sunshine and snow days

We enjoyed a gorgeous 'blue bird' day up at Mount Hood Meadows last week.  Sunshine and snow (not the best,  but just good enough - although it has heaps now) and such blue skies. Great skiing and the kids got to try out a couple of new runs.  Loving it.

No filter or adjustments were made to this blue sky!  So lucky.

And today is a Snow Day.  Schools are closed around here.  Snow started late yesterday morning and continue until well into the night  The kids could hardly wait to get outside after breakfast today and had made plans with neighbors and school friends for a sleding gathering.  They have been outside sleding and playing for hours today.  As the afternoon ended, they came in for a movie, popcorn and anything else they could find to eat!  More snow has been falling since late afternoon and will continue all night. Blustery and heavy.  Looks like our weekend will involve a lot of fun outdoors, followed by hot chocolates and gluhwein and cosy evenings in by the fire. Feels almost Christmassy (apart from no tree!).

Happy snow weekend.

up up and away

We started the weekend with a visit to the Oregon International Airshow.

Friday was the opening evening.  On a gorgeous sunny day, the blue sky was a perfect backdrop to the amazing flying skills of the pilots and their magnificent planes.  Incredible speeds and displays, stunts, parachutes, the Patriots, the US Armed Forces, and at the end of the evening a fabulous fireworks display.  The whole evening was filled with Ooooohs and Ahhhhhs!

Luca loved talking to all the super patient, polite and highly knowledgeable armed forces members, who answered his every question (and hundreds of similar ones for excited boys) and let him climb into tanks and hold their artillery.

Here's a few of my favourite photographs taken by the Huzz of those magnificent men and women in their flying machines.

Chocks Away!

3 in a boat

Our most recent purchase, a canoe!

Here she is on her maiden voyage last week, when we had sunshine, blue sky and a lake that was beautifully still and quiet.

And a very friendly Salamander found by Luca!

No 'man overboard' (although I have no doubt that will happen at some point!).

X X X

it's snow time!

We had a great family Sunday snow tubing at Mount Hood Ski Bowl.

Up and out by 7.45am.  Breakfast bagels and coffee on the way.

Snow time by 9.45am.  A great way to start Sunday.

Even Harvey came along to play.

 

Tired and rosy cheeked kiddos returned home!

Hope you had a great weekend.

autumn camping weekend

Whatever you may call it.... Autumn, Fall, Herfst ..... it's arrived!  Chilly mornings and evenings with that distinct autumnal smell in the air, but still lucky enough to have blue skies and sunshine during the day.  Love it!  Can't wait for all beautiful colours of the trees in the coming weeks.

This weekend we had, probably, our last camping trip for this year (yes we are much better at fair weather camping than damp chilly and wet days out in the wilderness!).  And what a glorious weekend it was.

This time we headed up to Clear Lake at Mount Hood, OR, only about 2hrs driving, even at Friday evening 'rush hour'.  Still, the light had almost gone whilst we set up camp, fumbling around with tent pegs, getting a roaring fire ablaze, warming toes, keeping one eye on the kiddos running around with their head torches on throught the trees.

View from my chair whilst enjoying the sunshine and my glass of Pinot!

(well, someone's gotta do it!)

So much planning and packing goes into just a couple of nights away - and so much stuff!  We are not campers that pack light!  Even more thought seems to go into what we'll eat!

Our two family camp had made banana bread, two focaccia loaves, chilli con carne and pulled pork.  We of course had the obligatory hot dogs, s'mores and bacon and eggs.  And our trusty 12 cup Bialetti espresso coffee pot came along too - gotta have that first cup of the day around an early morning campfire.

A little hike (in the loosest sense of the word!) up to Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, to admire the wonderful clear view was about as strenuous as it got!  And then Saturday afternoon we took our chairs down to the lake and the mums and dads relaxed in the gorgeous sunshine with a glass of Pinot Noir, whilst the kiddos built rock walls, climbed old trees, paddled and played - there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

 View from Timberline Lodge, to what I believe is Mount Jefferson

Hope you had a fabulous weekend.

home from camp

Just back from another camping trip.  I think we might have caught the camping bug!

Once again we stayed at the Nehalem Bay State Park campsite, right next to the wonderful Manzanita beach.  This makes for a fabulous location - beach walks, skim boarding, playing on the gorgeous sand.  As well as all that the State Park has to offer - a kids program with activities and fun run by the Park Rangers, playground, horse riding, bike riding, hiking.  Never a dull moment!

