Owen, Sara &
Andrew Hoelter

Yeah for birthdays! I took the day off (highly recommend this approach to birthdays) and we had a very nice day.

We took our first bike trip with all 5 of us, (the two little ones in a 2-seater Burley trailer, and Owen on his own) at Minto-Brown park and had a picnic dinner! Drew tolerated a handed down pink panda bear helmet, Sara only pinched him a few times, and Owen, except for one spectacular downhill crash on a bridge, did GREAT.

We had angel food cake with strawberries when we got home. My favorite.

Peter and I took a little vacation to Hood River/Stevenson, WA over the weekend, while the kids had a sleepover with Mark and Miriam. (We LOVE Grandparents!) We stayed overnight at Skamania Lodge and enjoyed the view of storms moving down the gorge from the outside hot tub. We slept ALL NIGHT and read the ENTIRE newspaper!

We were all pretty wiped out when we got home on Sunday afternoon, so we wolfed down a pizza in the backyard. Don’t leave Drew alone with a pizza…

We have been working with Owen on learning how to ride his bike (without training wheels) for about 18 months now, and it has been a long and not-very-fun process for all involved. In fact, “This is the worst thing you’ve ever made me do” and “You’re ruining my life” are only a sampling of Owen’s opinions on the subject, despite his parents attempts at coaching and psychology.

But Monday night…

Owen: “Mom-can I eat my WHOLE package of Lifesavers if I really GRASP how to ride my bike tonight”?

Mom (with a note of sarcasm): ” Owen, I’ll take you to the store and buy ALL of the Lifesavers if you really grasp how to ride this bike tonight”

Boy gets on bike and (with a small push) rides bike all the way down the street. I guess we hadn’t explored all of the bribery options. By the time we got home, he’s riding in circles and gives the above quote shortly before crashing into a rather large rosemary shrub.

I didn’t have the camera that night, but can post a picture of our kids and their Uncle Micah, who is in Bogota, Colombia tonight! Have a good trip Micah!

We want to share our pictures and kids with you in a new, more current way, so we (okay, we all know it’s actually Peter) have given owenhoelter.com a new look and added a blog. Now we can join the cool kids (Christy, Aaron, Micah)! Yeah for Peter! A few things:

• Peter will still post his photo galleries periodically, linked from the home page
• Pictures posted by me, Jenny, must carry  a disclaimer that they HAVE NOT BEEN COLOR CORRECTED, and thus should not reflect poorly on my diligent husband, would never post incorrect colors.
• We will probably add the password protection back again soon—it’s easy—any of the kid’s middle names will work, and if you can’t remember, just email us and we’ll fill you in.

And now, some cute kid pictures, because that’s what it’s all about!

These are from Easter! Note Willow the bunny in her Easter dress, the prominent display of Owen’s missing teeth, and Drew walking with assistance (sort of). He has since started walking on his own! Whew!