SunRiver 2010

If you're a regular to the blog here, you might already know that we love to vacation in Sunriver, Oregon.

This year, we threw an invitation out to some California families who have been a part of our lives for such a long time: the Bills Family (obviously), the Stewart Family, and the Rathjen Family. Much to our absolute delight--EVERYONE said yes!

Staci and Rusty had just been in Oregon for the TCC Member-Guest Tournament. They headed home to Sacramento on Sunday of the previous weekend and headed back with a carful of kids (Natalie and Norah) and gear on Wednesday.

Heather and Ben drove up from San Rafael with their little monkeys, Cameryn and Molly.

Jill and Dave came up from Pleasanton with Emma and Luke.

All said, we were a team of eight adults and eight kids.

Here they are in order of age.

Emma, Cameryn, Natalie, Geneva, Luke, Piper, Molly and Norah

We enjoyed a concert (and beverages) the first night. There was a lot of dancing, 

visiting,

running,

relaxing,

and jumping to the beat.

We busied ourselves the rest of the week catching up, golfing, horseback riding, laughing, swimming, playing, laughing, eating great food, spa-ing, laughing... You get the idea.

Ben busy exaggerating about something.

Geneva at the playground.

Molly enjoying an ice cream treat.

Staci and I enjoying the great weather on the back deck.

Natalie and Geneva - BFFs

Tammy and Greg's self-portrait.

Geneva and Me

"Kid Soup"

I loved this. Heather called bath time with her girls, "making Kid Soup." So, whenever we had them in a  smallish body of water (like the hot tub) we all started referring to it as Kid Soup.

Of course, someone had to hurt themselves (wouldn't be a family vacation without some injury, right?). It happened to be Geneva who took off nearly half her toenail when she stubbed her toe wearing rubber flip flops. She was a really big girl about it and refused to let it slow her down one bit. In fact, when the big "flap" fell off after she got out of the pool, just before I took this picture, she said, "Mom, the chunk came off--here" and tried handing it to me. (SO GROSS)

Cheers to my husband who made such great friends in college, who then went on to marry such fabulous women, who then went on to have such spectacular families!

Already looking forward to SunRiver 2011!!!

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A Sister's Wisdom

It's quite endearing and also very entertaining when these two try to figure things out on their own.

At lunch today, Piper was picking the sesame seeds off her cheeseburger bun and making a neat pile on her plate. "Geneva, we could plant these in the dirt and grow lunch," she announced.

"What would we grow?" Geneva asked.

"Cheeseburgers. These are cheeseburger seeds," she replied simply.

"Piper, cheeseburgers do not grow from seeds," informed Geneva.

"Where do they come from then?" Piper wanted to know.

"Mom, where do cheeseburgers come from?" Geneva inquired.

(Hmm... What to do...?)

"Cows," I said busying myself with some unimportant task.

... {thoughtful silence} ... 

"Cheeseburgers come from cows?" asked Piper.

"Yes," answered Geneva matter-of-factly. "Cows are chefs."

(Good enough for now? I hope so.)

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TCC Member-Guest 2010

We were so happy that Rusty and Staci made the trip up to Oregon to do the Tualatin Country Club Member Guest Tournament again this year!

Rusty and Greg played a practice round Thursday and Staci flew in on Friday for a pedicure, lunch, the "Horse Race," and the cocktail party.

Our flight for the Horse Race was much more subdued (read "old") this year, but we managed to have a great time and take a few tipsy self-portraits.

The guys had played their first round in the morning and did "ok."

They were out after the first two holes of the Horse Race... but it we were happy to head back to the party and enjoy the bar and buffet--and the BAR.

Last year, we had a fantastic time getting to know Andy and Kelly Bither. This year, their friends Ben and Chris had come out from Minneapolis for the event. We had an equally great time visiting and laughing with them!

It was a great weekend!
...
Oh yeah! Our husbands played so well (mostly Rusty) on Saturday that they took first place in their flight and second place overall for the tournament!
{Proud sigh.}

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Things I Love Thursday

It's certainly been awhile... 

Here's a doozie.

• Watching my dad discover the Oregon Zoo with my girls. I grew up going to the San Francisco Zoo with my dad!

