Fun Stuff for Meadow

Here are a few pics of Meadow's new stuff for the new backyard play area. Todd put this together last night and Meadow was trying it out in the house. The kid park bench was an absolute steal, so we couldn't leave it in the store.

Todd and I are leaving on a weekend rafting trip bright and early on Saturday. Todd's parents will be taking care of Meadow for us. It should be a great trip. We haven't been on a trip like this in about two years.
The new play equipment. This is perfect for Meadow's size. She loves going on swings.

Trip to the Zoo

We had our first family outing to the Portland Zoo this past Friday. Meadow really enjoyed looking at all the animals for the first time. I think Todd and I always have mixed emotions when we go to the zoo because it is so wonderful to see the animals live, but also somewhat depressing because they are caged up and not in their typical environments. All in all, it was a good day and fun to see Meadow's reactions to seeing so many different animals.

This bear was not very happy and kept pacing back and forth. It looked pretty scary. We were glad there was a big glass window in between Meadow and the bear.

There is a big elephant behind us that you can barely see. I believe this elephant is the pregnant one.

Looking beautiful as always.

Videos

Date Day!

Todd and I hadn't had a true date day in over a month so we were happy to spend some quality time together. We headed up to Skibowl to play some frisbee golf and enjoy the mountain views. We had played a few years ago up there before they changed the course. The new course is really fun and pretty challenging. It cost $7 per person for a chair lift ride to the top of the "ski run," and they have designed an 18 hole course which criss crosses the ski run as you walk from the top back to the lodge. It's pretty cool to walk around up there without snow everywhere. Though, we wished we had our hiking boots because we had to hike through a lot of brush that was kind of hard on our feet with just sandals on. The views from up there are just amazing and the disc would fly sooooo far with the light wind/up draft heading up the hill, plus every hole you throw down hill. After some nice exercise we headed to Ice Axe Grill, formerly Mt. Hood Brewery, to enjoy some great beer and food. We also checked out some new condos at the Grand Lodge in Government Camp. We were just curious about the project. We wish we could be serious buyers up there. They are planning on another development that will be like Whistler, BC with a village, gondolas, ice skating rink. So, after dreaming of owning a fun condo in Govy we headed back to pick up our darling child then headed into town for the Thursday night concert series at Edgefield. It was great to meet up with friends we haven't seen in awhile and enjoy the concert on the lawn with another fun pint of beer.

Finding my lost disc in a creek
Up, Up and Away on the chairlift. Note the beautiful mountain in the background.

Mt. Hood and Frisbee Golf. Everything looks cooler with a mountain in the backdrop.

Girls Day

Meadow had Maddie over today for a play date. They had a great time in the pool. This was Maddie's first time in the pool so Meadow was showing her the ropes and put her face completely in the flower sprinkler.

Jen and I were having so much fun with the girls we decided to go out to dinner. They both did great and really entertained each other and shared a grilled cheese sandwich. What great friends.

Meadow wanted to hold the whole sandwich. She also signed for food today, which was really exciting and said "uh oh" several times throughout dinner. What a silly girl.

Trillium Lake

On Sunday we walked around Trillium Lake. What a beautiful day. We ended the evening by stopping at one of our favorite breweries. Todd has his own personalized mug at the Ice Axe Grill.

Timothy Lake

At the end of Erin's visit we decided to go up to Timothy Lake to camp. Todd had to work the first day so Erin and I loaded up the car with all the gear and set up camp ourselves. I wish I had gotten a picture of the full tent because we did a great job of setting it up. We splurged this year and bought a family sized tent to fit all of our stuff and Meadow. Meadow was a little trooper hiking all over the campsite, rolling, getting dirty, eating dirt, and wanting to wade in the freezing cold water. It was actually a nice thing she didn't mind the water because we had to dip her in the water to get some of the dirt off. It was a great girl bonding event and then Todd joined us the next day. We went on a hike around part of the lake and enjoyed the scenic views of Mt. Hood. Todd had brought our sea kayaks to use on the lake, but we were all a little bit too comfortable relaxing on the side of the lake to use them. It was a bit breezy so we didn't play too much in the water.




A little out of order, but we went out to dinner the last night Erin was here. You can just barely see the yummy dessert we got at the Rendevous. Scrumptious!

Enjoying some smores by the campfire. Erin and I really got the art of smore making down.

Dirt anyone????? Meadow made sure we all had a little dirt on us too.