Author: becandkyle

The Bigs decided the hops had to go. They attract aphids. Aphids ruin both the hops and the plum tree, so we pulled them out this weekend.

Check out these roots.

Everyone knows The Bigs would not rip out their privacy wall without a plan. The plan is silver lace vine and it has already been planted.

Besides gardening, I played some soccer. I had two games this weekend.

I also got some new sneakers. The sneakers that I have on in this picture, which make me very happy, are not the sneakers The Bigs planned on buying me. They felt they were outside a reasonable price range for a child’s sneaker. We struck a deal. If I paid the difference between what they thought was a reasonable price and the price of the sneakers I wanted, I could have them. I got them.

How could I not get speed laces

and trail running soles?!

I also did a little baking – making some ‘muffins’ for mom,

harvested all the lettuce I grew this month so The Bigs could have huge salads for lunch,

AND NANA IS HERE!

For dinner we made Food Court Singapore Noodles.

This weekend I did another nordic race. This one was 5k. There were 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 year olds competing. Here we are at the start.

Here I am about half way through. Still looking strong.

Here I am with Dad, who also did a race. His was a bit longer.

I beat all the 7, 8, 9, and 10 year old boys, but some of the big kids beat me. I’ll get them next time.

The next day, after my soccer game, we all went backcountry skiing. We skinned up ‘The Cone’.

Dad found these nifty attachments for my downhill skis that allow me to skin up the mountain.

It was a gorgeous day, and we had a lot of fun.

This week we ate:

Steel cut oats with spicy black beans and tofu scramble,

Sichuan eggplant,

and Vietnamese coconut pancakes (which were a total fail, but we tried!).

Let me start with, The Bigs let me skip school to go skiing. Gasp. But, it was to go to a four way ski race. What’s that? Don’t worry, we didn’t know either. In this case, it was a nordic race, a jumping competition, and then two downhill races. This race was hosted by MSBSEF and ski teams from Washington, Oregon, and California came to compete.

Here I am at the start of the nordic race. I am on the far right.

Here I am, seconds later, pulling to the front. Notice the size of the kid keeping up with me. This race was U-10. That means the kids in the race could be 7, 8, 9, or 10. Only one other kid was born in 2015, the rest were older than me.

Here I am pulling away from the pack.

Here I am headed to the finish line. You’ll notice, there is no one behind me. I dropped them. I finished 30 seconds before the next kid. The race was only 4min it was fast and hard, and 30 seconds is a big lead.

What, I won?

Winning feels good.

Here I am waiting for the awards ceremony. The Bigs were more than a little worried I wouldn’t get on the podium when my name was called.

With a little encouragement, and maybe a shove, I did.

The jump competition was the same day. Did I mention it was raining? A lot? I’ve never jumped before, forget competed in jumping, but they had the rules written down, so no problem right?

Dad was not able to capture an image of me jumping, but here’s the course. Let’s just say, I completed two jumps without embarrassing myself. Success in our book.

Up next was a GS in the sun on Saturday.

And then another GS in the rain, snow, sun on Sunday.

Going off Great Aunty Cheryl’s recommendation, we made Mouth-Numbing Noodles. Everyone loved them!

And The Bigs made and ate curry chickpea salad with toasted coconut. They liked it. I was NOT eating it.

As you all know, I was out of school for a week for spring break. So, it probably seems reasonable to you that after one week and two days back that we were out of school for three days for parent teacher conferences. Don’t you worry though. I didn’t hang around the house bored while The Bigs worked. I hung out with Papa!

I taught him the real rules of blackjack.

We spent one day in Bend, did a little bowling, went to Monkless for poutine, and then we hit the road. We went to Silver Falls State Park. Where we hiked to 10 different waterfalls.

Depending on the time of day and who is relating the story, the hike was somewhere between 7.2 and 8.4 miles long. Afterwards, we stayed in this cabin.

The next day we had breakfast at a restaurant that is owned by the parents of one of The Bigs favorite students.

Then we hit the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Home to the Spruce Goose. Here I am in the cockpit.

We had fun.

I threw Papa a morning going away party. You can’t see it, but on the green sheet of paper, I wrote out a whole menu and was willing to make whatever he wanted. I got off easy with an order for black coffee and a peanut butter english muffin. I threw the clementine in to fancy up the plate.

Spring wants to come to Bend. Our first daffodil came out, but there’s snow in this week’s forecast…I have a ski race next weekend, so fine by me.

One food pic for the week: miso sesame steel-cut oats with smoked salmon, toasted pine nuts, and soft-cooked egg.

This week I did some soccer,

tennis, and skiing.

