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There is a statue in one of the roundabouts in Bend that gets dressed up for all holidays. Here he is in his 4th of July attire.

The morning of the 4th, we had spinach, mushroom, tomato, and goat cheese frittata with sweet potato waffles. No, The Bigs can’t make/eat normal food – sweet potato waffles, really?

After breakfast, we partook in my new favorite activity. Fly fishing.

Dad rented a rod. We both fished. We did not catch. This was A-Ok with The Mother.

After a fishing odyssey, I set up one of my now-famous bars.

For dinner, we had Zen Bowls with seared Ahi and pickled carrots and daikon:

This week I made normal (who puts sweet potatoes on a pizza?) pizzas for dinner. I’m going to have to talk to Pop about the dough, mine didn’t turn out great, but I was able to salvage it and make a nice pepperoni pie…

and a chicken and pesto one too.

This weekend we did some of the normal stuff, like mountain biking. Here I am on a brief break from a long, long hot climb up Ben’s (it was 82F when we started at 9:30 am).

Saturday was hot. Probably 98 F. Sunday was hotter.

We spent some time dunking in the Deschutes River. The river is about 55 F.

After a dunk, I headed to SLEEPAWAY CAMP. I was scarcited (scared but excited). The Mother had a stomach ache.

Here is my cabin, Elk Cabin.

I got a top bunk. I’ll be sharing Elk with 9 other guys.

The water features looked pretty sweet and should be a nice way to cool off because the ‘heat dome’ is here for a while.

You can also SUP or kayak.

Or do arts & crafts. The Mother is hoping for some nice macrame like the one on the right.

All kids had to head up to the tennis courts after checking in. The counselors nicely told the parents that once their kid stepped on the court, they had to go. Bye, Bigs.

The Bigs are now making every recipe they have always wanted to make but were sure I would not eat. Night 1. Kale, mushroom, and leek subji with wild rice pancakes.

This week, The Bigs did some much needed gardening.

While they worked, I trapped bees.

I found 6 different kinds on the catmint plant. Here are two of the kinds I found.

I only kept them captive for a short time and then I let them go. Unfortunately, this appears to have generated some bad insect karma, as later in the day, The Mother was stung/bitten by something that caused her arm to swell until it looked like a hamhock. Oh well. Isn’t our prickly pear cool?

Guess what’s coming? Cherries! A few more weeks and we should be living on Cherry St.

We did some mountain biking. I now ride on logs and rocks and other things that make The Bigs hold their breath and pray to the femur god.

I also parted with some of the allowance and gift money I have been hoarding and bought myself a fly fishing rod. I spent about an hour casting in the front yard.

After looking at this picture, can you guess what I made for my dinner of the week?

I was inspired by a recipe Uncle Chris sent for BLATs (bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwiches), so I made BLEATS. How can you not add a fried egg?

I topped each sandwich with a piece of bacon. Why not?

The Mother made Pizza Cali (pesto, broccoli, and feta) and

Recovery Pizza (garlic butter sauce, roasted sweet potatoes, bacon, goat cheese, and runny egg in the middle. If Dad and I had been in charge, there would have been a lot more eggs on this pizza. I think next week I’ll make ‘real’ pizza. You know, with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.

And, one day for lunch, Dad made pesto tuna melts.

So. I’ve been busy.

Two Fridays ago, Dad and I hiked part of South Sister and skied some laps.

I had to start out in sneaks and carry my skis.

Dad carried his skis and my boots.

The snow was sun-cupped and tricky. Maybe you can see the huge dimples in the surface…

But I still skied like the champ that I am.

After a couple of runs we skied/hiked out.

And had a late afternoon Cliq chair picnic.

Two days later, we went backpacking. We tried to find somewhere quiet and pretty, so we chose the Black Canyon Wilderness.

Here I am, ready to go.

One minute into the hike, there was a river crossing.

A few minutes later, there was another.

And then another.

And so it went, for FOURTEEN river crossings.

The trail was quiet.

It did not appear that many folks had hiked here – so we had to make our way through long grass and sometimes hunt for the trail.

It was very pretty and we didn’t see a soul, but we did see 6 rattlesnakes and countless other slithery reptiles and there was cheatgrass everywhere – leaving painful grass seeds in our socks and shoes.

After we set up camp, I tried out my new filter bottle from Uncle Chris. Awesome.

It was Father’s Day, so The Mother made us take many pictures.

The next day, it was cold and rainy. No one was particularly excited for the hike out, but we soldiered on.

We took a roundabout way home from our trip and stopped in Portland for the night. We ate dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. We had fresh salad rolls: vermicelli noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, lettuce and basil. Wrapped in rice paper, served with homemade peanut sauce.

The Mother had Banh Xeo Chay crispy crepe: a savory crepe stuffed with shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, jicama, served with fresh lettuce and dipping sauce.

