Livin it up in the Outdoors

We have been busy enjoying the end of summer so I thought I should catch up with Blogging. Last weekend I headed up to Vancouver, B.C. for a field hockey tournament with the Portland field hockey club. It was my first weekend away from both Todd and Meadow. I was sad to leave them behind, but I knew Todd would have a nice bonding weekend with Meadow. The tournament went really well. We had great weather and our team really clicked and performed pretty well. We ended up tying one game, winning two and only losing one. I scored two goals which was pretty exciting. It felt so good to play competitive hockey again. I am sorry to say I don't have any pics from the weekend. I thought Todd might take pics from his weekend. He did take one and here it is. We also bought a camper last week. We had been going back and forth about the purchase for awhile but we found a great deal on craigslist that we couldn't pass up. It has definitely made the camping experience with a toddler much easier. We went camping this past weekend near Mt. Adams in Washington. As well as testing out the new camper we met some friends to run the White Salmon river. Todd kayaked and I hitched a ride in the raft. Meadow hung out with my friend Sara so I could do the second run. We had a great weekend and enjoyed the wonderful weather. It was in the mid 80's. We had a nice group camp with us on Saturday night and then went on a beautiful hike to see a rock formation called Sleeping Beauty and we also saw beautiful views of Mt. Adams. Too bad we forgot the camera.

The new camper!


Meadow and Daddy

Meadow loved playing in the dirt

Fine Dining

Trout Lake Creek. This was right behind our campsite.

Sara copying Meadow
Giving Sara a high five
Meadow was having a blast playing peekaboo in one of the tents

Summer Fun

Meadow had a great time with our neighbor Wyatt in the pool the other day.

Drumming with Daddy

Meadow has a great time drumming with her dad

Future Olympian?

We have been watching a fair amount of the Olympics recently and I guess Meadow was getting into the weightlifting. She even has her red, white and blue on for the event. I have to give a shout out for the U.S women's field hockey team. They didn't make the medal round, but they put in a great effort and almost made it.



Too cool for school

Trip to Zillah, WA

This past weekend Todd, Meadow and I headed to Zillah, WA for my friend Sarah's wedding. This was our first big car trip in a long time. It takes about three hours from our house. It was a beautiful drive through the Columbia Gorge before taking a left up into Washington. We had a few challenges over the weekend, but overall had a good time. It was a 103 degrees in Zillah and it was very hot the whole trip there. Due to the heat we didn't get to hang out very much in the tee pee at the Cherrywood bed and breakfast. It cooled down enough at night for us to sleep at night. The bed and breakfast was just down the street from the wedding site, so it was nice to be able stay so close. We also were able to have a nice breakfast on the lawn of the B & B with Sarah and Mark and more friends in the morning.

Here are a few pics of the tee pee we stayed in.


Meadow had a blast running everywhere and dancing. Unfortunately, due to her high energy she could not sit still for the wedding so Todd hung out with her outside. Conveniently, some cold beer and juice arrived during the ceremony. So, Todd and Meadow were able to stay cool with some yummy drinks. Meadow is definitely at one of the more challenging ages for events like this.
The Flower girls. I think Sarah had a record 8 or 9 flower girls. I didn't catch a picture of all of them. Sarah helps to run a Big Brother Big Sister mentor program and had her little sister be the ring bearer.

I am not the best at taking pictures, so it was too bad this one was cut off. The wedding was at her uncle's winery. The wine was amazing.


Meadow on the dance floor.

Meeting a little guy her age.

Cousin Reunion

Meadow got together with four of her cousin's today for a play date. They had a grand time playing with all of the toys at grandma and grandpa Van Hee's house. It was pretty comical trying to get a picture with all of them sitting in one location. I didn't get a great one of all them with my camera, but we did successfully capture Hope and Meadow in their matching outfits. Meadow would only cooperate if she was holding a little toy cup.

Myla 20 months, Meadow 14 months, and Xavier 4 years old. Stockton just turned 6 and is in the next picture.
The boys have had a lot of practice with getting their picture taken. Don't they look like handsome devils? Meadow really liked this green cup. Hope is already more than half the size of Meadow. She probably won't be the tiniest cousin for long.

Meadow's first car accident. The cozy coup had a mind of its own and went off the sidewalk.

4 Long Years

Todd and I recently celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We have been joking about all the trials and tribulations we have had since being married. Actually, life has been surprisingly easy and wonderful. I am sure that is part of what attracted me to Todd initially. Life has always been fun and laid back with Todd. I love that I don't have to worry about drama in our relationship besides the random occurence of being a little tired and not communicating our best.

To celebrate our anniversary, we have had a fun week celebrating and doing the things that we love. On our honeymoon we went to Maine and went rafting on the Penobscot and spent some time in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. We were quite ambitious on the trip and went rafting, hiking, biking, and sea kayaking. It was truly a fun adventerous trip. We didn't exactly plan to do all these things this week, but we did. We went rafting last weekend, hiking on Wednesday, we took turns mountain biking on Thursday, and went sea kayaking on Friday for our anniversary date. It was really a great week and we enjoyed a bottle of wine that my friend Denise gave us for a wedding present. Denise, it was great!

On our sea kayaking trip we put in at a boat dock in Troutdale on the Columbia river and paddled up river and went up the Sandy river a little ways. It was pretty hard work paddling up river. The Columbia has a good current going. It was nice to be able to go up the Sandy and see some amazing bird wildlife. It is actually designated as a bird sanctuary. We saw a blue heron, an osprey with a fish in his mouth, and some unattractive crows eating a bird on the beach. We almost didn't go on the trip because it was raining a little bit. I am so glad we did because we have been really wanting to use our sea kayaks that we got this past year and we were able to explore an area that you can really only see by sea kayak. We also had a great week just playing with Meadow and bringing her along on some of our adventures. I am so glad that she enjoys coming along hiking and seeing the world like we do. I also feel blessed that Todd and I are able to spend so much one on one time together. I definitely feel that it keeps our relationship strong and helps us be better parents for Meadow.

I hope our family life continues to be this easy and fun.