Dalles Mountain Ranch hike

I had a two hour zoom meeting on Wednesday morning, one in which I was not expected to present or even speak, so I decided to use the time wisely. I opened the call on my phone and drove east along I84 into the Gorge. When the call ended, Jasper and I got out and hiked a beautiful 7-mile loop at Dalles Mountain Ranch. The balsamroot, lupines, and many other flowers were in prime spring bloom. It was pretty amazing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Presidents Cup

Seb's team is competing in an end-of-season tournament, the Presidents Cup. They play two games of pool play, and then the top two teams in each bracket move on to quarter-finals, which are single elimination. They tied their first game last weekend, 1-1, but then played on Saturday and won convincingly 2-0. Seb had a great game in midfield, pushing forward to assist the offense and then tracking back on defense. He had some really really nice forward passes to the strikers. The team as a whole looked really good and were fun to watch.

softball season

Liesl's spring softball season has kicked off -- she's on a team with all of her usual friends and teammates, including Fiona, Jane, Campbell, Millie, Chloe, and others. Steve decided to help out with coaching and is having fun working on hitting skills with the girls. Their first game was Wednesday night -- Liesl was the starting pitcher and pitched three really solid innings. She struck out a few batters and threw out a few at first base. She was also the leadoff hitter and made regular contact with the ball -- sadly, was thrown out at first base twice before getting a hit. Their second game was on Saturday and that was a little less successful. The other team was really hitting, and we were not, and our defense struggled a bit. Liesl mostly played shortstop, no pitching. The season runs through June, with multiple practices and games every week.

 

Thousand Acres dog park

Steve and I played hooky on Friday afternoon and took Jasper to the Thousand Acres dog park in Troutdale, an enormous state park property bordering the Columbia River. Jasper rambled and then romped in the river (actually a swampy area adjoining the river, not the river itself). It was gorgeous out.

Seb goes hiking

Seb asked me for a hike recommendation for Sunday -- he and two friends wanted to drive out into the Columbia Gorge and explore. I've been waiting and preparing for this moment for my entire parenting life!! I played it cool. I recommended Beacon Rock, which is less than a mile of switchbacks straight up to an overlook on the Columbia River, and then Hamilton Mtn, where there are cool waterfalls about a mile up. Both hikes start from the same parking lot on the Washington side of the gorge.

They were gone all day -- took snacks and sandwiches -- and had a great time. So awesome.

 

 

 

 

Easter Sunday

Easter arrived so early this year, at the end of our spring break. We were not entirely prepared for it, and had to scramble on Saturday to buy some chocolate bunnies and jelly beans and color some eggs. But then we had a lovely day -- a delicious breakfast spread and enough chocolate for all.

Thorns game

We went to the Portland Thorns soccer game on Saturday in the late afternoon, vs Louisville Racing. It was perfect weather -- 65 degrees, sunny, pretty amazing for March. A whole lot of Liesl's friends were also there, in the same section, so it was fun for her to hang out with them.

The Thorns went down a goal in the first minute, and then went down another goal in the 5th minute. So it was an awful start, and they spent the entire game trying to claw their way back into it. They dominated the possession but didn't have many good chances. Finally, they scored midway through the second half, and then they tied it in the 99th minute - in extra time! The crowd went wild. Such a fun ending.

 

Earlier in the day, Jasper and I joined Anja for a 5.5 mile run in Forest Park. The dog was pretty exhausted afterwards -- he lay under this tree for a few hours, sleeping.

And this was on Friday afternoon - he dropped a ball into this deep hole in a grassy field, and then crawled underground like a rat terrier in order to fish it out again. He was so proud and happy. He was covered in clay-like mud from bottom to top.