Hunter floated the river tonight with our church youth group. The floated ended at the Starling's home for bbq and outdoor fun.
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.
Each year starting at age 6, I get the kids a special gift on their 'journey to manhood' (slightly different for Abbie :).
This year for Hunter turning 12 and we got him a watch to symbolize a year/time of transition from boy to teenager over the next 12 months. Next year's birthday is a symbolic year on the journey.
Hunter turned 12 today. Hard to believe he is this old. It seems like just yesterday he was born. We went as a family to Sun River to a virtual reality place where the kids got to play. Hunter had his friend Nathan from school come along. It was a great afternoon for a birthday celebration.
Thank you Hunter for being such a gift to us. Thank you for making us parents. We love you Hunter!!
Hunter received the character trait of "Responsibility" in chapel this morning. We are very proud of him. Well done Hunter.
Hunter wants to be a pilot when he gets older. At winter fest there was an air national guard display and Hunter got to put on the helmet of a fighter jet pilot!
Today was the downtown Bend Christmas parade. Hunter was in the parade with a friend from school. His friend's grandfather has an old Ford hot rod truck that the boys got to ride in. Hunter had a great time.
Hunter loves to draw and sketch things. His latest is drawing the characters from the book Harry Potter.
Hunter turns 11 on Tuesday, May 3rd and we celebrated it early while LuLu was visiting. After all, it's not everyday your grandma gets to be here on your birthday. Hunter invited two friends to come with our family horseback riding.
Hunter has really taken off reading this year and it is hard to get him to put down a Harry Potter book. Most of his gifts had to do with something related to Harry Potter. Lulu and Papa got him the complete set of the Harry Potter series. He is so excited to read them. Hunter has read the first book and is now almost finished with the second one. Horseback riding along with a Harry Potter themed party made for a great birthday celebration.
The boys swam their hearts out at their last meet.