This trip we went with friends = 4 kids, two mums and our lovely Dutch friend and babysitter visiting us.   There was a lot a fun, warm weather, lots of s'mores, hotdogs, sitting around campfires, running around the campsite and playground, a few arguments between the kids  (but nothing that 15 minutes 'alone time' didn't sort out!), lots of scraps and bruises from climbing trees and making dens!   All those good things about being outdoors that made the kiddos not want to come home this afternoon.

Here are a few scenes from the past four days.

Hope you're having a fab summer.  Already we are heading towards week 6 or 12!

rodeo style

What a fun 4th we had at the St Paul Rodeo.

Rodeo - Carnival - Fireworks - Doughnuts - Ribs - Corn

Red, white, blue - Flags - Music

Fun - Fun - Fun

The Huzz and I took hundreds of photographs,

which will keep my little blog busy for a while!

First up is the headgear!

Yee Haa Cowboys!

Hope you enjoy!

corner view 'animal'

Thank you Dana for the first of a 3 week CV theme - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.

Sunday morning we spent a couple of hours at the Oregon Zoo.  We have an annual family membership which is great to pop in anytime we feel like and visit specific areas and animals, rather than trying to see everything at once.  My kiddos love to see the penguins, the wild pigs and the bats!

The first animal you come across is this fabulous moutain goat.  Look at that fur coat - how thick and soft it looks.

There were also two very majestic lions lazing around - rarely do you see them do much more!

I have mixed feelings about zoos - they provide an opportunity for us to view and study wonderful animals we ordinarily would never come across, and prevent many from becoming extinct.  However,  its heartbreaking to see the some of the larger animals going slowly out of their minds with boredom in environments so alien to their natural habitat - the polar bears, elephants and brown bears always seem the most affected.

Corner View ws started by Jane and is now hosted by Francesca.

camp america!

This past weekend we had our first family camping trip.  A whole stash of 'necessary' camping gear was purchased in preparation (well we weren't exactly going into the wilds!) - everything from tent to washing-up bowl, from camping chairs to s'mores supplies!  We had all the gear and hopefully some idea!  The kiddos were beyond excited in the days leading up.

The Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon has a great campsite set right next to a fabulous beach with sand dunes, beach grasses, lots of sun bleached driftwood and miles and miles of sand - perfect.

A mix bag of weather was forecast, but we were lucky to get just a light shower of rain on Sunday morning (before we staggered bleary eyed out of the tent at 7.30am - this was a late start compared with the extremely early 5.45am waking by Ruby on day one!).

S'mores, hotdogs, steak with mushrooms and onions, pots of coffee and even scrambled eggs and bacon were all skillfully cooked on our campfire and little one burner stove.  And of course sitting around a roaring fire with a glass of red wine in hand is a great way to end a day in the outdoors.

Savouring the delights of s'mores!

Wind and sand in her hair!

Beach life.

Off to the beach on Friday evening.

Ripples in the sand.

Discarded flipflops in the dunes.

Grass and blue skies.

rock pooling and a haystack

What child doesn't like paddling around in rockpools?  Looking for crabs, shrimps and fish. Watching the anenomes waving their arms.  Searching for shells.  Finding gorgeous starfish with big fat legs in red, green and bluey colours.

My kiddos, stripped back to their swim shorts and bikin bottoms in January on the Pacific NW (I know, it makes me shiver thinking about it), spent hours paddling around in rockpools, carching shrimp and gently (kind of) poking anenomes, on Sunday afternoon.  And yes, their feet were blue by the end of it!

With skies the brightest blue and sunshine the whole day (although still very chilly) we headed to one of our favourite beaches -  Cannon Beach.  This gorgeous coastline is just 1 hr 20 mins drive from our new home.  The journey is also a huge part of the enjoyment in heading to the coast as you pass through such beautiful landscapes - farms, orchards and then dense forest, all the way to the coast.  And there in the ocean waiting to greet you, sits the magnificent Haystack Rock, along with a long wide stretch of fine pale gold sand.

Oh how I would love live in one of these beach view homes.  To wake up each morning with such a beautiful view.  Brisk walks on the beach.  A dip in the ocean (when it was just a bit warmer of course), and sitting watching the weather roll in from far out in the Pacific.  Dream Dream!