Birthday Dinner (x2)

Jillian and Tor combined their birthday dinner to eat at Guadalajara's. They both got to wear sombreros and be sung to.

Jillian is 12!

Jillian turned 12 years old on Wednesday, and invited 6 of her school friends to our house to celebrate.

It was brownies and ice cream for treats.  Mommy provided snacks, and was amazed at how much they could all eat!

For entertainment, they played some "Minute To Win It!" games (the current binge-watch for our kids).

We finished by watching old home videos of Sweetie Pie when she was 3 years old.

Competitions and Creativity

Another nice day and early release. This time Jillian set up competitions with a chart to keep track. The first one was scooter races and she only complained a little when I told her she had to give Bridget and Tor a handicap in the races as she had longer legs.After those races they had some sort of competition balancing tennis balls.

Then they played Tic-tac-toe with a lot of ties so it took quite awhile.

 Next up was a game of HORSE. Seems the girls had a lot of trick shots for Tor to have to make, like this one.

 Next came the Play-fort for a while. They are bummed-out after the zip line broke this winter.

They played in the woods while Jillian was filming a video that turned out real cute. They'd be walking in the woods and they would see a wolf (Mocha) and run screaming, or see a little animal(Sophie) with the same results. Later they ended up here where there is a pretty steep bank and Tor wanted to go down it. He tried it sitting and sliding down and since he was successful the girls did it too. Later coming up was hard for Tor so Jillian pulled him up with a branch. Fun times!

Summer weather

It was early release so they got a lot of time to play outside and they took advantage of that. First there was a lot of artist work but with Tor playing basketball or football. Then they rode scooters and raced plus Ripsticks and Skateboards,  Jillian practiced a lot of volleyball against the house and Bridget said she wanted to play tennis so that was her main passion, practicing hitting the tennis ball at a target. It was non-stop until dark and then they were some pretty tired puppies.

 Also during this time Jillian went exploring with the camera and surprised me with her shots of flowers blooming.

Chill(y) Beach Day

It was cold, windy and rainy all day at the beach, but it did let up long enough for us to get out and ride to the park for a football game (boys won on Tor's long catch & run on the last play!)

After Jack's and Adelaide's, we drove to the beach and found a huge mountain of sand. The kids thought they'd take off their shoes and run in the sand ... it lasted 10 seconds before their feet were frozen.

Warming back up in the cabin, we played more games (Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, Dino Dig Monopoly, and Jenga) before make-your-own pizzas and The Abominable movie.

Back to the Beach

It's been a few months, but we finally headed back to the beach cabin. We had planned on stopping at Buoy Beer, but the wait time was 1-1/2 hours. We had to change plans (and comfort some very disappointed kids) and go to Lost Roo instead. After warming up the cabin, we played several games, including Twister.

Neighborhood Valentines Day Party

Neighbors Hazel and Ila hosted a valentine's day party. There was lots of snacks and treats, and lots of activities.

They played a marshmallow toss ...

And a chopsticks pick-up game ...

And a craft (painting).

Half Century

We celebrated Aunt Julie's 50th birthday (9 days ago ... ). Looking at the pic, you'd think it was Tor's party.

More Football!

It was so cold but sunny outside, so right after-school snacks they all went out to play. Bridget mainly rode her ripstick but Tor, who is recovering from Mahomes winning the Super Bowl, wanted to play football. Jillian drew an end zone and yard markers so Tor had to back up and catch passes farther away each time.

 The throwing went on for quite awhile and then Jillian designed a workout for a football team. She did all the drills with Tor including running laps, sprints, and laying on the cold ground doing exercises. Br-r-r-r. This is the results of his test that she had printed out. I liked the attitude score.

Brock's Basketball Game

We made it to Brock's basketball game at Multnomah U in Portland. His EOU team made a big comeback, but ended up losing. The kids were glad to finally see Brock again, though.

Brother-Sister Night

With Jillian at her school dance, Bridget decided that she and Tor should have a brother-sister night. She made a list of activities for them to do in the 2 hours, and kept time with Alexa.