Oregon Xmas

Click here for photos from what turned out to be a longer-than-expected holiday trip to Portland to spend Christmas with the kids.  We can't think of a better place to be stuck amid weather and Covid-related flight delays! 

Highlights of our time together includes lots of walks, games, and crafts, as well as rapid Covid tests that allows us to safely enjoy dinners with friends. Pictured below are the hand-crafted felt stockings Emily and Jake created for everyone, and the charcuterie chalet/village that was the centrepiece of our Christmas eve meal.  

As a Christmas gift for the kids, we created the holiday-retrospective photo album linked here.  Just click on the album cover once you are on the Shutterfly website to view the album.

Happy New Year to all!

PHL+NYC with Jake

Click here for photos from Jake's recent visit, which has included time in Philadelphia and a weekend trip to New York City.  We've walked in the Wissahickon, Central Park, and across the Brooklyn Bridge. We've also seen Christmas on full display in Philadelphia's Dilworth Park and New York's Rockefeller Center (not to mention Portland's Pioneer Square last week). 

It was Jake's first time to explore NYC, though he had "passed through" once before in 2007 when we sailed up the Hudson, as pictured below.  

Thanksgiving in Portland

Last week marked the first time since 2016 when the five of us were together for Thanksgiving. We celebrated the start of the 2021 holiday season in Portland, with a week of long walks, good food, fun and games with friends (we highly recommend Wingspan), and of course a trip to Pioneer Square to see the Christmas Tree. We also celebrated Fig's first birthday during our visit. Click here for photos. 

Artists and Rebels

We got to see two more great art exhibitions this weekend - the Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel at the Barnes, whose painting The Blue Room is pictured here. Click here for a few photos.

Fall Fun from D.C. to Dog Mountain

We've been enjoying Fall on both coasts - sailing on the Chesapeake, visiting Washington D.C., celebrating Halloween, and hiking Dog Mountain in the Columbia Gorge. Links to photo albums follow:

Fall in the Mid Atlantic - Photos include wildlife and scenic skies seen in and around Philadelphia and the Upper Chesapeake Bay. 

Halloween Weekend - Drew dressed-up as Frida Kahlo, Emily as a DIY oil spill, and Jake and Ellie as characters from How to Train Your Dragon. Meanwhile mom attended Fox Chase's annual In Vino Vita fundraiser at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, and Emily and Grace made a trip with friends to Portland's Japanese Garden to take in the Fall colors. 

Washington D.C. - We drove down to D.C. over the Veteran's Day holiday to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture and see the Laurie Anderson exhibition at the Hirshorn Museum. Both were amazing. We also had time to walk the National Mall to see the monuments, including the new Eisenhower Memorial.

Dog Mountain - Meanwhile, Jake, Ellie and Fig enjoyed a Veteran's Day hike on the Dog Mountain Trail in the Columbia Gorge.

Speaking of dogs, when we stopped by to see Fala at the FDR Memorial, we couldn't help but think back to 2007, the first time we met her.

Pennslyvania Wilds

We are just back from a weekend in the Pennsylvania Wilds (Northern PA) where the Fall colors are showing and the waterfalls are flowing... 21 of them in fact, at Ricketts Glen State Park.  Click here for photos.  The Falls Trail at Ricketts Glen is apparently one of the most famous and best hikes in PA. It was definitely worth the drive. 

In addition to the waterfalls at Ricketts Glen, we visited the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, near Wellsboro. While it was really lovely to see, our vote goes to the real Grand Canyon.  You can decide for yourself from the images below - taken yesterday in PA and in August 2013 in AZ. 

Another September Celebration

Drew, Jake, and friends spent the weekend at Lake Chelan, WA, celebrating the wedding of some friends from their Dungeons & Dragons group.  Click here for photos.  

In other news, Emily is off to a great start in her new job at ORM Fertility, and back east the fishing is good. 

Click here for a few photos from our recent weekends on the Chesapeake. Finally, in the ongoing bird feeder saga of Pat v. Squirrel, we'll let you guess who's winning...

September in Oregon

We made another trip to Oregon this month to see the kids and celebrate our good friend Ari on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah. Click here for photos. Our visit included some nice hikes and lots of hanging out, and we got to see the first snow of the season on Mt. Hood as we flew back to Philadelphia. 

