Check out my Slide Show!

We had a birthday party for Bella on Saturday @ a park nearby with our friends, the VanderArks. They have a golden retriever puppy, Lucky, and an 8 yr old pug, Mabel. Amy made doggie cupcakes and Aimee V. brought decorations. It was a beautiful sunny day and we all enjoyed ourselves - especially the pups!

Beautiful Day @ Bachelor

We spent lots of time putting together a "slide show" of Amy & Dan's day skiing/boarding, but could not get it transfered to the blog, so here are a few pics. This one shows off the 3 Sisters (North, Middle & South). Dan has visions of us hiking the South Sister this summer. Yikes! According to him it is just a "looong walk". We shall see! Dan is ready to shoosh off and Amy got the shot.

Amy gets ready to board with her friends Aimee & David. She has her last (of 8) lesson this coming Tuesday and has really made some great progress, according to Dan and her teacher.

OR Wildlife

Wild Bella got a bath a few days ago and we couldn't resist sharing her sudsy mug with you. She remains the wildest member of our household. Her play/fights with Charlie are a sight to behold. It would appear that Charles is about to do her in then she bounces back to attack again. FUN to watch.

Our 1st encounter with OR wildlife occurred shortly after Christmas - this was the scene out our front window one morning as I was preparing breakfast. 14 blacktail(?) deer just kind of sauntering along our sidewalk out for a morning stroll. I think our development took over their land and because we are so close to the river gorge they wander back occasionally.

After the most snowfall in 15 years, spring has come to the High Desert (at least for now). Yesterday the temp. reached 62 degrees and we were lovin' it! The picture is from a walk we took this past week (after school work was done) in the Central Oregon Badlands. It is about a 16 mile drive east of Bend and you just park your car and walk among the Juniper trees, lava rocks, brush and western scenery. So far we have not encountered any wildlife but have heard accounts of elk & coyotes.

The end of SNOW may be in sight!

The last 2 weeks have been very snowy. We thought we left all that in NY but I guess we brought some with us. Before moving here, we monitered the weather via the internet and concluded that although it does snow here and winter is a real season we would enjoy a drier winter. Well, there has been more snow in Central Oregon this winter than in the past 15 years.

As you can see by the picture, Dan has been doing some shoveling and Amy has been enjoying his efforts. There is relief in the future as 40+ degree weather is coming for the next week. Some melting must occur.

2 Firsts

Most mornings I am the first one up feeding the dogs & getting breakfast ready. I usually look out our front window to see what kind of day it will be and to check and see if any mountians are in view. This morning was a 1st. - Mt Bachelor AND the moon setting! It was spectacular! Our little camera "sort of" did it justice. This picture is from the guest room window - see what you could experience if you came for a visit!?!

Another 1st this morning had to do with Snowboarding. It was Amy's 2nd lesson and she GOT IT! The third time down the mountain and she was a Pro ;-) Last week she came home bruised in body and spirit but it was a complete turn around today. She thinks she's ready for her own board. We'll wait on that one.

Amy from NY to OR

This is MY story about the trip. My favorite part was that I got to relax all day long. Very hard work you know. NY was a really long drive and kind of boring on the highway. It all looked like road that went on forever and ever. Oh yeah, it was Boring. The first night we stayed in Sandusky (Something like that) Ohio. Ohio might have been the worst day since it was the first day. You should have seen Charlie and Bella when we first got to the hotel. They were maniacs. I'm just glad I could sleep with Bella snoring. Charlie barked every time another guest opened their door. At about 8am we were back on the road. Great! After that Indiana came. The roads were so snowy we could barely drive. We saw an over turned truck on the highway. Cars were lined up for miles behind. Lucky us, it happened to us, too. On the Upside, I did get to walk on the highway. I know, awesome. Then Illinois came we were gonna meet my cousin Jen but our " Schedule was to tight" What I remember was my mom groaning when our hotel was 300 miles away. Also it was the only state Where I could find Radio Disney. We finally made it to Des Moins Iowa at about 9 pm. Bella was pulling me so hard that by mistake I dropped my fish, Azul, on the ground and he hadn't had any food in about a week, he lived though. In the morning my aunt, uncle, cousin and my cousins husband came to our hotel. My aunt gave me a Swedish Coloring book and an awesome Swedish necklace. We left after that. Nebraska was next. That state was pretty cool. When we first got into Omaha, there was this huge glassy dome. I said it looked like the Epcot golf ball. It turned out to be an I-max Theater and a zoo. How cool would that be to live in? The rest of Nebraska was really flat with tumble weeds, and GIANT windmills. My dad said the generator was bigger than my room! When we got to Wyoming it was SO pretty with lots of hills and stuff. We stayed in Cheyenne that night. In the morning my mom slammed my hand in the car door by mistake. OW!! That day was really short. We just had to get to Ogden, Utah. I remember taking the dogs out for a run, up and down a big hill. They loved it!! Once we got to our hotel we went to Cracker Barrel. I wanted to buy a webkinz there, but I didn't have enough money$$$$. At about 8 my dad and I went to the pool. I didn't get to go in because I didn't have a suit. We headed for Oregon next and made it at about 9 pm. I was glad I didn't have to help reload the car the next day!! That's MY version of our trip!

Recent Pics

We are taking a New Years Day hike along the Deschutes River Trail which we can access about a block from our house. A fellow hiker volunteered to take the pic of all of us.







Amy and Bella showing off one of Amy's favorite Christmas gifts.









Here is our new home a few days after we arrived. We continue to be thankful for our safe trip and the arrival of all our "stuff".