A Close Call

We were getting all ready for our trip to Cincinnati, and after dinner, we ran our dishwasher. After a few hours, we started smelling an unfamiliar odor, and we realized that it was coming from the dishwasher, where, when we opened it, we realized that the heating element was stuck on high heat, melting plastics that were in the dishwasher. We had to turn it off at the circuit breaker, let it cool, then take the melted plastic out. There was plastic even sitting on the heating element!

Normally, with an early flight the next morning, we would have run it in the morning and just left. We felt lucky to have swapped our normal schedule so we avoided what would have otherwise likely been a disaster.

Summer fun

Summer brings lots of fun activities - we absolutely love Oregon!

Apple Cider doughnuts at Lee Farms

Strawberry picking. The strawberries this year are right on Boeckman Road!

Playing at the water features at Wilsonville's parks

Riding our bikes to get Jamba Juice

Enjoying the incredible flowers while on walks

Sunday walks at Graham Oaks Nature Preserve

Disc Golf in Wilsonville, Newburg, or Champoeg

More strawberries

Blackberry picking

and raspberry picking

and more raspberry picking

and more berry picking with friends

and Sunday walks through the Xerox campus

and peach picking

and more disc golf!

 

When it gets too hot, the Oregon coast is calling

The Willamette Valley was forecast to be HOT, so we decided to head out to the coast for a hike and some beach time. 

We went to the Cape Lookout hike. It was a challenging hike (5 miles, round trip). For the last mile or so near the end, it was full of roots and was a little wet. 

Cape Lookout is a point on a peninsula, a few miles out from shore, that overlooks and offers incredible views of the Oregon coast. The blue ocean and blue skies are incredible!

The beach that it overlooks is the beach of Camp Clark and Camp Meriwether, 2 Boy Scout camps right on the coast. Precoa has held events there a couple times.

 

Torin rode with Jared most of the way and was a great hiking partner.

Liam was not as much in the mood to hike most of the hike. He kept saying "I hate this!" and asking when it would be done - until we got to the roots that offered what he felt was a fun adventure. By the end of the hike, he liked hiking again.

 

Afterward, we went down to Pacific City, which was more busy than we wanted, so we went to a new place for us, Tierra del Mar, just north of Pacific City, where we could drive out and park on the beach. We enjoyed kit flying, sand castle building, reading and relaxing, throwing balls, finding shells, and all the things we love doing on the beach. It was a long, full day, but we absolutely loved it!

 

Where'd Kate's teeth go???

It seems that Kate loses a tooth every other week - she's missing 7 now!!

Let Summer Begin

It was a big week - Kate and Liam finished preschool at Valley Christian

and Jacob and Claire finished elementary school at Lowrie.

It's been a great school year, and next school year the kids will all be at different schools.

But first, let's summer!

Classic Father's Day

These two pictures sum up Jared as a dad and his relationship with his kids.

Tiny Torin Turns Three

Our little Torin turned 3 today! We were happy to have a beautiful warm day, so we celebrated his birthday going to the Korean War Memorial Park and playing in the water fountain - he loves doing that! The kids love chasing each other around and spraying each other with water guns.

We celebrated there with cake

and then presents at home.

Some of the things Torin loves:

He LOVES dressing up! Whether it is Spiderman, Elsa, or a unique combination of costumes, almost every day, he is dressed up.

He is a daddy's boy. "No, Daddy do it!" is one of his most frequently used sayings.

He LOVES stuffed animals - and somehow accumulates them by just going to stores (like the bunny from Anthropology or the Ewok from Disney World). He has to have them pile on top of himself whenever he gets into bed.

He is loved by everyone in our family!