first snow of the season

Portland had its first snowfall of the season today, starting up just as we were heading out the door for swim lessons.  It wasn't much and it certainly didn't stick around for long, but it was enough for the kids to get some frolicking in... and to taunt their sister from 5,000 miles away.

goalkeeping in the hail

fall has fallen

 

Sure enough, yesterday was the start of fall, without question.  We went from no rain in 3.5 months (and barely a cloud in the sky) to rain, rain and more rain.  No real complaints here... at least not until the temperatures take a more dramatic dive.  Cayden had a soccer game at 8:30 this morning and I was expecting it to be miserably cold, but it was on the brink of balmy (and the rain held off until later in the day).  If it can't stay summer all year, I'll take that quite happily.

our extended summer ends on thursday!

Today through Thursday:

Friday through next Wednesday:

recharged

Lots of pictures of Josie, who was sick the whole trip--mostly between 1:00 and 5:00am--and didn't venture too far.  Home now, ready to tackle another (four-day!!!!) week.

perfection

It's 7:45pm and 68 degrees at the Oregon coast in October. We couldn't ask for anything better for this 24-hour getaway. 

baby-proofed vacation

 

We're taking a brief little respite from the Portland heat in Sunriver, which is running about 10-15 degrees cooler than home. There are two moms and six (!) kids, ranging in age from 12 years to 7 months on this trip and it's bordering on chaos at any given moment. I forgot how hard it is to entertain/contain a crawling baby in a non-baby-proofed house.

best day of the summer

I feel like we have one of these every summer--those perfect days when everyone gets along and is enthusiastic about what the day has in store.  Ideally, there is no agenda for this kind of summer day, it's got more of a "go with the flow" kind of vibe to it.  2012's best day of summer was today.  Kids newly home from camp (i.e. everyone is still being nice to each other), no camps or classes or playdates or meetings, tons of sun.  The plan was simple: tram and fountain.  Nothing fancy, but it was sublime. 

 

Admission: I went a little overboard on the photography front but I've suddenly become re-energized.

gorge hike

fisheye: cabin creek falls

180mm: cabin creek falls

28mm: avery halfway up cabin creek falls

panoramic: columbia river gorge

a, j, c in front of hole in the wall falls

josie-jo at hole in the wall

avery, doing what she does

cayden's favorite day ever

hood river

We're just back from a whirlwind day of hiking and sightseeing in the Gorge.  We went on this easy hike through Starvation Creek, and we weren't the least bit intimidated by the name.  We spent over an hour (twice--on the way in and the way back) at the Hole in the Wall Falls, definitely the best (and newest) falls of all.  Once we were thoroughly exhausted from all that hiking and splish-splashing, we headed 10 miles farther into Hood River for some completely delicious Mexican food, walked around the Port which was crowded with windsurfers, found some ice cream and headed home. Whew.

We've already had requests to go back tomorrow or next weekend, so I think it was a hit!

july is treating us well

I don't want to turn into one of those people who talks about the weather, but our weather has been unbelievable so far this summer.  I feel the need to document it just so I can look back when everyone invariably starts complaining about what a crappy summer we had.  It hasn't reached 90 yet (I probably just jinxed it) but it's been sunny and 80+ for almost the whole month, with just the tiniest touch of rain at the very beginning.  I'm actually looking forward to a slight cool down tomorrow (72) before heading back up into the low-ish 80s for the week. 

Nothing beats the Pacific Northwest in the summertime, just nothing.

grateful for some summer weather

grilled cheese grill

  

  

beautifully sunny day :: day-long playdate :: too tired from yesterday's sunny day to make lunch :: long-awaited trip to the grilled cheese grill :: plenty of time for me to try out some iPhone apps, lenses and edits :: win, win, win, win, win

bring it, weekend

some good old-fashioned easter gun play

On this gloriously sunny (warmest day of the year) Easter Sunday, we found ourselves at Bridgeport Village for lunch, then at the outdoor play area to soak up some rays and let the kids burn off some steam. When we used to have two kids under five, it seemed like we lived at places like this... at the mall, at the park, at a self-contained indoor play areas, etc. We were always annoyed by the huge lanky kids that were way too old to be in there, but would still be let loose to terrorize the younger kids (often, with no parent in sight).

But what we saw today just didn't compare with the tame kiddos of yester-year. There was a boy who was about 10-12 chasing a group of younger kids, his 8-10 year old sister included, pretending to shoot them. He would duck down behind a piece of equipment to scare the other kid as they ran by, yelling that he'd shot them in the heart and that they were dead now. He was racing around the structure, almost knocking little kids off, and jumping off without looking to see who was below. He stepped on Josie's fingers as she was preparing to go down the slide and that's when I wanted to go all "mama bear" on him, but I contained myself.

When he had a little guy pinned down at some point so he could "shoot" him up close, I was sure someone would finally tell him to knock it off. But no... no one told him to stop or even to be careful. His parents were nowhere to be found and the parents of the other kids were all smiling and having a great time. It was so strange.

Perhaps suburban parents are a bit more lenient than us city folk. Or maybe I'm just getting old and set in my ways.

Either way, I'm grateful my kids aren't pretending to murder their playmates at the park. That's one thing I know for sure. Sheesh.

sprrrring has sprung!

Kicking off a fabulous weekend of weather, Cayden's soccer team had their first game of the spring season this afternoon. There was a playground right next to the field so Josie was occupied and the team won! Did I mention the sun was shning? Perfect afternoon at the park.

sun!

We haven't seen much sun in these parts lately. March was the wettest on record, and that's saying a lot for Portland. Every third or fourth day we seem to be getting a glimmer of hope as the sun will emerge from the clouds for an hour here and there... and occasionally even longer. When I looked at the forecast five days ago Monday's high was supposed to be 72, but now I see that it's supposed to be 59 and showery.

Two steps forward, one step back.

welcome april!

Adios to you, March. Not sad to see you (and all your rain) go.

last night

It was much more cloudy and windy today, which led to an amazing sunset this evening. Stacey, Christie and I took a nice walk on the beach to take photos and look for shells & rocks for the kidlets.

Heading home tomorrow after another outstanding girls' weekend. So ladies, when can we start planning for next year??

laziest day in a loooong time

We spent a huge chunk of the day sitting under this:

...looking out at this:

When that got too hot, we dipped our toes into the water or went to the store next door for more beer or a popsicle.

Nevermind the fact that we spent much of time discussing the benefits of public vs. private schooling or what we want to "do" with ourselves when the kids are in school full-time. If I'm going to have those conversations, I'm good with them being in such a divine spot. Word on the street is that there were a number of snow flurries in Portland this morning. Brr!