Dad had ginger chicken in a clay pot: braised chicken in caramelized shallot soy sauce with fresh ginger, served with jasmine rice.

I had the Sai Gon combo: vermicelli noodles with an assortment of grilled chicken pork, beef and shrimp. Served with fish sauce dressing 

When we got home to Bend, I took Dad to the Yacht Club (thanks, Pop).

I’ve been in a planting kind of mood and bought flowers for and planted six pots for the front walkway.

Mom’s friends Katie and Brad have a boat and fly fishing equipment. They offered to take us ‘drifting’ on the Deschutes and show us how to fly fish. We went on Saturday.

It was 91 degrees out, so we were overjoyed to stop along the river and stand in its chilly waters trying to catch fish all day. It was absolutely beautiful and a ton of fun. Thankfully, Katie didn’t tell mom how much a fly fishing rod costs until we were all done using theirs…

On Sunday, I hit the trails and tried out some new moves I learned in mountain bike camp.

I made two meals since my last update. My, now, famous chicken marbella.

And, I attempted to recreate the yummy dinner I had a Pelican Brewing. Brats and bacon sauerkraut. The meal at the restaurant came with potatoes but The Bigs said I needed to make a green vegetable, so I made brussel sprout salad.

Mom made kimichi pancakes

and superhero muffins.

There may be a few more days of school left, but for me, summer is here. I hit the pool with Jameson…

and made The Bigs take me backpacking. Dad planned a trip and we got all set to go, but then we found out storms were predicted for where we planned on camping. We pivoted and found a route that was warmer and dryer. It also had a bit more climbing than our original destination. More on that in a bit.

The ride was called Lush, and lush it was. There were wildflowers everywhere.

Check out this flower on the ponderosa tree. Looks like a starfish, doesn’t it?

I kept climbing and climbing and never complained.

I ended up climbing 2261 feet in one day. A record.

With spring flowers come skeeters. Here I am trying to protect my head while I read a book.

In the morning, it was cool and raining. I was unbothered. I got another bag for my bike, so I can carry all my own stuff. Now I only depend on The Bigs for food. Soon I’ll be able to get rid of them altogether.

If it is in the middle of Oregon, on the side of a mountain, is it still called a beach rose?

The rain made it a bit muddy. Can you even see Dad’s tire tread in this picture?

There was a bit more climbing, but I finished up strong, and before lunchtime!

We ate all kinds of new dishes this week. The Bigs made pistachio, pea, and mint soba noodles from East (Auntie Cheryl, if you haven’t tried it, you should. Yum!)…

and black bean burgers with a sweet potato salad.

The Bigs told me that I had milked the broken leg excuse for long enough and it was time for me to start making dinner again. I made tacos with pulled pork, coleslaw, and guacamole…

topped with some queso fresco and pickled red onions (Nan, you better start pickling for my visit!)…

and edamame and corn salad.

The Bigs made Green Envy bowls (rice, miso greens, edamame, avocado, rice, and fried egg) and

pulled pork bowls.

I’ve been reading a lot of Viking books lately. Here I am dressed as Svengal, Skirl of the Wolfwind:

We headed to the coast for Memorial Day weekend, and stayed at a condo at Nye Beach in Newport. Here I am navigating with my compass. Yes, the ocean is to the west.

The condo had three recliners!

We did a lot of beach walking:

And, since it is the end of week 10, I was cleared to surf!

Sea lions resting on a dock in the harbor on their way back to California for the summer:

Yaquina Head Lighthouse:

We went to OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center to check out their new tsunami-proof building, and rooftop tsunami evacuation site.

Not entirely sure how to interpret this sign:

The ramp to the roof:

The ramp had markers for different size tsunamis:

We headed up the coast to Siletz Bay for dinner at Pelican Brewing.

Calamari! (The Bigs would have been more than happy to make dinner at the condo, but they decided that my reading and bringing every menu (in the guest book at the condo) that had fried calamari to their attention was a not so subtle hint I wanted to eat out – somewhere with CALAMARI).

I had the bratwurst plate – locally made bratwurst poached in Sea N’ Red Ale and lightly
seared, served with house made bacon sauerkraut, smashed potatoes, and Dijon
mustard (I was in heaven).

Mom had the portobello banh mi: marinated portobello mushrooms piled high on a fresh
baked Telera roll with sriracha aioli, house made pickled vegetables, and cilantro

and Dad had the ahi poke bowl – fresh ahi tuna tossed in ginger lime sauce, house made pickled vegetables, sriracha aioli, pickled ginger, cilantro, sesame seeds, served atop a bed of sushi rice with unagi sauce.

I was exhausted! Here’s something I haven’t done in a long time:

Got a new hat:

Most recent x-rays are looking good:

So good, in fact, I thought it might be time for a ski. (It is June 1st, after all.)

Bachelor closed last weekend, but they still have plenty of snow.

I had to wear my nordic pants, because, as it turns out, the last time I went skiing someone cut my ski pants off!

