The fate of 8: July 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

An afternoon at Feyrer Park

Yesterday the kids and I headed to Feyrer park for a day of fun in the river.

The kids testing the COLD water

Loving the rope swing

Boys climbing the boulder to jump into the deep swimming hole

Sarah swimming.... The water is crystal clear

On the south side of the river, there is a strong current that runs through. The kids tried body surfing down the current....lesson learned -- shallow water + strong current + big rocks = multiple bumps and bruises.

Brandon riding the current

Gorgeous view on a blue sky day

Sign we saw on the picnic pavilion when leaving.... Now there is something you don't see every day!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

No agenda road trip to Washington

Our favorite thing to do on a blue sky Sunday, is to hop in the car and take a road trip with no specific destination in mind! Since last weekend we headed south, we chose to head north this time around!!!

Crossing the bridge from Oregon into Washington, over the Columbia River with Mt. Hood in the background. This is Matt's daily commute for work. Not a bad view :)

Our first stop -- Merwin Lake

Our second stop -- Yale Lake

The swimming beach at Yale Lake. It was pretty busy, so we continued driving east to see what else we could find.

Swift Reservoir -- Beautiful, blue and less crowds!!!

Tori, Ryley and Sarah swimming at Swift Forest Camp -- Nothing better than finding a lake in the mountains on a blue sky, 90 degree day!!!

Matt, Tori, Ryan, Brandon and Tyler swimming across the lake

Tyler with a log he found

Sarah LOVES the water

Ryley and Tyler standing on logs at the end of the swim area. The logs roll, and the boys loved trying to stand on the logs so they could try and keep their balance, then dive into the deep water.

Sarah and I stayed in the shallow area near the beach, while the rest of the family hung out for over an hour in the deepest area.

Father and daughters photo op!! With Matt's long work hours it is nice to have him for a day of fun!

Ryley -- aka "6 pack"

Free log rides.....

Goofy kids.....

After a couple hours of swimming we headed north to view Mt. St. Helens.

A gentleman stopped his car and offered to take our family photo!!! Love being the recipient of random acts of kindness!!!

One more photo of the mountain as we were leaving. You can see the steam coming from the top center of the volcano if you look closely.

We crossed from Washington to Oregon in Stevenson over the "Bridge of the Gods". View to the west from the bridge.

View to the east from the bridge

View straight down while driving -- 140 feet down to the water -- no concrete on this cantilever bridge

The Bonneville Dam

Quick shot of Multnomah Falls as we drove by

Another waterfall, just past Multnomah Falls. Matt called it a "water mist" since there wasn't much "falling" going on.

RO - DAY - O

Matt was given four tickets to the Molalla Buckaroo, so we took Ryan and Tori with us for their first rodeo/concert experience.

Notice the hanging corn dogs? They come in 3 sizes "Shorty, Full, or Oh My God"

Ryan and Tori opted for Shortys

They then headed back for the "Giant Elephant Ear". The thing is SO huge, it hangs over the LARGE pizza tray. Unbelievable. They confirmed that it comes with a side of diabetes and heart disease.

Flag ceremony at the beginning of the rodeo

Bull riding

Apparently I moved the camera when the guy flew off the bull. I do believe this is the guy that was knocked out cold, came to shortly there after and was given a "re-ride". On the reride he didn't last 2 seconds.