Treehouse Day 2

At the Treesort one of the activities you can participate in is zip-lining. Cayden, my mom, and I decided to take the "plunge" and sign up for a beginners course. My mom is sort of on this bucket list check list. She is signing up for every activity she can. For those of you who know what happened maybe we should have sat this one out.

Here we are with our gear on.

Here is Cayden getting directions from the instructor.

The first zip. It started way up in the trees and ended nice and close to the ground. I don't think I was breathing the whole way down.

Fortunately, we all had a great time. Unfortunately, my mom's experience led to ankle/foot surgery. She was enjoying "flying" through the trees so much that she forgot to put on the breaks therefore using the bottom of her foot to stop at the next platform. She finished zip lining and was a trooper through the rest of the vacation. Her ankle was swollen and she slept in the car on Day 2 so that she wouldn't have to do the stairs. I bet she doesn't have any regrets though...

Cayden and I liked it well enough. At the end of the beginner route they ask if you want to sign up for the next level. Both of us were shaking our head "no thank you".

Treehouse Trip Day 1

This summer we had some great vacation experiences. I love teaching and I love it even more because of the 3 months I get to spend with my family doing AWESOME things. In Oregon there is a Treehouse resort (known as the Treesort). We made reservations the November before and finally in August we got to go! My mom travelled with us to Southern Oregon and here is where we stayed for two nights.

The Serendipitree

Many of the treehouses were accessible by bridges like this!

Me on the bridge. Can you tell I'm shaking. The boys were so intrigued by my fright they thought it was fun to shake the bridge.

Bryce and Cayden. NO FEAR.

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Spring Piano Recital

Tonight I enjoyed the musical abilities of some talented young'ins. We had guitar, voice, and piano students at my house for the Spring Recital. They were all amazing. It was bittersweet for Cayden and me because our piano teacher (Miss Robin) will be letting us go as piano students. And, no, it is not because I'm THAT hard to work with. Robin is a vocalist and guitar player by trade. She enjoys doing beginning piano and believes that Cayden is ready to jump into bigger and more advanced piano'ing. So, we are on for a search for a new piano teacher. Thank you to Robin! You are amazing.

Honors Reader

Cayden accomplished something GREAT today. He earned an Honors Reader Award at school. Here is how this works- At the beginning of the year kids are given reading goals. There are levels i.e. beginning, advanced, classic, and the very last level that is possible is Honors. Usually, to move from one level to the next requires reading three books worth a certain amount of points and within a reading level. For the Honors Reader he had to read 27 books. Yes, 27. There was categories of books and the books had to reach a total of 100 points. In the end Cayden's books were worth 160 points. Here is the complete list of books that he has read since February (and some of them are really amazing reads):

Who Were the Beatles?
Who Was Leonardo da Vinci?
Who Was Amelia Earhart?
Island of the Blue Dolphin
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It
Bad News for Outlaws: Bass Reeves
One Crazy Summer
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Who Was Albert Einstein?
Mummies in the Morning
Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper
Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
Sit in: How Four Friends Sat Down to Stand Up
Baseball Saved Us
How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse
How to Twist a Dragon's Tale
A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Hank the Cow Dog
Hank the Cow Dog - Slim's Goodbye
The Boy at War

We are so proud of him!

P.S. Cayden's teacher has only ever had one other student complete this reading level while in the 2nd Grade. Wahoo Cayden.

The Egg Hunt

We were pleased to be invited to the 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's house. She has a beautiful property which is made for hunting for Easter eggs. The day was beautiful and the boys SCORED big. I was pretty lucky to have them pause long enough for me to catch a couple of pictures. I'm still not sure why Bryce wanted his Hawaiin shirt but hey, what says Easter more than palm trees and surfboards?

We miss her

I have been meaning to post about our loss for awhile now. Aspen, our dog of 14 years, died on January 30th. We had to put her to sleep as she was suffering from a liver tumor. Jeff picked out Aspen when she was just 8 weeks old. She was Jeff's before Jeff and I ever knew one another. She was a naughty puppy who chewed on EVERYTHING and got into everything that she didn't chew. She could be grumpy and sweet. When we first got Columbia Aspen growled at him constantly. Eventually they became the best of friends. When we had Cayden Aspen was quiet and well-behaved. At the end we were sad to see her suffer and knew it was time. It was extremely difficult to say goodbye. Here are a few pictures of her in her "prime" out on a hike with Jeff and Cayden.

Sunshine?! Really?

It has been a long and cold winter for us. We have been waiting (not very patiently) for a nice day. Today was beautiful and the kids and I went into Redmond to ride bikes on the Canyon trail and then to play on the climbing walls. The sun was warm and there was no wind. The kids loved being outside and I needed the exercise. I got some pretty good pictures with the exception of the vandalism/tagging on one of the rock walls.