Dear friends of ours have suffered the unimaginable or more properly put, a fear that the majority of us are too scared to even think about. A teenage driver fell asleep at the wheel and hit our dear friend while out for a regular Sunday morning run. Our friend did absolutely nothing wrong...only being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He is now paralyzed from the neck down and slowly regaining his short term memory. The sadness and anger is very much there and this desire to help them however I can is as strong as wanting to tell anyone that can hear me to please make safe and smart decisions when you're behind the wheel. Please.
With perspective very much in check, time keeps moving and our kids keep us moving too. Paul and Elise finished Kindergarten, Lily finished 3rd grade, Nate coached Lily's softball team and helped with Paul and Elise's T-ball team to finish out the school year.
Nate and Paul are now glasses buddies and I love the look on both of them. Paul's interest in reading books, especially in bed, has increased significantly.
Oma and Opa have returned for summer in Portland and we just pick up where we left off with tasty family dinners, Oma busy in the garden, watching soccer games on Opa's TV, playing games with Oma, sneaking candy from the candy jar and asking for chocolate milk, and the kids scaring Opa by surprising him in the mornings.
Our annual trip to Sunriver in central Oregon was longer than usual thanks to our mixed doubles tennis team advancing to sectionals that happened to be taking place in Sunriver this year. Central Oregon continues to impress us and we have no shortage of activities we all love to do there. Watching the year to year changes in the kids such as going down a hill on your mountain bike that was too scary the year before, or hiking up a more difficult terrain that we wouldn't have considered taking them on the year prior to being big enough now to being able to ride all the slides at the aquatic center encapsulates a big part of parenting joy. I can now read a book while the kids swim in the pool by themselves - having that option does feel good. Sibling fighting and hitting though has not changed..I'd even say the fighting has increased in quantity since last year. The music we listened to most on the trip was definitely The Greatest Showman soundtrack.
One more month of summer to go. Bedtime is way too late these days, my kids could use a week in kindness camp preferably an overnight one, and Nate and I could use a getaway to Maui....really anywhere is fine.
Paul and Elise's Kindergarten Class - Mr Melling
Lily with her 3rd Grade Teacher Mrs. Rosoff - a favorite she'll treasure having her whole life
Look how hip and handsome they both look
Elise's modeling debut for Lincoln Youth Baseball and Softball. Just cracks me up that the kid who retired for a short while from the sport because she didn't like the look of the pants is now modeling them.
T-ball Team - Team Snow leopard hawks
Lily's 3rd grade softball team with Dad as coach
Treasured family dinners. Grilled meat and homemade french fries are staples on our table
The big guy, Ty, was a ring bearer in our wedding 12 years ago. Fond memories of babysitting them and now watching them grow up to be such great kids. Dear friends since 2001.
Girls getaway to Austin
While I lived it up at the Hilton in Austin, Nate took all the kids camping.
Tumalo Mountain Hike - We call it the butterfly hike because they were everywhere. Check out this video to give you an idea of how the hike up went.
Checked out the Jefferson County Fair in Madras. Lawnmower tractor races and watching young kids ride sheep rodeo style stood out for us.
Tube slide fun includes tipping over at the end
First part of our Sunriver trip was to compete with our mixed double team at USTA Sectionals. Super fun to be surrounded by so many great tennis players.
Twins are old enough now to go for a trail ride. No more expensive pony rides that last 2 minutes. Loved the trail ride in Bend
