Kate's First Summit

Time to log Kate's first mountain summit into the record books:
Tues. July 24, 2012
Tom, Dick & Harry Mountain
Elevation: 5,066 ft.

Ok, so she might have had a sherpa, but we won't tell if you won't.

Logging some family time

We concluded our "girls weekend of fun" with a trip to Corvallis on Sunday to see Craig and Bridget.  On the agenda: short hike to Alsea Falls and Craig's softball game.  Quite a nice little Sunday.

Pickin' the Blues

B was out of town last weekend shooting a wedding in Nebraska so I took six days off from work to hang out with Kate. Yay for girl time! We started our "girls weekend" off right with some blueberry picking on Sauvie Island with the Lodge ladies.

It was more like baby wrangling than blueberry picking, but we had a great time. Julia and I managed to make it home with about five pounds of berries each as well as three dirty, berry-stuffed little girls.

Kate Movie Wednesday

She can't seem to get away from that other baby.

Kate Movie Tuesday

Her feet were made for walking.

Team Hoybook

Ahhhhhh, summer.

You may have noticed something a bit off about the last three posts--yeah, you guessed it, the sunshine.  Well folks, summer arrived in Portland on July 5th, right on time, and we haven't looked back.  Bring on the 80 degree, no humidity, cools off at night, sun-shiny summer days!

I still contend that this town is crazy though.  Friday's high was in the upper 80's (a positively glorious day) and person after person came into the store and complained about how hot it was outside. Reason #4 why this town is nuts.

Reasons #1 through #3: here, here and here.

A family that bikes together...

Kate gave her new chariot a spin on Sunday on the Marine Drive pathway along the Columbia River.  She gives it two thumbs way up.

The Eugene Experience

In keeping with tradition, two more of our good friends left Portland this past spring--Dacia and Ryan moved to Eugene in March. *sigh*  They just get added to the list of "people who used to live here that we now miss tremendously".

However, the bright spot is that Eugene is only about two hours south on the 5, so we can still see them.  Hot-diggity!  Dacia and I finally got all four of our schedules to mesh last weekend and we spent Saturday experiencing the sights of Eugene.

Kate wastes no time getting Dacia wrapped around her finger.

Oh, and Ryan too.

Cheers to good friends and sunny weather!

Kate celebrates our independence

Oh, the Fourth of July. One of my favorite holidays. I really, really love fireworks. I'm guessing Kate is probably not a fan. When I finally realized (or rather, admitted) that fireworks and a baby that goes to sleep at 8pm don't really mix, I wasn't sure what to do with our day. Darn and shoot. What to do?

Head to downtown Lake O for the Fourth of July parade!  I figured since it involved three of Kate's absolute favs--kids, dogs and people--it would be a hit, but all our little firecracker really wanted to do was play with the stroller. She's an easy one to entertain folks.  The parade is really just a bunch of people walking down the street with their kids so it was a little lacking on the action-meter, but it was fun to be out with the crowd and see all of the patriotic spirit.

Next on the schedule was a fun-filled afternoon over at the Lodge's with the other kiddos that go to bed before it gets dark.

Kate LOVES independence!

(After tucking K away into bed, I realized that you can still have your fireworks and your sleeping baby because Regis hosts the Macy's Fourth of July Spectacular on TV. Hooray for east coast time and fireworks on the Hudson River!)  

Kate Movie Tuesday

And just like that, she walks.