...and then the Wedding

After the half-marathon Chris came home to shower and take a short nap. We had just a couple of hours of downtime before all the festivities started for Katie and Mark's big day. The girls had a great time primping with the wedding party. They had their hair and nails done, each got some new jewelry, and were sporting their new dresses and shoes. They were definitely in heaven! I think we are in for it now, because they both have plans for their own weddings some day.

I wish I had a few more pictures, but the ceremony itself was nice and simple. The girls were flower girls and got to walk down the aisle. My little man kept himself amused with my phone until the last possible minute. He sure was handsome in his purple bow tie. I will have to track down some more pictures of them.

We all had a great time at the reception following. There was an ice cream stand, and plenty of other tasty foods to nibble on. Of course it was fun to hang out with all the extended family who had made the trip up.

Congrats Katie and Mark! It was a beautiful day.

Helvetia Half

June was a really busy month for us, with school ending, a wedding, and a half-marathon. This was Chris's second race of the summer and it was the Helvetia Half Marathon. It was pretty neat because it started and ended at the Hillsboro Stadium, where all your adoring fans can come cheer you to victory. In our case, Chris left the house early to go run (about 630am) and then the kids and I slept in and meandered over around 10. We did get there just in time to see him run into the stadium which was pretty neato. He did a great job and we are so proud of his hard work! He was a trooper, since that same afternoon was his sister's wedding, and all the activities that go with that. Poor guy didn't get much time to rest.

Preschool Grad

Here's my sweet Gracie-pants. She is so proud of her preschool diploma! To celebrate the end of the year, we took the kids to Out of This World. They got to eat, play, and have one last hurrah as a preschool group. Grace is super excited to go to school this fall. She asks me almost daily when September will be here. Time just goes so fast, it will be here before I know it.

Reach the Beach

I'm so proud of Chris and how hard he's been training for all of his races this year. He really has put a lot of time and effort into getting ready to run, bike, and swim this summer.

The first race of the year, was Reach the Beach. He rode his bike from Beaverton to Pacific City; which was a grand total of 104 miles!! It took him about 7 hours to complete. It is just sooo far away. The kids and I drove there to see him finish, and to take him home. It took us a good 2 hours to drive there, and the whole time I was thinking how crazy it was that he rode all that way!

Unfortunately, our Oregon weather didn't really cooperate, and it poured rain for most of the day. It made the ride somewhat miserable for him. Other than the pelting rain, he said he felt really good afterwards. We braved the rain and even played in the sand a little bit before heading to the cheese factory to celebrate with ice cream.

Good job honey! We knew you could do it!

Catch up

It's spring around here and we have been busy enjoying the bits of sunshine as they come. For spring break this year we stayed around and tried to do fun things each day. We hit up McDonald's for lunch and play, we went swimming at the pool, we bravely managed a zoo day, and we ended the week with an impromptu camping trip at Stub Stewart. It was action packed and we all had a great time. I only got a few pics while at the zoo because the other times I was too busy just playing with the kids.

It did get us really excited for the summer and being able to go camping again. Neil loves camping. That kid would be happy to spend everyday outside. It was great to be able to let him just wander around and finally not have to follow his every move. This summer should be good.

The next couple weeks went by fast. Claire received a character award at school for being compassionate. It was fun to go surprise her at her assembly. We also went to see the Croods movie; and Neil actually sat nicely for the whole thing! Other than that we've sorta just been hanging out and trying to plan out our summer. I am ready.

St. Patrick's Day

Being Irish and all I need to do a shout out on St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, this year I was kinda sick with a cold and a little bit miserable. It also fell on Sunday; which made it seems less awesome than usual. My girls were prepared though. They dressed up and had stickers ready to go. I'm glad I was able to at least snap a few pics of them. Claire was proud of herself for dressing as the Irish flag. (Green, white, and gold). Chris and I did try out a soda bread and a colcannan recipe to bring to our Irish family feast. They turned out good, and everyone had a fun evening. Maybe we need to break out the Irish food more often. I know it's belated and all, but Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Vegas 2.0

Vegas again, you say? Yeah baby! This time it was just me and my honey. We jetted off without our kiddos for a fun few days in the sun. The weather was absolutely beautiful; sunshine and 70-80 degrees. If you are interested here is the play by play....it seems as though we are becoming Vegas connoisseurs.

After arriving in sin city our first stop was to the famous 4 Kegs. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a while back and we got the must have stromboli. Although it was tasty, I wouldn't waste the gas or time to drive out there again. It was a sketchy neighborhood and the food was only ok.

