Angie Windheim

Anybody interested in being a virtual walking partner?  Hook on a pedometer and start tracking  your steps (I have an Omron “walking style”).  The goal is roughly 10,000 steps a day or let’s say 60,000 steps per week (we need to allow for one day of slacking). It may take us a few weeks to reach that goal. You may be surprised at how many steps that really is.  But it’s also fun to try to meet that challenge everyday. You may find yourself creating excuses to go the long way or even doing laps around the kitchen. I plan to report my steps on Monday mornings.

Some thought we were crazy for booking a house at the Oregon Coast for Spring Break. But, we were game for anything. Bad weather meant huddling inside with books and movies and good weather meant we were extremely lucky and we’d spend our days on the sand. Well, we got sooooo lucky. The sun shined every day and we even had to lose our sweatshirts ’cause we got too warm. Awesome.

We had an excellent time. We rented a house in the Bella Beach neighborhood just north of Depoe Bay and south of Lincoln City. The neighborhood was full of the cutest beach houses ever. We’ll definitely go back and maybe rent a larger place to share with another family and stay longer. The beach was very nice and semi-private. No cigarette butts anywhere. And, that part of the coast has the BIG waves. The kids were very impressed. In fact, I’m afraid it turned us into beach snobs. We visited the main Lincoln City beach on our way home and left almost immediately. The beach was dirty, too windy, too crowded and then the Tsunami warning system kicked in (false alarm, but boy was it annoying).

We took some time to explore Depoe Bay’s little shops, watched the whale watching boats (but no whales) and bought some candy (Fuddy Duddy Fudge is yu-um). And, we explored the tide pools at Boiler Bay. It’s a steep trail down and some seriously technical climbing up and down the rocks. The boys loved it.  Ben, of course, had to try one more thing before we left and sliced up his knee. Why is it always that “just one more thing” that gets us into trouble???

Regardless, we enjoyed our time there and it was a glorious 3 days on the Oregon Coast.

Oh, and where to eat you ask? We mostly had our meals in, but the McMenamins Lighthouse Brewpub in Lincoln City had great chowder and a crab/shrimp melt. The Kyllos in Lincoln City was OK. Nice view. The fish and chips were tasty but the chowder was a little disappointing. Next time we’ll try the Blackfish Cafe that claims to have the “best chowder on the Oregon Coast.”

Do you love your planet? Do you love Sherwood? Do you like to get dirty? Sherwood has been a Tree City USA participant for 4 years and is celebrating Arbor Day by planting over 400 trees and shrubs around Stella Olsen Park.  You’ll need your gloves, some boots and a shovel to join in the fun from 11am to 3pm on April 16th.  Snacks and beverages will be provided.

Brian and I will be there as will our friends from Raindrops for Refuge to make sure we do it right. I get to be a “crew leader.” Very exciting 🙂

Click here to sign up or contact Olivia Collins, Volunteer Coordinator, 503-625-4251 collinso@ci.sherwood.or.us

I pulled down the box of Easter decorations from the closet and what did I find? Pooh and Piglet in their Easter costumes. These two always make me smile and remember my little Joe.

How the game began is hard to recall.  But, basically, little Joe (probably 2 1/2 years old) would take Pooh and Piglet and hide them under my shirt. One time, when he wasn’t looking, I quickly  hid Pooh and Piglet somewhere else in the room and sat back down in the same position. When Joe came back to check on them, imagine Joe’s wide eyes and giggles when they were GONE.  It was Easter magic at its best. We played that game over and over and over with the same delighted giggles and scurrying to find the lost animals.

A year later, when I retrieved the Easter decoration box, there were Pooh and Piglet. Joe immediately grabbed them and stuffed them under my shirt! He was so excited to play the game again. Of course, with each passing year he got wiser and harder to trick. I told him they couldn’t disappear while he was watching, so he then volunteered to hide in the bathroom. Of course, that worked like a charm 🙂  That Easter magic lasted for several more years. He didn’t ask to play this year, but he had a big grin on his face when he saw them again.

Love you, Joe.

My good friend, Trina, is an extremely talented owner and teacher of The Neighborhood Preschool in Sherwood.  Her energy and creativity seems to have no bounds. Today, she posted on Facebook that leprechauns have been peeing green in her toilets today! Can you imagine the kids’ eyes when they went to look? And then they all had green mac ‘n’ cheese and green OJ. Wish she had been doing this when my guys were little…what fun they would have had.

