Camping

 This past week we went camping for two nights at Alsea Falls. It was last minute, kind of on a whim, and we were pleased to discover that this campground was not fully booked and we were able to get a site. It turned out to be a really great place to camp – very relaxed, quiet, no bright lights, and not close to any busy roads. We also did not have cell service, so were truly forced to detach. 

We roasted marshmallows, explored, read, and took a short hike to the falls. We will definitely go back ❤️ 

4th of July

 This year to celebrate Fourth of July, we spent the day with my family in Eugene on the third. We hung out at a park and played in the river.

At the end of the day we came home, got the kids ready for bed, then loaded them back into the car and went to watch fireworks at the end of a baseball game for our local collegiate summer baseball team. We were told that if you go up to the top of the parking structure near the stadium it is a good place to watch, and it turned out to be extremely close and totally un obstructed viewing. It is the first time our kids really saw a good fireworks show, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a little loud for Linden and maybe next year we will not watch from quite as close!

Yesterday for the fourth, we hung out in our neighbourhood where our neighbours have a party and fireworks every year. Linden wanted to stay back a bit, so she and I were across the street in front of our house, and Jeff and Maren had front row seats (as did everyone else) 😁

Pickle piano

 Today we went to a local festival called Open Streets Corvallis.  We enjoyed many unique local experiences like:

Wood planing with a folk craft school,

 

Riding a bicycle carousel,

And my favorite, the original pickle piano:

Not a bad start

 This past week Jeff had to work a lot because he is teaching an online summer class. That means there is a lot of work upfront, and then maintenance and grading for the rest of the summer (which is much more flexible). His work schedule gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with the kiddos. 

Among other things, we went out to lunch, had ice cream, and shopped for Father’s Day presents. Linden had a friend over for a sleepover, and Jeff and the kids went to see a movie. Not a bad start to summer vacation.

For Father’s Day today we went on a little walk, had some presence, and at Jeff’s request had blueberry pie. Jeff had a bit of time for a video games, and we played a board game as a family. Also not a bad Father’s Day!

School’s out for the summer!

 Last week was the last day of school for the kids, and also the end of the term for me and Jeff. It feels like we have been in GO GO GO mode and we are rapidly headed for STOP. 

To ease the transition a bit we signed up for a Girl Scout camp work weekend, where we went to camp as a family and the idea was that we would spend some time working on projects and then have the opportunity to enjoy camp. I thought it would be a fun way to spend the weekend after the end of school.

I had expectations going into it that turned out to be a little bit wrong. There was a lot more emphasis on the work part of the weekend then on the fun part, and it was not run like a normal camp experience. We never got a schedule of any kind so we never really knew what was happening and had to check a lot and wait a lot, and we spent a lot of hours clearing invasive ivy. In 90-degree heat. The kids were not super happy. 

However, we finally did get to do some canoeing, and did get to enjoy a campfire complete with all of the campfire songs. We probably will not do it again, but it was a good way to transition from school into summer!