August in Oregon

Just back from a trip to Oregon to help Emily get settled into her new rental house. Photos of her new place are included in the album linked here, along with pictures from a hike we took along the Tom, Dick and Harry Trail near Mirror Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest; sailing and dinner on the docks at the Willamette Sailing Club; dog sitting for some friends; and more. 

Here's a little awkward family photo "then and now"... tree climbing June 2016, near Zig Zag Falls, Mt. Hood, and August 2021, near Mirror Lake, Mt. Hood.

And two recent reflections... Mirror Lake, Oregon v. Still Pond, Chesapeake Bay. 

Exploring Philadelphia with Drew and Grace

LOVEly day exploring Philadelphia with Drew and Grace - from Independence Hall to Dilworth Park; Philadelphia Museum of Art to Penn's Landing. Click here for photos.

Chesapeake Weekend

Drew and Grace are visiting from the West Coast, so we spent the weekend exploring the Upper Chesapeake, from Havre de Grace to Rock Hall, MD.  Our evening in Rock Hall checked all the boxes for sailing on the bay - good wind, a scenic anchorage, delicious crabs, a beautiful sunset, and great company.  Click here for photos, including a throw-back to the last time we enjoyed Chesapeake Bay crabs - in 2007 during our sailing trip aboard Jubilee.  

Meanwhile back in Oregon... Jake and Emily are dog-sitting for Fig and getting Jake settled in his new apartment. Click here for photos. 

Prior to Drew's and Grace's arrival, we made our first visit to Philadelphia's Woodmere Museum - a close-to-home gallery showcasing Philadelphia artists. Click here for photos. 

4th of July

The fireworks show in Havre de Grace, MD, was a good one, and we had great "seats" aboard Snow Goose, anchored just off the fireworks barge. Glad we could share some photos/video clips with the kids because Oregon had to cancel all fireworks due to extreme fire risk.  

Click here for photos from our 4th of July in the upper Chesapeake Bay, mixed in with a few photos the kids shared. Jake and Emily enjoyed a day at the Oregon Coast while also babysitting Fig. Drew and Grace spent the weekend camping in Central Oregon with the family whose kids Grace has been nannying for this past year. And we sailed, kayaked, and did our best to avoid the swarms of mayflies that decided to hatch just in time for the holiday weekend. 

Portland Heat Wave

We spent a long weekend in Portland to help Jake and Emily move from Corvallis and Bellingham respectively to Portland, where Jake is now working at Applied Materials and Emily with Girls Inc.  Their moves were timed with the most extreme heat Portland has ever seen. Daily temperatures were over 110, making the Willamette River - and Drew's air-conditioned house - welcome retreats once the boxes were unloaded.  Click here for photos. At one point, Emily literally fried an egg on the sidewalk. Despite the heat, it was great to be together for a few days. 

While hanging out at the Willamette Sailing Club, the boys got to try a SlingShot foil board, catch-up with friends, and help Fig practice her swimming.

Ahead of our departure for the West Coast, Jake and I got to spend a day at the University of Pennsylvania's Morris Arboretum and a nearby Tee's golf/batting center. Click here for those photos.

Father's Day Sailing Weekend

We spent Father's Day Weekend sailing on the Chesapeake with Jake and taking in some lovely sunsets. Click here for photos.  

Meanwhile out west, Drew, Grace, and Fig spend the past week+ enjoying a family and fly-fishing focused road trip to see some of Grace's extended family in New Mexico. Click here for photos. 

It's been fun having all 3 kids visit us in PA this month, albeit not all at the same time. 

Crashing into the Philadelphia Art Scene with Emily

 

We've enjoyed a lot of art this week during Emily's visit - which has included stops at the Philadelphia Art Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Cherry Street Pier, Barnes Foundation, and Rodin Museum.  Click here for photos.

Meanwhile on the other coast, Jake celebrated his graduation from Oregon State. He and his roommate for the past three years, Quinn, are pictured below.  And Drew took a road trip to Albuquerque with Grace and Fig, pictured below ready for a day of fly-fishing.