We made it all the way to the top:

I was a little nervous to ski again, but I got over that pretty quickly. I’ve still got it. Perfect corn, just below the summit:

Here we are having a post ski, cliq chair picnic.

Sunday, we went for a mtn. bike ride, then did some gardening. We got all of our planters planted. Our front porch planters already looked great.

But after much gnashing of teeth, we pulled out the beautiful pansies and replaced them with our summer plants. There is no way the pansies would have made it through the heat wave predicted for the end of this week…

I planted two pots of my own:

And, finally, we finished off our day with a game of Clue (Turns out it was Ms. Scarlet in the study with a rope.):

Some food from this week. Savory pretzel granola:

Sweet Potato Chickpea Cakes:

Turkey Trot Meatballs:

Baked Fish with Green Beans and Tomatoes:

Burger Salad Bowl with Bonk Burgers:

Whole Wheat Cheddar Scones:

Well, this is it. The last week until I am back to normal. Someone should tell my PT I’m not there yet. She had me dragging a box loaded with weights across the room last week.

It was a pretty quiet week. The one highlight was the annual Pole Pedal Paddle (alpine ski run, cross country ski, 22 mile bike, 5.2 mile run, river paddle (most people use a kayak, Dad insists on increasing the challenge by using a paddleboard), and a short sprint. Here we are at the start.

I’ve been part of the support team since 2016.

This year, I took pictures. Next year, I think we will do it as a team.

Here is Dad cruising to his first place (age group) finish.

Dad and I went on an 11 mile (tame, don’t worry grandmothers :)) mountain bike while The Mother went for a massage (she really treats herself well, doesn’t she?).

Spring is here. Things are starting to look nice.

The Mother got a new cookbook from the library. She has made us eat beet smoothies, cooked thai quinoa bowls with crispy tempeh for lunches,

and made chocolate date energy bars, all this Sunday! Might be a rough week :).

I made some bread this week.

I also went on a mountain bike ride.

There was a variety of terrain and views.

And the ride passed by the lava lands too.

After our bike ride, The Mother went to a floral arrangement class and made Dad and me go grocery shopping. Lame.

Lame, until…I found $100 in the Whole Foods parking lot!

On the Day of the Mother, Dad made her the beet latkes she demanded.

Then The Mother went skiing while Dad and I enjoyed the 80 degree day on the river.

For dinner I took The Mother to the Midtown Yacht Club (wink, wink Pop). I had the Oaxacan burger,

Dad had the wet burrito,

and Mom had the Cuban.

Because it is the Day of the Mother, she made me pose for many pictures.

Other things we ate this week. My charcuterie lunch.

Chickpea cakes with zucchini ribbon salad and tahini yogurt mint sauce.

Look at this femur. Almost as good as new!

After a minor set back last week – I was ok’d to get off my crutches but my heel, which had not been used in 6 weeks, rebelled and hurt every time I took a step, so I had to keep stay on the crutches all week – I’m feeling good! So good, that I went rock climbing…

And mountain biking…ok, not ‘mountain’ biking, more like riding around the neighborhood, but biking nonetheless.

When I am not out testing my newly returned mobility, I am listening to podcasts, reading ‘The Wind in the Willows’, or building crazy marble runs.

This week we went to Dear Mom Cafe (thank you GUM for the gift certificate). I had a mocktail. I LOVE mocktails. I had the Westside Sparrow – hibiscus syrup, lemon juice, yuzu extract, and sparkling water.

For an appetizer, we had roti with curry.

For dinner, I had the noodle soup – rice noodle soup in bone broth, house roasted pork, ground pork, pork crackling, green bean, crispy wonton, garlic chili oil, cilantro, and peanuts.

Mom had the panang – sauteed shrimp with thai panang curry with crispy basil, a sunny side egg, and jasmine rice.

Dad had Pad Thai Glass Noodles – classic wok stir-fried glass noodles, shrimp, egg, bean sprout, green bean and toppings.

Spring is coming. The trees are flowering and the phlox are showing their colors.

Dad’s back in the bread business. Yum.

(Remainder of the blog written by me, Emmett.)

It’s 60$ but that’s okay i’ve played with it every day since I got on thursday – My new GRAVI TRAX (giant set). It’s a marble run building set.

Finally got started on my viking decor aka a shield

I had to stain it with two coats of stain. When it comes to stuff like this I have no patience

final product

Crutches are almost gone. Here I am standing without them:

Enough lounging on the couch for me. This week I did some swimming

and rode my bike on the trainer.

I also did some archery and a little hiking by the river.

I also planted some seeds to put in my greenhouse.

Given my recent time in the arcade – my sweatshirt from Uncle Chris has new meaning.

I am also going through a Nordic phase. I love all things viking as you can see from the flag I designed for my ‘throne’.

This week Mom’s friend Brook gave us some venison. Boy oh boy was it good.