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
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.
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.
We decided to try and float a section of the Deschutes that was a little less busy than the old mill area in Bend... but also unknown to us other than a recommendation. After researching google earth, the plan was to put in near Tumalo (just downriver of Tumalo state park) and then take out a a place called Twin Bridge downriver.
Overall, it was a fun float. A little shallow in spots where you were hitting rocks on the bottom. Twin bridge is too far though... a good 2.5+ hours and there are a couple of rapids that are maybe a little too 'exciting' for 'float rafts'. In retrospect, I would have taken out at the bridge you cross under in the Tumalo.
After our move in December and a very long winter, we were finally able to get some front landscaping down at our place. We love it. Besides not having our front step look like a construction site, it now also gives us a space to sit or play in the front. As part of this we also added a second driveway entrance with some fresh gravel.
Here is the before shot:
Here is the after shot
Couple more shots of the new second driveway (on the right side of the picture), and the lawn from the bottom of the driveway looking up towards the house as you drive in.
This weekend COSSA (Central Oregon Shooting Sports Association) had an open house at their range just east of Bend. It gave the kids (Hunter, Noah and Abbie) a chance to shoot for the first time. Hunter and I both got to shoot an old fashioned cowboy 38 single action 6 shooter. You had to be 12 or older to fire it. Here is Hunter shooting it.
Something interesting I leaned about these classic weapons you see in the movies. Even though the revolver has 6 chambers cowboys from the old west only typically ever had 5 shots loaded with the 6th chamber empty at the top is so that if for instance the gun fell out of hits holster on the floor in the saloon it wouldn't go off. If however they were going into a gun fight, they might then load a 6th into the last chamber with the trigger cocked and ready.
Here is some pictures and video of the kids shooting 22 caliber rifles at targets. Hunter had a more full sized rifle, whereas you can see with Abbie she has a small one for her size.
A good friend of mine told me once that if you teach kids about guns and gun safety when they are young, the 'mystique' of guns goes down and respect for them goes up resulting much lower chance of an incident/accident. They don't have a desire to play with it, and they will avoid other kids who do not respect it. Its the kids told 'never to touch' that often get into trouble when an opportunity presents itself. I think this is wise advice.
On Fathers day after church we with the weather clear and warm we took a drive just south of town to Lava Lands and took the shuttle up to the top of Lava butte for lunch and a short walk around the crater.
Today, Morning Star had their year end awards ceremony. Each child got a spiritual and academic award. We are very proud of all the accomplishments that they made this year. Their teachers said some pretty wonderful things about our children. They had a great year and we love their school. ❤
Weather was cool and overcast this weekend, so Sunday afternoon when Kelly took Abbie to her dance class, I took the boys out to one of the local caves we have not been to. Hunter and Noah have been to a number of them, a few before we started the blog when we first moved to Bend (Arnold Cave, Hidden forest cave), and some since the blog has started. (Boca cave on triangulation peak, South Ice Cave, and Skylight Cave). This, however would be PJ's first cave where he went in! He loved it and wants to go again.
We decided to hit a cave called Pictograph Cave. It was about a 20 min drive from our house south east, and then about a 1.5 mile hike with some cross country exploration required to find the un-marked hole in the ground where the entrance started.
There are actually two caves at the entrance - left and right. Since all caves around here are basically old lava tubes the entrance is simply where a part of the roof caved in to expose the tunnel. Based on my reading the 'right' entrance was a little less steep but still a challenge none the less. There was also a family of falcons on the rocks at the entrance and they were not super happy we were there. Also a possible set of pictographs as seen in the second photo.
Iphone's don't take great low light shots but here is a series of pictures from inside the cave. The last picture gives you a scale of the entrance size/depth. See Hunter and Noah hear the top of the entrance as we exited.
On the way back we decided to try and find the 'skylight' for the left side tube that we didn't explore today. Here is a shot of Noah and Hunter over the entrance to the skylight. Noah trying to pose close to edge to freak his mom out... it worked.
