24 hrs in Bend

Sebastian's soccer team has been playing in the end-of-season tournament, the President's Cup, during April. (There are three OYSA tourneys - State Cup, President's, Founders - Seb has previously played in Founders, winning it twice.) His PCU team lost a game and tied a game in the round-robin, but then there was an upset and they snuck through to the quarterfinals as the second seed. That quarterfinal match was scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Bend.

So... we decided to drive down on Friday night and stay over. Seb gets carsick going over the Santiam Pass, and I wanted a chance to go trail running, so it was better for both of us to arrive earlier. We also decided to take advantage of the opportunity to let Seb try out some highway driving, which was both awesome and mildly terrifying. As it turned out, he didn't get sick while driving!

In the morning, Jasper and I left Seb sleeping and ran 9 miles along the Deschutes River trail. I love that trail - it's one of my favorite places to run - and Jasper loves being able to stop and dunk himself in the river along the way.

 

We went back to the Loge and got some pastries and coffee, and then lazed around for a few hours enjoying the warm sunshine.

We returned to the Meadow day use area and let Jasper swim again in the Deschutes before heading to Seb's soccer game.

spring soccer season

Liesl's soccer season continues - her PCU team is playing in the Premier Bronze division this spring. She has continued to shine as a defensive back; she's speedy and determined, makes really good decisions, often takes on girls twice her size, and doesn't get beat very often. The team has struggled to score goals, so there have been a lot of scoreless draws and 1-0 losses. But she's made friends, particularly with a girl named Hadley, and is having fun.

Last weekend's game was in Eugene, so I drove Liesl and Sienna down together. Here we are at the post-match lunch.

softball season

Liesl's softball season with Lincoln Little League has gotten off to a good start. She has pitched in two of the first three games, playing shortstop and first base when she's not on the mound. She's had some good hits and stolen a lot of bases, sliding into home a couple of times. She doesn't have a lot of power, but she's speedy and can sometimes beat the throw to first base.

Today's game was a full-family affair. Sebastian has signed up to be an umpire for some of the team's home games; he had a 4-hour training session one Saturday and will ump 8-10 games over the season. It's a great opportunity to make some money - a great first job. Today were his first games -- he was the field ump in a 1pm game (the other Lincoln team) and the main plate ump for Liesl's 4pm game. There were some nerves ahead of time but he did really well, calling pitches consistently and speaking up loudly and decisively. And Steve volunteered to be the scorekeeper - I love this photo of them all lined up.

Vernonia half marathon race

I ran a half marathon race this morning, the ORCC Vernonia. We started at Stub Stewart State Park and ran along the Banks-Vernonia rail trail downhill to the town of Banks. Christie and I ran together, along with her college friend Leslie, and set a super fast (for us) pace -- we ran it in 1 hr 54 mins, which is an 8.46/mile pace.

It was 43 degrees and raining the whole time - sometimes a drizzle, sometimes a more direct downpour. Kind of exactly like all of our training runs.

On the sweeping railway bridge around mile 6.

Post race joy!!!

Easter Sunday

We had a sweet and fun family Easter - we colored Easter eggs, we had an egg hunt, we ate some delicious food. Steve found us some amazing chocolates.

Ella came over after school on Friday to get started on the egg decorating with Liesl. She stayed for dinner and to hang out with Liesl while Steve and I went downtown to see OBT's performance of Firebird (and also a new piece, Eco, by Lauren Lovette, which we both loved).

 

Sadly, Minion #1 rolled off the table and got smushed.

Seb finally got the Ferrari he'd been hoping and waiting for.

 

A chocolate lab! 

 

Easter brunch: eggs, asparagus, fruit salad, brioche, bacon

We had fun with our eggs again this year -- Liesl was especially proud of her ice cream cone egg.

For our Easter egg hunt this year, the boys hid the eggs, and Liesl and I searched. It wasn't competitive at all!!! There was no dastardly tickling or teasing or taunting (I'm winning, I'm winning!)!

We took Jasper out for some rainy walks in the neighborhood, watched some funny videos together on the couch, and just generally had a cozy day hanging out together. It was a sweet respite from our busy weeks.