The next day was our featured event...the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Nascar race!! We weren't really sure what to expect, although we did drive a big F150 truck hoping to blend in. We fueled our tummies up at the Bagel Cafe; which was super delish. Chris got their smoked fish plate, and I had more traditional homemade cinnamon french toast. We made it to the track in time for pre-race entertainment and driver introductions. The sun was out, the bleachers had backs on them, we saw Marie Osmond sing the National Anthem, and the Thunderbirds  did a few fly overs. Then, the cars came out. They were so stinking fast and loud! Part of the reason I wanted to go was to see in person how fast they really were. It was pretty amazing to watch them start the race. All those cars accelerating so fast just inches from each other. Crazy! I thought that it would take forever since it was a 267 lap race, but the time just flew by. We did need earplugs after a little while, but we had a blast!

Afterwards we stopped for tacos and empanadas at Tacos de Los Toritos; which was tasty. Then later that evening we went with a bunch of Chris's family to the most amazing place ever: the Lotus of Siam. It is hands down the best restaurant ever! It is a Thai place off the strip and in a strange out of the way location. If you even sorta like Thai food, you need to go here. I like super spicy food, and I ordered my curry as a 7 on their 1-10 scale. Let's just say, I could barely handle it, but totally worth it.

Our next day was more good food and fun. We started the day out right at Babycakes for creative and tasty pancakes. I got the rocky rhode pancakes which were seriously chocolate piled high with marshmallows, nuts, and whipped cream on top. Chris had a more normal carrot pancakes with eggs benedict. Afterwards, we went to go burn off some of our accumulating calories at the Red Rock Canyon park. It was our second time there exploring and it was great again. There are many, many hikes to do and the desert scenery is gorgeous. We even went off the trail a few times to scramble up higher. It was lots of fun to do together without worrying about kids trying to keep up.

After our hike we stopped for a quick treat at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. It was tasty, and perfect after our hike in the sun! Then we made our way to the Monte Carlo to check in.
The hotel lobby was nice, and the pool was already open for the season. We went up to our room, which was nice, but kinda older and a bit outdated. The bed was comfortable, but our shower would not get hot. That was the only real bummer about our stay there.

We got cleaned up and dressed up nice to head to dinner at The Capital Grille on the strip. It's a fancy pants steakhouse. Our food (steaks, asparagus, truffle fries) was really tasty, and it had a great view, but probably too spendy for what we got.

After dinner, we walked across the street to the Venetian for the show Human Nature's Motown. It was 4 white Aussies singing all sorts of motown hits. It was in a small theater so we got a really great show! It was pretty entertaining. Look up human nature on youtube for a clip of them.

The evening would not be complete without more food, so we went to the Grand Luxe Cafe for the most amazing dessert ever! We had the beignets. That was our first time getting them. If you don't know they are a cross between a donut and a sopapilla. I should have snapped a pic, but when they came out  we devoured them immediately. There was powdered sugar sprinkled on them, and they came with 3 dipping sauces; raspberry, chocolate, and glaze. MMMMMmmmm. Sooo good!

We tried to sleep in the next day, but with the time change and our usual routines, we ended up awake at 8am. We hit up the casino's buffet since it was included in our stay. It only reaffirmed our desire to never pay for a buffet. Not worth it at all. After that we headed out on the strip to walk, people watch, and shop. It was fun to explore new places. We found the world's tallest chocolate fountain at Jean Phillipe's Patissere at the Bellagio. Of course, we also needed a small treat of gelato and a key lime tart while we were there. When we had walked forever, we stopped at Gordon Ramsey's BURGR restaurant at Planet Hollywood. I had the Hell's Kitchen burger, and it was tasty. I don't know if it was worth $13, but it was good, and we can now check that place off the list.

After lunch, feeling super full, we opted to head to a movie. It felt good to sit and relax for a couple of hours while we digested. We had a dinner reservation that night at Todd's Unique Dining. We ran right from the movie to dinner even though we were still a little on the full side. :) The food was good. I had short ribs and Chris had a meatloaf. The salads were amazing, and Chris really liked his tuna appetizer.

We headed back to the strip after that to walk around. We explored the M&M store and the Coke store. It was pretty fun to taste samples of soda that they sell around the world. Some were good, but others were difficult to even taste. One tasted like fizzy scope. Ewww!

After that, we actually went to another movie! Yep, two in one day. Hey, we were on vacay! And since Vegas never sleeps, guess what we did at midnight when our movie got out? Yep, we headed back to the Grand Luxe for more tasty apps and beignets! Wow, we really ate soo much. I feel sick just typing all this. We made it back to our room about 2am. Party animals!

Our last day in Vegas was spent eating more at the Bagel Cafe again, and then exploring the National Atomic Testing Museum. Apparently, they were still testing lots of nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert while we were kids up until about 1989. Craziness. It was neat to talk to some of the older men that actually worked there. Kinda fun and nerdy activity to kill a couple hours before our flight.

Overall, you can see that we packed in our fun and our food while on our trip. We had a fabulous time, and can't wait to go back. Although we are taking suggestions on perhaps trying out a new place  for our next getaway. Thanks a bunch to Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles for making it all possible. Chris and I are grateful!!