The time has come...

My dear readers, the time has come. I turned 4-years old almost a month ago and there are simply too many things to do. Too many hikes, too many friends to see, too many good books to read...

This will be my last post and I will be posting my future adventures solely through Facebook. I know, I know, it's a sad day. It's been fun writing for you but I've been neglecting too many things that must be attended to.

So, I'll bid you farewell with a few photos from my special day and I'll see soon.

-MUH!
Angelo

Adios my friends....

Let's hike!

Now that our household is well again (knock on wood!) we've been able to get outside and do some hiking! Couple this with the outstanding weather we've been having and it's been an incredible past two weekends. Last week we went to the Columbia River Gorge and hiked Upper McCord Creek Falls. Daddy said this was his favorite waterfall so far in Oregon. Today we hiked Dry Creek Falls. It was 4.4 miles and Daddy carried me most of the way because hey...he will.

The rest of the week I played soccer, did gymnastics, and jumped on my friend's trampoline in the suburbs. Hey! Why don't we move to the suburbs...look at this crazy backyard you can get for pretty much what Mommy and Daddy can afford to pay. They aren't sure they're interested they said. Who wants a big house to clean? Well, I'm sure not going to do it so I guess I'd better live where they want.

Check out the big kids at my gymnastics class. Maybe I can do this in a few years!

Watching Daddy's soccer game with Liesl and Seb

PNW life...someone's gotta live it!

Mommy is done looking for schools for the season. We still don't have any conclusions but at least we've eliminated a few choices. I've enjoyed touring different neighborhoods and seeing new playgrounds though. We took Daddy along today through some possible areas. We found a little park we both liked called Marshall Park. It was so pretty and mossy-- I would love to live here!

We've been getting out quite a lot lately. Spring has sprung in Portland and the streets are littered with cherry blossoms.

On Sundays when Daddy works, Mommy and I sometimes go on a hike. Last week we went to University Falls in the Tillamook National Forest. It was beautiful--take a look! I loved throwing rocks into the river as always. 

Mommy and Daddy are excited about another hike they are going to do together. It's called Mt. St. Helens and they are going to hike it in June with their fancy permits. Mommy has started to train since she is super nervous. The hardest hike she ever did was Mt. Whitney and that broke her. She puked several times and said it was worse than childbirth. This will be more elevation gain than Whitney (4500 ft), but at much lower altitude (8,366 ft instead of 14,505 ft) and only a 10-hr hike instead of 13. We'll see. If she pukes again I think she should just stick to Marshall Park.

Part of the hike will include 2.5 miles of scrambling over boulders. To keep in shape for that she is still rock-climbing with her mammas 2x a week. She's getting almost as good as Daddy now climbing several 5.11Bs.

 

What else have I been up to? Gymnastics has been a blast as usual. I also like going to the open gym at another gym. After I workout they have fun toys that Mommy lets me play with as long as I want. Sometimes we bring a lunch and stay for hours! Oh, I also went to my first concert: Caspar Babypants with Red Yarn. It was, how to you say...FREAKING AWESOME! I rocked, I jammed, I moved to the beat. I can see myself being a rock-and-roller for sure. 

Something else that was pretty cool was the Timber's game Mommy and Daddy went to. One of the players is a member at PG and he gave them his family tickets. At first they didn't know that's where they were seated and just thought it was strange that everyone around them was speaking Spanish. Then at the end of the game, people were asking them who they were since they never saw them there before and explained the situation. How fun--I hope I get to go someday! I want to be part of the Timber's Army! They chant the whole game and do all kinds of crazy fan games. Mommy and Daddy said they never saw anything like it before and they have both been around a stadium or two. 

What else is new...Mommy snuck me into the Science Museum because she didn't want to stand in line for 30-minutes. I guess I learned something that day--never go to the museum on a weekend!

I've been doing some chores around the house to earn some dinero. I saved a whole dollar and bought myself my first ever apple juice! (Don't be jealous!) They were all out of the chocolate-chip cookies I saw in the vending machine but they did have that apple juice. Boy was it sweet.

What I really should be doing is saving my money to give to my Aunt Amber and Uncle Scott. They found out their twins will be BOYS! That's three boys and a whole lot of $$$ needed to come and visit me, let alone for all the popsicles they're gonna eat. Popsicles....I keep asking when summer is so I can have a popsicle. How many days left?

Desert, Snow, and Rain Forest

Oh man, living in Portland is amazing. One of the things I like best is being so close to incredible outdoor activities and scenery. Just three hours away, Mommy and her friends spent a weekend in Bend. they hiked in the desert, snow-shoed up a mountain, and frolicked in a rain forest all within an hour drive. 

Daddy has been keeping busy with all of his exercise classes. He also wants it noted that he won Settlers of Catan TWO times and Mommy has only won once. If you've never played you are missing out. The game takes 2-3 hours, involves a lot of bargaining and strategy. They usually play with two other couples once I'm asleep. 

I've been keeping strong myself with my gymnastics lessons and eating a breakfast full of pancakes every morning. Doesn't every kid get pancakes every day? 

