Trinity House Formal

The Formal was one of those events that started out pretty darn stressful, but got more fun and relaxing as the night went on. Unfortunately, we just got more tired, though....just-can't-keep-up-with-those-young-uns............

We arrived at the church about an hour early with grand ambitions of setting up unique poses and locations such as this:

However, we ended up here, trying to cruise through 40 or so sets of couples portraits in a budgeted half-hour.....(Hence the stress!). John and I did a good job working together, though, and had a lot of fun especially with the couples who had ideas in mind as to what they wanted to do for a pose.





Following the pics, we ended up in here, for a very nice sit-down dinner......


And, then, a fun shot on the way to the vehicles to head on over to the Trinity House.

When we arrived at the Trinity, there was a beautiful room full of amazing desserts and a non-alcoholic beverage bar.


In the "White Room" - this was set up - just waiting for me (yikes!) to give directions as to how to navigate Bunco.





Finally, the dancing......since it's not inside the Baptist church, it's allowed!

I Love Slumber Parties!

.......especially when they are at some one else's house and.......
.......especially when they involve both kids!

Tonight is actually the first night that Mikayla is spending the night at someone other than a family member's house, and as you can see by these pictures, it was successful! Way to go Mikayla, - and Christina and Amy for making it happen! (Brayden is over there as well, happy as can be with Andrew).

Meanwhile, John and I are nestled in bed, both of our laptops open - with two dogs snuggled around us (Mom and Dad are in Coronado, so we have Mackie). I'm super tired, but it is so cozy, just John and I - that I really don't want to go to sleep just yet.

John and I just returned form partying it up with the college students. The Trinity House had their Spring Formal and we were asked to do the photography (well, John was, but we're a package deal, and I'd like to think I contributed). That involved taking about 40 couples' portraits, pictures during the dinner, coordinating and photographing the round of Bunco they played, and then sticking around once the dance floor opened for some pics of that. I'll do another post with just a few of the higlight pics (of the 1035 pictures that were taken!) tomorrow.

I'm guessing Michele's feeling a bit fatigued right now too....She participated in an event modeled after "The Amazing Race" in Portland today with her friend, Melissa. They raced all over downtown (Broadway area-among 500 other paired-off participants) - taking pictures in front of landmarks, based on clues that they solved. I'm pleased that I was one of her "Phone a Friends" and was able to do some clue-solving of my own this morning with the help of Google..... It sounded like the only downer of the entire event for her was that it was colder than expected, but otherwise, they had a blast. Way to go Michele and Melissa!

The New Voice of the Ducks? Uh, Not Quite

On Thursday, I got to help escort Mikayla's first grade class on their field trip to Autzen. We've had some very unusual weather here in our neck of the woods - thunderstorms......(so thankful we got the triathalon done successfully), but getting hit by a monsoon was the last thing on my mind when I got Mikayla dressed for the field trip. I felt like such a bad mom not having even given her a jacket, but it's been in the 70's - didn't see a flash flood scenario coming!

Anyway, this is us, standing around like drowned rats at the WRONG city bus stop...which turned into a score for me, as this location is literally a block away from our house and I was able to drive home quickly and grab her something more while we waited the additional 10 minutes for the bus going our direction to come!




When we arrived at the Duck Shop, we were surprised to find that they were in the midst of a webcast featuring Jerry Allen, "the voice of the Ducks" (he is the radio announcer for all of their games). For those kiddos that had their mom or dad present, they were able to be interviewed on the webcam. So fun! I quickly whispered to Mikayla to mention that she knew Cyrus, the record-holding UO javelin thrower, but instead this was what happened during their dialogue:

JA: So, are you a Duck fan?
M: Yah
JA: Do you like sports?
M: Yah
JA: Do you play any sports?
M: Uh, not really
JA: Well, what do you do at recess?
M: Uh, just walk around
JA: What are you going to do this summer?
M: Um, just stay inside our house......

So, I don't really feel like she "represented the Rileys" with her responses, but on the plus side, Jerry Allen did think she was really cute......(If you watch the webcast, fast forward 1 hour and 45 minutes - click on the 6-4-09 archived file).......


Following the Duck Shop, we got to listen to these two girls talk about their roles as cheerleaders for the Ducks. The whole point of the field trip was to identify "cool jobs" and prove to the kids that even though you go to college to play sports, you won't necessarily do that job as a career for life. So, we spend a lot of time talking to folks with different sports-related careers (marketing, event planning, etc.) - as well as finding out what the career aspirations of these two were. We also heard from Garren Strong, who played for the Ducks a few years ago and now designs merchandise for Nike.

Finally, on the Autzen field (where it had obviously gotten sunny) - and then lunch in the media skybox.......what a view!!!! All in all, one of my favorite field trips so far!

Spring Triathalon

(Thanks for the great pictures, Nancy!)
Tanner's got a little height on Brayden, eh?

