Thankful Thursday

 Today

Aric's 14th birthday

 

This party happened on July 15 at Coolidge Mcclaine Park in Silverton, OR

 

Aric celebrated his 14th birthday! He decided to invite his group of homeschool friends to his party hang out at the park for a few hours. It was so fun to have a birthday party to plan! Even if it was small. He only invited his 5 friends, and 4 of them were able to come. That's pretty good odds!

I brought a ton of stuff because I invited the families too. I brought some outdoor games, hot dogs and lots of other food, and a few decorations.

He didn't really pick a theme so I just bought what I thought would be good for an outdoor birthday party at a  park, and what was available. It turned out to be a lot of red stuff, which kinda fits a picnic theme.

We had a four-square volleyball net to set up and that seemed to be fun for everyone. It wasn't easy to set up, but it was worth it.

A little bit of cornhole playing as well.

Presents were opened and shouts of joy were heard throughout the land.

I got to sit and enjoy the beauty of the park for a moment. It was amazing looking up at all the tall trees. I love all the trees at this park. 

I love celebrating people, and having friends along for the party. I am so glad so many of Aric's friends were able to come and that he had a good time. I think he made a lot of core memories!

A boat tour of Portland

We have been wanting to take a boat tour through Portland again for a few years now. Last summer we were planning to do it for April's birthday, but life happened and we never made it out on that trip. We were determined to do it this summer, so we planned on it and made it happen! Our plan was to drive down the Willamette through the Portland area and up through the Columbia river a little bit and pull off at a restaurant on the water to eat lunch. We did it. We had to change restaurants at the last minute because there wasn't any boat parking at our original choice, but otherwise, everything went great and it was a lovely trip.

A little view of the city from the water. It was kinda cool seeing it all from the water. 

All the bridges:

There are a lot of bridges, and seeing them from this perspective really makes you think about how amazing a bridge is.

Some Ships and boats we saw along the way... (there were so many!)

We called this one the ghost ship (not really its name, but it looked kinda creepy and cool)

There were some really big ships, especially out on the Columbia River.

Lunch

We ended up eating at a place called The Deck on the Columbia. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was very neat being out on the water. It was fun to park the boat and just walk up to get a seat at the restaurant.

It was just 4 of us this time as the 2 middle boys didn't join us. They sure missed the yummy food.

After eating we decided to walk out on the deck to get some pictures of the restaurant...

A view of the whole restaurant...

Finally, we were on our way back to the boat ramp we were parked in. It was about a 20-mile drive on the boat. On this part of the Columbia, there was an island that we could go on either side of. The side we came on to get to the restaurant was a no-wake zone so we had to go pretty slow, but it was fun looking at all the houseboats. We decided on the way back we'd go on the other side of the island (which was the main channel) where we could go fast. It was also very choppy and bumpy. It was faster, but not as calm riding. We did enjoy seeing some big ships and I was able to see Mt. Hood from the back of the boat, which I tried to capture in this picture... (you can barely see Mt. Hood in my picture, but it was pretty amazing in person)

By the time we arrived back to the dock where we loaded up it was pretty hot. The temperature had risen to about 90 by then and we were all ready to cool off. It was a fun day and well worth it.

Thankful Thursday: bicycles

Today I'm thankful for our bicycles. For the new ones that we've been able to purchase or acquire and for the old ones that we get to pass on to someone who needs them. For the adventures we get to go on together and separately. We've been blessed to have bikes for most of our family all the time. Mostly. And, for the man who fixes them and keeps them running for us (Dad/Michele). 

We passed this one on today to a family who wanted it. It's one of the last of the kids' bikes. Now they all have mostly adult-size bikes.

4th of July 2022

Our 4th of July turned out pretty great. We went camping as a family with Michele's family, watched a firework show, played on the lake (at the campground), and spray chalked our yard. I love these times that bring my family together and being outdoors!

Before we went camping we did this to our yard.

 

I happened to come across a box of red, white, and blue spray chalk at the store. I thought it would be fun for the boys to draw all over the yard. Turns out they loved it! I wasn't sure what we'd do at first. Maybe draw a big collaborative pretty thing, or a giant flag. In the end, I decided to just let them go at it with what they wanted. It turned out so festive. Every time I walked by it, it made me smile.

We went camping at Pine Meadows Campground (in Oregon). A campground right on the Cottage Grove Reservoir. It was beautiful. Especially the first few days. It did rain on the last day there, which kinda stunk, but it was still a great trip overall.

The first day after we set up the sunset started shining on our sight just perfectly. I wished I had a better camera as the light was perfect. It was an excellent opportunity to get some fun shots of our campsite.

The tents...

Playing cornhole...

Relaxing with some screen time. I think he was trying to finish a movie he started on the way there. Once that was over the tablet was away the rest of the time.

The trees were all around us and the views were just so nice...

The next day we switched sites to one closer to the lake. We could access the lake from this site, and the view was spectacular. See our boat parked out there on the water?

Alex relaxing again, this time with a book...

We did all kinds of things out on the lake. We had our motor boat, paddle boards, an inflatable kayak, and snorkeling gear. The kids enjoyed all of it. 

April wanted to give paddleboard surfing a try so we pulled her behind the boat for a bit. Very slowly. She did pretty well staying up on there!

This is the sunset on the 2nd night. And, probably the last picture we took as the next day was raining. Actually, this is Aaron's picture. He took this one and did a little bit of editing. It turned out spectacular, and so fitting for 4th of July weekend. It reminds me of red, white, and blue.

That wraps up our 4th of July trip! Next year we are hopefully going to a rodeo!