National Night Out

We celebrated National Night Out last evening with a neighborhood picnic.

As you'll see from these photos, there was great entertainment and lots of games for kids of ALL ages.

Yes... in fact Pat did win the donut eating contest!

A Day in the Fastlane...

Normally, we max-out at about 5 miles an hour on the water, so it was quite a treat for the kids when our friend Rich invited us to take a spin on a powerboat this past weekend.


Everyone enjoyed riding in the fastlane for a change, as well as getting a little taste of floating home living. Here are the photos to prove it!



P.S. to the Greggs - still haven't found anything as fast as your super-dinghy!

Day at the Zoo

Everyone's doing their best to stay cool. It's been over 100 for the past several days, but that hasn't stopped us from trying to make the most of Maxime's final days with us. Forgot the camera for our tour of Nike's World Headquarters yesterday (thanks you Lars, for showing us around!), but remembered it today for our trip to the Oregon Zoo. Here are some photos.

Water Play

Jake loves his new kayak... almost as much as Pat loves his new sailboat!

Here are a few photos from swimming and sailing this past week.

Launch Day

Sunday was launch day. We finally got the Ranger 20 (still thinking about a good boat name) out of the driveway and into the water. Took an afternoon sail after seeing Eduardo off to the airport for his return trip back to Madrid.

Here's a photo album from the weekend, which also included a ride on the OHSU Aerial Tram.

Field & Stream

We took in a summer concert at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island Thursday evening, then spent last night sailing on the Willamette River. It was Team Spain v. Team France in a race to/from the Ross Island Bridge. Here's the photo finish... and more.

A Weekend of Celebrations...

We started the weekend by taking in a performance of Pat's Office Band. The group was performing for a retirement celebration, and Emily made her stage debut, singing a duet with Pat.... "Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches.


Next, it was a day at the races in honor our friend Eli's 10th birthday, and a stop off at Portland's annual Bastille Day Festival with our own personal French culture expert, Maxime.


Yesterday we celebrated Maxime's 15th birthday with a Hungarian twist - a szalonna* party that we'd planned with our dinner club group. Despite the well known fact that it never rains in Oregon after July 4th, Pat got a chance to show off his creativity with duct tape and wire ties to create a make-shift awning for our deck - thus keeping the unexpected rain from spoiling the fun.

Here's a photo album from the weekend. In addition, the boys tried their hand at a skate park last evening. Click this link to see those photos.


* Szalonna is Hungarian for bacon. Szalonna is a back bacon made of smoked pork fat with the rind and is part of a Hungarian tradition. In the traditional gypsy-style. szalonna is skewered on a rod and roasted over an open fire pit. Once it starts to sizzle and drip with grease, the szalonna is removed from the fire and the grease is allowed to drip onto a slice of freshly baked rye bread. Sliced onion, green peppers, sliced radishes, szalonna shavings, and salt are used to add flavor to the slice of bread, and then more drippings are followed to top it off. Preparation, cooking and serving remain a longstanding summer tradition among American Hungarians.