Morning Wedding in the Gorge

Lovely friends of our were wed at the top of the Columbia Gorge on a glorious Saturday morning. Beautiful family photo opportunities!

After the wedding ceremony, everyone got on their bicycles and cruised down a several mile hill to the bottom of the gorge to the waterfalls. The bride and groom led the way on their tandem. Mr. Man and I had an amazing ride down through beautiful lush forests and curvy, curvy roads.

At the bottom of course, were climbing opportunities.

See if you can find the speck that is Mr. Man!

26 Mile Ride

Mr. Man and I did our first 26 mile ride to benefit diabetes research. The ride was in the hilly rural community to our west. We had beautiful sunny weather and a wonderful ride. The hard climbs all happened at the beginning and Mr. Man and I powered through them.

At the rest stop just six miles before the finish line, he took a photo opp to make a watermelon frown in front of the Oreo cookies.

Here we are, smiling after 20 miles! Love Mr. Man's helmet-head!

Animation at OMSI

One of Mr. Man's favorite summer camps is clay animation. This summer was his third year. Here are the recent additions to his clay characters.

Climbing inside the OMSI O is necessary at the end of camp!

At the Sea

The Oregon coast is one of Mr. Man's favorite places to be.

Four Eyes for Reading

Mr. Man got reading glasses. He was not happy to show them off...

By the Numbers

Mr. Man went to the doctor recently for his "well-child visit." Naturally, he had a cold that day. Nevertheless, at the end of the appointment the nurse handed me a tiny scrap of paper with the following information. I suppose I am meant to put this in his scrapbook. Accordingly:

Height: 55.5 inches (That's 4 feet 7.5 inches, meaning he is now taller than his Nana and soon will be taller than his Aunt.)
Weight: 76 lbs

He's more small-person-sized than child-sized now. He's fantastic.

World News Today

This morning I told Mr. Man that while he was sleeping, President Obama had announced that Osama bin Laden was dead, killed during a raid of his secret compound by US troops. He asked a few questions but mostly just accepted the information quietly before asking for his daily briefing on the war in Libya which has been occupying his attention as of late.

Tonight, as we snuggled on the couch, he asked me what I thought about bin Laden being killed. I said I had been thinking about it a lot during the day and we discussed some of my reaction and the realities of the situation. Mr. Man related that a child in his class had announced Osama bin Laden's death to the class this morning and "everyone cheered but mostly I just felt sad."

Stunt Videos

New Decade, New Bike

Cousin Time!

A recent trip to the great city to our north allowed Mr. Man to spend time with his 2 year-old cousin.

There was swinging.


And hat switching.



There was the kiddy motor car.





There was time spent by the fire. And later another fire complete with marshmallow roasting.



There was time spent snuggling, watching Mary Poppins.



There was bedtime story reading.


There was hand-holding and posing at the aquarium.



There was frustration with picture taking, complete with fishy face paint.