San Juan Islands Bike Trip 2012

Yours Truly is behind in posting about our summer activities and will eventually catch up but for now, I wanted to make sure to share about our most recent adventure. We had the chance to join a group from our church for a bike trip to the San Juan Islands in Washington. The trip could not have been better: great weather, fun company, and beautiful views!

Our family enjoys biking and got our share with the 20+ mile a day bike rides (with a lot of hills!). Mr. Wagner pulled the Little Miss in her "Weehoo" (recumbent tag-a-long style bike), adding about 70 extra pounds to his load. The Little Miss did pedal most of the time (at her own pace). One thing is for certain, she has a Super Dad with strong legs! I loved biking with my family and am convinced that this is a great hobby to participate in together (I can already picture Mr. Wagner and I riding a tandem bike during our retirement years!).

 We really enjoyed the group that joined us for the trip. Our Pastor is an avid mountain biker and has been biking in the San Juans several times. With the exception of the one time that a few of us got temporarily off track (a.k.a., "lost"), he did a great job leading the group. His 5th grade son (Josh) did an amazing job keeping up, even leading the group most of the time. Of course, it helped that Josh is competitive and was determined to keep up with Mr. Wagner.

We are already looking forward to doing this trip again, hopefully next summer the Lord willing!

Family Camp 2012

We continued a favorite tradition this past weekend on our annual "Family Camping Trip" with my brother and sis-in-law. My dad and step mom (Papa and Mimie) were also able to join in the tradition again this year so it was extra special. We headed to the McKenzie River area and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors together. Having grown up camping numerous weekends during the year and in every season, Yours Truly always loves camping and sure hopes we'll carry on this tradition with our girl and her future family.

Mother/Daughter Reunion

The Little Miss and I enjoyed a fun mother/daughter weekend trip to Seattle with two of my closest girlfriends from high school. It has been 20 years (yikes!) since Amy, Rebecca and I graduated but we all quickly connected and our girls had a wonderful time. We had the weekend scheduled before we realized our 20 year class reunion fell at the same time so we celebrated in our own way. I must say my friends still look gorgeous and are even more lovely on the inside. Not to mention that they are both terrific moms with two of the sweetest four year-olds (the girls' birthdays are just a day a part).

Amy, Rebecca and I with our girls enjoying Pikes Market

The girls got along wonderfully and had a great time being silly!

Our 2nd cupcake stop of the weekend, Cupcakes Royale was the best!

We also took the girls (and their dolls) to dinner at the American Girl store, a big hit with all of them but most especially our own Little Miss. She was beaming as she shared a pretend drink with her own AG Rebekah doll. A vastly different celebration than those at our actual 20 year reunion were having, but one that I wouldn't have traded for the world.

Pet Parade 2012

We celebrated the 4th of July in Central Oregon and the Little Miss and Yours Truly got to walk in the 63rd annual Pet Parade, Bend's longest standing tradition. My family is originally from the area so it is exciting to think of how many pet parades the generations before us have been a part of. We borrowed my aunt and uncle's one year-old toy poodle (Bandit) and the Little Miss had a blast walking him in the parade. It was extra fun because our good friend Emma was also in the parade with her grandpa and his new German Shepherd puppy. The Little Miss enjoyed waving at all of the onlookers, she wasn't shy at all! It is hard to tell from the pictures but downtown Bend was literally packed with people and their animals, too many to even begin counting. What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July!

Waiting for the parade to start

Festive girls

Waving at the crowd

Our favorite onlookers (plus Daddy who was taking the pictures)

We did it!

Leaping Leprechauns

Yours Truly is a tad behind on blog posts being that this one should have been posted at the end of May (I would say it is because we have been busy enjoying the sunny, summer days but truth be told we have had mostly chilly, wet days the past few weeks. Oh summer, where art thou?)

The Little Miss had her first official stage performance as part of her ballet school's Spring Show. The theme was international dance and our girl's class pretended to be Irish "Leprechauns" (no, they were not Oregon Ducks regardless of the colors). This mama got teary eyed watching our (formerly) shy girl up on the big stage with a packed audience in the house. She loved every minute of it.

I didn't get any pictures from the actual performance itself but you can see a couple of her at the dress rehearsal the day before. Joani also sent a sweet one of our girl and her favorite fan, Allison, with one of her many bouquets of flowers after the show. I dare say we may have (at least) a few more ballet performances in the years to come.

Stitch

Mr. Wagner's parents (Gr'pa and Gr'ma) flew out from the Midwest for a visit last week and we had a terrific time, regardless of the vacation starting off on the wrong foot...or "hand" rather. You see, Gr'pa and Gr'ma were left to fend for themselves while the West Coast Wagners made a (not so quick) visit to the Emergency Room on the first eve of their visit. Long story short but the Little Miss was helping me make dessert for a BBQ we were having that evening with Gr'pa, Gr'ma and our dear friends, Jack and Mel Glubrecht. Our girl was caught in the cross fire when Yours Truly was trying to get a glass jar of powdered sugar down. Being ever so graceful, Yours Truly knocked the jar over and it proceeded to land and break on the counter, with a piece slicing my sweet girl's hand. Praise the Lord it wasn't worse but we still had a very upset girl...and mommy! Mr. Wagner and his parents happened to be at the grocery store at the time but by God's grace, Jack and Mel arrived just in time to help take charge of the situation (Mel was also the first person there both times I was admitted to the hospital when I was prego so she has now officially been at all of our family emergencies. Thank you Jesus for friends like that!). Three hours, five stitches, and one new teddy bear (a.k.a, "Stitch") later, we were back home.

Our girl was the first ER patient of the day wearing a fancy pink tutu (she also had a tiara on when the incident occurred but we decided not to take that to the hospital)

The fam still smiling after our three hour ER wait. The Little Miss was sure a trooper! 

The Glubrechts with Gr'pa and Gr'ma...regardless of being abandoned and having to fend for themselves, they still managed to enjoy their visit while we were at the hospital.

Happy Father's Day!

I love Daddy when it's Father's Day...even when it's not. I love when Daddy gives me hugs and kisses and when he takes me to dates. I like to go to the shoe store in Bend [REI] with Daddy. I am excited that Daddy is going to drive the bus for my school [for field trips]. I think Daddy is cute when he kisses me on the cheek and it tickles. I love you Daddy!

Love,

Your Little Miss