Easter Weekend

Easter this year was extra special because we had a visit from one of my high school friends, Cherise, who I hadn't seen in far too long!  She's a teacher, so she had a long weekend and brought her kids down from Victoria to experience Portland.  We had lots of fun hanging out with them and showing them some of our favourite spots and favourite foods in the area. :)

A trip to Salt and Straw is always a must!

The Food Carts near our house have a great kids' play area and lots of sidewalk chalk alongside some picnic tables.  The boys had a fun time playing while the rest of us consumed lots of yummy food.

Kai called me over to see his work of art..."DAD".  It's fun to see all the words he can spell now that he's started to print!

We didn't dye Easter eggs this year, but we did make crayon-shaving Easter eggs.

Don't they look pretty on our windows?!

While we were waiting for our friends to arrive for an Easter Egg hunt, I snapped a few pictures of the munchkin (and his hippo).

Easter morning at the park after a trip to our favourite donut/Chai shop.

We finished off the weekend with a lovely Easter dinner with our friend's family.  The weather was beautiful and they have a pool, so Kai stripped down and took a few dips :)

Ski Tripper 2013

Way back in February Bryon went on his annual ski trip with friends from college.  This year they went to Nelson, BC where they had one great day of skiing before the weather warmed up and they got rained out.  Thankful for good friends, fun traditions and safe travels!

Grandparents!

This past month we had the privilege and fun of having both sets of grandparents here to visit.  First my parents came down to stay while Bryon was away on his annual guys' ski trip at the end of February.  It was nice to have reinforcements here on the home front so that Kai and I could both keep our sanity while Bryon was away :)  

Then the following weekend Bryon's parents came from Colorado for another fun-filled weekend!

My parents' homemade game of "Qwarkle" provided lots of entertainment.

They brought us a big box of blueberries to restock our freezer as usual.  This is such a highly anticipated event that Kai calls my mom "blueberry grandma" :) 

 We also had an early Easter Egg hunt.

And, we braved the cooler weather to visit some Portland parks.

Like Grandpa like Grandson!  If you look really closely you can see both of them sticking out their tongues as they concentrate on not falling :)

Finally, we took Grandpa and Grandma for their first visit to the Portland zoo.

While Gramma and Papa were here we took advantage of some lovely Portland sunshine and walked and biked through the Portland Arboretum.

We also enjoyed a gorgeous day at Mt. Hood.

All the kids, including Kai, liked the giant snow drift and cave better than the ski hill :)

Our Little Skier

Kai's been on skis as long as he's been walking.  Not that that makes him any more talented than the average 3 year old on skis!  But, it's just one of the many ways that he and Bryon bond, and it's really fun to watch them together.  It's also fun to see how far he's come over the past three ski seasons.

  

A little walk down memory lane...

January 2011 

December 2011

This season, the ski hill is a bit further away, but Bryon and Kai have been taking weekly trips to Mt. Hood and a couple of weeks ago we took a family trip to Bend and skied together at Mt. Bachelor.

Mt. Bachelor in the sun!!

Skiing through the trees is his favorite :)

Enjoying the hot tub after a day of skiing.  It doesn't get much better!

Ready for a powder day at Mt. Hood.