Our Family

JUNE - Reed's Preschool Concert!

Two preschool concerts per child ever. That is all you get of this loveliness and joy. We were so proud of Reed - he knew all the songs, sang every word with a smile, and did all the motions. Plus, he let us dress him up in a polo and dressy pants without a fuss. What a big boy he is turning out to be! Big shout out to Ms. Shelly for instilling the love of music in this boy and all his classmates!

Yellow Submarine:

Slippery Fish:

Five Little Butterflies

Charlotte's Birthday and Shorecrest Academic Awards

We wanted Charlotte to feel extra special on her birthday. I brought popsicle treats into her class as a surprise. We took her to Mod Pizza, a restaurant she's been wanting to visit for awhile. Then we walked to the grocery store and she got to pick out any cake she wanted. Who could ask for more?!

She is a beautiful, intelligent eight-year-old. Watch out world, here she comes!

I had Senior Academic Awards night this week, too. It was so wonderful to get to celebrate the accomplishments of the class of 2018. All the kids in this picture (and a few we couldn't wrangle) were involved in ASB and leadership at Shorerest. Our school was much better for the work of these kids and I am honored that I built relationships with each of them. (Olivia, Shelby, Annika, Reno, Asher, Eddie, Nick, Chris / Lauren, Isa, Hailee)

The sassy second semester senior crew. Not always on time, not always present, but always bringing the smiles and the love. (Hailee / Annika / Lucia / Isa)

Reno is one of the most amazing students I've ever gotten to work with. Seriously! This girl is awesome!

My buddy, Nick Parker. Not sure who I'm going to eat lunch with next year and have no idea how to get everything done without my right hand man.

John Day River Trip - Days Two and Three

We woke up to warmer temperatures and less wind. Perfect! The kids started the day out on the tube.

We went through some amazing scenery, including these "painted hills" that were striped with red iron oxide.

We got a prime spot for our second night camping, it was a bit above the river and had lots of shade from the juniper trees.

All the kids were exhausted and each found a cozy spot for a nap.

The kids discovered they could walk up the river 25 yards and then float down on the edge of the current. And repeat. Over and over - they had so much fun with that.

We think this is the head portion of "coffin rock." Can you see the silhouette of the face? We enjoyed a big full moon on this trip.

Packing up early Monday morning in the sparkling sunlight.

Our last stretch of river held some really interesting and dramatic rock formations. No rapids on this stretch, though, so we tied the rafts together and got the tunes going. We had lots of time to reflect on how much fun we had, figuring out what we learned to make our trip better next time, and to start planning our next river trip.

John Day River Trip - Day One

We did a lot of preparations for this three-day raft trip on the Upper John Day River. They were all worth it - even getting up at 3:00 AM to drive to the put in on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. The sunrise as we were heading east over the mountains was incredible. Eben was excited to use his Cargo Carrier on the hitch and to inflate the extra air bladder suspension in the back.

It didn't take too long to inflate and pack the rafts. We put in a Service Creek and arranged for a shuttle service to bring our cars to the take out on day three (at Clarno). The kids were giddy with excitement and we couldn't keep them away from the river.

The scenery was consistently amazing. It is a wild & scenic river and did not disappoint. It felt much more remote than the Deschutes which had a road and train track running along it. This was either canyon or isolated farms.