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I was a busy guy this week. I helped The Bigs pick about 50 lbs of cherries. We ate as many as we could and then gave the rest to all the neighbors (and some random passerby).

I continued work on the basil oil I started with basil I am growing.

And I helped pack for a little trip. We decided we would go see the redwoods. Our first night we stayed in Ashland.

And early the next morning we headed to Redwood National Park to do some backpacking.

We saw some old trees,

lots of slugs (I am not a fan of them),

and some BIG trees.

We also learned that when they say a trail is closed it probably is and had to resort to many creek crossings to get where we wanted to go.

After our hike we headed to Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve. On the way, we saw these guys

and I took a little nap.

We stayed in a campground in the monument that night,

and we took a cave tour the next day. It was so cool. The cave entrance is just on the other side of that plaque.

We saw stalactites.

And columns (where stalagmites and stalactites meet).

And lots of other cool things.

And I was sworn in as a junior ranger.

When we left the caves the car thermometer said 100, so instead of heading home we detoured to the coast. We stopped at Foster Barr on the Rogue River for the night…

and reached Bandon by midmorning.

That evening we headed home and after a long drive found Paradise Campground on the McKenzie River. Much to our relief they had a few empty sites.

We set up the tent and had veggies, noodles, and smoked salmon (from Bandon) for dinner.

We are home again, but probably not for long. Before I go, I thought you’d enjoy a comparison between my lunch

and The Bigs’s.

This week was rock climbing camp at the Bend Rock Gym BUT on Wednesday I got to go to Smith Rock and climb outside. For those who don’t know, Smith Rock is a big deal in the climbing world. From Wikipedia: “Smith Rock is generally considered the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, and is host to cutting-edge climbing routes. ….This brought climbers from all over the world as Smith Rock became the world capital for sport climbing. To this day, the park still attracts climbers from around the globe.”

Not only is Smith Rock a climbing destination, it is amazingly beautiful.

While I was climbing, The Bigs decided to go for a bike ride instead of working. As usual, The Mother had to stop a lot to ‘take pictures’.

After talking about it for years, Mom and I visited the Humm Kombucha tasting room. We had cherry limeade kombucha in the sunshine.

This week I upped my dinner game. I went to the library and found a cookbook I liked and selected recipes from it. I chose a cookbook called The Lost Fire and picked recipes for bone-in ribeye and brussel sprouts with a garlic aioli. For the ribeye, I made a salmuera (marinade of garlic, oregano, rosemary, paprika, vinegar, and oil).

Here is the finished product. It turned out well.

I have found that by picking and making a meal, I get to eat what I want to eat instead of what The Bigs want. Unfortunately, they said going forward, I need to choose slightly cheaper meals.

This weekend there was a heat advisory. This did not stop me. I rode 17 miles in Sisters on Saturday and paddled 4 miles at East Lake on Sunday.

On Sunday night we went to Sen Noodle House to celebrate Dad’s birthday.

We had. Galumpee Nam Pla: wok fried fioretto cauliflower with fish sauce and white pepper.

Laad Nah: pan fried wide rice noodles with, savory black bean sauce gravy, steamed Chinese greens, tofu, and a fried egg.

Guay Teow Hang: noodles with ground pork, pork meatballs, beansprouts, soy and fish sauce, lime, crushed peanuts, chili flakes, green onion, and cilantro, topped with fried wonton.

Mama Pad: Thai instant ramen noodles with egg, ground pork, pork meatballs, shredded cabbage, green onion, beansprouts, and white pepper, served over chopped lettuce.

For the 4th of July, I made us American flag smoothie bowls for breakfast.

And after a oh-my-gosh-the-fireworks-are-at-10-pm-we-better-have-a-nap nap, I hosted one of my now famous parties.

I had an assortment of drinks and appetizers.

All the guests had fun.

My culinary adventures continued this week with a recipe I found on the internet for cilantro lime shrimp.

We had the shrimp with Grandma Marie’s tomato and cucumber salad. Another great meal!

This is our cherry tree. Maybe next week, I’ll make a recipe that uses cherries.

This weekend we went for a long, hot mountain bike to…

Arnold Ice Cave.

It was awesome. This is the entrance.

This is looking back towards the entrance after you go in.

This was me discovering a little hole full of sunshine at the back of the cave which of course I climbed through.

It lead here.

Here comes The Mother, somehow, conveniently, missing the cave exploration and looking pretty happy about it.

On Sunday we paddled Elk Lake.

It was another gorgeous day complete with lots of jumping in.

This week we made one more new recipe. This one was most certainly not my choice…portobello salad

with crunchy quiona salad topper.

Does anything say summer like watermelon? Yes, cantaloupe… which is my favorite melon… but not the Mother’s so watermelon it is.

I was busy this week. I gave a lot of massages.

