Catching up...

Well, it has been a while since a post... this is some of what we have been up to.....

For my birthday, Travis arranged for Bayard and me to go riding in the dunes at the coast! What a blast! It was just Bayard, his guide, me, and my guide. My guide had us careening around in the dunes! Many places the dunes were well above my head even on the horse-- it was georgeous and so. much. fun. I could do that all day, everyday. I do miss riding. We would go for a ride around and then meet back up with Bayard and his guide-- they were walking. We saw a male elk and around 3 females with a couple youngsters, a bunch of seals, birds...amazing. It was by far one of the best birthday gifts I have ever recieved.

While Bayard and I rode around, Amelia, Travis, and Woobie played on the beach. This is Amelia flying her first kite. What a beautiful day! It is often gray at the Oregon coast...this was a perfect blue sky day. A fleece was still adviseable, but...a perfect August day!

In July, we spent a weekend at our friend's cabin on Puget Sound...this is Amelia playing down in the mud! A bald eagle was nesting in a tree right next to the cabin...and the barking of the seals woke Bayard and Travis up in the mornings (they slept snuggled in sleeping bags under the stars on the deck)!

This is Amelia perched next to our campsite on Mt Adams. The weekend camping trip was great, except for the bugs! They were making meals of all of us! Yikes! A highlight of the trip was the ice cave! Amazing!

Marathon Man, sunshine, snow, hail, sunshine, rain, sunshine, rain....

Well, Spring is here, sort of. As is Portland Springtime.... the weather keeps you on your toes. Always a good idea to carry a fleece, at least until July. So, what have we been doing? Spending as much time outside as we can!!

We spent this past weekend in Eugene! Yeah! We LOVE Eugene! Why were we there, oh, yeah, Travis ran his first Marathon!!!! Believe it or not, the volunteers in the Eugene Marathon (www.eugenemarathon.com) wore tie-die shirts. I know, shocking. We had a great time. Check out some of the pictures.... he finished in a bit over 4 hours. Not bad considering he has had bronchitis for the last month!

2 kids, 1 dog, and 3 chickens....

Yes, we have 3 chickens. Just call us Urban Farmers. That is just one of the many exciting events since my last post in NOVEMBER!! Goodness. Time does just melt on by doesn't it? Well, since November we have almost completed a remodel project -- new kitchen (WAHOO!!!), and finishing the basement (the guys dug out 4 dumpster loads of dirt and rock to make the ceilings a decent height, poured a new floor along with some footings for our house that for the last 80 years has NOT HAD FOOTINGS!!!, and framed up and finished a family room, bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, mechanical room, and storage room!) We are on week 12 and only have a few details left.... we are loving the new space and really enjoying our updated kitchen. I would put pictures in, but... I'd rather show off how much Amelia and Bayard have grown! They turned 5 and 2 in February-- WOW! So, here are a few pictures of them.... I will save pictures of the chickens (Pearl, Flossy, and Mambo) for another time....

Perfection can seriously delay a blog post...so, I am going to forgo trying to make this post more interesting, creative, or even visually pleasing... and just POST IT!! So, hope you all enjoy the pictures... keep checking back, I am going to try to get back to a monthly post....

happy spring!!