The Summer of Backpacking: Siltcoos Lake Trail
The Husband has been excited all year about this summer, and to an outsider it could look just like any other summer- but to our family it is known as 'The Summer of Backpacking'. The boys have been admiring the dream of camping, packing in, and fishing all throughout the rainy and cold winter Oregon months. The time has now just come so at the first hint of good weather we set out to conquer (or admire if that makes you nervous) the great outdoors.
For more photos go to my Nature Adventures Flicker set
Did you go backpacking as a kid? Any good memories to share? What plans do you have outside this summer?
A Day at the Oregon Coast
A day at the beach here in Oregon means something very cold, windy and completely beautiful wrapped into an adventure unlike any other. However, because of the weather conditions the coast is something I enjoy admiring a little better from inside a cozy blanket, warm car, or beach house with some tea. Yet sometimes we all venture out and enjoy the blustery beauty for a couple minutes before racing back to a readied car.
On this last trip we discovered Julius is also a lover of the Oregon Coast- even lapping up the sea water when we weren't looking. It was dog and boy heaven and only the parents were begging for the end to come so we could warm up again.
I could stare at the ocean for hours, paint, sing, play guitar. The ocean is inspiration, the pure creation of God- its massiveness, that all amazes me.
Model Train Show: A Dream for Kids of All Ages.
During the holidays we got to visit the Corvallis Society of Model Engineers. These stinkin' sweet grandpops take their model trains super seriously and we got to reap the benefits! This place has been around since 1959 and it is very neat to watch the men up in the booths with their headsets on communicating to each other and using "railroad slang". It was almost as neat to watch them play with the trains via commands as watching the actual trains come and go all around us- nearly, but not quite. The boys were fascinated by everything, the smallness of it all and loved looking at all the miniature buildings, cranes, bridges and farm houses. It was the perfect thing to do with the boys. Thank you Grandma Canfield for taking us!
And we did finally spot the highly anticipated Spiderman Train. We looked everywhere and then just broke down and asked.
Master in Strategic Communication
Brad has been working for two years on a Masters in Strategic Communication at the Turnbull Center (belonging to the University of Oregon) up in Portland. We are thrilled it is over. Driving up twice a week for classes, working all day then studying at night, working on projects and a thesis is not nearly as fun as it sounds.
A couple of weekends ago we scrambled to get the boys out of bed at a severely ugly hour in order to get Brad to his graduation ceremony. After we went to the corner cafe in Brownsville, Oregon with the family, it is one of our favourite unknown-but-should-be-known spots.
What's next? Well, we'll get to that. We're going to enjoy the completion of this step for a second though.
Commencement
School of Journalism and Communication
Saturday, June 13th, 2009
McArthur Court
University of Oregon
Ellyn Nealon, my sis-in-law gets full credit for the pictures with me in them. (Thanks Ellyn!)
For more pictures of this event visit my flickr album: Brad's Masters Graduation University of Oregon
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