The four girls

This week Emma, Zoe and I (three girls!) have been staying up north with Miranda (four girls!) while G&P are with family after a sudden loss.

Miranda is one busy young woman, and we have been back and forth to her school many times!

We thought it'd be funny to pretend we were like Goldilocks while we stayed here.  Who's been sleeping in my bed?  Well Emma really was sleeping, that's why it's blurry.  (No flash!) 

Who's been sitting in my chair?  Zoe and Emma snuggle a lot in the recliners!

Who's been digging in my garden??  There's something in there that Zoe really wants - an old bone we think!  Emma grabbed a rake to help her.

Emma played with the bubble wand and she got the hang of making giant bubbles.

Then she wanted me to make big bubbles simply for her to pop.  She either threw things at them, speared with makeshift swords, or tried to get them while driving the jeep.  Going, going, popped!!

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Bend

This weekend we went east of the mountains to the Bend area.  Daddy was participating in the Pole Pedal Paddle competition with teammates from work.  Emma took these pictures of the Sisters mountains from her car seat.  Thus the window stickers in the photo!

One of the first things Emma did at the campsite was climb on the rocks! 

  













Emma really enjoyed the park chipmunks.  She made friends with one she named Chippy, and she told us they had a staredown where both she and the chipmunk remained frozen while carefully watching the other.  The chipmunks lived under the rocks, and every time we’d go by Zoe would sniff around them like crazy.  She knew what was under there… 

The last time Emma went to the surplus store with Daddy, they found these little folding camp stools.  They work well for her babies!  Here they are sitting around the campfire.    

On Saturday morning we headed up to Mt. Bachelor for the start of the race.  Still plenty of snow on the mountain, but the roads and parking lot were clear.  My what a tall cone!

 
















Emma and Zoe had some fun playing in the snow while Daddy was cross-country skiing.  She tried to slide down this big hill, but it was more like scooting!  You don’t always get to play in snow in the month of May!  I took Zoe off her leash for a while, but I didn’t want to have to chase her into the forest.

    









I mean, who needs a sled?!

Here comes Daddy towards the finish line! We shouted “Go, Daddy, Go!”  Emma was ever so supportive and tossed a few snowballs at him!

 

 

The team:

 

After the race, the office gang returned to one of the campsites for a potluck.  It was great camaraderie!

The camp had a pretty good playground with three different slides!

Emma took Zoe on the play structure, and Zoe slid down a couple times herself!  The crooked slide was very funny.  Only a very small child could slide down it easily, but it bumps and stops you at every turn!


Before we left for the weekend, Emma and Daddy climbed up this big rock next to our site.  Emma is ready (and wanting) to go rock climbing with Daddy!

 
 





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Singing

Today at our Bible study Emma and all the children got to get on the stage and sing some songs for us. It's hard to get a good view with so many kids, but her face popped out from time to time! 

The kids learn six Bible verses throughout the year, and each one is to the tune of a kid's song to help easily remember it.  This one is He has risen, Mark 16:6!

Roll, roll it away!

Born to Worship:

Mother's Day

It's only the day after Mother's Day, but I realized that I didn't get a picture of Emma and me yesterday!  Emma spent most of the day dripping wet anyway, so that would have been an interesting photo.

So today we went outside and set up a table to put the camera on.  I pressed the 10-second timer and we took about five pictures to get a good pose!

Pool party

Today it was close to 90 degrees out, so Emma had a bit of a pool party with some of the neighbors.  They played outside for hours and kept cool with all the water!

Water balloon fight!  The balloons didn't last very long...

Doggie Dash

This morning we headed downtown to the waterfront (Willamette river) to participate in the Doggie Dash.  It was a 2.5 mile walk that went along the water (streets were closed to cars) and across the river and back in one big loop.  Emma was very excited!  It was so crowded, and after awhile we hooked up two leashes to Zoe so one of us could have her along with Emma.  The crowds were a good thing though, as it was a fundraiser for the Oregon Humane Society!

We crossed over the Hawthorne Bridge.  It was a beautiful day!!  (You can see the double leashes in action.)

P.F.D. had a truck out...

Family photo across the river  :)

The girls posing!

Some things along the way that made us laugh - double decker dog strollers (we saw several dog strollers - uh, what's the point?!) and a poor little painted poodle!

Oregon Trail Rally

Today we headed east of the mountains to check out some rally car racing! As we got closer the weather got warmer and the sun seemingly brighter.

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First we stopped to say hello to some family, and headed downtown to see the line-up before one of the races. The cars took off from here and drove to the start of that leg of the race.

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We drove up into the country hills to the spectator location, and had a magnificent view of Mt. Hood! Even though it was incredibly sunny out, the wind made it necessary to put a light jacket on from time to time.

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Emma really loved the helicopter that would fly by filming cars! He was flying very low above us. This blue car is a local driver!

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Then this car rolled in the race...

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We then ate our lunch and headed to the next spectator location. It was at the bottom of a nice long, curvy hill! It was fun to watch the cars make that turn right in front of us.

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After the races, we stopped back to visit with Ed's cousin and his family for awhile. It so happens that they had just set up a trampoline in the backyard, so Emma (and Leopard) got to try it out! I love the shadows of them in the air.

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We are now rally fans! Next year we bring a cowbell. I think we're going to have to find an oval to take Emma to this summer!
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