Sunday, June 29, 2014

Family Ride

 We spent this afternoon with the Wagners and the Booths on a family ride.  We rode over 12 miles - Allison rode her tag along and Bekah rode on her own.  These two were pretty fabulous!


 A picture with almost all five kids looking at the camera!  And smiling!
 All of the crew (except me!)


 We rode through the covered bridge on the OSU campus.  Uncle Jon convinced Allison a troll lived under the bridge - thankfully she was so wiped out from the ride that she fell right asleep tonight with only a few questions about trolls :).



 Heidi did pretty well on the ride - but she was definitely ready to be done.  Next time we'll bring more snacks to keep her occupied.  We grabbed dinner downtown with the Wagners and called it a successful day!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Playing at the Park

 These two girls love playing at parks lately.  On the weekends we take multiple trips in a day.  Heidi loves exploring & slides and has a fear of swings.  Allison, well, she is all over the place!  She usually makes at least one new friend with every trip and is always trying something new.

 We've been stopping in at the Wildcat Park in Corvallis a lot lately.  There are so many fun things for the girls to try.
 This little lady just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Way too fast if you ask me.  They moved her from the baby class to the toddler class at daycare today and it was a little traumatic.  I didn't realize she wasn't a baby anymore! :)  Anyhow, I love following her around at the park and listening to her talk.  And I love the fact that she liked wearing this hat - is it about the cutest thing ever or what?




 We ended this trip playing on the crazy slides that are either really steep or really bumpy.  The girls could spend all day on that slide.  Unfortunately my arms couldn't as Heidi thought it was my job to lift her back up to Mark after every trip down the slide!
And I have to point out that the tower behind Allison in these two pictures is a replica of the Corvallis courthouse, Allison loves climbing around in it!

Race Day!

 Jodi, Janelle & I did a team triathlon.  I did the swimming, Janelle did the biking and Jodi did the running.  We enjoyed ourselves and maybe Jodi & I will consider doing the triathlon on our own sometime.  The kiddos had a great time cheering us on - or enjoying the party!




Swimming Girls

 I finally got the underwater pictures of Annie and Allison at their swim lessons back - these two did love their lessons and especially their teacher, Jess!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Snapshots

 I finally downloaded photos from my phone and realized how behind I was on documenting some things, here is a great big photo dump!  Allison & Annie had their last swim lesson together for awhile, we're taking a break for the summer (although they both are doing some group lessons).  They got to wear shark vests and swim in the big pool!  They both are also now working through Preschool Level 3 - just need to learn to side breathe!
 Allison & I went on a lunch date one Saturday after she got her haircut.  We had a great time coloring and chatting and enjoying food Daddy can't eat!
 Allison's attempt at using chop sticks!  We took the girls to Kim Hoa's (a favorite Vietnamese restaurant) after swimming one afternoon and they both ate tons of food!
 Heidi wearing her special dress from the Grindles, that Elmer sent her when she was born.
 Little helper.  Or trouble maker.  Depends who you ask!

 Jodi & I are still doing Sunday afternoon adventures - now that the brakes are fixed on my mountain bike and her derailleur is fixed we can actually do fun rides - maybe someday we'll actually make it to the top of Peavy in the short time we have!
 This girl loves my biking stuff and trying to use it all!

 She also has been into scooters since watching Allison ride around on her new one.  Thankfully Allison's old one is pretty stable - so much for getting rid of it!
 Allison had her pre-school graduation last week (even though she won't leave until September when Kindergarten starts, many of the kids are doing other programs for the summer).  It included a three act play.  In Spanish.  About three bears and three sisters.  She was the middle sister, Rica.  And yes, it was as entertaining as it sounds!

 She has adored all her teachers, but especially teacher Lindsey!
 Allison went to her friend, Olivia's birthday party this past weekend (at the pool again!).  It is really fun to watch her play with her school friends, these kids play so well together.  And a little bittersweet realizing most of these kiddos are moving on to other things at the end of June and they will all be in different elementary schools in the fall!
 The Heidi-bug enjoyed a donut on Father's Day while we waited for Mark and Allison in Allison's Sunday School program that they put on for the Dads.
 These two are finally starting to notice each other, Lauren has the cutest way of saying 'Heidi.'  And she was really excited to get to 'help' feed Heidi!
Last but not least, I had a birthday this week!  Whew!  Natalie was kind enough to make me a cake to make sure we would celebrate.  Allison & I enjoyed it, Mark couldn't eat it and in a very strange way Heidi refused to try it!

Little Hand

 The Heidi-bug loves to eat snacks on the go - and I love how before she makes a sound her little hand reaches out asking for another bite of sandwich or whatever else she is getting.  And if I don't respond to the sound then she starts asking for real!

Allison's Birthday Party




We did have a party for Allison's birthday - we did another swim party - and I managed to pick up some Frozen party supplies and she loved them!  I don't have many pictures from the party because it was so busy but everyone had fun.
 After the party Allison was very excited to get out and play with her new gifts, a scooter from Grammie & Grr, wearing her new clothes from Nana & Papa.

She loved the little 'cupcake rings' and collected all of her favorite characters from the left-over cupcakes!