Birthday Part 2

Jennifer, Dusty, and I are childhood friend that have stayed in touch with each other over the years. Jen and I share an April 1st birthday, so we've celebrated together on many occasions. Dusty is only a couple of days past us, so we thought this would be a great year for us all to celebrate together. A few of us had dinner at Weatherford's and then went on a little pub crawl through Oregon City. It ended up being like a little mini-reunion... getting together with friends from thoughout the years.

Christy, Dusty, Jen... Dusty and I figured out that we were in every class together in grade school - except 5th grade!

It was such a fun, fun night. I had a blast! I loved seeing everyone... (some I hadn't seen in about 10 years!) Lots of friends, lots of catching up, lots of laughter.

Another Birthday...

Happy birthday to me!! I was supposed to play in the 6th grade vs. staff basketball game on April 1st, but when I mentioned this to mom, she asked me if it was something I could get out of...?? Then Trav asked if I could get a ride to work that day (so he pick me up from school)... so, I knew something was up, but I didn't have a clue what it could be.

Until I walked out to the front of the school and saw the waiting limo... what?!? The whole family popped out from inside and I couldn't believe it!! We toasted with champagne and drove off to.... ?? (I still didn't know what was going on!)

We ended up at Benihana's for dinner, where Ken and Cheryl were waiting... Another nice surprise!

The girls enjoyed using the chopsticks and the menu-hats.

After dinner we stopped off at a park so the girls could run around and stretch their legs. It ended up being a very muddy mess. Oops!! Then, on to Claim Jumper for dessert. Whew! It was a late night... and I was very full and very happy.

Thank you, family, for a very special night.

Happy Birthday Travis!

Trav decided it would be a good idea to get out of town for his 40th... (but lucky for us, he chose to take us with him!) so, we went to Great Wolf Lodge with the girls for a fun family get-away. (Ali got to bring along Natalie!)

We swam and swam and swam... Trav and Ali love the rides and slides, and Meri and I stuck with the kiddie pool and the wave pool. Although, she and I did share a inner tube down one of the smaller slides... one time was enough for us!

At night we got in our pjs and went to the main "living room" to listen to story time and to meet Wiley.

After that we got ice cream and went on a hunt with the magic wands looking for treasure.

Each day was more of the same... lots of swimming, eating and treasure hunting.

Happy Birthday Trav!! Here's to another 40 years!

Happy Birthday Casey!

St. Patrick's Day

We have quite a bit of Irish in our family tree... so it's always fun to celebrate St. Patrick's Day together! We gathered at Mom's for Irish Stew, corned beef and cabbage, and Leprechaun bread. (And, many other green side dishes!)

Dance Performance

Ali and Natalie (and their dance group) were invited to be guest performers at a fundraising event for the performing teams. They had to be in full costume, hair and make-up. Ali loved the make-up! (However, she woke up looking like a raccoon the next morning!)

My wonderful sister generously volunteered us to be the back stage mommy helpers. (Gulp!) I pulled out all of my teacher/camp counselor tricks and had the (wiggly, giggling, and super excited) girls singing and following along in silly games.

When they finally got on stage, Ali totally lit up and her smile filled her face. She loved it! In fact, she told me just the other day that she'd rather not go to practice... she just wants to be on stage performing!

Another Field Trip!

Merilyn and Travis ("Poor Travis", as my Uncle Bob calls him...) went on another pre-school field trip; this time to the Children's Museum.

In Merilyn's words: Makai went with us in the car and we had to stick together. I played around with pets and in the tree and I went shopping. I played in the water place. My favorite was the shopping because I had seen one just like it. I saw it at another museum when I went on my picnic with Karen.