Memorial Day service at the Korean War Memorial

We spent a part of Memorial Day at the Korean War Memorial. It was a neat ceremony, where we heard from a Korean War veteran and a member of the Marines. The kids sat completely still and listening as the men in uniform addressed us.

There was a flag ceremony as well that the kids watched intently. A couple people came and commented on their reverence during the ceremony - it was a proud moment.

Afterwards, we had a picnic at Champoeg, complete with bikes, disc golf, hot dogs, and light sabers!

 

Shellburg Falls

Weekends like this are a reminder of why we love Oregon so much! We found a 3-mile hike in the Silver Falls area called Shellburg Falls. It was a short-ish distance, but a tall waterfall - totally worth the hike for the beautiful waterfall and just being in the sun

4T: Trail, Tram, Trolly, Train

With Dani out of town, Jared decided to take the kids on the 4T trail through Portland. We started at the zoo parking lot and started on the Marquam trail, going 1.3 miles through the woods towards Council Crest Park. All started the day in good spirits and ready for an adventure.

 

Council Crest Park is the highest point in Portland with views of Portland and Mt Hood.

From Council Crest, we headed towards OHSU, going 2.2 miles with a stop at Marquam Nature Park. The trail is so unique - you can see houses, but it really feels like it's in the middle of nowhere. 

Once at OHSU, we made our way to the overlook next to the tram, again offering incredible views of the Willamette Valley and the Willamette River. 

T#2 was supposed to be the aerial tram, but unfortunately, it was closed, so, we took a bus instead!

T#3 is "trolly," but unfortunately, the streetcar we planned on riding was ALSO closed! So, we took another bus to dinner. 

Dinner (not a T) was at Grassa (because I love that place!). The kids liked it (most of them did, at least).

T#4 worked! We took the train back to the Zoo exit.

It was certainly a tiring day, but it was memorable and totally worth it! What a fun crew!

Particle Man

One of our favorite events of the year is the Primary-sponsored ward talent show. There are always awesome acts. This year, we decided to go big - with a lip sync of Particle Man, by They Might Be Giants. The oldest 4 each got a character that fit their personalities perfectly. It was hilarious!

 

Kauai Day 6 - the final day

Our final day in the paradise of Kauai started with a run along the coast on the Maha’ulepu Heritage trail, but toward poipu beach (to the right this time). We packed up all our stuff and took it down to the storage area for the day and spent the day finally enjoying the resort amenities - we had been so busy exploring the island!

We read next to the lagoon (I finally finished my book) and swam in the pool, went down the waterslide, had lunch next the the pool (kalua pig nachos, onion rings, and a mango smoothie). Around 5 we went to shower in the group departure lounge and headed toward the airport. 

We had dinner at Haimura’s Saimin in Lihue (the only one’s there who were not locals), a funny cash only noodle house. We shared the Saimin Special and grilled chicken skewer. We got gelato at papalani gelato before returning our rental car.

It was a completly dreamy trip, and one we will remember forever

Kauai Day 5 - Hanakapiai falls and the Ka'anapali trail and Hanakapiai beach

We were going to go on a kayak and hiking excursion but it was cancelled due to high water. That turned out to be fortunate because we ended up going to the North shore to hike with Chad and Megan Moss. We hiked along the Na-pali coast on the Ka'anapali Trail to Hanakapiai beach and then up to Hanakapiai falls. The trail was windy as it went up and down along the coastal cliffs of the Na-pali coast. The vistas were stunning!

We arrived at Hanakapiai Beach, nestled in the coastal cliffs. There were a lot of people there, but the beach is large and 

One thing that was cool at the beach was all the rocks from the stream leading to the ocean. There were cairs that people had set up all over.

After the beach, we turned inland and followed the trail alongside the creek up toward the waterfall. The forest was lush! We passed by large bamboo groves and interestingly-shaped trees. There were many water crossings up to the falls.

 

We had a long preview of the falls as we hiked

We swam in the water by the falls and behind the falls. It was cold water but beautiful and so much fun. We spent a lot of time in the water, under and behind the falls. It was spectacular looking up at the falls from underneath it. We got a waterproof phone cover on a lanyard that came in helpful as we swam

 

The trail going to the beach and falls was muddy and a bit slippery and crowded to the beach. We hiked much faster on the way back and the trail after the beach was no longer muddy but it was pretty hot.

 

About a half mile before the trail ended we ran into a group helping a girl (Dominick) who had heat exhaustion and was being helped back to the trailhead. Jared helped to carry her to the end of the trail, starting off with a fireman's carry and then switching to piggyback (which worked much better). It was 5 different groups together in the end helping, all with some tie to Utah and most of them members of the church! 

The hike was 8 miles total (2 miles to the beach, 2 more to the falls and then back). It was a gorgeous hike, the water color is unreal!

We stopped in Wainiha (we would love to go back and spend some time here) on the way back for fish tacos (I had a bite of Jared’s since my stomach felt a bit better) and shave ice (pineapple, mango, passionfruit, with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom). When we got back to the resort we cleaned up and went to the farewell event luaoa. The food was good (kalua pig, poke, poi rolls, noodle salad with edamame, rice, huli huli chicken, etc…) There was also a fun photo booth in an old VW van for pictures. We were exhausted and slept after the luau.