The dog dreams of swinging

Abby took this photo of Annie and I thought it was quite good. It made me think that she was longing to play on the swings.

Amelia plays violin

Signs of Spring by Abby - 2nd Day of March

One of the class assignments for 4th grade was to walk around the neighborhood and find a few signs of Spring. Here's Abby's report. 

These look like Silver Bells!!! 

Michle , Jackie ,and Snowflake eating grass.
[chickens]

Disorderly Chicken named Hog 

Jackie and Stripe looking for food

Camillias are bright pink and blooming

Don't these look like tulips?!

So do these!!!

Amelia Valentine

Amelia had a few offerings that pulled on the heart strings!

Abby's Snow Globe Story

2013 Wine Tour for Llewellyn Elementary Tour

Susan and I joined the Trillium Elementary School Bike Tour last year and had a great time. We visited four different wineries in and around Carlton. There was a bit of riding on gravel (which I would have us avoid if possible) but the weather was fantastic and the company was even better. We had a superb time and it was a great fundraiser for the school.

Here's pictures from Jonathan Maus:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeportland/sets/72157629922856813/

The route for folks that are interested in how far we're likely to go is here at this GPS Link.

Amelia designs her first bicycle facility - Put her on the Greenlane Project

In an early sign of future greatness as a transportation engineer, Amelia designed what was supposed to be a bridge for cycling. After a few attempts her project path follows my career in that it turned into a conceptual transportation project as opposed to a bridge that could handle structural loads.

In the engineering curriculum, I realized it was enough work to just worry about the striping on the street.
Amelia's project turned into just the cycletrack that she saw in the Netherlands.She said "the bike is a different level so it's safer." Amen, kid!

Sun River Ski Trip

The family ventured into Central Oregon for a post TRB week of skiing, hiking, and relaxing. It was the first vacation we can remember where there was no list of things to see or clear plans for each day. We spent 3 days on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor and the rest around the town. I blogged about the latter on my professional site.
Skiing is still relatively new for the kids so there is a bit of exploration there. They enjoyed three days of the bunny hill with the exception of a trip down Home Run and one spectactular challenge (for Abby and I) of getting across the mountain on a different lift.

Amelia's Spelling Test - 1st Grade

I am proud to say she is following in her big sister's spelling prowess.

Father's Day from Amelia

I recovered this from the art bin and thought it was worth saving. Note the colors of the bikes.

Skiing with the kids at Bachelor

 We had another great day of skiing on Mt. Bachelor. It was a warm one with the high reaching nearly 50 degrees. That was a bit surprising given that when we left the condominium in Sunriver it was 15 and there was frost on the windshield and it was frigid. The kids were ready to go when we got to the parking lot and it seemed like it was going to be a good day.

 Amelia wanted to ski with Dad in the morning and so I was backwards for most of the time helping Amelia get started down the hill. I was lucky to have the old hockey skating experience to be able to do that in a reasonable way. After a bit, I got her to say "Pass" when she was going to fly by her dear old Dad! Once she did pass me, it was hard to catch up. She was moving down the mountain at a screaming pace.  There wasn't that many times that we were all together, so I was glad to get all three of the girls in the same photo.
 This picture was from the top of the run called Home Run, which was the one that Ameila wanted to stay on the entire day. Abby was a little more adventurous today then on Saturday, so she did Milky Way which was adjacent to the Home Run.

The sun was obviously out and we were really lucky to have such wonderful weather as a part of the visit. It wasn't all perfect skiing though as  Abby demonstrates in this fun photo. Susan is enjoying the moment laughing at her oldest daughter in a wicked sort of way :)
 Amelia dominated the time with Dad and Abby and Susan enjoyed the time together crusing the hill alternating between the two runs. I love taking pictures of the kids in front of the signs as they get ready for the trip down. There's obviously a sense of accomplishment as they make it up and down the hill throughout the day.
The girls were so fast down the hill at the end of the day it seemed like we were on the lift more than we were skiing. The good news with that on a day like today was that the weather was perfect, almost too warm.

