Happy Birthday to K&K and Welcome Back to Uncle Lane

We had a dessert celebration at our house this weekend to celebrate Kay and Kali's birthday and Uncle Lane's return to Portland from St. Louis! 

Happy birthday to K&K!

Taekwondo Blue Stripe Belt Testing

Emily and Lauren completed their belt testing and now have green belts with a blue stripe!

In this part of the test, they had to take their opponent down quickly. They did a great job!

This video shows their form testing. (It's a 42 second video and takes a while to load, so be patient!) Emily is on the left side of the screen and Lauren is on the right side. 

Emily completing the board breaking portion of the test. They had to break through two boards using a hand strike. 

Lauren breaking her boards. Nicely done!

First Day of Third Grade

Emily (left) and Lauren (right) on the first day of third grade!

The girls were so excited to go back to school!

Lauren is in Mrs. Brewer's class.

Emily is in Mr. Hinkle's class. 

This weekend the girls met up with friends for a play date at the park. 

The girls also did some indoor rock climbing at The Circuit... here is Emily climbing up the wall. 

Lauren climbing to the top!

Labor Day Weekend in Hood River

We took a quick trip to Hood River to enjoy the last days of summer. It was fun to get away and stay in a nice condo! 

Walking around the downtown area. 

Enjoying fancy drinks at Celilo.

 Cheers to a fabulous summer!

The next morning we went out for breakfast... Lauren ordered this HUGE fried chicken and fried egg sandwich with gravy on a brioche bun. 

We drove to nearby Parkdale to check out the apple orchards before heading back home. 

It was a beautiful sunny day and we brought home a big box of tasty apples!

Manzanita Trip

Last week we went to Manzanita on the Oregon coast. The first two days were unusually warm and sunny. 

The girls love to play in the sand!

Lauren really liked these... she called them "sand rocks". 

 Emily burying her feet in the warm sand.

 Justin lounging under the sun umbrella.

Girls fetching ocean water for their sand creations. 

We also explored the cute downtown area... the salt water taffies from this candy shop were delicious!

 Emily (left) and Lauren (right) found some great sun hats at one of the shops.

The condo we stayed at was spacious and conveniently located right across the street from the beach access trail. 

We could see Justin kiteboarding from the dining room table. His kite is to the right of the flag, below the power line.

Dinner at Blackbird restaurant was scrumptious! We especially enjoyed the spaetzle and crab cakes.