Portland - Knutsons in town!!

We once again made the trip to Portland!  This time it was to see the Knutsons who were visiting from SoCal.  It was a super fun and packed weekend with a girls night, trip to OMSI and family BBQ at the Corrados.  We love to do as much as possible in our whirlwind weekends!!

Cousin time at OMSI!

First time using a magnifying glass provided many laughs!

Rookie :)

This is what happens when a toddler demands to be held by Dad, yet he is deep in a foosball tournament.  Getting creative.

Steven Knutson & James Corrado - these two were so adorable.  I could have sat and watched these two little men for hours! 

Talia & Steven

Steven cracked me up!  He was pure entertainment the whole evening :)

Princess Amelia Netzel and Talia bonded over playing soccer with a ginormous purple ball.  Oh, how BBQs have changed!

More March Adventures

We've had a lot of fun adventures this month!  Every day is truly a new adventure staying at home with these two little ones - there's always a million photo opportunities! 

I love their version of racing down the slides :)

We've had lots of park days!

 

Is this one seriously almost two??

A rare night out without kids!  We started the night at a friend's surprise birthday party (who went to the same high school as me - small world!!)  And then ended the night with these lovely ladies who were staying in Black Butte with their significant others for the weekend.  Great night!

I found her like this while she was watching "Paw".  Instead of lining up dollies, she's lining up trucks :)

Oh, and then it snowed one day.  Just as you think spring is here and flowers are starting to bloom, it does this!  But I'm learning this is quite normal in the high desert and spring doesn't officially start until close to May!

Lots of soccer practice!

These two really LOVE each other!!  They love to laugh, snuggle, play and laugh some more!  It's moments like this that remind me why we had them so close :)

This girl loves to kick!

Another favorite is jumping on the couch.  I am not a favorite of this, however.

More playdates with Ava!

We love being crafty :)

Playing hopscotch for the first time!

This girl is starting to get into baby dolls.  I thought for sure she would never be interested in them, but lately discovered that she has three in the playroom - who knew??  She especially loves to snuggle with them :)

And read them books

Talia will do anything her big brother does.  He is definitely her idol :)

Helping T build something super cool, I'm sure :)

Second Family Movie Night included ice cream and Happy Feet.  Not sure who is enjoying this new tradition more - them or me :)

And trips to Pappy's...because who doesn't like a stinky kids amusement room while the adults can enjoy a tasty beverage??  Sounds like a win-win for everyone!

We officially have a bike rider!!!!!

I can hardly believe it, but Tristan can officially ride a bike now - all on his own!!!!  Brian has been practicing with him for the past few weeks, but today is the day that he can go a pretty long distance pedaling and without putting his feet down!!  So excited for this huge milestone he accomplished - and by 3 years old!!!

Riding to the park while the Danners were here.  And yes, that is Uncle T on his skateboard being pulled by Stella :)

Spring Break Adventures

This was our first official Spring Break since having both kids.  I haven't had a spring break in two years since being home with T&T, but since Tristan is now in preschool twice a week, we now have this week off again!

We started it off by visiting some friends who were staying at a beautiful place outside Sisters.  The view was amazing.  Again, started sparking my interest of living on land :)

And then I was lucky enough to meet up with some new mom friends for a wine night at a local wine bar.  It's crazy how many people we've been able to meet in the past six months - kids can really introduce and unite people!

And then we ended our fun break with the Danners in town.  It's been getting more and more fun to have the cousins play together, especially now that both boys are old enough to play together independently.  And Talia tries her best to keep up with them, so it makes for more fun adult time, too!  Which means endless games of Bananagrams!

Fun group of ladies :)

I could get used to this view!

How amazing would it be to have this much space to run around?!

These two have such a special bond :)

Playing in the Marketplace!

Birthday season

Back before kiddos, birthday season among our friends in Portland was in the fall.  There was literally a birthday (or three!) that we could celebrate every weekend from September-November.  Now that we are in Bend, I'm noticing that a lot of T&T's little friends' bdays are in the spring, including their own!  Lots of fun parties to look forward to!

Yesterday, we went to a brother & sister's combined 3rd & 1st bday party, as their birthdays are just days apart.  This family lives somewhat close to us in the neighboring community of Deschutes River Woods.  We were so excited to see their new place which sits on a cliff overlooking the Deschutes River below.  For the first time in my adult life, I am actually considering the idea of living on a few acres.  Especially after seeing their beautiful place with views of the mountains and river, land for the kids to play and room to enjoy the outdoors, I'm almost sold! 

It was a super fun afternoon with "bug" hunting, "dirt" treats and so many fun things for kids and adults alike!  Can't wait to go back!

Trying to line up all the kids for a photo was a bit like wrangling a herd of cats :)

Hunting for bugs!

Love the bug scavenger hunt idea :)

This guy loves him so olives!!

Aaaahhh :)

 

1st Friday Family Movie Night!

We had our first official Friday Family Movie Night!  And we started it off right with Frozen :)  It was definitely a success as it held all of our attention for the entire movie.  Maybe the ice cream treat helped :)

Grama & Papa in Bend!

And while we were frolicking in Aruba, Grama & Papa were entertaining (or being entertained by!) in Bend!  They were super busy every day, from going on bike rides, spending hours at the park, going to a St. Patrick's Day parade, going to school and soccer, etc. I don't have many pics of their adventures, but here are a few:

Getting ready for school

Grama got to do soccer duties!

Talia LOVED showing off her soccer skills

#Aruba

Brian and I were lucky to go on our first solo trip since having kids - actually since our honeymoon!  Since we usually schedule a trip around meeting up with friends or family, we don't usually use our time off to go on a trip just the two of us, until this past week!  And we were double lucky, as Brian's company paid for our entire trip - yea! 

Grama & Papa came to stay with Tristan and Talia for six nights while we made the long journey down to Aruba.  I was surprised by just how long it took for us to get down there.  We were there only four nights, but since we live in a small town that does not have an international airport, it took us three flights and 15 hours of traveling one way, thus traveling overnight for two of the nights.  Brian and I joked that we could have gone over to Europe in that amount of time!

Since it was a company-paid trip, we were spoiled the entire time.  Catamaran/snorkeling trip one day, all hosted meals, swim up bar, etc.  It was hard to not have an amazing time!

Here are some pics of our very memorable trip:

On our way!  Pretty excited about our first solo trip :)

And we were even more excited when we learned that we were flying first class the entire way down!

First night hosted dinner right on the beach.  Not too bad :)

Beautiful night

Our first activity was a team sand building competition. Have to admit that I was a little scared we were going to fail, but then was pleasantly surprised to find out that we had some amazingly creative people on our team!  Still think we were robbed with second place :)

This is what we started with.  Still cannot believe what we created with this!

Our amazing group putting it all together!

We thought this was our competition...until they got 3rd.

This was 1st???!!!  Robbed, I tell ya :)

All 14 of the groups

Had to get another couple shot of us in front of "Vantiva". 

And then this is how we spent our second day in paradise :)

Not rough at all

This is the very fun couple who were in our sand building group.  It bonded us so much that we ended up hanging out the entire rest of the trip with them!  In fact, # became a theme of our trip and I now laugh every time I think of hashtagging anything (hence the name of this post :)!  Funny that even on our first solo trip, we still find another fun couple to hang out with!  They are even making plans to come visit us next winter :)

Miss this every day!

These guys were HUGE and everywhere!

On our way to dinner on our last night

I'm hoping this becomes a yearly trip!