• Geneva's expressions. Today I made the girls raviolis with a ricotta cream sauce for lunch. Piper (who is so much like me in taste) loved it. Geneva (who is so much like Greg in taste) was not a fan... Geneva took two bites and declared that she had tried it and it was NOT good. I told her she needed to eat some more. She asked, "how many bites?" I told to eat what was on her plate (not much) until there were only two bites left. She sat at the table diligently working her way through her "task." Grandma Lulu was over and visiting with us during lunch. Finally, Geneva ate all but two bites. "You did it," said Lulu. "Yeah," replied Geneva, "I was really looking forward to being finished with that!"
• Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Thank you to Simone Wells who bought it for me on her last visit to Portland. It was so good. Now I have to see the movie!
• Family golf. I've just started taking lessons (so much fun) and we bought Geneva a set of clubs for her birthday--she has her first lesson tomorrow and she's so excited. We try to get to the range whenever we can and we all have a great time. Plus, the clothes are really cute too. Kidding! (kind of...)

• Having two dedicated time-slots during the week just for ME. Yay for great babysitters!
• All the fun we had at the West Linn Old Time Fair with our neighbors and friends. The rides were rickety, the cotton candy was sticky, the carnival grounds were dusty, and the weather was HOT. It was perfect.

• That my garden is finally blooming and presenting lots of lovely little morsels... photos next time!
• Looking forward to spending time this weekend with Rusty and Staci at the TCC Member-Guest Tournament. Cheers to new traditions!
• Unplanned super-cuteness! Here are Geneva, Campbell, and Piper sporting their matching pink dresses. Obviously, I dressed mine the same this day... but how sweet is it that our friend Campbell was wearing hers too!?

• Homemade sweet and sour mix. Or better yet, margaritas made with homemade sweet and sour mix. Dangerously delicious.
• Self portraits--especially at the beach on a sunny day!

• Little girls who go to bed at 7:30pm and sleep until at least 7:00am and sometimes 8:00am! I was so reluctant to give up our daily nap routine. Then I did it. It's fantastic! It really opens up the whole day and extends the heavy sleeping at night! Geneva struggled in the evenings for a couple weeks, but now everyone is great. They will still snooze a bit after a big morning... but it's not a requirement. I really can't explain it... but it's lovely.
• This little face:

• The kids' show dirtgirlworld on Sprout. I love this show! If you have a little girl between the ages of 4-7, you must check it out. It's a little "different" than the average animated series... You'll see...
• Ellipses... just ask my friend Gretchen...
• Putting Papa Clyde and Grandma Debbie to work refinishing our patio furniture during their visit to Oregon earlier this month. The backyard looks FANTASTIC! Thanks for "crackin' the whip" Mom!

• How every time (like right now) Piper sees a picture of Papa Clyde she gets so excited for me and says, while pointing, "Look Momma! It's your daddy!"
• Geneva "Ninja" Jones and her ability to kill flies in our house. She's got skillz.
• The first couple sunny soccer evenings we had this year. So cute. So fun. 

• The fact that our sunny soccer evenings are finished for the year. Let's face it, two solid hours in the sun from 5:00pm-7:00pm is just too much for us to maintain for very long... especially after the first 1 1/2 sessions when Piper decided she just wasn't interested in actually participating. 
• Taking my dad to his favorite brewery, Rogue, for his birthday. When they move here (not soon enough) we can go there all the time!

• Looking forward to our multi-family vacation in SunRiver with the Bills Family, the Stewart Family, and the Rathjen Family who are all driving up from California! We head out on Tuesday... I'm so excited! My husband Greg, Rusty Bills, Ben Stewart, and Dave Rathjen are great friends from college (though, Rusty dates back to Junior High). They all married fantastic women and now have beautiful families. Between us, there are seven little girls and one boy varying in age from 2.5 to almost 7. Keep your eyes peeled for a future post!
• Sister Silliness

