Brush with Fame!

The girls got a chance to have their photo taken with Olympic Track star Ashton Eaton, who just got back home to Eugene after his world record heptathlon performance at the World Indoor Championships.

Merry Christmas 2011

Thanks to all our family and friends who helped make Christmas very merry indeed. The Pietsch clan, with friend Holly, poses for a family photo in the middle of the morning mayhem.

Forest Nymphs

A sure sign of summer. My family of Forest Nymphs on their way to the Oregon Country Fair.

State Track & Field

Catching up on a busy spring. Tiernan and Delaney had a great season competing in track and field this spring with both girls clocking school year PRs in their respective events. Delaney competed in the 800M and the long jump and Tiernan ran the 100M and the 200M.

Tiernan's performance at the SkyM League District meet qualified her to compete at the Middle School State Meet up in Salem a couple weeks ago. She ran the 100M in a time of 13.9 second and finished the season ranked 12th among all Middle School students in the state.

Great season girls!

Five Years of Piano!

Delaney and Tiernan performed their final Spring Piano Recital at Mary Ellen Yost's Studio Monday night. The pair have both been playing for 5 years now and were awarded trophies, flowers and a pair of cakes in honor of the occasion. Congratulations girls!

Spring 2011

Lots of things happening this spring. Spice Camp, track, basketball, Easter and topping it all off? Delaney's 12th birthday! Click on the slideshow above to see it all.

Super Students

Delaney and Tiernan both received Superintendent's Awards today at Creswell Middle School. The award is given to students who have a 4.00 GPA midway through the school year. UPDATE: Tiernan received special recognition for having above a 4.00 because she is taking a weighted math class at the High School. School officials corrected the error and added the extra award after the presentation Tuesday. Yeh, girls!

The first fight of Christmas

The girls get into a good natured tug-of-war over their new Wii video game console on Christmas morning 2010.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Chris and family

Cross Country

Tiernan and Delaney competed in their 3rd cross country meet of the season this week, this time in Florence, Ore. Running in a large field that included over 100 middle school girls, on a challenging course, Delaney placed 18th and Tiernan 67th. Delaney carded the 6th fastest time among girls on the Creswell Middle School team and Tiernan used her kick to pass several competitors on the last climb to the finish. Way to go girls!

Shama Lama Ding Dong at Dexter Lake

Our friends the Sprague family hosted us to a fun night boating on Dexter Lake last weekend.

(The Dexter Lake Club next to where we put the boat in was the setting for bar scene in the 1978 comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House" where Otis Day and the Knights play Shama Lama Ding Dong.)

Ron on the helm drug everybody who wanted to go behind the boat on a cool high tech inner tube. I have never heard the kids scream that load before. "A LITTLE BIT LOUDER NOW, a little bit softer now . . . . "

Have a look.

Chris

Fireworks in Creswell!

Had a fun 4th of July in Creswell this year. Here is a glimpse of the end of the day as friends and family enjoyed the fireworks behind our house.

Chris

Spring Piano Recital

Tiernan and Delaney performed at the studio of their piano teacher Mary Ellen Yost to end the spring term this year. Both girls passed their respective syllabus challenges and will be advancing to the next level in the fall.

Christmas 2009

Mary, Cary and Izzy the dog are spending a few days with us over the holidays. We hosted a group of friends at the house Christmas eve afternoon, gorged out selves on crab Christmas eve night and spent a fun, relaxing morning opening presents and enjoying each other's company. But of course I had to make a panorama of the scene after the presents were open.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.

Love the Pietsch and Brubaker family

The Great Egg Drop

The Great Egg Drop from Chris Pietsch on Vimeo.

Tiernan and Delaney joined in a science camp at the University of Oregon this month. The challenge of the day was to design a contraption that would protect an egg from a 4 story fall. Both girls' designs survived the ordeal with flying colors. But best of all, everyone had a blast.

Chris

Young Eagles spread their wings

Young Eagle Flights from Chris Pietsch on Vimeo.

The girls had the opportunity to take a 20 minute airplane flight out of the Creswell Airport recently. The flight was courtesy of a local flying club through a program called Young Eagles Flights. They got to fly in a four seat Piper Cherokee 180 flown by Mike Grant. The certificate they received was signed my none other than Harrison Ford although he was not in attendance that day.

Chris

Oregon Coast trip

One last summer fling on the Oregon Coast with the YaYa's, aka, the Champion, Yamamoto and Pietsch families. Here the girls build a dam along a small stream flowing into the Pacific Ocean at a beach near Pacific City. Click on the picture or here to see the full interactive panorama.

Chris

Class Reunion!

Therese is attending her 30 year class reunion next week and coincidentally I stumbled on this www.yearbookyourself.com. We uploaded some photos and had some fun. It also gave me some ideas for my next makeover.

Chris

Spider Girls Produce

Entrepreneurs Delaney and Tiernan (with a little help from Mom and Dad) set up a produce stand in front of the house this week. They are selling flower, vegetable plants and strawberries to start. The pair managed to make $19 the first day!

Chris

On the Wild Side

Trip to Wildlife Safari from Chris Pietsch on Vimeo.

Found some time to edit video from our family visit to Wildlife Safari last month. We drove down to the park south of Roseburg, Oregon during Grandpa Gary's visit. Scroll down the list of older blog entries to see a panorama from inside of the van during that same visit.

Chris

Tiernan performs in school concert

Spring Concert from Chris Pietsch on Vimeo.

Tiernan's Middle School Band performs at Delaney's school on the first full day of Grandpa Pietsch's visit to Creswell.