26 August 2012

We hiked to Rainie Falls on the Lower Rogue River on Friday.  The falls are ambitiously named-- big rapids would be a better description-- but the hike along the river was beautiful.  Two friends came with Abe and we only saw the 3 boys at the beginning of the hike, at the falls and at the end of the hike.  Otherwise, they cruised on ahead.

After hiking over 4 miles, Gibson was bushed.  He fell asleep soon after we started driving home.

Sofi and a few friends filmed a Hunger Games spoof on Saturday.  The kids were delighted when real deer wandered into their movie-- a touch of realism far above their budget.

Here's a photo of Abe climbing around at a park.

Here are Sofi and Brandan reading side by side while Abe, Helen and Gibson play at the park.  The stack of books next to Brandan belongs to Becky, who was also reading at the park.

19 August 2012

We went backpacking this weekend in the beautifully named Sky Lakes Wilderness Area.  We began hiking at Four Mile Lake.  Sofi came home from Wyoming this week with a cowgirl hat.

We were delighted to find huckleberries along the trail.  Helen especially liked eating the huckleberries.

We hiked Friday to one of the many lakes in the area.

The lake was very shallow.  Sofi could almost walk to the center of the lake.

On Saturday we hiked up to an intersection with the Pacific Crest Trail.  Our trail went to the west, while the PCT runs north and south.  In the photo, the PCT is to the left of Brandan.  Much to our delight, we met a "through hiker" on his way from Canada to Mexico, 1 1/2 months into his trek.  We saw him long enough to ask a couple of questions and marvel at his small backpack and quick pace.  Then he was gone again, clearly a man on a mission.  We're interested in longer hikes, but we'll stick to overnighters until Helen and Gibson are big enough to carry their own gear.

Here's a photo of our campsite near the lake, in a beautiful grassy meadow.

We saw hundreds of tiny frogs.  They hopped all over our tents and backpacks, but we're pretty sure we left them all in the woods when we came home.

Here's a photo of Abe demonstrating his strength.

Sofi brought a garbage sack in case it rained.  We had thunderstorms during the night, but we were dry inside our tents.  Instead of using the garbage sack as a poncho, she used it as a dressing room, thermal blanket and, as shown in the photo, as a chair.

One of the most attractive things to Becky about backpacking is the simplicity.  You sleep, you eat and you hike.  If you're lucky (and we are), you share the experience with wonderful traveling companions.  The photo below shows our car packed for camping earlier this summer. . .

. . .and this photo shows us packed for our backpacking trip.  All the necessities fit into 4 backpacks.  Knowing you are going to carry everything you take sharpens your ability to discriminate needs and wants while packing.

12 August 2012

We repainted our house this week.  After 8 years, the color had faded, especially on the south side.

Here's the finished house.  We're so pleased-- it looks just like new.  We love our dark blue house.

Helen, Abe and Gibson entertained themselves this week by spying on the painters.  They wore sunglasses and wrote everything the painters did in little notebooks.  They called themselves the SSSS: Super Summer Spy Society.

Sofi has been gone again this week-- this time to Wyoming with a friend's family.  Abe, Helen and Gibson make a good threesome.  Here they are at the park.

Our next door neighbor used his connections to invite Jabari Parker to his local basketball camp.  Jabari was called the best high school basketball player since LeBron James in this Sports Illustrated article.  Abe attended the basketball camp and had a great time.  Besides the celebrity attraction, the camp was very well run with excellent drills and skill building activities.  Jabari showed amazing patience for the many, many kids who wanted photos and autographs.

We've been super thankful this summer for the use of a neighbor's pool.  Their house was empty for a couple of months and they were very generous in letting neighbors swim in the pool.  It's one thing to have an invitation to come use a pool.  It's another thing to know you aren't interrupting anyone or invading their space.  Our kids have swum nearly every day.  Abe is jumping in to the pool in the photo.

Here's a photo of some neighbor kids building a pyramid with Christian Parker, Jabari's older brother.  Abe is the blondie second from the left on the second row.  New neighbors moved in on Saturday, so free pool days are over.

5 August 2012

Abe attended a soccer day camp this week and had a good time.

We invited the soccer coaches, Charlotte and Curtis, to lunch on Wednesday.  Charlotte is a school teacher who lives near Manchester, England.  Curtis is a university student from Cardiff, Wales.  They're spending their summer coaching at soccer camps and then they get some vacation time to travel in the US before heading home.  Our kids noticed their British table manners: eating salad with a knife and fork and their forks in their left hands.

These are some of the rocks Becky has pulled out of the washer and dryer this summer.  Obviously, she's not so good at checking pockets when the clothes go into the washer.

With Abe at soccer camp on Friday and Sofi packing for another trip (she's off to Wyoming with friends this time), Becky, Helen and Gibson "hiked" to the edge of our neighborhood and picked blackberries.  Gibson is showing off 2 more rocks he found along the way.