Back To School

On August 29th, the kids started their first day of Kindergarten! They were excited to see some of their old friends and meet new ones. The first day was really a 3 hour introduction followed by a family picnic at the school field.


We had a great time getting to know the kids' teacher, principal and other parents.

We are officially back in the swing of things. You can check out the photo's here.

Sunriver v2.0: August 12 - August 18, 2007

We just returned from a very enjoyable week down at the Sunriver cabin...our mission this time: To RELAX! We did a pretty good job of it; I buzzed through the Anthony Bourdain book Kitchen Confidential, and spent countless hours pouring through my Rick Steves' Europe books and DVD's. Ro enjoyed sitting out in the sun (yes, it was a perfect 82 degrees every day-a nice break from the ho-hum summer we've had in Portland) and went through her entire magazine collection pulling out the valuable 'bits'.

We rented bikes one day and tooled out near the river, the stables and around Sunriver. Zach and his friend James hung out at the pool and went to the teen dance, and had a great time as well.

Some of the most enjoyable time was actually spent outside of Sunriver:

On Monday, we took a drive out past Mt. Bachelor to take a look at some of the lakes surrounding it. Our first stop was Todd Lake, a little 1 mile hike around its perimter, offering picturesque views of Mt. Bachelor and Broken Top. Once you enter the lake area, the trail follows the edge of the lake until about 1/2 way across, when you reach a semi-marshy meadow, full of baby frogs and wildflowers.

After enjoying Todd Lake, we drove down the road and spent a 'little' time at Sparks Lake and Devils Lake. Neither have the hiking opportunities offered by Todd Lake, but are good to see nonetheless. You can take a look at our photo's of the Todd Lake hike by clicking here or watch the video:



Perhaps one of the highlights of our side trips came with a visit to Smith Rock State Park. I'd always heard about this place where climbers go to scale mountains, but I didn't realize that there were some great family hiking opportunities here until I read about it in some of my Oregon trail guides.

We paid the $3 to park here (well worth it), and started our hike down the entry hill to get down to the footbridge crossing the Crooked River. Once we crossed the bridge, we continued along the River Trail for about a mile and caught a great view of not only The Rock, but some hikers scaling it's face. As I said in the video, I don't think camera's give this place justice...this is one worth seeing in person. Check out the photo's here, or watch the Smith Rock video:

One note to visitors to Sunriver: The only disappointment came in discovering the way Sunriver charges for their 'entertainment'. $72 to rent 2 rickety bikes for a day (included tag-a-long attached 1/2 bikes for the kids)...nearly $100 for Zach and James to go on a less-than-one-hour rafting trip. Not huge money, but too much for what you get. We'll be bringing our own outdoor entertainment from now on we think.

Our 'relaxation' vacation this year was very, well relaxing...We always enjoy our trips to Central Oregon and are especially excited to be sharing some adventures outside of the resort.

Sunriver Vacation: July 3 - July 8th, 2007

We headed down to the Sunriver cabin right after work on Tuesday, July 3rd and had a great extended 4th of July holiday. This post will outline some of the highlights:

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
On the evening of the 4th, we cruised up to the base of Pilot Butte in Bend and had a great time watching the amazing fireworks display. We parked in a church parking lot at the base of Pilot Butte and literally had the fireworks show right above our heads. We may be making this a family tradition! Below is a clip of the kids and the fireworks grand finale.



Thursday, July 5th, 2007
Today was Ro's birthday! We drove up to Mt. Bachelor to take the chairlift up to the summit. We were disappointed when we arrived as they weren't running visitors to the top, just up the first chairlift (about 2/3 the way up). It was beautiful nonetheless.

After Bachelor, we went to dinner at a place called Anthony's in Bend. It was ridiculously overpriced and we weren't overly impressed with our meals. I guess our idea of dinner with the kids is more enjoyable when it costs less than a Benjamin. All in all, I think Ro had a great 29th birthday. Hee Hee!

Friday, July 6th, 2007
One of the highlights today was our trip out to the Lava Cast Forest. The brochure describes The Lava Cast Forest as "a fascinating living museum of volcanic landscapes. Lava Cast Forest Geologic Area, established in 1942 by USDA Forest Service, envelops an area of approximately five square miles...Newberry Volcano, located to the southeast, erupted [6,000 years ago] along a series of fissures...sending smooth-textured pahoehoe lava onto the surfae through many vents located along the fissures."

Put more simply, the volcano erupted, the lava flowed around the trees and left holes, or casts of where the bases of the trees once stood. The one mile walking trail covers just a small portion of this geologic area. This was a very interesting area.

Watch the Video:


Saturday, July 7th, 2007
We had a pretty full day on Saturday. We started out the day by driving 12 miles down Road 21 to Paulina Creek Falls & Paulina Lake. Paulina Creek Falls is set of double 60 foot tandem waterfalls. There's a nice trail before and after the falls which made it an enjoyable little day hike with the kids. Watch the Paulina Creek Falls Video:

After exploring Paulina Falls and the adjacent big lake with the same name, we pushed on further down the road until we ran across Big Obsidian Flow. Big Obsidian is another geologic wonder that is part of the Newberry Caldera Area. At 1300 years old, it is the youngest lava flow in Oregon.

It was quite a hike to the top (for Rochelle and I that is). It was worth the work...the view was amazing. The kids have been doing great on these hikes. We think we might be ready for our first overnight backpacking trip as a family. Watch the Obsidian Video:



Sunday, July 8th, 2007
We headed home at around noon on Sunday and were home late afternoon. We're heading back to the cabin the week of August 13th...we're very much looking forward to 'unplugging' again!

Little Crater Lake Hike

On Sunday, July 1st, we took the kids up to one of my favorite spots from my Scouting days - Little Crater Lake. Although small by lake standards (less than 100 feet across), the lake is ice-cold and amazingly clear...you can see all the way to the bottom - 45 feet down.

To get to the lake, we walked a couple hundred yards through a great meadow, filled with wildflowers and wildlife. We spent a few minutes looking at the lake and then followed the trail to an entry point of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). We walked about 3/4 of a mile out from there and then turned around. According to our maps, you can follow the PCT along the side of Timothy Lake and either continue on, or connect to the Timothy Lake trail that takes you all the way around. Maybe another day :)

Located on Mt. Hood about 10 miles from Timothy Lake (elev. 3300 feet), this is a great day hike you can do with the kids. We highly recommend this spot and will return soon.

Watch the Video:

Noah & Audrey's 5th Birthday

We can hardly believe that it's been 5 years since we brought these babies into the world. They had a great 5th birthday. We had two parties this year, a family party and a friends party. We hosted the family at our house and had a great time with the kids. Click Here to see photo's of the family party.

Noah & Audrey particularly enjoyed their 'friends party' at Sunburst Gymnastics. At Sunburst, they run the kids through obstacle courses, tumbling and all sorts of other exercise-related activities. They had a great time playing with all of their pre-school friends.

Watch the Friends Party:

St. John's Jog-A-Thon: April 18th, 2007

Noah & Audrey both did a tremendous job at this year's school Jog-A-Thon fundraiser. Special thanks to those who were able to support the kids' efforts this year. Both of them ran over 2 miles and got some great exercise. You can check out the photo's here, or view the video: