May Flies By...

So we are five months into 2013!!!  It seems like we are always racing around, sometimes literally.  The garage never gets cleaned, the laundry continues to pile up, but there are trophies, and bib numbers, and fun memories...  This month has been a whirlwind.  C, big K, and A spent a week with Oma and Opa at the beginning of the month.  We participated in the Pole Pedal Paddle on the 18th in Bend.  And, we bought a boat!!!  The boys and I have wanted a boat for years.  We found a deal that was too good to pass up, and Johan was finally in!

Here is a quick wrap up of the month from my phone:

At the Pole Pedal Paddle, the boys were amazing.  The race started with big J downhill skiing to C.  C then skate skied for 8K.  Big J then biked for 22 miles.  He handed off to big K who then ran 5 miles.  C and little J then kayaked for a couple miles, it was a circuit so some upstream, some downstream.  Big K completed the final sprint to the end.  I am so proud of these guys, and they are already planning for next year.

C is in the green below, I quickly stopped to get a picture of him before racing down the hill to meet Jill for my second leg of the our PPP.  Jill and I participated as a pair team.  So much fun!!  And special thanks to Jim and Johan who handled all the logistics with the boys' team while Jill and I did our race.  And to Nana and Hector who watched the girls while we all did the race.

 

Here is the kayak launch.  Toward the middle of the pic you can see Johan and Jim helping the boys put their kayak (orange) into the river. 

 

 

 

Here are little J (big J's younger brother) and C on the kayak course.  This is arguably the toughest section of the race.  This event requires a lot of upper body strength.  These boys are fierce competitors.  I love how passionate they are and totally willing to commit themselves.

 

 

 

Memorial Day weekend should be hot and gorgeous...but we live in southern Oregon.  We have lived here for seven years and every year I am shocked that we are still dealing with freezing temperatures at the end of May.  Ugh!  We had some nice tomatoes growing in our garden.  But it snowed a little this week.  And now they are finished...

 

 

 

Along with dead tomatoes, basil, and bell peppers the weather ruined our Memorial Day weekend plans.  We had reserved a campsite at Lake of the Woods, but with lows in the high 20s we decided to stay home.  As a consolation prize for the boys we let them have a sleepover on Friday, and on Saturday afternoon we decided to take the boat up to Lake of the Woods for a trial run.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

 

Here is A on the dock just before we launch the new boat to see if it runs.  It does!  Look at Mt. McLoughlin in the background.  Gorgeous!  It is calling me, "Summit me, summit me, summit me!"  That is on the boys' and my summer bucket list.  Gotta wait for some snow to melt first...



 

C obliges me with a photo op.

 

My driver looking hot.  Sooooo this fun, quick trip was kind of miserable.  The boat works great, but the temperature was so, so cold.  The girls were freezing.  C was trying to be tough and prove that the weather was warm.  He was stubbornly insisting that he didn't need a coat because he really wanted to go tubing.  And the cherry on top...little K hated going over 10mph.  So we shivered as we putted around the lake with two disappointed boys, and a miserable baby.



 

Big K and A putting on a happy face.

 

 

 

The boys are still liking BMX.  Here is a shot from today of them practicing:

 



 

Uh Oh and Hollywood!

Whenever one of the kids puts on sunglasses I dramatically call out, "Hollywood!"  Here is K in full Hollywood mode.

And K's newest word, which I realize is actually a phrase, "Uh Oh!"  It is special because it comes with an Uh Oh face.

Singing

While we were driving the other day A announced to me that, "Some people ARE NOT NICE!" She was adamant.  I answered, "Most people are very nice."  She countered, "No K, says NO!  Some people ARE NOT NICE!"  Hmmmmmm.....I wasn't sure where this was coming from so, "Why did K say that?"  A answered, "At the store some people ARE NOT NICE!"  A will be three next month.

Ah ha!  She had fallen asleep on the way to the store the other day so I asked K to sit with her.  Well of course she woke up about two minutes after I left.  She loves the grocery store.  Actually she loves shopping for anything, but she has to settle for Fred Meyer because that is about the extent of what we have in our little town.  She wanted K to take her in, but he explained (wisely) that you have to be with your mama in the grocery store because some people are not nice.  A really took this to heart, but I didn't want her to be afraid of people. 

So as we drove I casually made up a little song.  "People and nice, people are good, I like people-people-people oooooohhhhhhh I like people-people-people..."  I went on, and the song was pretty zippy (probably have some music industry scouts on my tail already, uh media).  Anyway, A was feeling pretty contrary because she kind of hijacked my song and carried on with her own.  I quickly (and safely) whipped out my camera to catch some of her musical genius for posterity.

When I could get a word in I tried to steer back to my happy lesson on liking people.  But A could not be swayed.  She quickly jumped back in:

By now I was enjoying her version so much that when she stopped all she needed was a little nudge from me.  So I sang about two or three words from my people song and that was all A needed.  She bullied her way back in: