Lak e of the Woods

Most of the camping this summer was done by the boys while I stayed home and worked (I know, seriously unfair, right?)  Once pictures from Patrick's phone can be found, I'll post those.  These ones are from a one night stay at Lake of the Woods we snuck in over a weekend.  Dad had his patio boat moored up there for teaching dive classes and let us sleep on it.  It reminded me so much of the fabulous house-boating vacations we used to take when I was little.  The kids (and adults for that matter) had so much fun!  And since we've been camping inside the trailer the past two years, the night out in the open was a wonderful reminder of how much we love it.  Notice the many layers of blankets though - even summer in Oregon was cold for our California blood ;-)

  

There was a nest in the corner of the patio boat when we got there.  We didn't realize it was occupied until the parents came back.  At first they were very timid and didn't want to approach the nest while we were there, but after a few hours they got used to us and we were able to watch them feed their babies and they settled in for the night with us!

The most incredible part of our trip - Percy learned to ski!  He's a natural.

Summer 2015

Hiking in Alston Park

Though he doesn't get much time for it, Patrick enjoys working on his motorcycle.  Its the same one he drove as a teenager and brought back from Colorado last summer.  It was in good shape, but took the brunt of our cow impact on the way home, so its' had a long road to recovery (I know how it must feel)

I know, this is about the billionth picture of bubbles, but I am constantly amazed by how much simple joy they bring - couldn't resist.

These laying ladies crack us up.  They are full grown now, but still remember sleeping in the house under the heat lamp and will take any opportunity we give to sneak back inside!

That's Trajan, camouflaged up there in the tree.  He's turning out to be just as adventurous a climber as his bothers.

Amy told us about this fabulous program where we got tickets to the California Academy of Science from the library, and then agreed to join us on the tip.  It was awesome!

Catching Up

So a lot has happened over the past few months, but we're finally back to blogging.

Patrick's dad passed after an unexpected stroke and while he was in Colorado spending time with his brothers before the service I was in an accident that has left me still unable to walk.

We're hoping that 2016 will bring a bit more balance to our lives :)

In the meantime, here we'll start posting up some photos from summer and fall.

cheers,
Shawna