Summer time in Sunriver

Eric and I spent another week in Sunriver with the family. We had a wonderful trip! The weather was warmer than last time but the dry heat made it bearable. We spent the first few days with my parents and went on several bike rides, floated the river and played some tennis. Laura, Fadi and the kids joined us in the middle of the week. We biked, swam and ran (Mollie even joined us one time) during the day and spent the nights in front of the TV watching the Olympics. Eric went fishing almost everyday-morning or night. It was so full of activity, we will need a few days to recover!

Introducing Theo and Jessica Taylor

Immediately following the triathlon, we were on the road to Salishan for Eric's cousin Jessica's wedding. We barely made it in time! The wedding was beautiful! They were married outside in a garden-like setting. Jessica wore a knee-length white strapless dress and Theo was in linen pants and flip-flops.

Afterwards we enjoyed some appetizers and drinks while mingling with family. They had a DJ who played live music the whole time. After dinner they got every one's attention by playing a scavenger hunt game. This game is a tradition at French weddings (one of Jessica's closest friends live in France). It was a riot.

We spent the remainder of the evening on the dance floor. Mike even did his famous "fast feet" dance just for me-very entertaining!

Triathlon Time!

Last weekend my cousin Meagan and I participated in our second triathlon. We did the same race as last year in Blue Lake park. Once again, the 1/2 mile swim looked about 12 miles long! We made it through without drowning and actually had fun (after my mini panic attack at the start of the swim). After that, we were on to the 13 miles bike ride followed by a 5K. The bike is my personal favorite although it does make running immediate afterwards quite challenging. Our parents, Meagan's boyfriend Lucas and Eric were there to cheer us on the whole way. We were exhausted at the end but we did both manage to beat our times from last year. Until next year . . .

Eric turns 29!

Eric turned 29 on July 21st. We spent that weekend down in Eugene with Eric's family. We had a BBQ and Linda's homemade German Chocolate cake (Eric's favorite). We all played with Brittany, Dakota and Ashlee at the park and went on a nice evening walk to the river. It was so nice spend some quality time with family.

The next day, on Eric's actual birthday, we spent the day at Fall Creek near Eugene. We had camped there a few years ago and really enjoyed it . We did our favorite thing- hiking up the water. It was painfully cold at first but our feet got used to it. After an hour or so of hiking, we headed back towards home. We stopped at a swimming hole that Eric remembered going to as a kid. We found the perfect rock and jumped into the freezing water. It was SO much fun. Our one regret was that we forgot our camera :o(

The following weekend, we celebrated with the Minus family. We had another BBQ at our house and-again, German chocolate cake. After dinner, we got out our fire pit and spent time visiting. Another great birthday!

!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!

Portland's Night Ride

On Saturday night, I participated in Portland's Night Ride for the first time. This was a unique experience. There are about 2000 people who take the 15 mile ride around Portland. It begins at Union Station at 9 pm, right before the sun goes down. The course crosses the Broadway bridge to the East side and meanders through North and Northeast Portland. There are several stops along the way that include a movie with popcorn, a disco party and all you can eat donuts at the finish. I rode with my friends Cari and Teri from school. We had a great time riding and observing the fellow bikers. Costumes are very popular and range from PJ's to hula skirts. There was even a man who did the whole ride in his birthday suit. We saw him in his full glory at the finish-lucky us! It was fun to partake in such an interesting activity!

4th of July in Sunriver

We spent the week of the 4th at Sunriver with the family. The weather was amazing! It was hot but dry and perfect for all of the activities that we love to do in Sunriver. We took advantage of the great weather and enjoyed several fun activities. We took daily bike rides to the coffee shop for our morning fix, played tennis with my parents, went of a few trail runs, swam, and floated the river in Eric's pontoon boat. We drove into Bend to watch the fireworks on the 4th. It was Mazen's first experience with fireworks which (at four months) he slept through most of. Mollie enjoyed the fireworks even though she was a little cold and would have liked to have been a little closer to the action. This was our second year spending the 4th in Sunriver and we hope to make it a tradition.

We beat the bridge!

Last weekend, my friend Tyler and I ran the "Reach the Bridge" race. It is an 8K that starts at the Oregon Zoo and ends on the east side of the Burnside bridge. The trick is, it is a "reverse race". Participants start whenever they want to-as long as they get to the finish before 9:00 am when the bridge raises. Neither of us had done the run before and we really enjoyed it. It was all down hill and very fast. We ended up beating the bridge with plenty of time to spare. We hope to do it again next year and try to cut it a little closer :o)