Thousand Acres dog park

I took Jasper to an enormous dog park today, built on the delta at the confluence of the Sandy and Columbia rivers. It's huge, with multiple well-constructed and maintained trails criss-crossing the property, and a beach from which dogs can swim in a channel of the Columbia. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of dogs about -- Jasper was so, so happy to run around, greet the doggos, swim in the river, and explore.

It's the rare weekend when we have nothing on the calendar at all - it's Memorial Day weekend, so there are no sports events scheduled, and we didn't schedule a trip away because we're scrambling to get ready for our big vacation. On Friday evening we walked up our hill to see the sun set over the Tualatin River valley.

Liesl at the beach

Liesl's softball team had a game against Tillamook on the Saturday that I was away camping and hiking. She got a ride with her friend Fiona and had an amazing adventure. Fiona's dad Michael not only drove the three girls to their game, but he then took them out for lunch and to the beach at Oceanside, and then for more food, and then finally back home again at 9pm. Liesl slept over that night and didn't return until Sunday at noon. And no one got sunburned! A+ dad work.

Liesl's softball team is cute and goofy and so much fun.

everyday photos

I was realizing that all of my photos of the kids are at special events and sporting events, and not their everyday selves. (Seb and friends call it their "drip", for style.) So I made them pose on a bunch of days this past week.

Me walking the track at Buckman during Seb's soccer practice. One of the kids is at Buckman four nights a week for soccer, so this is a common occurrence.

 

Icicle Ridge hike; paddleboarding

We woke up early, and after camp breakfast headed out for another hiking adventure. Our destination this time was Icicle Ridge, one of the few hikes in the area not still covered in snow. We headed up to a gorgeous viewpoint, through a forest bedecked with more wildflowers. It was about 6 miles round trip, with a lot of elevation gain.

 

We grabbed some lunch in Leavenworth and headed back to our campsite. We spent the afternoon hanging out by the lake -- paddleboarding, napping, wading, reading -- it was wonderfully relaxing.

And then Adrienne looked across the lake and said, "what's that? Can you hike it?" It turned out to be a hill named Dirty Face, and there was a hike up to a waterfall and viewpoint. We decided to eat an early dinner and go check it out, and were so glad that we did. Less than a mile from the trailhead, we found ourselves with this gorgeous little waterfall and these amazing views.

Back down the trail, back to the campground, with enough time for a sunset paddle. The water was so still and calm -- perfect.