Summer – Part II
Sep 13
As if my last post wasn’t long enough.. here’s the rest of the story.. er… summer. Can you say busy?
The middle of July Eric and I headed up to Deer Lake, near Spokane, Washington for a wedding. It’s a long story but Israel and Penny are pretty much like family to us. Israel and Penny have triplets and a onelet all 6 or under. My mom has been there for them and their kids, since the kids were born. The kids even call my mom “grandma Crosier”. Gavin is Penny’s son and it was Gav
in’s wedding that we were going to attend. Israel and Penny have a cabin on Deer Lake that Gavin and Heather, his wife, decided they wanted to get married at. I don’t think I’ve even gone to a wedding on a lake before. I have to say this one was beautiful. Israel, Penny and Israel’s family did such an outstanding job getting it all looking beautiful. When Mom, Eric and I got there they were wrapping the trees with white lights. It looked gorgeous at night with all those lights. I have to say it was a lot of fun being there. I got to meet more of Israel’s family and get to know them better. I think the best was seeing everyone all dressed up. The boys in their tuxes and the girls in their dresses looked beautiful. I can’t wait for the next time we all go up to the cabin for another visit.
Helping Steph move and trip to Saturday market
Stephanie, a friend of mine and Eric’s has lived in downtown Portland since February. She lives in this great new apartment building, Cyan with her two black labs, Frodo and Kelly. I helped Steph move in and even helped build the many Ikea cabinets she used in the place. Early this summer, when the weather was nice, Steph, Eric and I hit the Portland Saturday market. I haven’t been down there in ages. In some ways the place hasn’t changed at all and in others, it’s not even the same place. In any case… we all had a great day there. Later on in the summer, we helped Stephanie pack up a pod with all of her things. She was moving to Austin, Texas. I have to say I was really bummed that she was moving, Steph and I get along great, but I was happy for her too. It’s always nice to turn the page in life and start a new chapter. Now she’s in Austin, loving it and enjoying her new job!
July Relay for Life
Trip to the cabin at Deer Lake
Every year in July Eric and I spend a week or so in Washington state visiting my mom and his parents. This summer it finally felt like a vacation. I think the thing that helped were the four days we spent at the cabin with Israel, Penny, my mom, and the kids. It was so totally relaxing and fun I couldn’t believe it. I think we’ll have to do that every summer. Eric and I went Kayaking, I’d never done that before, rode a jet ski, and went tubing. The tubing was super fun! We were on this huge tube thing you sit in and it had handles to hold on. I just have to say.. Eric fell off twice.. and he’s been tubing WAY more than I. Every day was so much fun. I loved paddle boating with the kids.. and just relaxing. One of the other fun things was when the kids were all on the paddle boat playing Pirate and drenching Eric and Israel as they were in the kayaks. It was so cute and fun. Everyone got soaked.. but had a good time at the same time. I love hanging out with the family!
July vacation to Washington
After the Relay for Life and spending time at the cabin.. the next stop was Ellensburg to visit Eric’s parents. It also happened that Bruce and Kathy, Eric’s aunt and uncle, were going to be in town too so we got to catch up with them too. We only spent a couple of days but it was really nice and relaxing. Eric go to go golfing with his dad out at some new resort area but Roslyn.. and Julie and I got to hit the quilt shop. OH, the picture, that’s Eric mom, uncle, and aunt. We’re sitting in some brew pub Eric found online in Ellensburg. I think that’s some sort of sample there on the table.
August mom’s trip with kids to Portland
After a great summer mom brought the little kids; Alex, Cade, Drake, and Gabriella for a log weekend. We had a great time together. We started out at the Portland Children’s Museum Friday morning. The kids love going there to play grocery store, the water stuff and the stage. This time there was a whole set about being a vet. Banfield provided much of it. The kids loved it, especially Alex and Gabriella. They were all over the place taking care of the dogs, looking at x-rays and well…. Being vets. The boys headed to the air ball toy with Eric and played with
that for a while. The last stop was the building area where there were tons of bins wife all sorts of things for e kids to use toiled a house or structure. I was a little nervous because they gave each one of e kids a hot glue gun, but the kids did great. Each of them made a structure they were proud of. While the kids were here we also hit the Portland zoo, the water fountain in Beaverton, yes, that’s Cade in the water. I think the best was the trip to “Pump It Up”. It’s an indoor location that has something like 6 bouncy structures. We all got to play on them, even the adults. It was a total blast! Going down the slides you got going super fast. I was glad that they had a stopper at the end otherwise us adults might have slid right off onto the floor. The kids had a blast there too. I think the best for them was when they turned on the music, turned off the lights and turned on the black lights and disco balls. I was so glad they had a blast and enjoyed themselves. I think mom needs to bring them down every summer. There are so many things to do and see for kids here in Portland!
Well, that was my summer. It was fun, it was busy, it was a lot of driving (thanks Eric).. but it was a blast! I can’t wait for next summer!
