack on the tire. Apparently there is only 1 car wash for my car. Still have a little time to drop off books at the library.
Pick up Cooper at 12, head to Janet's house to deliver her late birthday gift. Visit for 20 minutes and go home for lunch. Cooper makes his sandwich, I do the dishes and putz around not knowing what I want to eat. Watch the birds on the suet feeder and the hummingbird yay!! Make myself a sandwich and sit down to play Sorry Revenge (card game) with Cooper. After the first game we see a bird on the feeder, we both run to get our bird books to identify it. Play another game of Sorry Revenge.
After lunch we go outside so I can vacuum the car and Cooper rides his bike. The car gets a good interior detail, lots of dog hair. After the vacuum we take the dogs to the park in the truck. Home after 30 minutes of play, Cooper reads a book while I make coffee. 4:00 we leave for a make-up gymnastics class (we missed last week). I started reading Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison. 6:00 home and get dinner ready, chicken sausage and pasta.
7:00 pm dinner is ready and everyone is home, Uncle Jeff, Auntie Chikako, and Mama Sharon.
Dinner and dessert as a family,
Cooper played a some WII Monster Truck until dessert (he ate while I was cooking).
Bedtime for Cooper with Mama. Catch up with Sharon before bed.

Family hike

Cooper's nap

Cooper fell asleep today in a box, no I didn't stage it. He had his nature class this morning, his first since November, and then we came home and took the dogs to the park for about an hour. We played a couple games of Chutes and Ladders and then he retired to the couch. He was hiding in the box and I was pretending I couldn't find him. He stopped talking, I walked into the living room and he was snoring (he has a cold). I think all the activity and waking up super early today exhausted him. Plus he's recovering from a nasty cold/cough.
Here he is in the box.



Close up

Our day

I am joining in on the typical day posts. Ours vary by day during the week as we have preschool Tues/Thur. Our nights also vary as I have band twice a week and meetings for preschool twice a month. Also Sharon may have a work function that gets her home late.

7:30 wake up
7:40 workout while Cooper watches a show
8:20 eat breakfast, read paper, check email/take shower
8:45 school days: leave for school.
9:30 take dogs to the park
10:00 non-school days: run errands, go to the indoor bike park or indoor skating rink, or playdate.
12:00 school days pick up Cooper.
12:30 lunch
1:00-4:00 take dogs to the park if we didn't make it in the morning. Cooper plays, I do house stuff, we play together.
4:00 start thinking about dinner.
6:00 Mama comes home, Cooper is super excited!
6:15 Dinner
10:00 in bed, check facebook/email, chat with Sharon if she is awake. Read a book before I fall asleep.


1:00-4:00 Mondays: watch neighbor's baby
4:00-5:45 Wednesdays gymnastics
4:00-5:30 Thursdays swim class

Days I am home at night we have family time and Sharon puts Cooper to bed around 7:30-8:00.
While she does that I make lunch for sister-in-law and Sharon.

I have band practice Mon and Wed nights from 7-9:30. Those days I have dinner ready, either crockpot or warmed in oven for the family.

Clovis -From early December

We are in Clovis, CA this week visiting Sharon's family. Grandma Barbara passed away the week of Thanksgiving and Papa had her service last Saturday. It was definitely a celebration of life service. While
We are here we are getting in lots of cousin time. Chloe and Noah are staying at Oma's house, where we are, so we see them daily. Cooper loves cousin Noah and looks forward to seeing him after school. We are also playing with Cousins Alexander and Adam. We took them to play-place this morning and going to an inflatable play-place tomorrow.
We visited Uncle Silly Billy today with the three boys and they played with all of Bill's toys (bicycles and ATV rides). Cooper took a ride on a go-cart too.












We took all the cousins to zoo lights this weekend. Sharon, Sonya and Kris took Chloe and Noah and Cooper rollerskating on Sunday too.
Tonight we walked some streets with Adam and Alexander to see Christmas lights.

Special Friends Brunch

This year Cooper invited Uncle Jeff to his preschool Special Friends Brunch. I was a parent helper that day and was able to enjoy the festivities too.
It was a fun day, we made rice bowls again this year, party hats and the kids made necklaces for their special friends.












Jeff took Cooper home after the brunch so I could clean up, it was fast because we had an extra parent helper. Cooper also showed Jeff around the classroom after they ate. He had a lot of fun.

Year in Review 2012:

What a year. Let's review:

* Sharon got a new job!
* The upstairs project was completed.
* Family trip to Manzanita before Sharon's new job started.
* April started our camping season with a trip to Bend.
* We took our annual camping trip to Lake Almanor.
* Cooper turned 5!
* Jeff and Chikako moved in!
* Sharon turned 50!
* Our last camping trip was to Pacific Beach for Sharon's bday.
* Nonna visited 3 times, twice with Bob.
* Cooper began his last year of preschool.
* Grandma Barbara passed away.
* We took a trip to Fresno for Barbara's service and had quality extended family time.
* The Rosey's stayed with us for Christmas.

What a great year full of milestones and change!

2013 is off to a great start and will ramp up in April when concerts and trips commence!

Making lunch

Cooper loves making his own food. Today he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Rockin in the New Year!

Our New Years Eve was filled with a little volunteering for me to start. During the day I helped a local Japanese organization put together traditional bento boxes for the new year. They sell these boxes of Japanese American food as a fundraiser for their organization at $130 a box. In Japan these boxes sell for $1200 dollars. I spent 4 hours at the Oregon Buddhist Temple with Jeffrey and Chikako making food. My favorite part was making the sushi rolls, I had a great teacher and am excited to try it at home!

After our shift we stopped for much needed coffee then home to start making pizzas. We had our neighbors William and Jean over and our dear friend Connie. After eating we went to William and Jean's for dessert and jam session. Sharon and William jam occasionally (hopefully once a week starting this year) and we got Jeff to play the drums! We jammed until midnight then popped champagne and watched some neighborhood fireworks. Cooper was able to fall asleep during the jam session, after trying out the drums with Uncle Jeff, around 10:30.

We had a great night, we are all a bit tired today though.
Pictures of the jam session.