You can follow Trina’s antics by being a fan on Facebook of “The Neighborhood Preschool and Daycare” or by checking out her new blog

Ben had his first live performance with the Laurel Ridge Middle School Jazz Band last night. The event was a high school fundraiser called “Swinging with Spaghetti.” We’re not usually big fans of the spaghetti dinner night, but I’ll have to say that this one was really well done and very well attended.  All of the music was excellent and it was a super festive evening. The kids got lots of grins and applause for playing “The Office” theme song.

Ben is already a stellar guitar player and decided to take on the challenge of learning the electric bass guitar for Jazz Band. I’m very proud at how he powered through the struggles of a new instrument and reading music for the first time. He played great last night and fit right in with the rest of the musicians after just 2 months!

Love the clothes, too. Haven’t seen my boy in a tie since he was 5 at Uncle Chad’s wedding 🙂  Looking and sounding good, kiddo.

I just spent a full day volunteering at Junior Achievement’s Biz Town in Portland. Our Edy Ridge fifth graders prepped for this day for multiple weeks, teachers attended a 3 hour training and about 30 parent volunteers (I’m guessing) attended a 1 1/2 hour training to get ready for this special day. We had over 15 businesses open this morning with kids in the roles for worker bees, CFO’s, CEO’s and even a Mayor. Each business had the goal of repaying the loan they had acquired for payroll and operating expenses.

It was so detailed. The kids had a day full of tasks and also had breaks in which to manage their own accounts and make purchases.  We had TV interviews of various company representatives broadcast to each business, web advertising, phones being hooked up, meters being read, remodeling consultants making plans in various businesses, an extremely busy cafe, an animal shelter, medical check ups provided by employers, lawyers, insurance claims, retail outlets, etc.

Overwhelming at first? Oh yeah. Did we get the hang of it? Pretty much. A few issues here and there. A few grumpy staff faces that should have had more patience. But, boy, the kids had fun. They were jazzed when they came in and jazzed when they left. They worked together in teams and just had fantastic attitudes all day long.

If your school hasn’t done this…check it out. If you aren’t sure you want to volunteer, just do it. Biz Town is well worth your time.

We took Joe and Sam up skiing for the first time this past weekend. It was an awesome experience.  Bachelor is a great place to learn.  And, we learned a few things as well!

1. Friday is a great day to go. Crowds were small. No lines. Room in the lodge. Parking right by the lodge so no need for lockers. Only Joe and Sam were in their lesson so they got lots of attention.

2. A 2-hour lesson is plenty to get the kids ready for the lift and a long afternoon of fun.

3. The Sunrise Lodge is all you need for beginners. The lift is slow and the hill is gentle.

4. DO NOT have newbies get on a faster, more challenging lift the first day. It’s not worth the pain and they’ll have more fun on the bunny hill. Just say “no” even if they beg.

5. The rental process is pretty smooth, but still a lot of work to get the right sizes and all of that. Be sure you arrive  a good 45 minutes before your planned lesson. There is really no point in getting there earlier. The kids need the lesson first and will only get frustrated if they play around ahead of time.

Free and safe sledding locations are often hard to find. We’re not fans of the crazy busy tubing sites where you are required to rent their equipment. So, on Mt. Hood we go to White River. It’s fantastic. Lots of space to spread out and you can use whatever you choose to make your way down the hill.  We’ve been going their for years.

Last weekend we ventured to new territory at Mt. Bachelor.  The Wanoga Sno-park was an excellent, designated tubing and sledding hill developed by the community and the forest service. It had some super fast, sweet sledding. The kids loved it.

Some words of caution: helmets are a necessity even on safe sledding hills like White River and Wanoga. Accidents happen. Kids aren’t always looking out for each other and snow is not as soft as it looks!

For Christmas my mom gifts a calendar to each person in my family. Last year, Brian received a calendar of vintage University of Oregon Game Day art. Very cool.

January rolled around and the calendar was done.  We knew we had to use the prints somehow. Brian’s mad skills led to this awesome window-pane collage in our basement. I love my handy husband!