Made a gourmet meal of

chicken marbella

and sweet potato mash with lime salsa (Ok, Mom made the veg, no way would I choose that one).

I also did some paddle boarding on Sparks Lake. New this time – no tow from Dad. I paddled all 5 miles myself!

And I unloaded an entire yard of mulch from the truck.

With all that work, I sleep pretty hard – resulting in hair like this.

No one notices my hair though, they are more interested in my power clash clothing choices.

Other food this week included carrot salad with yogurt and cinnamon:

and slow-roasted lamb shoulder with mint and cumin:

I am planning to take over dinner prep one night each week. This week, my first meal was black bean burgers with sriracha mayo, homegrown lettuce, and sweet potato chips.

They were delicious!

This week was tennis camp.

We had a tournament on Friday. I got second place!

Saturday we had a tough mountain bike ride with lots of climbing in the rain and hail. Sunday, we spent the day planting. The Bigs held off planting until now because they know how fickle June is in Bend. For example. Mom went out for a run this past Tuesday morning and slipped on ice! They think it is finally safe to plant…we shall see. I helped Dad plant the hanging baskets on the deck:

We also planted the planters on the porch ( along with more than a dozen new plants in the front gardens):

When I wasn’t helping the Bigs plant things, I was playing with Hadley and Maddie. They are at our house so often The Bigs are starting to wonder if they actually have homes. We made ginger ale:

and had grilled cheeses for lunch:

This past week was the last week of school. We had spirit week. I wasn’t really into it but I tried. Here I am for crazy hat day.

The Bigs kinda dropped the ball and didn’t get any other pictures all week. Mom finally took one today when I treated Dad to a Father’s Day latte.

We had a quiet week. Mountain biking class was cancelled because police had closed the trailhead! The Bigs had already left work early to take me, so we rerouted to a new trailhead and road together. There was much grumbling about paying for 5 classes and only getting 3 (next week is cancelled too!) from the cheap one (Mom), but we did have fun.

I did some gardening this week. I took care of an out of control japanese willow.

I also hiked to the top of Black Butte. There were wildflowers (and people) everywhere.

There were also great views.

The Bigs lost count of how many adults I passed on the hike up today. Let’s just say it was in excess of 10. Mom is a little concerned about being able to keep up with me going forward.

One time with Mt. Jefferson in the background

and one time without.

I’m as tall as the fire tower :).

Last weekend we went to the coast. We played in the sand,

did some dune jumping,

some jetty walking,

and walked the beach for miles.

We camped at Beverly Beach.

I slept by myself in the van.

The real reason for our trip, though, was surfing.

I caught some,

and I missed some.

But the whole time, I had fun.

We went to Local Ocean for dinner one night. The Bigs had deviled eggs, but these were no ordinary deviled eggs. They were deviled with miso, soy sauce, and smoked fish and topped with crispy ramen!

Dad had the special. It was dukkah nut spiced ling cod.

I had the rockfish italiano. I was too hungry to wait for mom’s silly picture. It was panko-crusted rockfish, salami, pepperoni, pickled peppers, mozzarella, and red pepper coulis on a hoagie roll. I devoured it.

Mom had the weathervane scallops. Skewers of petite scallops, grilled asparagus, smoked goat cheese, red onion, and white balsamic vinaigrette.

The trip was awesome and I left a total surfer dude.

This weekend we made our annual trip to the ‘Castle of the Dragons’. This year I rode the entire 16 miles myself.

Here we are at the top.

The Bigs look exactly the same as they did in 2016 (ha ha) but I sure look different.

I’m turning into a real biker, so much so, that I demanded some legit biking shorts. Don’t I look cool.

I was the Scientist-of-the-Week at school last week. I built an electromagnet and demonstrated it for the class.

On Saturday, we went for a mountain bike ride, then went to school for the annual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament. I went out in the first round.

But I did get to enjoy a Kona Shave Ice:

We had our last ski day of the season this weekend. We skinned up Mt. Bachelor, past Pine Martin Lodge and part way up to the summit. It was sunny and warm below the lodge:

But we skied into some clouds up higher:

This week I took over another of The Bigs’ jobs.

While it is still not easy for me, I’ve come a long way.

This weekend was the Pole Pedal Paddle (downhill ski, nordic ski, bike, run, paddle, and run). Dad did it while I went to my soccer game.

He won his age group and therefore received a much coveted PPP mug.

I also hit Big Skis perogies.

And made Mom breakfast on Mother’s Day.

In fact, I spoiled her rotten with many gifts, including some cosmos.

I had a soccer game today and then both Mom and I headed out on rides.

I hit the pump track and the skills park while she did a road ride.

After our bike rides, we did some horseback riding!

On May 14, 2017, so exactly six years ago, I, with Dad as my assistant, planted a plum and cherry tree.

They looked like sticks.

Now look at them!

Happy Mother’s Day!