Weekends in Dundee

Join us as we explore Willamette Valley Wine Country one weekend at a time!

Was the Easter Bunny good to you?

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Happy Easter everyone! Easter is one of my favorite holidays, and as a kid I remember running around trying to find every single hidden egg as fast as my little legs would carry me. It should be no surprise that I still love a good Easter Egg Hunt! I’m a little old to be hunting Easter eggs myself, but I make sure to attend the Dundee Community Committee’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt in Dundee-Billick Park!

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Everyone gathered round and received instructions on the upcoming events. Big shout out to the Dundee Fire Department, Chehalem Park and Recreation District, Larissa DeHart Insurance and Valley Realty for helping to host the event!

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As 10:15am drew near, all kids age 4 and under gathered around the main play structure in Dundee-Billick Park. Everyone was excited and nervous for the hunt!

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To kick things off the whole crowd counted down from ten…TEN…NINE…EIGHT…SEVEN…SIX…FIVE…FOUR…THREE…TWO…ONE…

And then they were off!

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Going…

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Going…

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Going…

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Going…

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Going…

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Gone!

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After this picture it was complete and utter chaos in the best kind of way! Kids and parents everywhere looking for eggs. The parents are key to this hunt otherwise it might take all day. For many of the little ones this was a first and so they weren’t quite sure what was going on. After a while though, everyone got the hang of it and all you could see were big smiles!!!

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The next division of kids is the 5-7 year olds and they were serious! Everyone knew about a few “golden eggs” and I suspect that a few of them could see the eggs before we counted down. I was able to capture the beginning of the countdown with my phone. See the video below (give it a little time to load the video…I need to work out a better way to upload videos)!

Seriously so much fun!

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I am so thankful to live in a community that recognizes the importance of events like these in bringing the town together to celebrate! I saw lots of kids meeting up with their classroom friends and parents meeting for the first time.

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Happy Easter to all!

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2016 New Year’s Snow Day

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Happy New Year to all! What a surprise it was this morning to be back from our vacation on the Oregon Coast and to have snow covering the ground. Such a lovely way to end the holiday break! The Renaissance Man and I put on warm clothes and braved the chill this afternoon with a brisk walk around town to see the sights.

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“Flashback Friday” Lavender Wreath Making at Red Ridge Farms

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First off, I owe a huge thank you to my fantastic neighbor who sent me a text message to see if I’d be interested in attending a Lavender Wreath Making class at Red Ridge Farms! Our neighbors rock!

Second, I learned so much about lavender at this event!

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2015 Willamette Valley Lavender Festival

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Can you smell the lavender? The Willamette Valley Lavender Festival was celebrated this weekend all across the Willamette Valley with fields upon fields of blooming lavender. One of the main events was held at the Chehalem Valley Cultural Center so we made sure to stop by on Saturday morning to check it out.

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The Mantis are Growing!

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So this post is half praying mantis and half “Where’s Waldo?” It’s been hot outside the last few weeks, so I’ve been spending lots of time watering the plants…they need it, and the sunshine is good for me too! As I’ve been watering away I keep spotting what I call like to call “teenage” praying mantis. They’re about two inches long and mainly just hop from plant to plant as I’m watering the grasses.

I’m still in awe that we bought a mantis cocoon and that it actually hatched!? This backyard experiment is certainly the best $7 I’ve ever spent at the grocery store…endless entertainment!

Ok, so here it goes…can you spot the praying mantis?

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Happy 6th of July!

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As you know, sometimes “Weekends in Dundee” travels and like everyone else, I’m just catching up from the holiday weekend…they sure do fly by fast!?

The Renaissance Man and I headed to the Oregon Coast to escape the heat and to say our final goodbyes to a wonderful beach house that’s been a part of the family for a very long time. On the 4th of July, we joined Rockaway Beach visitors and residents to celebrate America!

US101 was busy and as we approached the parade route, and cars were being diverted off of the highway to by-pass downtown Rockaway.

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We Bought Goldfish for Our Honeybees!

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So this post is a long one…mostly pictures, but I just couldn’t help myself. I am so excited about having a fish pond in our backyard, even if it is just a cattle stock tank!  So you may be wondering what goldfish have to do with honeybees, but the truth is, it’s a bit of a symbiotic relationship (ok, that might be an overstatement!?). Honeybees need water, and if you have a pond you need goldfish to keep the mosquito larva away. See there…we just had to buy goldfish for our honeybees!

So it started out with a trip to Wilco where we picked up a six foot cattle stock tank. We then started to prep the area where the tank was going. We raked back the bard dust, tried to level the soil, and ultimately used a bag of sand to get things leveled.

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Planting a Cut Garden ~ Dahlias for Days

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Every time I went my best friend’s house last summer, she had the most beautiful flower arrangements tucked here and there all over her house. Tons of dahlias exploded everywhere from all sorts of beautiful vases. I got to talking to her about her flowers and she let me in on a secret. She had  planted a “cut garden” in her backyard so she could have fresh flowers in the house all summer long. Such a fantastic idea!!!

We were super busy last summer doing all sorts of yard projects, but the idea of a “cut garden” stuck with me and I started creating a mental catalog of all the flowers I would love to fill our home with…the list was long!

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