Another Snow Video

Click here for a video of our day in White River Canyon snowshoeing and sledding.   Photos can be found in a separate post below.

A Weekend of Snowshoeing & Sledding

To complement Pat's video posts (above and below), click here for photos from the two days we just enjoyed at Mt Hood.  Day 1 we spent hiking the trails behind of town of Government Camp by snowshoe.  The weather was great, so we wandered along several nice trails as we worked our way up the mountain.  

Day 2 we spent exploring the White River Canyon area on the southeast side of the mountain, both by snowshoe and sled. White River had some great mountain views and the kids got to spend a big part of the day sledding and playing in the deep snow.

Snowshoeing around Mt. Hood

Here is some video of our snowshoeing adventure in Government Camp yesterday. We hiked parts of the Crosstown, Glacier View and West Leg Trails, taking us from town up toward Timberline Lodge.  

The video was taken with a GoPro camera which allowed for some creative experimentation.  Click Here to see the results.  

Zoo Lights

Here is a photo album of our trip to the Zoo earlier this week to take in the Zoo Lights.   It was a beautiful evening for a stroll and train ride.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!  It's been a great day here so far. Click here for photos of the kids enjoying the many surprises of Christmas eve and morning.   

Holiday Festivities

Yesterday was a day for two of our favorite holiday festivities... a Hanukkah dinner and high-stakes dreidel game with Tony, Lee, Elan, Luna, Diego, Ari and friends, and enjoying Gluhwein with Peter, Teresa, Ben and Nicky and friends.  Click here for photos. 

Winter Break Begins...

School is out for 2012!  Click here for photos of our week, which included an instant challenge night for DI and a Christmas party for Drew's sailing team... and the weekend is just beginning.  When we woke of this morning, it was snowing... Saturday is off to a good start!

Floating Lights

Thank you Rich for a fun evening and great view of Portland's annual Christmas Ships Parade as it passed through the Multnomah Channel!  Click here for photos.

Completing Our Holiday Decorating

We made our annual trip to Kirchem Tree Farm on Saturday in search of a Christmas Tree.  We found a great one that fortunately - albeit barely - fit through our front door.   Click here for photos.

Tree Lighting

We started the day with a wet parade and finished it equally soggy with the annual Tree Lighting in Pioneer Square, Portland's living room... rain did not dampen the crowd!  Click here for photos.

Santa Claus Comes to Town

This morning was the annual Portland Macy's Holiday Parade.  Click here for photos.

Happy Thanksgiving

We started off a great Thanksgiving Day with a neighborhood soccer game.  Click here for photos.

After a wet week, it was sunny and mild for the holiday.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Spinning Plates

Click here for photos of our breakfast at Slappy Cakes, followed by some exploration of the circus arts at a Joy Now open house.

Cannon Beach

We're just back from a few days at Cannon Beach.  The weather was great for November - a bit brisk, but sunny and mostly dry.  It was a nice way to spend part of the kids' fall break.  Click here for photos.

Congratulations Mr. President!

Happy Halloween

Here are some photos taken over the past week or two, including Halloween, one of Drew's sailing races, and the twins' last dance class.  Things are trotting along here... just 4 more school days til the end of the 1st quarter.

 

Happy 50th Anniversary

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!

Pumpkin Patch

Click here for a few photos of our trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a bit muddy due to some recent rain, but we managed to make it home reasonably clean.   To see more photos, visit @saltwatersandsun on Instagram.

Another Race Day

Click here for photos from Drew's sailing regatta today.

Happy 50th Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!

We are just back from a trip to Indiana to mark the occasions of Grandma Janet & Grandpa Carl's 50th wedding anniversary, Cousin Alia's 1st birthday, and the annual Aurora Farmers Fair.  Click here for fair & farm photos and here for the grandchildren posing for photos with and for Grandma and Grandpa. 

Fall Sailing Clinic

Drew & his sailing teammates held their first races of the fall sailing season yesterday.  Click here for photos.  The Drews (Drew E. and Drew B.) won all but 2 races.

You'll find a few more photos here from our stop at Fulton Park on the way home from sailing.

September

The first few weeks of school have gone by fast.  We don't have much in the way of photos to show for it, but click here to see a few related to the twin's Friday night dance class, our recent visit to the Arab Festival, and just hanging out.

Up in the Air

Jake & Emily spent the day doing a ropes course retreat with their block class.  Click here for photos.  

And here are a few more photos from the weekend, as we celebrated our friend Luna's birthday with a costume party.

Another Round...

School started on Wednesday, and another season of Friday Night Dance Class is already underway. 

Weekend on the Coast

We closed out the summer with a couple of days in Newport.  It was a beautiful weekend to be on the Oregon Coast!  

We saw lots of sea life, including some whales swimming just off Yaquina Head Lighthouse, and the weather was great for flying kites.  Click here for photos. (The kids also posted some great photos on Instagram.)  The album includes a rally we participated in earlier in the week to support the abolition of the death-penalty in Oregon.  

In addition to helping out at the rally, the twins spent their final full week of summer vacation helping their current block teacher and former 4th grade teacher set up their classrooms.  They also checked a few more items off their summer bucket list (eg. a trip to Oaks Park Amusement Park), while Drew was teaching a River Adventure sailing camp. 

Say it isn't so.... how could summer vacation come to an end so quickly?  We've been having such fun!  School starts on Wednesday.

We love a parade...

Saturday was the annual Multnomah Days Parade.  Click here for photos from the parade, another fun family sailing night, ice skating, rock climbing and more.  It's been a busy week... the kids are running out of summer and still have several items to check off their bucket list!

We Found Waldo!