Today was the annual triathalon for the third through fifth graders at our kids' elementary school. It is such a cool activity - one of the neatest things our school does, in my opinion. With the cooperation of the Eugene Swim and Tennis Club (where I work out and spend much of the summer) and the folks who coordinate the Eugene Marathon - the kids arrive to the school, park their bikes in a particular numbered location, get their number (with Eugene Marathon logo on it), ride their bikes to the ESTC, swim 4 lengths of the pool, ride their bikes back to the school, and then run 3 laps around the track.

The event is totally optional - and in fact, you have to sign off as parents that they are capable of doing all the things on the list. I'm going to confess now that it might have been partly our fault that they did even more clarification on capabilities, because last year Brayden kind of sucked wind with the swimming. The whole thing was a discouraging experience for him as he is able to swim (i.e. not drown), but his stroke was very inefficient and very slow - the p.e. teacher eventually threw him a kickboard, which didn't make Brayden very happy. In addition, he lost stuff, couldn't figure out the lock on his bike, and was in the bathroom when they took the group picture. (Yes, that was a bad day - and one in which the whole ADHD thing was nagging hard).

So, this year - we prepared better. We asked Stephie if she would be willing to meet one on one with Brayden at the location that her and John work out (which also has a pool) and this last Sunday, after returning from the lake - her and Brayden had their private lesson. Stephie is a phenomenal swimmer, having swam in high school and been state-ranked. It's a joy to watch her swim now - she'll beat anyone, and has such finesse. Having just tried myself to do some lap-swimming about a week ago - I'm in awe......it's so exhausting!

Anyway, Brayden came home from his lesson singing Steph's praises - telling us he'd learned more in that hour than the lessons at ESTC would have taught him in 4 months! (He's so funny the way he comes up with random numbers). She taught him better form and to flip over on his back when he tired of the crawlstroke (he still doesn't have the breathing rhythm down).

So, way long story short......Brayden did great today! He felt super-successful in all of the three venues, didn't lose anything, and took part in the picture-taking. Way to go, dude! Progress is being made, that's for sure. Sometimes you can't see it day by day, but when you look at the big picture......it's there!

(And, Stephie - huge thanks! You are the best!)

One Minute and 33 Seconds of Smiles

This is the video of the kids impersonating the superheroes, taken last month. One of the students gave us a disk last night, and watching it today made me tear up.... I doubt it will have that effect on you, though - hopefully just some fun smiles!

More Memories on the Boat

Off to the lake, again! This time, we had my girl, Kara; her honey, Andrew; and John's guy, Aaron with us - along with the Whites and the kiddos. It was a wonderful warm day, which prompted "everyone" to come out to the lake, but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun.....

Look at this! Proving that Kara got up and is now an official wakeboarder (it was her first time trying - she was super-determined and it totally paid off)-

I was a little nervous getting out for the first time this year - especially after watching all the guys do their runs and Brayden look so good, popping right up. Huge praise that it felt effortless getting up, but I was discouraged with how tired I was by the end. Good grief, I've really been exercising lately, what's up with that?

This is Aaron - showing off a little aerial action......

And Andrew, with some good-looking moves of his own.

Finally, some wide-angle shots of Aaron doing a back-flip off the boat - pretty impressive!

Slack-Lining and Snickers-Bobbing

Saturday afternoon was the end of year picnic for CCF. It also happened to be the hottest day of the year so far - reaching the 90's. Very unheard of for the month of May in Oregon. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we had some days in June that sported highs in the 50's again with lots of rain, but right now - I'm loving the summer weather. - That being said, though - yesterday was HOT!

I robbed these pictures from "Super-Photographer" Kaela, who posted them on Facebook (as she faithfully does practically every event CCF participates in).

These first several show the efforts of Mikayla, Julie, and myself attempting "Slacklining". Actually, I should point out that Julie is a total pro, but Mikayla, and especially myself, are total novices. The hardest part of the whole thing is keeping the line from shaking as you walk..... Oh, and take special note who is in the background of this first picture - yup, Travis and Stephanie! I'm so glad they were willing to go with us and join in the fun.........!



Travis, Reid, Corey (the CCF Pastor) and John - Reid has been letting his hair grow out for about a year, so there's plenty of comments coming his way about looking homeless or like "Grizzly Adams". However, he's super lovable and crazy-funny, because that hair............ (apparently, the reason why is a mystery.....I wonder if I'd recognize him if was clean-cut!)

The "Stare-off".......

A sweet, tender moment between Travis and Brayden. They were spectators for the great "Mountain Dew/Snickers Bob" taking place in a bowl, placed inside a real toilet........ (Where do folks come up with these ideas!?) Apparently, while sitting there, Brayden was uber-hoping that folks would start chanting his name to give it a try (the crowd had already made an attempt to encourage Corey or John to partake - fat chance for either one!)

So, this picture shows Aaron, helping Brayden get into position to start bobbing..... (without the backstory, though, one would really have to wonder just what we allow our child to have to suffer through!) And, by the way, he was successful and had the crowd very much behind him.....

John, hanging with the girls.....too bad he's so shy =)
What a great afternoon, with pics to come soon of a wonderful Sunday on the lake......