Sunday, May 28, 2017

Foam Run

I am still playing catch up over here.  Today's topic is last Saturday's Foam Run.  A while back I had seen something about a foam filled, obstacle race.  I tried, in vain, to convince my running partner to do it with me.  Somehow in talking with her, talking with Jeremy, and knowing that I didn't want to run it by myself, it ended up that Jeremy ran it himself instead.

From my point of view it was a fun and messy run.  They started and ended the run with a wall of foam you had to run through.  Over the course of the the 2.5 mile run there were inflatable obstacles, mud pits, water, and more foam.  The kids and I had a good time trying to find Jeremy along the race course and at the end Merrick decided to hop onto the course and cross the finish line with dad.  Merrick was also very pleased that when he crossed the finish line they handed him a medal and commemorative towel too.

It was a fun day.  Next year Merrick will be old enough to actually run and we have already started talking about he, Jeremy, and I all doing it together.

Jeremy here - the foam race was really fun.  My favorite part was the 40 foot inflatable slide.  I was surprised how fast I went on it.  There was a water pit at the end of the slide to stop you.  I went so fast I ended up with my leg hanging over the end of the water pit.  I will definitely do this next year!







Sunday, May 21, 2017

Carrigan's birthday

I am so behind in blogging, life has been eventful, but I would be remiss if I didn't take today to write about Carrigan's birthday party that we had last weekend.  It was supposed to be at a park by our house, but the weather was terrible so we moved in into the church building.  Despite the poor weather, everyone we invited showed up and that we had a full house for our princess themed party.

No party would be complete without party games.  We played "Tangled in Tangled's Hair" where partners took turns mummifying each other in yellow crape paper.  We played "Poison Apple Hot Potato" where after falling dead the princesses were awoken with true love's kiss (a Hershey's Kiss).
We played "Fairy Godmother May I?" (think Mother May I) and "Pin the Kiss On the Frog Prince" (think Pin the Tail on the Donkey).
 





After games we had snacks and a pinata.



We wrapped things up with presents and cupcakes.







It was the perfect princess party for the perfect, pretty princess.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Father's and Son's

Last weekend was Father's and Son's.  Jeremy offered to do the blog, but I felt like Carrigan deserved a birthday blog all to her herself last week so I told him he could do it today and get me off the hook on Mother's Day.  I call that a win-win.  So now, without further ado, here is Jeremy.

This year we had Father's and Son's campout at the same place as the last few years, Camp Meriwesther.  Camp Meriweather is one of Oregon's hidden gems.  It is a Boy Scout camp right on the Oregon coast.  I found out this year that some philanthropist donated the land to the Boy Scouts and they can use it as long as the land is used for a Boy Scout camp.  If it is ever used for anything else then the land reverts back to the philanthropist's family.  It is prime real estate so I hope the Boy Scouts continue to use it as a camp so we can continue using it.  I mean look at the views!



On Friday, Merrick and I were the first to arrive.  Friday was rainy off and on.  When it was not raining the boys were by the lake trying to capture salamanders.  Later we cooked hot dogs over the fire and had s'mores.
  

At the lake there were a bunch of row boats and canoes on the shore and Merrick begged me take him out on the lake.  We are not allowed to use the boats on the lake because of liability reasons.  The people who run the camp get really upset when people use the boats and they are like ninjas.  You can not see a single person the entire time you are there and as soon as you get in the boats five of them show up to yell at you.  So, I told Merrick that if he woke up before breakfast was being prepared I would take him on the lake.  He woke up at 4am and I told him that was to early so he luckily went back to sleep.  Then he woke up at 6:30am.  No one else was awake yet so we snuck down to the lake and hopped into a canoe.  It was perfect.  We have done this before and this lake is one of my favorite places in the world in early in the morning.  There was a cool mist coming off the lake and the sun was just coming over the trees.  It started to sprinkle on us while we were out on the lake and then it stopped and we were rewarded with this awesome rainbow.



After breakfast we hiked down to the beach.  That is another awesome thing about Camp Meriweather.  About a quarter mile from the lake is the Oregon Coast.  The kids ran around in the water, looked for sea shells, and played games.  I had to drag Merrick off the beach and we were the last ones to leave the camp.


Of course, we had to stop at the world famous Tillamook Creamery.  Tillamook, Oregon is about 20 minutes away from the camp and this kid loves his ice cream.

 

Father's and Son's is one of my favorite weekends of the year.  With it being Mother's Day I would be remiss if I did not mention the mother that makes Father's and Son's possible.  I am so grateful and lucky to have Sarah in my life.  She is a great wife and mother and the woman of my dreams.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Carrigan's 4th Birthday

This has been a busy week.  In addition to work, school, baseball, dance, and piano we had Father's and Son's campout (more on that next week) and the highlight of the week, Carrigan's 4th birthday.

Thursday was Carrigan's big day.  We started the day with preschool (in an amazing birthday outfit she picked out for her special day) where we celebrated with friends and cupcakes.



After preschool I put Carrigan in charge of the day.  She chose lunch at McDonald's so she could get a happy meal and play on the playground.

Lunch was followed by playing at the park, sliding down slides, blowing dandelions and then ballet...pretty much the stuff of every 4-year-old girl's dreams.



That evening (after Carrigan's favorite dinner of potstickers) we had Nana, Papa, and Grandma Great over for cake and presents.






I think it was a pretty special day for our favorite CC girl.  We are just so happy to have her as part of our family.  We love her so!