Buddy Werner and Easter 2026

We had a few days off from skiing over spring break, so we headed to the Oregon Outback to camp and soak at Summer Lake Hot Springs:

Soaking in one of the pools:

Followed by a cold plunge. Water in the tubs was maybe 40 degrees, but I don’t think it was that warm:

………30 seconds later.

Reading in the camper.

At the end of spring break, I had the Buddy Werner race. It is three-day race for U-12s., and has one day of Skillsquest, one day of GS, and a day of slalom. Skillsquest is basically doing drills while being judged.

One Skillsquest drill is the Pole Jumpers. You have to jump over a series of poles without hitting any of them:

After Skillsquest on Friday, the team went to a food truck pod that also has pickleball courts:

I had a Detroit-style pizza, The Gabbagool:

Here I am after the G.S. race on Saturday with my friend Easton.

I’ll be doing some road biking this spring with the Horner Cycling Foundation. They gave me a road bike to use – for free!. This was my first time ever on a road bike:

First day was in the rain, and one of my shifters didn’t work. We got the shifter working, and the next day was warm and sunny. You can see the jersey and shorts they gave me – also free!

This last weekend, we all did the Cascade Crest Nordic Race at the Nordic Center. I was the one and only 5K competitor. I raced the clock though and my 5K time was less than half The Mother’s 10K time…just saying…

Dad finishing the 20K:

The Easter bunny has good taste.

After an easter egg hunt at home this morning, we headed up to the mountain for some skiing and another egg hunt at the Nordic center. They also hid Yeti mugs. I got one. Hunting for eggs and mugs:

The mug. Awesome.

Some things The Bigs made recently.

Chocolate bark.

New focaccia recipe. It is extraordinary:

Also very good, but much too expensive ($13 for a 4 oz sausage?), was the ‘nduja with beans and greens. (‘Nduja (pronounced en-DOO-ya) is a spicy, spreadable cured pork sausage originating from Calabria, Italy.)

For Easter dinner we had:

Freekah salad with pickled onions, feta, and herbs, some air-fryed asparagus, and brisket with the world famous focaccia.

‘Healthy’ carrot cake for The Bigs, solid dark chocolate bunny for me.