Christmas in Bend

We spent Christmas week in Central Oregon. Click here for photos from our various hikes, walks, and snow-shoeing treks around Bend. The photo above was taken at Tumalo Falls, which is accessible by snow-shoe or cross country skis in the winter months. We did a bit of both. 

Grace's mom, Sarah, pictured below, joined us for much of the week. Lots of delicious meals were shared, games played and movies watched.

On our way back to Portland, we hiked around Smith Rock near Terrebonne, a lovely spot we last visited back in 2013. Some then/now photos follow:

Fall Outings

From checking out the larches in Washington State, as pictured above, to the waterfalls at Silver Falls State Park, as pictured below, we've had a great Fall here in the Pacific NW.  Click here for photos that include trips to Boise, Vashon Island, SoCal and more. 

Cloudy Pass

Jake and Emily are spending the week together hiking in the North Cascades. Click here for photos from their 24-mile backpacking adventure from Holden Village to Cloudy Pass. It lived up to its name.

Prior to Emily's trip north to see Jake, we had a chance to continue a family tradition of seeing Cirque du Soleil when they come to Portland. The sky in the photos below was yellow from wildfire smoke. Fortunately, the air quality was better in Holden Village for the twin's hike.

Hood to Coast

Congrats to Drew, Grace and their team for running this year's Hood to Coast Relay Race, which started at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and ended 198 miles later on the beach in Seaside. Click here for photos. 

Meanwhile here in Portland, we had a fun reunion with our good friends Tim and Di while they were visiting from New Mexico.

Hiking Around in Washington State

Spent last week with Jake exploring some new - and revisiting favorite - spots around the Olympic Peninsula and in the Mt. Baker National Forest just east of Seattle. Click here for photos. We timed the tides wrong to make it to the Sequim Lighthouse, but still took a walk along the Dungeness Spit Trail, pictured below, a place we last visited in 2010.

A highlight of our week was a reunion with Jake's friend Teis and his family at their new home on Bainbridge Island. 

Drew and Grace were recently in Holden Village and are pictured below with Jake and Grace's mom Sarah, hiking to Hart Lake. 

Drew, Emily and Grace were also in Seattle recently helping see their friend Emma off for her first Seattle to Portland bike race.

For more photos of our summer so far, click the following links: 

• Portland 
• Holden
• Sri Lanka*

* Pat will be back in September, in time to enjoy fall in Oregon. 

Summer

We're on heat wave #2 and its barely July. The first was when Drew, Grace and I visited Indiana timed with temperatures in the high 90s. Now Portland is experiencing similarly high temperatures. Click here for photos from our trip tn Aurora, where Uncle John's pool provided a great break from the heat. 

And here are two additional albums of summer so far in Portland and Holden Village, including a video clip of Jake seeing a bear while hiking. 

Dragons on the Willamette

June is Rose Festival time in Portland, which includes the annual Starlight Parade, pictured below, and Dragon Boat Racing on the Willamette River, pictured above. We were there for both events, cheering on the Willamette Wave Riders, the team Emily paddles for and Drew tillers. Here are more Starlight Parade photos and a Dragon Boat Racing album. 

We got to see Jake and Elli for a few days in early June, when they were visiting from Holden, and we have been taking advantage of great weather for all things outdoors. CLICK HERE for some photos we took while sailing alongside Drew and Emily's dragon boat practice last week and enjoying the lovely garden Emily and Coleman have been cultivating. 

Racing has factored heavily into Drew's summer so far. He competed in the Oregon Off Shore, from Astoria, OR, to Victoria, BC, the Swift Shore, from Victoria, BC, to Cape Flattery, WA, and pictured below, the Harstine GT, a race around Harstine Island, WA, near Olympia, which Drew and Pat have now won two years in a row. CLICK HERE for lots of miscellaneous photos from May and June around Portland; AND HERE for photos of some of Jake's late spring/early summer adventures at Holden Village.