Our weekend at Great Wolf Lodge

A new hotel opened in central Washington (1.5 hours N of Portland) this past April. Great Wolf Lodge's claim to fame is the indoor water park. You have to be a guest of the hotel to get entry into the water park. We spent 2 days and 1 night there. The kids had a great time. They especially loved the wave pool.
Tom and I had a good time too, partly b/c the kids had so much fun.


One thing made me absolutely crazy!!!! This is a WATER park right? They have experience with other lodges, mostly in the mid west and east coast. Why the HE!! do you have tile in the entry to the restrooms that if WET is SLIPPERY!!!! I was waiting for Tom to finish up with our locker and in the course of 5 minutes 2 people slipped and fell on the tile on the way to the lockers and restrooms. Holly had already slipped on our way in. I can't imagine how many people slip there in the course of a day. The staffed seamed to be well schooled on how to answer the situation and continue to do nothing.


With that said it was a good time, not too crowded, clean, and fun for the kids. I have to say, no one does it like Disney.

At the arcade

Holly is doing great on her 22" bike

You must wear a RED DRESS to get in the door!!!

Red Dress Party was a ton of fun. You can read more about it here.
We all met at the Kennedy School where we had a room. First we had lunch out on the patio, beautiful warm spring day. I finished up early and headed back to the room to shower. Minutes later to my surprise nearly 15 women were in the room all getting into their RED dresses. Ipod playing Madonna, fake eyelashes, flat irons, countless red dresses (some brought more than one), champagne, beer, high heals, makeup bags, WHAT A SIGHT! I didn’t realize we would all be getting ready in one room, but it worked out perfectly. Who knew so many women could get ready in one room and be on time!
We all hopped in cabs to the venue in an industrial area of NE Portland. Photos now explain what went down……

Emma on the big girl bike with training wheels

We finally found the training wheels for Holly's old bike. Emma was really excited and determined to give it a try. Of course not without some tears..... She did great!

Finally..... We got one.

Holly's last day riding the bus to school

Holly rode the bus to school for the last time today 4-14. We are moving tomorrow and I will have to drive her to school everyday. About a 20 minute drive. She will still ride the bus to her her after school program and Garden Home Rec Center 4 days a week. Holly loves riding the bus so I thought she would be devastated, but I was wrong. She is content with riding to the rec center. Here are her friends at the bus stop. You can't tell but it was freezing that day!

First Lemonade Stand of the Season

We had an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Oregon. Saturday was over 70 degrees.

Holly has been begging me all winter to set up a lemonade stand. We finally had the weather to do it. Our street is so quiet she only made about $.50.

She should clean up at our new house as we live on a busy street and many more people walking around.

Street of Eames - Mid Century Modern Home Tour

Thanks to my trusty realtor Cary P who had an extra ticket I was lucky enough to go on a tour of mid century modern homes, called Street of Eames. http://www.streetofeames.org/ We saw most of the homes on the tour but after a pit stop and picnic lunch of which included champagne we all decided to skip the eastside homes and continue our "celebration" at Cary's 1980's (I think) home.

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After a short break Cary and I went to another benefit called Project Aaron, which was helping to raise money for Aaron who has autism, purchase a computer that helps him communicate. I walked away with a few silent auctions including a weekend on the Oregon coast and Tour of Nike Campus, lunch and entry into the Nike employee store which offers 50% OFF!

Eat, Pray, Love

Went to see Elizabeth Gilbert speak at the Arlene Schnitzer. Here is a photo of Heather and I with our "sippy cups" of wine. Dinner first at Southpark. Everyone at dinner was going to see the show so they were short on wine glasses and we had to eat our dinner in minutes. Yummy, but rushed!

Elizabeth was lovely, she spoke a bit about the book and characters in the book and about being an "artist"/writer.

Guy's Skiing Weekend

I was very fortunate to be invited to a skiing weekend up at Camp Sherman. I initially thought I would pass on the skiing and do some photography instead. Ended up skiing the whole time and not taking many pictures. The few I did take you can see here


Got some shots of the snow.



Some wildlife :)



And some drama (hang nail):


Not to worry. I was alright. Didn't need a blood transfusion or CPR. Medical assistance was on hand!

Thanks to Steve for inviting me. I had a fabulous time. It was a super cool weekend!

Spring Cherry Blossoms and Addie