On Saturday, we participated in a Where's Waldo scavenger hunt and fundraiser for Portland Public Schools.. we found him!   We also found a few miscellaneous phone photos that hadn't been downloaded from recent outings.. a trip to the Circuit Gym, our friend Ari's #5 birthday, Drew and his sailing club co-workers, and more.  Click here for those. 

Farm Tunes & More

So much to do... and summer goes so fast!   On Thursday, we went to Kruger Farms on Sauvie Island to see our friend Ashleigh Flynn perform.  On Friday, we went to family sailing night at the Willamette Sailing Club.  In between, we painted and updated Emily's room.   Click here for photos.

Tuesday in the Park

Last night was a special edition of Tuesday in the Park, due to it being National Night Out.  There was a huge crowd in Hamilton Park for a potluck dinner, music and games, sponsored by the Bridlemile Neighborhood Association.   

Click here for photos of the egg-race, balloon toss, cheeto-toss, donut-eating contest, and more.  Thank you Mary Catherine & Lars for all you did to make this such a fun night!  

Timothy Lake

We're just back from a 4-day camping weekend at Timothy Lake with friends.  Thank you Mark & Martha for organizing this annual gathering, which is always a highlight of summer.  

Everyone enjoyed the opportunities for swimming, hiking, biking, paddle-boarding, kayaking and more... not to mention the warm weather, scenic location, amazing food and great company!  Click here for photos.

This was our 5th year to participate in the Timothy Lake neighborhood camping trip... the photo below is from our 2008 visit. 

Kelowna Reprise

Click here to see photos from our final day(s) in Kelowna, BC.  We had time to repeat some of our favorite activities before we had to head back across the border. 

Zipping Again in Peachland...

Today's zip-line adventures did not require a harness or safety line...just a desire to have fun and get wet.  We spent the day in Peachland, enjoying a beach park that included a zip-line, rope swing and diving boards. 

A storm blew in late afternoon, complete with thunder and lightening.. haven't heard/seen that in a long time!  Click here for photos.

Comfort Zone v. Zip Zone

We tried zip-lining today at Zip Zone in Peachland, BC, which claims to have the highest ziplines in North America (350 feet up).  Our adventure included over a mile of zipping on 6 lines running back and forth through a deep canyon at up to 40 mph.  Click here to see photos.

One line offered the opportunity to "dangle" upside down, which the boys were happy to do.  From any perspective, the canyon was gorgeous and the zipping was crazy fun!
 

Water Play

Great weather, great lake... click here to see photos of everyone enjoying Lake Okanagan (and the many great water toys that came along with our home exchange).  Yesterday we kayaked across the lake for breakfast, visited Fintry Provincial Park, and took a drive to the farm community of Vernon at the north end of the lake.  Today, we just hung out in the water. 

Riding the Waves...

We posed as power-boaters today.  Click here to see photos.  

The kids got to try out tubing, water skiing and knee-boarding on Lake Okanagan.  The lake is so vast it felt as if we had the whole place to ourselves.

Riding the Rails...

Hi from Kelowna, BC!  

Today, we took a ride on the Kettle Valley Railway Trail:  22 km, 18 railroad trestles, 5 happy bikers, 2 tunnels and 1 amazing bike ride!  Click here for photos. 

The Okanagan Valley is gorgeous... more photos coming soon.

Another Fun Day with Mona

Today we did a loop of the Portland waterfront by surrey with our exchange student Mona, then visited Saturday Market.  Drew is hard at work again today at the sailing club, where he is helping the club host its annual wooden boat show.  Click here for photos.  High 80s and sunny this weekend... so nice of summer to finally arrive!

 

Summer Snow Day & More

We are hosting Mona, a lovely, college-age exchange student from Saudi Arabia, this weekend, so we decided to show her around the Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood.  She had never seen snow until yesterday, and it was a gorgeous, warm day to check it out.  We also took her for her first sail on Friday night and are having a great time getting to know her.  Click here for photos.

Happy 4th of July

It had been a few years since we spent 4th of July on the water, so we decided to sail downtown and raft-up near Waterfront Park yesterday afternoon, after taking in a 4th of July parade and pot-luck picnic with our friends in Wilcox.  

It was the 25th Anniversary of the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, not to mention a gorgeous day, so the river was extra crowded, but the firework show was also extra spectacular!  Click here for photos.   When the fireworks barge pulled up just across from us and the full moon came out to serve as a backdrop, we knew it was going to be an amazing show!

Over the Edge

Our friend Lars had the opportunity to repel off the US Bank Building - Portland's tallest - as part of an Over the Edge fundraiser for the Boy Scouts last week.  Here are some photos we took while watching his descent. 

Adventures in Southern California - Part 7 (Finale)

Click here to see a random collection of photos we took from our iphones/itouches during our ten days in Southern California.  It was a great trip!

Over the course of the past 3 summers, we happen to have visited 3 of the 4 corners of the continental US - Neah Bay, Washington, the most northwestern point, in 2010; Key West, Florida, the southeastern-most point, in 2011; and Border Field State Park south of San Diego, as far southwest as you can go before crossing the Mexican border, in 2012.  Looks like we need to head northeast and add Lubec, Maine to our list of places to visit!

Aventuras en el Sur de California - Parte Seis

On our last full day of vacation, we took a drive to the US/Mexican border and hiked along the border fence to the ocean at California's Border Field State Park.  We could see Tijuana through the fence and got to speak with both a resident and a border patrol agent.  (Apparently the speaking-to-Tijuana-residents-through-the-fence-thing is not something all border agents allow, but the person on duty while we were there was comfortable that we were not trying to pass anything through the fence.)    

As we headed back north, we stopped at Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma and spent a lovely afternoon.  Click here for photos.   Also included in the album are some photos from our last day in CA, which included a stop in Dana Point on the way to Long Beach to catch our flight back to Oregon.