Summer Sailing

Here's a photo album of Drew and crew at the Vancouver Lake Youth Sailing Regatta on Sunday. It was a lovely day for a sail... if only there had been a bit more wind!

Relaxation Research

After a busy week of immunocytochemistry research at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, Jake, Emily & their science-camp friends got a chance to conduct a few experiments in summer fun and relaxation this afternoon. Here's a photo album.

Happy weekend to all! Hope the sun is shining wherever you are, too.

Bye Bye Bridlemile

Here are some photos of the twins on their last day of school earlier this week. Celebrations were a bit damp, but the rain let up just long enough for the annual "clap-out" tradition to take place.


We followed that up with a trip to the bowling alley, since it just wasn't an outside kind of day.

No sleeping in for Drew now that school is out for the summer... he's been busy with instructor training at the sailing club this week so that he can be a CIT (coach in training) for the club's learn-to-sail program.

The 3 P's... parades, pools & parties

Here is a photo album from this weekend's Rose Parade. The weather was fabulous; the parade lots of fun and followed by a great neighborhood gathering.

Not quite as warm and a bit cloudy for today's class pool party for Jake and Emily, but the kids didn't seem to miss the sun.

In less than 24 hours, school's out for the summer!

Starlight Parade

It didn't rain on our parade! Last Saturday night we took in the Starlight Parade - a prequel to this weekend's Rose Parade and an annual favorite if you prefer parades of the "extra funky" variety. Here are some photos.

Bands & Bandits

Three photos albums are included with this post:

Drew got back from the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland with his block class just in time for his end-of-season sailing party. After 18 days straight of rain, the party was well timed. It was the first nice day we've had in weeks, making it the perfect night to celebrate a great group of kids and all their hard work during the spring sailing season.

Rain or shine, neighborhood Nerf wars are all the rage these days. The boys have been making their own Nerf blowguns, as well as camo-gear... there's just nothing you can't do with a little duct tape and a few other odds & ends!

Emily's band concert was this week, too. Click here for a few photos of the award winning (they took first place at the St. John's Parade) Bridlemile Band!

Just 7 more school days til summer vacation...

Having a Ball (and Box) at DI Globals Finals

Wow... what a week! Just back from 6 days in Knoxville, TN, for the 2010 Destination Imagination Global Finals. Here is a photo album from our trip.



From the parade of countries/states that kicked off Opening Ceremonies to the beach ball blow out at Closing Ceremonies, it was non-stop fun and over-stimulation!

The kids traded pins with DIers from all over the world, made friends with a group of 5th graders from South Korean with whom we were paired through DI's international ambassador program, and got to participation in some amazing instant challenge opportunities. In between all the scheduled events, we found time for some swimming and a tubing field trip which all the kids from Bridlemile got to enjoy as a group.



Here is a second album of photos taken in the prop rooms for the various team challenges. Each room was filled with amazing backdrops, costumes and mechanical devices. Getting to see the unique ways in which so many teams of all ages and experience levels solved the same problems was a great bonus.