end of summer

We have had a sweet last weekend of summer break - Sebastian's first soccer games of the season, two happy kids playing sweetly together, a family library visit, a 5-mile hike in the Gorge, and ice cream at Salt and Straw.  (In some respects, sadly, our summer ended with a whimper - widespread grouchiness, extensive to-do lists, a return of the lice, hot weather and a broken AC, poor Seb super sad to be at camp by himself....)

 

This was a complicated secret spy fort that they constructed in the garage.

A capture-the-flag setup, drawn in chalk on the street.

Sebastian is playing on the Forest Heights Eagles recreational team again this fall, with many of his school friends, and he's delighted. This year, they're finally playing with proper-sized goals, 7 players, a goalie, and a larger field, and it's great to see the boys out there expanding their play. They played two half-games on Saturday morning, won one and lost one, Seb played defense during one game and offense during the other. He was a little rusty in the beginning - kept immediately kicking the ball into empty space rather than passing or dribbling - but by the second game he'd calmed down and remembered his skills.

Today we woke up and hustled out the door - got bagels and coffee from Spielman's Bagels and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge to hike Angel's Rest. It's a 5-mile hike up to a gorgeous lookout, and the day was perfect. We started about 8:30 am and made our way mostly uphill, over some steep sections and rockslides, to the lookout.

 Ack! Disappearing Seb!

 Sebastian pretending to be scared of the hike -

 A Sebastian selfie.

 Can't decide which family photo I prefer... so I will post both for now!

We drove back into Portland for lunch at Bollywood Theater and a brownie-chocolate ice cream-hot fudge sundae at Salt & Straw. Yum!!

We stopped by the library to restock everyone's piles and then came home to nap - read - ride bikes outside - run through the sprinklers - enjoy the sunshine and the end of summer.