Preschool Celebration

Charlie finished his year of Preschool back in June and we got to celebrate.When I was picking out a preschool for Charlie I did A LOT of research and visited a lot of schools and I felt the best about Creative Hands Preschool. It was a bit of a commute but we just felt so great about the teachers and community that we were willing to do it! It was the best decision! (Side note: It was located in the same building I went to preschool in) We absolutely loved the care and planning that the teachers put into their lessons. They really cared for and knew each child. Their days were filled with creative play! It was the perfect place for Charlie to prepare for kindergarten.

Their ceremony started with each kid running through a giant poster of their name (which I'm pretty sure was painted with a plunger!!!) Charlie is a clown and put his glasses on his lips when it was his turn to run out.

 

Charlie was presented with a book of his preschool projects. And he had told his teacher that he wanted to be a  mail man when he grew up.

After the ceremony, there was a lunch pot luck at the nearby park. You can't tell by this photo, but Charlie absolutely loved his Teacher Madri!

Charlie with teacher Kayla and Teacher Madri

And that was a wrap on Preschool. I'm planning on Miles going there next year!

Rose Gardens

"Is that the Rosie Garden?, I like to call it the Rosie garden" -Miles
Back in June we made our annual outing to the Portland Rose Gardens.And I don't even remember much about it except our boys running wild...so there you go.

Smelling the birthday roses.

sigh...I want my long hair back..

So if you are going to the Rose Garden for a peaceful experience...stay far away from these rascals...I'm pretty sure they were rolling right through someone's romantic picnic. 

 Edwin got to stop and smell the Roses.

 And here is our annual family photo...I'm being too lazy to upload our previous years but you can look at LAST YEAR'S POST  to see our sequence of family photos under the rose arch.

And we ran into our friends, the Cotners, while we were there. 

And I'm a little obsessed that I have a blue eyed baby.

 All the handsomeness!

And as the sun was setting, we made our way back to the car, but Miles, of course, had to take a break to pretend he was a puppy...

And that was another year of the Rose Gardens.

Forest Park/Witch's Castle

Our good friends, Nathan and Kerri organized a Summer Hiking series. where they plan and host a hike each month. We were able to go in June and very few people were able to attend this one and it was pouring rain so we opted for a closer location than the scheduled hike and ended up at Forest Park. This is a huge local trail that we've wanted to explore but hadn't made the time. When we arrived it was pouring rain and Charlie had forgotten his coat...of course he claims that he never gets cold. Shortly after we started the hike, the rain stopped. the trails were still pretty muddy. The boys still loved it!

 

I'm a fan of his beanie/headband combo. 

We found lots of snails and slugs on the trail

We hiked to Witch's Castle. it is an old stone structure. I had no idea what it was so I just did some research. There are all these stories about it going back to 1850 and how it is haunted by 2 feuding families who owned land nearby. But then after all these stories, it was said that it was really just a stone bathroom/ranger station built in the 1950s, then abandoned. And I didn't even take a full picture so here's one from the internet.

It was mostly creepy and stinky and covered in graffiti, but still kinda cool.

My boys love their Nathan and Kerri!

So many photos of Charlie's back, running through the forest...I should put together some sort of collage someday!

Part of the hike went through the city. Nathan got this photo of our family!

 

The hike then looped back through the forest and up up up the hill to our car. The sun had come out about halfway into the hike which made it much more enjoyable than the pouring rain.

And there you have it...our family being all adventurous!