Martin Luther King Jr Week Homework Assignments

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday and his I had a Dream speech, Amelia's Teacher asked her to list dream for her family - I was hoping for something brilliant and of course, she wants dragons to come alive! For the world, she dreams for "No polluting on Earth". She had a nice picture of herself. 

Amelia is doing well in school and in violin. She's doing the advanced words for the spelling tests and last week got individual and species correct. This week, the challenge word is probably measurement and healthy. 

Abby had to tell a story about a dream that she had for making the world a better place.

I'm telling you about my dream for the world. I would like to have stricter laws about hunting endangered species. I think this because in a million years we might be the only animal on the planet. I also think that trophy hunting should be illegal. Those are some of the ideas I had for making the world a better place!

in talking to her more about the topic (sometimes that's the easiest way to get anything out of her), she mentioned that the hunting she was thinking about was for the Chinese Tiger, especially. Going online to Wikipedia we found information about the South China Tiger which is dubbed Critically endangered. She says she  learned about the tigers in the Zoobooks magazine. She says that they are targeted because they are huge, elegant, beautiful creatures. The tigers are also just decimated by the lack of room, they have been impacted by losing habitat. She mentioned Quetzals as another animal that she was thinking about when she wrote her story as well. 

Okay, off to math, we're learning fractions and how to give an amount of cat food based on the weight of a cat. Fun Stuff!

2012 Christmas Card

 

Cyclocross at PIR - Peanut Butter Mud

November is not known for beautiful weather in Portland, but that's just a function of what you're hoping for. We have had some rain, but not a ton.... until now.

The forecast was for 3" of rain in three days which makes for cyclocross a different type of course than normal. Some people enjoy this and I will say that this was fun if you like to spin your wheels!

Susan was very strong on the course, pushing through her field and finishing in the top half. She was crashed into once and didn't fall on her own.

 I am not sure how she does that!

Crystal Mountain Trip

Amelia and Dad taking a swim in a secluded lake near Mt. Rainier.

Amelia with a tree just her size.

Halloween Costumes 2012

Abigail looks spooky as a Vampire!

 

Amelia as native American. This costume resulted in a lot of questions for me,
wanting to use the choice of the costume as a teaching moment about the
importance of culture in our society. It is always a challenge being a parent, so
many opportunities to share and pass along and be a better society.  The interesting
part of this is that she got the inspiration for the costume from the boots which were her
sisters, which are from the Gap, so probably about the least authentic article of clothing
possible. A vampire probably would have been easier to explain.

 

Kids Cross 2012 - Portland International Raceway

Amelia near the start navigating her way down a tough hill.
She's riding it and testing her luck. The boy to her right is walking his bike down.

Abby on the back stretch racing through the competition!

Amelia gets ready for the barrier.

 The kids cross course wasn't nearly as muddy as ours, so that was a good thing for us that have to clean them up!

2012 Cyclocross - Peter

 The family has started to enjoy cyclocross on Sundays at the Cross Crusade series. I got a Team S&M jersey  (Sellwood-Moreland, get your mind out of the gutter, sheesh) and have started to get a little faster out there on the course. It has made it more fun.

The courses that I have been out on are around the Portland area (Alpenrose Dairy was first and Heron Lakes at Portland International Raceway was second), so one of the things I like to do is bike to the event. The first course was pretty dry, but this last race was muddy and it made for a good time. The last time I raced at PIR, it seemed like I was falling a couple of times each lap. This time I think I only went down once and it wasn't a bad fall on the last lap when I was really very tired from giving it my all. I think that cost me about four slots in the standings and I finished 43rd.

The outcome is not pretty, but turned out pretty well overall as I finished in the top 20% for my age class. It helped that I started nearer to the front than normal.

A great sport if you like getting muddy.