Seb’s summer

Seb and his friends have spent the last two days at Hagg Lake, swimming and paddleboarding and hanging out. 

 

Other summer adventures: tennis (Seb and Cason have grand plans to win the state doubles championship); soccer training at Lincoln, playing spike ball, so much food, and so much hanging out. It's good to be 17.

2 am Taco Bell

Seattle vs PSG in Seattle

New camera/videography setup

 

PCU Classic soccer tournament - first tourney with the 2008 boys, and they won. 

Mount Margaret hike

Anne and I hiked to the top of Mount Margaret, in the backcountry surrounding Mt St Helen's. We started at the Norway trailhead and followed the Boundary trail to the peak -- 11 miles round trip, with 2800 feet of elevation gain. We had the most glorious day - 78 degrees and sunny. From the top we could see St Helens and Spirit Lake, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, Mt Adams, and Mt Rainier. There were so many wildflowers in the meadows, all the way along the trail; foxglove and fireweed, lupine, paintbrush, beargrass, and more. It was a wonderful hike day together.

 

 

 

first glimpse of Mt Adams

 

Spirit lake, formed when St Helen's erupted and blocked a stream. And the crater of St Helen's, looming large.

 

You can see our trail snaking its way across the saddle and up the ridgeline.

Beargrass is my favorite. Dr. Seuss flowers.

The final, sandy/dusty hike up to the summit.

Mt Rainier to the north.

With Adams in the clouds behind me.

fields of lupine, purple as far as you could see

movie game

Seb came up with a game earlier this week: everyone had to pick their 10 favorite movies, with 5 runners-up, and submit them (for printing). And then we took turns presenting and defending. It was really fun.

In related news, we watched Rogue 1 together and are now watching the first Star Wars movie, from 1977. The kids have never seen them. It's very fun. 

Seb

Liesl

 

 

Steve

 

Bri 

another water leak

Sadly, we are dealing with another leaking pipe in our home. Our neighbor texted us on Friday to say that there was water seeping in her front hall, and to please check our unit. Sure enough, we found evidence of water damage and mold on the shared wall in our garage. So we called the HOA and they sent contractors, who started opening up holes in our garage and kitchen walls to find the leak. They found the source, fortunately - a pipe running from Liesl's bathroom down through the wall behind our kitchen cabinets, and down through the garage. The pipe has now been repaired and we have giant blowers drying out the walls and posts. We moved all of our kitchen supplies out of the cupboards -- absolutely everything -- and stacked them around the house and on the back deck. Sigh.