Bikes, Pictures & Golf

 We had a very full & fun Saturday.  Jodi & I had our first golf lesson in the late morning.  We need to do a lot more work but it was fun to get a good start on the driving range.  Mark, Nate & Brent then played 9 holes themselves while the girls grabbed lunch.  Later in the day the whole Wagner family came to our place for dinner so we could get Bekah's annual picture with the lilies in our front yard.  And of course we got a bike ride in, too.  Heidi was very excited to be on her bike with Miss Jodi helping her.  The big girls & I rode the trail....they didn't get particularly muddy but there was blood drawn this time (a tiny scratch from a blackberry bramble) to add to the excitement!  We're always thankful for fun days like this!

 Bekah checking out Allison's injury - she was way more impressed than I was! :)

 I made silly noises to get Heidi to smile - it cracked them all up!

 These two sure love each other!

Working on my swing - I think I hit the ball that time!

Jodi definitely has the real golfer look going on....I haven't made my golfing shopping trip happen yet....

Allison's First Trail Ride

 I took Allison on her first 'trail' ride today.  There is a natural park around our neighborhood so we just rode on the trail through it.  It is a pretty mild trial although there are sections with roots sticking up, some overgrown grass and a creek to cross to add a little excitement.  Allison did great!  We did the first loop and she asked to go again, so we did.  She got little muddy on the 2nd loop so it wasn't her favorite but she went out again this evening while the rest of us walked and did really well - she rode down all the hills and made it up most of the uphills, too!  We were all impressed with how well she's riding these days!

 The creek is FULL of tadpoles!

 One of the over-grown sections of the trail - this part actually isn't too bad!

 The mud!  You can barely see the spots on her shirt below and then the smudge on her left handlebar.  She did NOT like it! :)

Washing off her bike when she got home!

Spring Snapshots

I downloaded recent pictures from my phone....and I think the summary of them is....Heidi is a total goof ball!  And she has started asking me to take pictures of her and I'm usually happy to oblige!

 Playing dress-up with the quilts!

 Pumping her own tires (they didn't really need it but she does this every time!)

 Riding the carousel, she is finally over her fear and riding the horses again rather than riding on the wagon.

 Heidi's first trip to the dentist.  She sat on my lap for the exam and did great!  She said 'aaaaahhhhh' when the asked and opened wide - and has been doing it for us at home, since!  I think it helped that Allison was there for her to watch, and the pediatric dentist we see is pretty fabulous!

 Jodi & I had our first mountain bike ride of the year - on Mother's Day, of course.  It was a bit painful going uphill but oh so nice to be out in the woods again!

 Allison's last play of the 2014-2015 season, Ramona Quimby.  We had a great time - and loved all of the information about Beverly Clearly in the program.  We can't wait to do the walk around Grant Park to see the statues of Ramona and Henry Huggins sometime (hopefully this summer!!)

 After the Ramona play Mark took us to a gluten-free, vegan (meaning no-dairy!) bakery in Portland.  It was a pretty special treat - and we might have overloaded on sugar, Mark especially (there aren't many places where he can get ice cream and mint brownies and cookies and all sorts of goodies.

 The girls were 'fancy' today on the way to church - so Heidi asked me to take pictures!

 Finally, this girl loves her fruit - especially berries.  She was cracking me up today when she asked for a spoon to eat her berries.  She loaded them one-by-one onto her spoon with her hand to eat them!

A Band of Their Own

Today we went to a birthday party for our friends Samuel & Abel.  It was a 'music' themed party and both boys got ukuleles - and Abel was a good sport about sharing.  So Sammy & Allison had their own band together.  They had a lot of fun!!  So glad we could celebrate two of our favorite little guys!

Ready for the Sprinkler

 We're enjoying very nice spring weather this week.  Allison spent an afternoon playing with her friend, Annie, and they took turns drinking out of the hose so that is her new favorite thing to do at home, too.  She loved showing Heidi how to play with the hose - since Mark & I wouldn't set-up the sprinkler quite yet.

Heidi was bound and determined to wash her feet herself just like Allison did....it didn't work out!

Nature Walk

 Sunday afternoon was perfect for a walk through a little nature park in town.  I thought there would be a good chance we'd see baby ducks and we were greeted by a whole family!  Allison's class had been reading 'Make Way for Ducklings' and she had written her own version so this was a big hit.  Heidi liked them, but was simultaneously terrified of them - she has some issues with any living creature. 

These two had a fun time walking through and looking at all the different birds, frogs, minnows and tadpoles.