• Piper's speech difficulties. I know, it's probably frowned upon to take pleasure in the fact that our child doesn't make the right sounds sometimes... but she's going to grow up and grow out of this so soon--I just want to enjoy her being "little" while I can. For example, instead of saying "sprinkles and sparkles," she says, "fwinkles and farkels." It's priceless. I actually try to get her to say "sp" words as much as possible. Wicked; I know.
• That summer has finally hit the Pacific Northwest! I thought this spring would kill me. Everyone always asks about the wet winters up here... I'm telling you, it's not the winter that is so difficult. It's the spring! You get a tease of what's in store for sunny, warm days and then, boom--10 solid days of rain again. Usually this lasts for a few weeks... this year it felt like the rain lasted forever! I am so happy for the sun and the mild temperatures--keep in mind, I spent 15 summers in Sacramento. I do, however, miss those incredible rainbows in the backyard!

• The fact that my Canon PowerShot SD750 took a dump. I know, sounds crazy to be rejoicing in this fact; however, Greg and I have been forever talking about upgrading to a SLR and haven't yet pulled the trigger. Now we are able to use the Canon Loyal Customer Program to recycle our broken camera and trade up for a new camera. Instead of getting another point-and-shoot pocket camera, we're taking this opportunity to get a "big daddy" at a super discounted price. It's supposed to arrive on Monday. Hopefully I can figure out how to turn it on before we head to SunRiver! Many thanks to our good friend Scott Stater for all the expert advice we've been tapping over these contemplative months!
• Weeds "Putting the Herb in Suburb" on streaming Netflix. Ok, so we're like 6 seasons behind... no problem. There is a special joy in being able to watch 2-3 episodes in one sitting. This is a great show!
• The way you can see a little of what we have in store with this one when she gets a little older... Thanks for the warning Geneva. (She reminds me a little of Nellie from Little House on the Prairie.)

• Looking at a picture of myself when I was about four and seeing Geneva's face (minus the blue eyes and mischievousness behind them). I always thought she was Greg's twin. 
• This picture of the girls:

• Finding the silver lining of having my husband work out of town more and more these days, which is catching up on the shows he doesn't watch with me: So You Think You Can Dance, The Good Wife, The Closer, Glee, Vampire Diaries... I could go on, but it only gets more embarrassing from there. Really.
• Watching the girls progress through their swim lessons. We're going into our fifth week. They each have a 30-minute lesson, four mornings per week. Now both can swim about 10-15 feet on their backs and swim forward, getting one breath in before they want to stand. All these lessons have resulted in my absence from the gym (because of the time conflict for all my group fitness classes I love) but it's been worth the trade off to see them so successful. And the three of us have really nice tans despite the 80 sunblock. 
• The other result of working hard in the pool on a sunny morning:

• Making my bed in the morning. Many of you who know me are probably scratching your heads right now or re-reading that previous sentence for clarity. I know. I'm not sure what happened or why I started on this little ritual but it's been going on now for a couple weeks and I really enjoy the process and the result. Hmm... just thought I'd share.
• This little photo of The Pipes which was taken at Geneva's preschool graduation and their end-of-year "Festival." It speaks volumes to her personality.

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South Dakota Goes to the Oregon Coast

We had the pleasure of having my dad and stepmom visit from South Dakota at the end of June. It was a mini-family reunion, as both my stepsisters and their families came up from California too. Dad turned 60 and we celebrated with friends and family... but first we went to the beach!

Geneva took this one:

I'm not sure who enjoyed building sandcastles more... my dad or the girls.

Of course, a sandcastle is not complete until it's been decorated.

This is just one unit of a multi-unit structure.

There were lots of "treasures" to be collected on the beach, some larger than others.

And what's a sunny day on the coast without a game of frisbee?

Look at that 60YO! He's still got it!

Blue skies and sunny smiles!

A perfect day.

Geneva flew her first kite. 

I love that she got to do that with her kite-flying Papa Clyde!

We toured the lighthouse and took in the views. 

It really was a beautiful day.

A trip to Netarts would not be complete without a stop at the Tillamook Creamery and Cheese Factory.

Piper choose chocolate. She's such a big girl these days! She got more in her mouth than she did on her shirt... {bittersweet sigh}... they grow up so FAST!

It was so nice to spend a few quiet days with Papa and Grandma at the Oregon coast!

We miss you!!!

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