Vic and I had to drive to the coast on Tuesday to scout out a trip for the international students. We had a certain route in mind and wanted to check to see if a bus could make it to all the spots. Heather, Lewis and Evander came along for an adventure. There was lots of fun showing Lewis the plants and animals. He, of course, collected a few flowers and rocks for his pocket. He likes to get out the car and "run around like a crazy guy," he says.
We decided our original route wasn't the best plan and changed it after spending the day scouting it out. We had fun eating clam chowder and checking out the trails. We sang tons of songs in the car because Lewis loves to sing. It's fun to have little darlings in my life. I even got an unsolicited kiss from Evander.
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Earlier in the week, we saw the guys and got a few cute shots.
Lewis loves the train set. He played with it for 40 minutes and Evander joined in.

Evander is getting around quite well now. He's playing with all kinds of things.

The Family planned a fun birthday celebration for me at Ecola State Park on the Oregon Coast. The views are spectacular and the sky changes every five minutes. We were first there last summer for a friend's wedding and just fell in love with it. My birthday was July 15th, but we wanted everyone in the family to come, so we waited till August 3.


I should've taken pictures of the food because my husband went all out. He figured out how to make Lomi Lomi salmon, Kahlua Pork and Guamanian Red Rice for the occasion plus two outstanding sauces as condiments. We always call him the Sauce Master at our house. We ate like kings and queens--Island Style.


The whole family was there, Shannon, Vic, Evander, Me, Alec, Lewis, Jared and Heather. What a treat for me! Alec brought Cassie, his girlfriend up from LA with him. She just moved there a month ago to take a teaching position near where Alec lives.


The kids invited a few of "the guys" who are in our community to share the events. Everyone brought food. Heather made two kinds of delicious bread pudding and sauce at my request and curry macaroni/potato salad. Ben made Hawaiian style fried rice--yum!


There were cute babies to love on and play with.


Evander enjoyed playing with his uncle.


Father and Son enjoyed a little kite flying.


Grandma and Lewis took a little sightseeing excursion where we saw "ocean" and "chipmunks".


We had the annual Granpa and Lewis roll down the hill.


We played games.


There was more kite-flying with Auntie Shannon.


More Hiking.


More hanging out with cute babies.


There was the ukelele music and singing of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in honor of Grandma's birthday while Uncle Alec and brother Evander looked on.

And most importantly, family pictures to cap off a delightful day.


I truly think this needs to be an annual event. It was an easy drive and relaxing day. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make it a fun day!

We took at trip to Bremerton to see family including my niece Jenn and her daughter Sydney, who live in California. I had to post this darling picture of Evander on the baby swing. He looks so excited.

Ramona Falls is one of my favorite hikes. It's a seven miler close to Mt. Hood. I was a little concerned it would still have snow, considering that we had record snow fall this year. We did find a few patches and the rivers were running a little high, but the trail was dry and the weather about 63 degrees.
Shannon and I hiked with Ben, and brothers, Phil and Garrett. I love a hike with a nice waterfall destination. The alpine lakes I've visited seem a little dull by comparison. Ramona Falls loop offers a spectacular, but longer hike up to the falls and a shorter, but not quite so beautiful trip back.

Yesterday, the forest floor delighted the eyes with all different colors of moss and lichens, small shrubs and native rhododendrons.
The Sandy River was spilling into all kinds of extra stream beds, leaving some beds dry and rock strewn
We enjoyed little chirping brooks running down moss covered banks and a moderate 2000 foot rise on our way to the falls. It's about 4 miles to Ramona, but there are so many delights on the way, we didn't feel like hurrying.
We enjoyed looking at trees growing out of rock cliffs, and colorful rock walls.
Just one little stream was enchanting enough to enjoy all day.
We arrived at Ramona Falls about 3:30 and were ready for a lunch break. It seemed like more water than normal was cascading down the basalt steps and it cast quite a bit of spray onto the bridge and trail. And it was very cold in the draft of the falls. Ramona Falls is 130 feet. I know because Phil and Garrett climbed to the top with a super duper GPS-Get Smart Version and measured it. I think it's also a walkie-talkie, which would be handy in a pinch since there's no cell phone service, no matter what verizon says.
After lunch and before getting too stiff, we headed back down. It started misting before we got back to the car. It's so great to be out in the woods, breathing fresh air, listening to the quiet sounds of the brooks and forest, chatting with friends, and seeing God's handiwork.

I went to see the babies yesterday. What fun they are! Even Evander seems to remember me and starts to smile and make happy sounds. He's growing and developing more skills every time I see him. Lewis had to show me his "big boy bed" and even lay down on it. I brought him some sprinkler heads to get a headstart on summer and he knew exactly where they went, on the hose. He was all into "pwesents". He's talking up a storm, more phrases, more words, more thoughts. And he talks constantly. He's conversing all the time about things he sees and wants to do. He saw me and said, "Gramma's house". He saw the van and said, "Grampa's car". He said "Uncle Alec" as clear as a bell. Heather and J. won't be able to pull anything over on him. He's sorting out his world very quickly.

We stopped by the Salem Farmer's market to check it out, had lunch at Macedonia and then to Costco where Lewis had several important stops: chicken cooking, coffee roasting, music demo buttons and the dim sum stands. (We call them dim sum because they're little snacks being demonstrated and remind us of Chinese dim sum.) Heather couldn't leave until Lewis had visited all of his favorite things. Meanwhile, as you can see from the picture, Evander got his first ride in the seat of the cart with his brother. We propped him a little with blankets and the seat belt, but he was lovin' life. I took the picture on my cell phone.

When we got back home, we watched a big dump truck dump a load of bark next door to the house. Lewis loved that. He sang me his abc song, read me a few pages of "Brown Bear" and other feats of 23 month olds. Evander is content to jump on your lap and look in your eyes and maybe play with a toy or two. What little cuties. It's fun to watch.

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Last night, we lit a fire in the outdoor fire pit and cooked hotdogs for Chi Alpha and ate strawberry shortcake and a yogurt fruit dessert made by Ruth. Ruth leaves us to go home to Germany next week and we'll miss her. She's been a total delight this year. Tomorrow, FOCUS picnic and then a trip to the Molalla Buckeroo Rodeo on the 4th of July.

We're gearing up for super hot weather this weekend which always sends us Portlanders scampering to the mall or movie theaters to cool off. I'm glad summer finally decided to make an appearance. We had a cold spring. Usually, we can't count on summer here till after the 4th of July, then it's dry for almost 4 months. The ground gets hard as a rock and its difficult to pull any weeds out of the clay. Just some random global thoughts.... have a good day!