Visiting the Nickels in Washington

 We decided to go to spend a 3-day weekend in University Place Washington, near Tacoma, with our friends the Nickels, and we packed a lot into a few days! We went to a neighborhood pool, where Jared launched kids over and over during a game of 500. Even though Adam had to work quite a bit, he and Torin spent some quality time together.

 

We went to a Tacoma Raineers minor league baseball game. Jared even got a ball! We sat on the grass hill down the right field line. It made getting it easier for our crew to get up and down and up and down without bothering anyone.

 

This was the first minor league we've been to since being students at BYU and going to a game in Orem.

Adam and Marnie live just down the street from Chambers Bay, a huge golf course that is hosting next year's US Open. It is built right on the sound. It is a links style course, so not many trees, but it is a public course and there are walking and running trails throughout the course. We took a number of walks and runs there while we were visiting. Adam, Marnie, Dani, and I had a delicious dinner one night on the patio of the clubhouse.

There is also a large park at the end of the golf course that we spent hours playing on the huge play structures with all the kids. It was great to see the Nickels and reconnect. They certainly live in a beautiful area of the northwest!

Summer Olympics

 

A fun tradition we have is on the night of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, we have food native to the host country. Since the 2016 Summer Olympiad is taking place in Brazil, we made Brazilian food! This included pao de queijo (cheese bread), feijoada (which the kids LOVED!), and grilled pineapple.

After the kids go to bed, mom and dad get to enjoy the remainder of the opening ceremony with some Americone Dream (not as good as Tonight Dough).

We all really enjoy watching the olympics. We will watch each evening as a family.

We love gathering on the beanbag chair. Torin loves laying on daddy and cheering on USA!

Daytime bike date

We love taking our bikes out for rides, and when we get the chance to during the day for a morning date, it's even better! One of our favorite places to ride is along the Wilamette River, starting near OMSI, riding south to the Sellwood Bridge, then coming back.

The new bridge that opened since we moved to Portland is beautiful. It is a bike, pedestrian, train and bus bridge only. No other motor vehicles.

We love the blue skies and blue water of Portland.

 

McKnights

Our kids love play dates at the McKnights home!

 

Streeter Family Reunion - Part 2 - Cody (the after-party)

After our fun week at Island Park, we returned to Cody. Jared flew back to work in Portland while Dani and the kids stayed and played. We got to see Grandma Pat, which was fun.

On his way up the back stairs, Liam got stung twice by a wasp - right in between the eyes! The poor kid had a swollen face for a few days afterward - and a new fear of any flying bug.

The Park County fair was in town, so we went over with the cousins and visited the animal exhibits. It's somewhat of a gathering place, and we ran into a few friends while we were there, too. There were some street performers that were fun to watch.

One of the highlights of the state fair was the pig wrestling. The goal was for the team to hoist the muddy pig into a barrel. There were teams of adults and teams of kids, and everyone had a good laugh watching the pig wrestling.

The kids all rode a few rides, got super healthy food, and had a fun time at the fair.

It isn't a trip to Cody without a trip to DQ!

 

Vicki took the kids to town to play mini golf. I think it was an interesting experience for all!

Torin loved watching grandpa mow the lawn. Grandpa's lawn is much bigger and his lawn mower is much cooler than Torin is used to

The kids decided to try some "land waterskiing" in their own creative way. Somehow, it was fast enough to keep the scooter rider upright, even over a bumpy surface.

Dani, Vicki, and the kids took a trip to the George pond to play in the water and to paddle boat around.

One new addition to the pond is the water slide. It was fast, and it was fun!

and it made for some great pictures

Grandma got out her water toys one warm day and all of the kids played in the very cold water!

One of the very favorite activities is riding four wheelers around the yard. Heath has quite a few that he stores at Grandpa's shop, and all the kids got to take turns riding. Kate and Liam even got to drive (with proper supervision).

Jared came back for the weekend - and to drive the crew back to Portland.

Torin and Treycen got along most of the time - except the occasional disagreement about who should be driving the four wheeler.

2 weeks were great to spend with the cousins. They are such good friends!