Monday, September 16, 2013

August

I feel like we had such a jam-packed summer.  From the little stuff to the big stuff, we enjoyed summer for all it was worth!  Here's a little peek at what we were up to in August after our trip to Sandpoint.

Bryon was given Hillsboro Hops tickets, and took his favorite date for a special night out.


Another date night for these two.  Kai's first movie theater experience was a big hit!

Family backpacking trip to Shell Lake.

We had to cross this big rock field at one end of the lake.  Kai was such a trooper as he carefully figured out the best way to cross it and lead us along.


After arriving at our camp spot, we set up and then took a bit of time to relax by the lake before a BIG rain storm hit.  We were huddled in our tent for about an hour as the rain poured down, thunder rolled and lightning struck very close to our campsite!  It was pretty crazy.  Our ears were ringing afterwards from the continuous loud thunder and our campsite was completely soaked.  Apparently we should have heeded the "chance of showers" weather forecast :)

Warming up with some hot chocolate and a warm fire.  Thankfully we'd been able to gather some wood before the storm hit, and keep it dry under our tarp.
 
 
Dinner time!


Picking huckleberries for our pancakes the next morning.


After breakfast Kai fell completely into the lake while walking on a log in the water.  Oops!  Thankfully we had one dry pair of clothes left.

On our way home.
A beautiful day on the Oregon Coast.



My boy!  I can't believe how big he's getting.

Yummy goodies at the Farmer's Market.

The company Bryon works for built and owns several buildings in downtown Portland.  While friends were in town for the day we took them to the rooftop garden on one of these buildings to get a view of the city.  This is looking north....see Canada way up there? :)

We had one more fun (Canadian) adventure in August, but I'll save that for another day.

Monday, September 02, 2013

Sandpoint

It's hard to believe that the beginning of July marked one year since we moved from Sandpoint to Portland.  All year we'd been wanting to go back for a visit, but decided to wait until our favorite time of year in Sandpoint...summer!  While winter is great for skiing there, summer is just so incredibly beautiful, fun and relaxing.
We're thankful for generous and hospitable friends to stay with, fun times with many friends, Sunday morning service at our old church, visits to many of our favorite spots/activities etc. etc.  We also spent lots of time dreaming about how we could possibly turn our house in Sandpoint into a vacation rental so we could go back every year for a nice long summer visit. :) 

Bright and early on Saturday morning Bryon did the long bridge swim...almost 2 miles!


Meeting up with friends at the Farmer's Market.


How did these two get so big?!  I still can picture them as tiny babies.


Oh City Beach, how I miss you!



Potluck dinner party with friends of ours and Kai's.  Such a fun night catching up with people, and watching all our kids run around together, looking so much more grown up than last year. Sadly, I only pulled out my camera for this picture and the next one.


A quick stop at Third Ave. Pier, where we used to bike or walk almost every day in the summer.



Children's concert at the Festival at Sandpoint.  We stayed with these two precious girls and their parents for the whole weekend, and Kai couldn't have had more fun!

Boys version of dancing to the music = wildly chasing each other! 


On our way out of town at the end of the weekend, we stopped at Green Bay, our favorite beach.



The perfect end to a wonderful trip.
Sandpoint, we'll be back again soon!