Finished DIY cornhole set! Complete with lights to play when the light gets low. On request from Kelly, painted to match the house!
Hunter floated the river tonight with our church youth group. The floated ended at the Starling's home for bbq and outdoor fun.
The boys had fun with Pappie today making cornhole sets. The kids love to play this. It was a fun day of male bonding!
Tonight we went to the Bend Elks game. Good end to a hot day.
Spent a nice Saturday evening down at the Sunriver resort watching them float some balloons for a night glow. (They cant actually launch them at night but they really look pretty lighting up)
Notice PJ working hard for the camera
To say that our summer has been busy would be an understatement. We have had lots of guests and have played a lot outdoors in beautiful Bend. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because we get to live in this wonderful place where people come to vacation.
Pappie arrived yesterday evening and we couldn't be happier to see him. The kids are enjoying every minute so far talking his ear off and just being silly.
We spent the day hanging out and visiting. We took a ride up to our ski hill, Mt. Bachelor. We rode up the ski lift, walked around and enjoyed the beautiful views, while still managing to throw a snowball or two.
We ended the day celebrating Pappie! Happy birthday, Pappie.... We love you!!!
Watch the video of Jennifer's family visiting us in Bend.
What a FUN week we all had. Memories were made and cousins bonded. We had a special time together.
Tonight we went with Jen, Dylan, Eric, and Shelly to See Jack Johnson at the amphitheater in Bend. Great concert!
Hunter reached a new high point this weekend by reaching the summit of South Sister - 10,358 ft! It took us 9 hours car to car including a nice lunch on the summit. The hike is 11.8 miles and gains 4,878 ft of elevation from the trailhead to summit. While not technical, it is a tough hike! I am really proud of him, and he is super excited about the accomplishment. The original plan was to train over the summer and maybe try it before it starts to snow again but he decided he would give it a go sooner and it went great.
This is my 3rd time up there. First time was in 2011 with Red. Second time was in August 2014 with some people from where I worked at that time. This year, for mid July, there was a lot of snow still on the mountain at pretty low elevations. I had hunter practice some ice axe techniques on the mid mountain snow fields where it was steep enough you didn't want to slide a long way, but also not any risk of injury. The snow also made for some fun on the descent!
This first set up shots is from where we broke out of the forest to a point on the mid mountain snowfields were we stopped for a snack.
These shots are from the upper snow fields where Hunter has the ice axe up to a sandy saddle at 8850 with a beautiful cirque lake at the base of the Lewis glacier. The video is from the way down but taken from right around the saddle area.
From here the climb gets steeper util you get to the crater rim. You can see from the shots the cirque lake getting smaller and smaller as we climb.
Some shots from the summit! First is of Hunter actually on the highest point.
On the way down we stopped at the saddle and went down to get a better view of the cirque lake at 8850ft. Notice Hunter in the top of the first shot walking down to give you an idea of scale.
Some fun sliding on the way down. When there is snow the way down is much faster than the way up. It took us over 5 hours to summit and we were down in a little over 3.
Noah has officially entered the double digits. I can hardly believe he is this old already. We usually do a family party for birthdays but at 10 they can have a fun party with friends. Noah invited his friends to come with us to The Sharc. It's a fun outdoor swimming pool with water slides in Sun River. The weather was hot so it made for a perfect afternoon to celebrate Noah. We love you Noah and are so proud of the young man you are becoming.
