Polka Anyone?

On Friday, it was our turn to host the twin's Dance Class carpool group for dinner. The weather was fantastic - a very summer-like 3rd day of Fall! We also got to help celebrate Ruby's birthday.


As for the rest of the weekend, Saturday we attended an Oktoberfest - complete with wiener-dog racing - and Sunday an Arab Festival. Jake and Emily are taking Arabic as their foreign language at school this year, and Drew is in an International Studies program, so our activities made for some great extra credit.


Click here to see photos.

Dancing School (updated)

Click here for Week 2 photos.

The twins and friends started Ballroom Dancing Class this week. Here are some photos from dinner with our carpool group before the kids headed off to dance. We included a photo of Drew's dance group from 2009 in the album... he was about a foot shorter back then!

We also got to sail Dreamer Too for the first time this weekend. Click here for photos of the kids sporting a much more casual look.

Here We Go Again...

The kids started school today... Drew is a freshman; and Jake & Emily are 7th graders, so it's new schools & routines for all.

Here are links to two photo albums from some of our end-of-summer activities. The kids helped organize a neighborhood Humans v. Zombies game; we took a trip to Hood River for some biking and hiking; and our Ranger 20 has been replaced by Dreamer Too, a Catalina 22, which Pat drove from Montana to Portland over the weekend.


Summer went way too fast... best wishes to all for smooth sailing this school year!

Multnomah Days & More

This past weekend was the annual Multnomah Days Parade. In addition, Emily had her first game-signing event for Mermaid Beach, and Pat had a unique opportunity to take some blind sailors out for a sail during family sailing night as part of an event the sailing club was hosting for the Oral Hull Foundation.

Click here for photos. Just two more weeks of summer vacation before school starts here... we're trying to make the most of it!

Weekend at Timothy Lake

We're just back from a great weekend of camping with friends at Timothy Lake near Mt. Hood. Thanks Mark & Martha for organizing the trip, and happy birthday Tom, Ben & Jan.

Click here for photos. We were so busy hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking, eating Mark's pancakes and KC's bacon, and just generally having fun that we didn't capture all the moments on film, but we got a few!

Sarah-palooza!

This year, our summer exchange student was an extra-special one... our good friend Sarah has been staying with us this past week, while visiting from Oklahoma.

Click here for lots of photos... it was a busy week!


We had a great week showing Sarah around Portland, as well as the Oregon Coast and Mt. Hood. Snow in August was a definite change of pace from the 100+ temperatures she left back home in Norman, and a windy day in Pacific City offered a good opportunity for her to break-in her new University of Tulsa sweatshirt before she starts classes there next week.

Thank you Sarah, for giving us an excuse to be tourists in our own town. We only wish you had packed your whole family!

Last Thursday

Last night we attended "Last Thursday on Alberta", a monthly street fair in NE Portland, to watch our friends Danny & Bella perform with the March Fourth Marching Band.

Click here for photos. It was also movie night at a the park. So much to do... we need more summer!