Rieke EcoThink Club '3Rs' Music video

Rieke Elementary - 3Rs from Jamie Repasky on Vimeo.

Rieke EcoThink Club

Jamie has been busy coordinating a new eco/science club at Rieke Elementary this term. They meet once a month for an after-school class plus weekend hikes and volunteer activities. One of the highlights of this term was the creation of a '3Rs' music video for the school to kick off Earth week and the plastic recycling drive.

EcoThink Club website

Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

When I was one, I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five, I was just alive.
But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now and forever.

The boys are growing fast - Torin is now six and Ronan is four. Ronan was so excited to have a dinosaur party with his friends and Torin chose to have a 'Town Called Panic' party to celebrate his special day.

Birthday photos

Portland Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas season at home - decorating the tree, creating a dinosaur gingerbread monster, laughing during silly meals with the Emiley clan, exploring the holiday lights at the zoo, and counting down the days on the Repasky advent calendar!

2010 Holiday photos

Happy holidays from our family to yours!

As 2010 recedes into memory, its reassuring that though the cultural zeitgeist is now one of general malaise, life remains joyful when enriched by experiences with those you love.

Both Torin and Ronan continue to fulfill their main duty; we feed them and they grow. Its amazing to think the tiny babies of just a few years ago are now in school. In September, Torin began full-day Kindergarten at the neighborhood elementary school. He has done splendidly, making several friends and is starting to artistically express himself, for instance playing the leading role of Anansi at a class puppet theater show. It was very fun to watch. Ronan started half-day preschool where he is enjoying himself, learning important skills, and making friends. Both have been enthralled with dinosaurs this year and they’ve now consumed every children’s book in the local library on that topic. We’ve since moved to the adult section of the library. One issue is that while Ronan loves images of dinosaurs attacking/devouring one another, this reliably causes Torin to freak out. But they did like fossil hunting over Thanksgiving, as long as the fossils were quiet and not scary.

This summer we finally accepted the offer from Matt’s brother, Mike, to come visit his family in Singapore. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a foreign culture with people you love lead by a trusted guide. We even took the kids, guaranteeing excitement. Together we collected passport stamps in Singapore, Malaysia, and China. Jamie and Matt even got to go on a second honeymoon in Cambodia as well. Special thanks to Christy for watching the boys while we visited the awe inspiring temples of Angkor Wat! Torin and Ronan had a blast getting to know their cousins, George and Henry. I think they had the best time playing in the pool together. There were too many fun, interesting, and uplifting experiences to go into detail here though pictures are available from our Picasa site. One word of advice from the trip, when given the chance don’t pass on spicy donkey, yum. Do pass on the stinky tofu. The sheep’s penis and fried scorpion on a stick are up to you.

Thanksgiving Fossil Hunting

We had an amazing trip out to Central Oregon for the Thanksgiving holiday. We stayed in Fossil at a ranch bed and breakfast and headed out each day to explore the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The landscape was like hiking on a different planet - which was a hit for the boys. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go horseback riding due to the snow but we had a great time have snow battles and following animal tracks in the fresh snow. We also had a chance to hunt for fossils and found 30 million year old plant fossils and impressions as well as 14 million year old shells.

Fossil Adventure Photos

Fall
We are enjoying the autumn leaves as we head into the holiday season. The boys are looking forward to our Thanksgiving ranch adventure in Central OR to hike and hunt for fossils!

Fall family photos