Our Return to the Valley of the Sun

On our trip back to Phoenix we drove to Bend to attend Matt's friend Shad's wedding. From Bend we drove through Ontario, Oregon to Utah. We went to Bryce Canyon and the Coral Sand Dunes. From there, we drove south to Phoenix where we saw some spectaular views north of the Grand Canyon. I wish our pictures were better and more plentiful, but our digital camera broke. Word to the wise, sand and digital cameras do not mix! The following pictures and any taken in the near future will be from Kodak disposable cameras. We kinda felt stupid asking people at Bryce Canyon to take our picture with our super high tech gadget! The kids kept asking to see the pictures and I kept holding it out as if I was using a digital camera. Matt told Tyler I was going to take the camera to the store where they would put our pictures on PAPER!

Bryce Canyon

Coral Sand Dunes

Orizaba Delivery

Matt, the electrical engineer who works on computers all day, apparently does not know how to blog. There is always something to learn. He asked me to post these picutures from the Orizaba Delivery. They took the boat from Friday Harbor, Washington to Astoria. If you want to know anything about the pictures, you'll have to ask him!

We finally did it!

Collin finally grew enough hair to warrent a hair cut. I actually liked his wing like mullet, but Matt was getting pretty sick of it. So off we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts where Collin got to sit in a red airplane while watching Curious George. He did great! I couldn't believe he was so cooperative. His prize was a bubble gum flavored dum dum pop and a frog shaped pencil topper.

The final product. Such a little man!

Bike Rodeo

Now that Tyler is riding on two wheels we entered him in the Bike Rodeo. This was an event put on the Hillsboro Police Dept to teach bike safety and test agility. Tyler was very excited to put his new skills to work!

This is Tyler's new bike riding buddy, Silas. We meet him at the park a few evenings a week and they race. They both get very upset if they lose. Apparently Silas' bike is the faster bike so Tyler always wants to ride Silas' bike.

Future Iron Chef

Whatever the recipe Collin was following called for eggs. However, he had some trouble getting them into the bowl. Remarkably, he did manage to get a few eggs in the bowl without any pieces of shell! Even I can't always do that!

***Sorry, Megan! Collin used up your eggs!***

National Read to your Dog Day

If you want your dog to meet reading standards and not fall behind their peers then it's a good idea to read to your dog everyday!

Rojo the Llama at Jamison Square

Sarah and I took Tyler, Collin, and Noah to Sip and Kranz for lunch and then we played in the water fountain at Jamison Square. Who knew Rojo the Llama liked fountains and would be making an appearance today? Lucky us!!

Feeding Rojo

Collin kept saying, "Here doggie!" Such a city boy!

I'm not really sure why Rojo is dressed in red, white, and blue. Maybe she is just showing her love for her country. It's also a bit strange that there is a llama in a water fountain, so I guess it makes sense.

Watch out ladies!

Bucket theif. It seemed to make his day!

Soccer Camp

Self Portraits

Oh, you handsome thing!

See you all in Portland!

Father's Day Weekend

Budding Artist

It seems Collin has had a little mishap with the sidewalk chalk OR is it supposed to be window chalk. Lately, he has been drawing with chalk on the back windows. It sure beats the wall next to back door which used to be is choice location for his artist expression.

All Aboard!!

Tyler and Grammy took the train home from Seattle. Apparently, it is the latest greatest thing to do considering the price of gas. Tyler said that he was going to race me home in the train. He says he won, but Collin and I really made it back to Portland before them despite taking an unplanned tour of downtown Seattle and Capital Hill trying to find I-5. Darn those Mariners games anyway!

Seattle Race Weekend

Matt had a sailing race in Seattle last weekend so we packed up our stuff and Grammy and headed for Seattle to play. We went to the Seattle Aquarium, Pike Street Market, and the Seattle Center. Our day started out rough with a dead battery in the car, but AAA saved the day! The weather was perfect making last Saturday a picture perfect Seattle day!

Aquarium

Amy, Sam and Lucy met us at the Aquarium.

Whoa boys! Hang on to that Orca's fin!

Thank you Grammy for taking us to the Aquarium!

Monorail to Seattle Center

It was a good trip. Now it's time to head back to Portland!

The Captain

His merry crew...