Playing in the gym pit

A February full of festivities

Lazy birthday afternoon

February has been a lot of fun! First it was Mommy's birthday. She turned 39!!! That's so old! I made her a cake out of Legos and she spent the day doing all of her favorite things. First she worked out with a Barre class, then we all went to lunch at Garden Bar. After snuggling at home a lot with me and Daddy I got to have my new babysitter, Mary come over so Mommy and Daddy could go to dinner and then a show. They went to the Alberta Street Pub to watch their friend Kat sing and play the harmonica. It was so cool that Daddy bought a harmonica this week and he's taking lessons with his friend Bobbie. Maybe he'll teach me too!

Next, I had a Valentines Day party with my playgroup. We made crafts and I got to eat a cookie with sprinkles on it. Today we did a Chinese New Year party with my playgroup. I made a lantern, ate special foods, and was gifted some red and gold envelopes with MONEY in them!!! I've been wanting my own money ever since I started gymnastics lessons. They have this cool vending machine there that dispenses goodies like drink boxes and chips. Mommy said if I earn and save some money I'll be able to have one. I don't have enough yet but hopefully soon I'll do some chores so I have enough.

Me and my friend Brooks read at the play cafe while Mommy has her auction meeting

Valentines Party Craft

Story time with Anne and my friends

Besides taking Harmonica lessons, Daddy is also joining a soccer team with some of the dads from my playgroup. If they have an early game, maybe I'll go watch! Mommy has been keeping busy with climbing at least twice a week, her book club, the auction committee at my school, and last but not least visiting all of the elementary school open houses we're considering. So far she's visited four of the twelve we're considering. There were four more on the list but they don't fit into our schedule so we'll have to go next year.

Chinese New Year envelopes

So what have I been up to lately besides playgroups and school? I've been playing outside a lot in the 60 degree weeks we keep having. I also made a pizza the other day! It tasted pretty good. Oh, there's also a game I've been playing lately with Mommy called the Opposite Game. She gives me a word and I tell her the opposite. I love it! I ask to play several times a day. Since I know all of my opposites Mommy has had to branch out with new words for me. Daddy almost spit out his lunch today laughing when we were playing. Mommy asked me what the opposite of hungry was and I said, "Satiated!" That's another word for full in case you didn't know. Another name we play is the rhyming game. I can always think of a word that rhymes with Mommy's word so we're going to have to think of a harder game soon.

Okay, gotta go. I'm going to go listen to some of my favorite jams with Daddy.

New, new, new!

January has been full of new experiences for me! Today Mommy and Daddy took me to see my first ever theater production. It was called the Jungle Book and I loved it! There were a lot of scary scenes with tigers fighting and when the monkey's kidnapped Mowgli, but I handled it like a champ. I loved all of the Indian music and dancing. I laughed, clapped, and when it was over didn't want to leave. I was even brave enough to stick around and give Mowgli a high-five. Ya-getting older is sure fun.

Last weekend we went to the Lumberyard which is an indoor bike park. It took me a few runs to get a hang of it but in no time I was racing around the track and even intentionally passing people saying, "I'm in the lead!" This coupled with my statements on the highway about asking Mommy to race the other cars and get in first place has got Daddy a little worried. You see, Daddy was the racing type when he was a kid and he was just full of trouble. He says he doesn't want me to turn 16. 16? Me either. Just the other day I asked Mommy when I was going to be a daddy. She told me when I grow up and find a mommy and have kids of my own I'll be a daddy. I told her that I didn't want to be a daddy and I wanted to be a kid forever and ever. She thought that was pretty cute.

What else is new...? Oh! My legos.  I still play with my tinker-toys but Mommy found a $300 lego table and over $200 worth of legos on Craigslist for a total of $100!! So we drove out to Gresham to buy them. I'm hoping I can get them officially with some of my birthday money. But they're in the living room so I've been playing with them a bunch. Speaking of living room, we have some new furniture too! Daddy inherited a new love-seat and a queen sized bed for me from someone at work that didn't want them anymore. I'll have to get you a photo of my cute 35 lb self in that big bed-adorbs! But don't tell anybody about the bed, that just invites two more people to come stay with us now that we have a total of two queens, one king, and one twin (blow-up) in the house.

So ya, I'm still 35 lbs. I know because I've been to the Dr. three times in the past 40 days! I had an ear infection the end of January and got put on antibiotics. Then a week after getting off that I got another one and put on a different antibiotic. On Tuesday I went in just to see that it was cleared up and they told me it was still red but they were just going to watch it. Two days later I had a fever and took a 5 hr nap in the middle of the day and Mommy thought it was the ear again. Turns out I was fine after I woke up from the nap and by morning my fever was gone. Whew! Being sick is no fun.

Even though there have been some sick days I've still tried to get out and enjoy all of the warm sun these past few weeks. By warm I mean 58 degree weeks and no rain! Today is the last of it it seems though by looking at next week.

I was supposed to take swimming class again this session but Mommy cancelled it due to my ears. My new dance class was cancelled because I was the only one that enrolled. Also, Mommy pulled me from my music class (which I loved!) because apparently I love it so much that I run around like a crazy person and get all worked up and can't calm down. So...the only extra class I'm in now is my new gymnastics class with my friend Liesl. I now go to Omega gymnastics in Beaverton. It's a real gym with real equipment and a boys team. My coach is named Coach Brandon and he knows a lot about gymnastics. So far I love it!

Oh, and I saved the best news of all--I'm going to be a cousin again!!! Aunt Amber and Uncle Scott are having TWINS! Lots to be thankful for in 2015. Take care everyone and I'll write soon!