Manzanita and Back

We spent a long weekend at Manzanita (though the picture on the left is at Cannon Beach) in a nice odd little house across the street from the beach.  The weather was exceptional and we saw some amazing sunsets. 

We were there to celebrate Steve's 40th birthday (more pictures of that for a later blog post) and squeeze in one last vacation before school starts.

Another Busy Day

First the boys and I (Steve) went to Oak's Park.  They'd earned an (almost) free admission by completing the Summer reading program at the library.  I killed some time sitting on a bench and reading the play The Sunshine Boys.  I love something that makes me laugh out loud when I read it, and consequently I had the whole bench to myself.

Joe and Tim's favorites rides were the bumper cars and the Spider (pictured), but that finally got the best of them (too many spins) and we went home.

Then that night we went to a baseball game with Grandparents Bullock, probably the last one we'll get to see in Portland for a while since the Beavers are moving to a different state.  After the game (which they lost) were some fireworks.  The first we've taken the boys to.  They loved watching even though the fireworks were very loud.

Paulina Lake and the Mosquitoes

We spent a couple of nights at Paulina Lake (close to Bend and in the Newberry Crater) with our good friends the Carvajal-Ericksons.  Way back in time (okay, not that long ago) we all lived on the same street and our boys have all grown up together.

The picture on the right was taken on a trail in an obsidian flow (with Paulina Lake in the background.)  We stayed two nights at the lake and had a wonderful time hiking around, hanging out in the kayaks, and swatting mosquitoes.  Joe got the worst of it with some huge bites on his legs.  Despite that, we loved it so much we already booked a cabin for next year with the Carvajal-Ericksons.  <

Golf Camp

They boys spent last week at a golf camp put on by Portland Parks and Rec and First Tee.  This is the second year they've done it.  Last year it was in the high 90's (by 10 am).  This year the weather cooperated quite a bit more.

While they were having fun I (Steve) scouted out some coffee shops and got some writing done.  Actually I got caught up on a few chapters I'd edited on paper, but not on the computer, which means I made a lot of notes saying - fix this later, and then did some new writing.

Holly was stuck at work, which she continually points out to us.  Three more weeks and schools starts up for me and the boys and then Holly will feel better.

Grandparents Bullock's 50th Anniversary

 Friday was Holly's parent's 50th anniversary. Family and friends came from all over the country to celebrate!  We had three different celebrations - the night before BBQ out at their house for all of the out of town folks (about 25 or so people), the reception (about 140 folks) at the Eastmoreland Golf Course, and the after party for the Blue Buddies (Grandma B's college room-mates, their spouses and one daughter) and the family (about 20 people) at our house.  We've had lots of visiting and catching up with folks.

Great Wolf Vacation

Last week the Grandparents Denniston took Joe and Tim (and their cousin Brad) on vacation up into Washington.  They stopped at Northwest Trek, checked out some animals, and then went to the Great Wolf Lodge for a couple nights.  The lodge is an indoor water park with some different inner-tube style rides, a wave pool, and a few other areas to get wet in.

It took them a couple days to recover, although they still wanted to go swimming the next day.

Beavers Game

The boys and I went to a Beavers game this afternoon.  We saw a couple good plays but they lost the game.


The weather cooperated with us nicely.  When the sun finally came out our seats were in the shade shortly after that so we stayed nice and cool.

-Steve