Welcoming our newest bike rider

I will post pictures when I get a chance, but here is the video that I took of Shira as she learned to ride a two wheel pedal bike for the first time. 

She followed this feat up by riding all the way to Samuel's school to pick him up from summer camp, and then all the way home again.

 

Sorry, Steve, for doing this without you for the second time.  I had to strike while the iron was hot.  She was willing to get on the bike, and I just had to go for it.

Shira's 4th birthday

We commemorated Shira's birthday this year, with a party that was all her own.

 As requested, Bubbie attended.  And she couldn't show up empty handed.  The balloons are still inflated, hanging out in Shira's and Samuel's room, 3 weeks later.

 

Shira asked for vanilla cupcakes, she nixed chocolate, because she wanted to make sure Samuel would enjoy them.  I made my well loved cream scone recipe, adding in vanilla. 

Can't seem to find any pics of them, but Shira invited her bestie, Colette, and big brother Holden. 

 Shira's favorite activity at the moment is swimming.  Thus, we had a pool party.

 Shira is a big fan of the slide into the pool.

Here, she requested that Samuel catch her at the bottom.  He was happy to oblige. 

Oregon Road Trip



We road tripped up to Oregon for Lauren's graduation.  Considering it was 9 hours in the car each way, my best case scenario was that it would be only slightly unpleasant, and worst case was utter misery.  I was pleasantly shocked that the car ride was down right enjoyable.  Audio books were magical for Samuel, some of the travel was after bedtime and the kids slept, we ate mostly healthy food that I brought in a cooler.  On the way up we stopped to make dinner on our camp stove in a park in Redding, and happened upon a water park.  Since we had our swim suits in our suitcase, and had been in the car for 4 hours straight, we were ready for a break, and jumped right in.  We camped in Ashland and enjoyed their big park quite a bit.  Joan reserved a teepee bed and breakfast place for us outside of Eugene and we met up with the rest of the family. 

On the way home we did it in a day, with a stop to stretch our legs in Ashland and eat dinner in Redding.  Yay for fun car trips!  Yay for good travelers!  Yay for weird Tee Pee bed and breakfasts!  Yay for Eugeneites who have no problem accommodating no gluten and no dairy!

 

We mostly only have pictures of the spinny thingy at the park in Ashland that the kids loved, but here they are...

 

 

 

 And the famous track at the U of O - Hayward Field.  Steve was excited to get a chance to go take a look at it and he had fun racing the kids on it. 

 

Samuel's 6th Birthday - The Star Wars Celebration

Samuel requested a Star Wars birthday this year.  He wanted to decorate the house like the death star, or some such.  We never got too far in that discussion - house décor isn't really my cup of tea. 

 

And I know how one can have a vision in one's head about how something should look, and be very disappointed in how it turns out when you try to translate that into reality, since that's pretty much why I completely gave up on artistic endeavors.  So I told Samuel that if he had a vision for party decorations - he was welcome to create them.

 

But - I did get it into my head that I could dress all of his guests up as Jedis and create a Jedi training camp for them.

And so began several consuming nights of Jedi robe assembly. 

 Lucky for me, I have Steve to help me translate my understanding of how patterns work into numbers and shapes.

 He insisted on documenting my undertaking.

 And kept saying - are you sure you want to set this high a bar for future birthdays?  It was such a cool idea - how could I not do it?  And sending each child home with his own robe and light saber for a party favor? 

And then I realized what Steve meant.  OMG, what if he expects me to do this every year?  And what am I going to make for Shira's birthday if she asks?  I may be setting myself up for utter failure for every birthday after this.  But I'm still really freakin' proud of my Jedi robes... And the utter bliss exhibited by Samuel and Shira when they realized they were getting their own Jedi robes - well, that can't be beat.

 I invited Darth to the party, of course.

 

  

Samuel is clearly ready to do battle with the bad guys

 

 

 Here is my other favorite Jedi

 The Jedis decided the best place to eat birthday snacks was under the obstacle course.

 

 

 What better place for light saber wars?  Throw them on the trampoline - also referred to, in our home, as The Cage.

 

 

  

 

Green frosted banana cupcakes, per Samuel's request to remind us of Yoda and the good guys' light sabers. 

 

 

 

  

 

I would never have thought of putting together Legos as a birthday party activity, but the 6 year old boys have schooled me in this area.  Here are Yildiz, Laszlo, Samuel and Nicolas (Mason in the background), diligently working together to put together, what else - Star Wars Legos.

 It wouldn't be Samuel's birthday if he didn't get to play some catch with Dad (this was after the party guests had left, of course.)

Samuel just had to try out his new catcher's uniform, courtesy of Denise. 

 And the morning after the birthday, still more light saber battles.

Can't resist these pictures- love my Jedis running around in their jammies. 

 

 

 And we're off for our family tradition - celebrating Samuel's and Shira's birthdays with a day in the city.

 This year we did brunch in Nob Hill, followed by a cable car ride to the brand new Exploratorium.  Here I am trying to utilize one of the new exhibits - a drinking fountain in a toilet.  Grossed Samuel out too much - he didn't allow me to do it.

 

 This might have been Shira's favorite exhibit - magnetic sand.  Samuel was a big fan too.

 

 

 

Spinning circles

 

 

 

 Building marble runs

 

 

 We spent most of our time in doors, and missed the chance to check out the outdoor playgroundy type exhibits. But we got a membership, so we'll be back.