Seaside

Out of nowhere, we got an invitation to share a beach house with the Van Dressers. Of course we said, "Yes and thanks!" and Friday after work hit the Sunset Highway, heading west. Seaside is a town that we haven't spent much time in, despite it being the closest coastal community to Portland. It's only maybe an hour away, if traffic is good. I did not expect traffic to be good on a Friday at 4:30, but it was by a miracle almost non-existent. Maybe everyone else heading for the beach had bugged out at noon.

We haven't spent much time in Seaside because it's kind of tacky and touristy -- gaming arcades, taffy parlours, shops selling ribald t-shirts, that kind of thing. But the house we were staying in (it belongs to a friend of Noah's), was at the south end of Seaside, which is just a lovely little beach community. The house was quirky and comfortable and only two blocks from the sand. It was equipped with a huge TV, a Mad Libs pad, and the game of Life -- all the essentials for a rainy weekend; but in fact the weather was perfect.  And for two evenings, we got to spend hours talking with other adults  -- man, I used to take that for granted!

We also went inland one day for some fishing, and the girls had great success. Elizabeth, who has always been very enthusiastic about angling, was this time a little worried about the feelings of the fish we were catching and releasing.

The Van Dresser boys are a little older than our kids -- they are 8 and 10, I think -- but they adapted to the very different energy of the Larrison girls (and vice-versa).

The ocean was so warm, that Barb and I swam in it for the first time since moving out here, in 1996.

Elizabeth, possibly exaggerating the size of the fish we were catching.

Suzanne and Noah, both on R&R. For Zeke, this is no time to relax: it's fish-catching time!

Elizabeth and Eli trying their luck off the dock.

Barb caught one! 

Block Party Five

Barb wasn't sure she even wanted to organize another block party. It always rains. Last year's wasn't as well-attended as she had hoped. It's a lot of work, and summer is already a busy time what with the kids out of school. But the neighbors asked her "When's the block party?" enough that her enthusiasm was renewed and she pulled it together in a short period of time.

It was worth the effort! (Although that's easy for me to say, given that my part of the set-up consisted of going to Dollar Tree to buy twenty helium balloons.) Turnout was pretty good, we met new neighbors from down the street, and Elizabeth bonded with a new friend.

Our most awesome neighbors, Heather and Jerry, brought wooden bird houses, paints and brushes for the craft table; last year they brought terracotta bird baths, glue, and a king's ransom in glass gemstones. Another neighbor responded to Barb's broadcast request to borrow a cornhole game by building one. What neighbors! What a neighborhood!

The fancy lads in Creston throw a block party by officially closing the street and inviting the fire department to hand out stickers to the kiddos. Here in Woodstock we just roll a garbage can with a hand-lettered sign to the end of the block and call it good.

Our next door neighbor Reed performing a feat of strength. My kid is the one wearing only underpants.

Magic Show

The other day Suzanne and I were hanging out, Elizabeth was at Lily-down-the-block's, and Barb was running an errand. Then Elizabeth, Lily, and Lily's dad showed up to invite us to a magic show.

Suzanne and I looked at each other in surprise. "Magic show?!" we said in unison.

A few minutes later, we sat in Lily's yard, transported to A World of Illusion!

Summer Camping

I guess I've been too busy with summer fun during the day, and too exhausted by summer fun during the evening, to blog much. (Also been working a lot.)

It's been a great summer so far, though worryingly hot and dry -- today it was 102 degrees when I left my office. We've done lots of camping, starting with the High Desert.

The Deschutes River in May -- maybe a little pre-Summer, but still. I tried swimming to that island in the picture, but was turned back by a dangerously swift current in a deep channel. That lone goose is deceptive -- there were lots and lots of geese and goslings.

This campground was awesome -- right on the river! -- except for the fact that it was carpeted in goose poop.

We camped again just by ourselves at Oxbow Regional Park on the Sandy River in mid-June. It was a lovely, quiet campground, and we had amazing adventures on the river. All four of us explored the wild, far side of the river, the girls on floaties and the adults swimming. The water was cold, but it was a hot weekend, so it was nice to be immersed in it. We explored an island and saw birds of prey, deer and a snake. On the way to the island, we split up, and when Elizabeth and I finally arrived, Barb and Suzanne had left a message for us in the sand, helping us to find them. Later, we split up again while Elizabeth and I followed a trail of unusual debris (a single large sandal, an odd shaped piece of plastic, a fragment of patio furniture) that suggested a mystery in need of solving. We failed to solve The Mystery of Snake Island, and when we got back to the beach we found Suzanne's floaty gone. And then Elizabeth discovered another message, scratched in the sand with a stick: "Gone to poop."

We saw this deer a lot. We saw more wildlife at Oxbow, which is less than an hour from town, than we normally do at places far more remote. 

That's Elizabeth in the hammock reading one of the Harry Potter books.

Then we camped with Aaron and Wendy and Lily and Kai at good old Rainbow Campground. We ended up in the same, exact spot -- Number 10 -- that we had occupied last year. I didn't bring my camera, thus no pictures of this particular camping trip.

It was hot and very dry at the campground, but we were on a creek that provided relief just by being near it. The water was icy, and there were no good swimming holes, but it was lovely to read a book beside or walk around in. After two camping trips with just the parents to play with, Suzanne and Elizabeth were thrilled to camp with other kids. They caught frogs and poked the fire and explored and played. Elizabeth and Lily slept two nights in a row in their own tent! I was amazed by this, seeing as how they are seven and six, respectively.

A few weeks later, we camped with Anson and Alder, whom we hadn't seen in nigh on two years. Two years! Crazy.

Elizabeth and Suzanne discovered that floaties make for luxurious camping furniture.

Barb and Suzanne reading in a hammock. We bought those hammocks in 1994 and they are still going strong.

Our friends.

What a rare pleasure to spend all evening talking with our adult friends. We didn't have to leave the party early to get the kids to bed.

This campground was new to both parties, and it was pretty nice. It is wedged between a state highway and a river, so there was white noise from both directions, but it was almost deserted (especially after the weekend, natch) and we found a sand and rock beach on a gorgeous swimming hole. The water was so deep and clear that you could dive into it with full confidence that you weren't going to bash your head on a submerged rock. The water was also so cold that I got a mild brainfreeze if I stayed under for more than 20-30 seconds.

There's one more camping trip coming up: Kingfisher in August. This will be, I think, the third year and it has somehow ballooned to something like nine families -- it'll be a lot of people, and should be a lot of fun.

And guess what happens the day following the week-long camping trip at Kingfisher, with the kids filthy, scratched, bruised, sunburnt, and wild-eyed from a diet consisting mostly of marshmallows: that's right, first day of school.