As you all know, it was Easter. I wonder, based on my ‘Easter Basket’ if The Bigs did. Practicality sure does rule here.

Some things we ate this week…

Savory steel cut oats with dried porcini mushrooms, toasted walnuts, avocado, and soft-cooked egg for breakfast (OK, I didn’t eat it, but The Bigs did)

and spring vegetable bun cha.

Pop and I did some skiing. One day it was COLD.

Another day there was so much powder it was hard to ski.

And one day, it was just right, with sunny skies and soft snow.

We also went out for dinner at the Lady Bird Cultural Society.

We had: puget sound oysters with preserved lemon mignonette and calabrian chile,

wood roasted carrots with whipped mascarpone, zaatar, pine nuts and aged balsamic,

wood fired beets with treviso, gorgonzola, walnuts, grapefruit oil, and aged balsamic,

wood fired pizza with white clam sauce, applewood bacon, pecorino, and oregano,

bucatini con burrata e cavolo,

and I had the birds nest – wood fired bread twist, burrata, garlic oil, and aged pecorino.

When we got home, I made myself a fruit salad for dessert.

We had some pretty good food at home, too. One night we had yummy fish tacos. I loved them.

When we were not skiing – we stayed busy. Sometimes in matching shirts.

While we were playing tennis,

and determining how much my wingspan had increased since November 2018,

The Bigs snuck off to enjoy yet another 18+ inch powder day.

We also hit our favorite donut shops and restaurants, went rock climbing,

did some baking (we made chocolate, peanut, raisin clusters)

and even went for a haircut.

I was sad to see Pop go, but that didn’t stop me from throwing him one of my now famous going away parties. The more observant will see I busted out my best box wine.

On Sunday, we headed up for yet ANOTHER major powder day. The drive up to the mountain looked like this:

Another 15″ of snow. It was up to our knees.

I started getting the hang of things and basically became pow man.

Falling is no problem in this much snow!

All that fun and snow and a bit of tummy trouble –

wiped me out.

Hey. Like my ‘stache? Freddie Mercury?

Someone put a sticker on the lift that said ‘le tits now’. Get it? Mother Nature did, because she ‘let it snow’. We got 35 inches of snow in the last 72 hours. It was awesome.

On Sunday, I had MBSEF spring camp and then I made Dad climb to the top of the mountain and ski the bowl and the backside. Skiing from the very top of the mountain was on my list of goals for the year.

And, here I am writing this blog with POP.

This week:

I knit a hat. It was small, Cordy size.

The Bigs forgot it was St Patrick’s Day and tried to pretend they didn’t by making me green oats. Lame, Bigs, lame.

I started soccer. It was warm and sunny for practice during the week.

But it was cold (44 F) and rainy for our game.

It was the last week of MBSEF. We took a team picture.

I skied a kombi race.

Then I hit the slopes with The Bigs.

After skiing I had a hanker for savory muffins. I found a recipe online from cheesy savory muffins and made it.

On Sunday, we had spring camp for cross country skiing. We had quite an obstacle course we had to ski around!

After skiing I snacked on my savory muffins. They turned out really well, so I think it is A-OK that I made a bigger mess than the Swedish Chef making them.

After a hard swim lesson, I like to hit the hot tub.

This week we had a DSM skate night. My friends were there. They wanted to skate with me, but I made Dad skate instead.

Mt Bachelor received 30 inches of snow in the past 72 hours. I had GS training on Saturday, and The Bigs had powder run after powder run. I think I heard them say ‘in some spots the snow was too deep’. Silly Bigs, there is no such thing.

Mom’s legs must have been tired. I can tell by all the nature pictures. She pretends she’s trying to document the beauty, but I know she’s taking a break.

Sunday was the day I’ve been waiting for! BIATHLON! From Wikipedia: The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. First round:

Second round, a little more comfortable:

Third round, preparing for the 2034 Olympics…

Last Sunday, I concocted a biscuit recipe and also made some creme patissiere. I combined the two into what I referred to as a ‘cream puff’.

I ate a few bites and then decided that, like whipped cream, I also don’t like creme patissiere.

The Bigs have decided that something I do like to eat, based on my face when I get home from school, is dirt.

A crew of DSM students have been building tunnels during recess and aftercare. Tunneling out? On this particular day, I brought most of our excavation home in my boots – see the huge pile of dirt next to my boot?

I am also big into the Greek Gods right now. Here I am creating a poster that describes Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

It has been snowing a lot and conditions are great.

This week was the Mini World Cup slalom race.

Here I am ripping it up.

Ha.

Afterwards The Bigs and I did a few runs.

It was sunny.

Until it wasn’t.