Celebrating Last Days of Summer and Birthdays

September brings Bryon's birthday and Auntie Lisa's birthday.  And, if you live in Portland, it means you enjoy veggies from your garden and take lots of time soaking up the last rays of warm sunshine that you'll see for a while :)

Beautiful day in Hood River.

Learning to ride a real bike!

Kai made this lovely card for Auntie Lisa's birthday :)

For Bryon's birthday weekend we went to Bend and stayed with Josh and JoJo.  Here we are eating Ocean Rolls (best treat ever!) and making signs for Bryon's Leadman race.  

We even did special Leadman tattoos in honour of Bryon.

Kai was quite proud of his tattoos....or maybe more just surprised that I let him use markers on his skin!

Finished!
Bryon did an awesome job...2.5 km swim, 109.5 km bike, 13 km run...finishing in 5 hours 24 minutes!

First Day of Preschool

I'm back!  So, rewinding 3 whole months...

Hard to believe, but Kai started preschool this year!  He's attending a little preschool just a few blocks from our house, called Rose City Cooperative Preschool.  Being a cooperative means that we parents get to pitch in a lot.  Each day there are two parent helpers in the classroom along with the teacher, and each parent is also given a job to perform throughout the school year.  My job is the Board's Administrative Assistant.  It's been really fun to see Kai in school, and also be a part of the school myself.  Choosing his first school felt like a big choice, but I couldn't be happier with where he is.

I wanted to do something special as a family to commemorate his first day of school, so we went for a bike ride on one of our favourite bike trails along the Columbia River.

Followed by a little wading...

And a special book to remember the day.

I chose a book that spoke of the values I hope he continues to learn and practice in this first year of school.