Patio Furniture

It's almost June and summer is right around the corner. It's already a thousand degrees in Arizona, but we're still in the 50's here and it won't stop raining. We decided, to hell with the rain, we're going to get some patio furniture. We have a nice big patio and we want to start using it. We were very excited about it when we moved in. We have been on the lookout for a few weeks and Saturday we went to Fred Meyers for grocery shopping and we ran across a set we really liked. So we bought it. 

Cute picture of Pickles to start the blog. 

Old picture of the patio with nothing on it, except Pickles. 

The box didn't fit in our car, so we opened the box at Fred Meyers and put all the pieces in separately. I unloaded all of the pieces and dragged them upstairs, through the apartment and onto the patio. 7 trips later, we had all the pieces on the patio. This is me, tired and not happy about having to build the set after dragging it up the stairs. 

Me putting together the love seat. As soon as I finished assembling the frames, it started raining. Well played Portland, well played. 

Patio Furniture!!! We decided no matter what, we were going to sit on these today. So I went and got some margaritas and we sat on them. Then it started to rain. But we held our ground. It wasn't hard rain and it stopped after a bit. All together, it was cold but quite enjoyable. 

Pole Peddle Paddle

Every year in Bend Oregon, some of our friends run what is called the Pole Peddle Paddle. It's a race the involves, skiing, biking, running and kayaking. We went down to watch and support them. Our friends the Steve and Kim have a family friend with a cabin down there. So we decided to stay with them. 

We grabbed some pictures of the dogs in the morning before we left. This was going to be the puppies first ever vacation. They were super excited

We decided to wait and make the trip Friday morning rather than drive up Thursday night. After the nearly 4 hour drive from Portland to Bend we finally made it. The weather was really nice Friday, almost warm. 

We had to sedate the dogs on the ride up. They were still trippin a little once we got them inside. Tami sought refuge with Kim. Pickles used her toy as a pillow. Crafty dogs. 

Mirav made this awesome lasagna for dinner Thursday. We had wine and salad and garlic bread. We ate like kings while we were there. Like kings I tell you!

We decided to do a little exploring before the big race on Saturday. Mirav was looking stylish in my hat while getting ready. Fo real. 

Steve reading his fishing book. 

We loaded up the dogs in the back of the car and took off for the great outdoors. 

I don't know exactly where this was. But it was nice and Steve went fishing. 

Sage is a water dog, so she jumped in the river to get a stick. Pickles decided she wanted to play too and immediately regretted it. She got all wet and was banished to stay in the back seat. This is her apologizing for playing in the river face. 

She was forgiven and all was well in Pickle-land

Then it was time for Pole Peddle Paddle. The park was packed. Took us 20 minutes to find a place to park. 

View of the kayakers on our way in. Kayaking is the second to last event and the easiest to watch. 

This is our friend Cody. You can't tell from this photo, but he's wearing parachute pants. What you also can't see is that he just finished cross-country skiing 5 miles...in this outfit. To top it off, he had never cross-country skied before. He just looked it up on youtube and thought it looked easy. 

Tami drinking out of a water fountain like a big boy

This is our friend Brian pushing the purple Tella-tubby out of the way at the end of his 5 mile run. In his defense, the Tella-tubby was asking for it. 

The person who was supposed to do the 5 mile run backed out, so Brian had to do the run and kayak back to back. He rode by the bridge we were on and yelled, "I'm tired, I don't want to do this anymore"

Here is Cody blowing a safety whistle at a kayaker while his sister finished her 5 mile run

Our friend Molly anchored with a 1/2 mile run and finished like a champ. 

Tyler anchored another of our friend's teams. He ran the half mile like this. He waited until he was done running to change out of his dress shoes. He wore the shirt and tie the rest of the night though. 

This was the scene back at the other house after the race. I felt so lazy. We were the only ones that didn't compete. I was recruited for next year. I can't decide between a shirt and tie and the parachute pants. 

Sunday morning was pretty uneventful. The dogs got to wander around without a leash in the woods. They thought they were pretty cool. 

Mirav made pancakes

Steve looked a little haggard, but Sage accepted and did not judge him.  

On the way back home, we stopped at the Metolius river. This is the head of the river. It just pops up out of the ground. Poof, there's a river. 

Mirav shooting some video of me. Two can play at that game

The Olson's trying to get Sage to sit still

Family photo, Pickles isn't looking forward because she saw a chipmunk. 

They weren't even drugged on the way home. Just tired. 

Tami drove most of the way home. He's a better driver than I give him credit for. 

Mirav is in a state of perpetual kindle reading

Pickles enjoying a pet from dad

I had intentions to stop at this lake. But I just kept driving past and saying, I should have stopped there. Then we never did. Mirav snapped a decent picture while we were driving. 

It was a fun weekend. Nice to get away for a while. I'm excited to compete next year. I went for a run last night to start my training. I ran about 80 feet and I am paying for it today. 

Farmers Market

It has been so nice in Portland the past week. No rain, moderate temperatures. But I have had to work. So when Saturday finally rolled around, Mirav and I decided to go out and do something fun. Tami was in need of a haircut, so we decided to drop him off and take Pickles to the farmers market, then for a walk around downtown. 

Pickles was noticeably excited about the idea of a long walk downtown. 

As you can see, our nice weather had started to let up that morning. We got a little rain, but nothing serious. Dogs are not allowed into the farmers market. I guess a dog tripped an only lady and sent her to the hospital last year, so they put an end to that. I stayed outside and Mirav went in to get us some breakfast. I walked around Portland State campus to see if there was anything fun. 

I saw a moving van with an actual dog on the dashboard.

This is a shot of the soccer field with the start of Washington Park in the background. There were some girls practicing and the coach gave me a look like he thought I was a perv taking pictures of girls. Pickles and I did not appreciate the insinuation. 

For a brief moment, it seemed like the sun was going to break through and clouds and it was going to be a nice day. 

We stopped in downtown for some coffee. Pickles sat patiently on her bench. 

We finally made it down to Waterfront Park. Just in time for the clouds to roll in. 

This wedding party was out taking pictures. Their photo session lasted about 3 minutes before it started to pour. The bridesmaids were using their bouquets as umbrellas. 

We made it across the street to a little alcove and Mirav said "We should wait here." I said "For it to start raining harder?" Mirav laughed, then it started raining harder. So we kept walking anyway. At this point we were about a mile from our car, the camera strap was strangling me and Pickles looked like an wet mop. Eventually, we made it back to the car and back home. Not exactly the adventure we were hoping for. The more I write on this blog, the more I realize that things rarely work out the way they should for us. 

We had a post Cinco De Mayo party to go to Saturday night and Mirav promised some people Challah. As you can see, she is quickly becoming a pro. She made three very professional looking loaves

Tami before haircut

Tami after haircut