Floating down the Deschutes River

Today, Amy & I braved the chilly water and did something that we wanted to do last summer and just didn't get around to doing... too chicken, I guess.
Our friends, Rosie & Alanna, who are veteran river floaters inducted us into a Bend summer tradition.

Here are Amy, Alanna & Rosie as we started out.



Rosie has the ideal float. She hardly got wet at all! Just enough to stay cool.



You may have noticed that in order to navigate the current you must use your flip flops. They work great as long as you hold onto them. Luckily, they float!



Amy & Alanna stuck together and tried to pretend that they weren't with their Moms! I did manage to get close enough to get a few pictures.




Of course, there were lots of Canadian Geese sharing the river with us.



As you can maybe tell, the weather is spectacular! 80's and no humidity... After talking with my sister, Cindy, today and hearing about their string of high 90 degree weather with 'out of this world' humidity (southern IL), we can't complain!

Oregon Coast 6/15 - 18

School is out - Summer is here.... so we took off for a few days at the Coast. We stayed in Lincoln City which is somewhat in the middle directly west of home. One day we drove south from our hotel as far as Strawberry Hill State Park - definitely our favorite spot on the coast (so far). All kinds of sea creatures, from mussels to Seals and everything in between. On our way back we stopped at the Oregon Aquarium in Newport and paid to see everything we had just seen in the wild for free. Go figure! OK, the aquarium did have a few things we did not see - sharks, jellyfish, etc.

The next day we drove north as far as Tillamook, which is home of the Tillamook Dairy & Factory. Ice Cream, cheese, fudge... need I say more? YUM!

The weather was typical Oregon Coast - cool, breezy, cloudy...luckily no rain. So different from home that it was a pleasure to feel humidity - my hair even curled/frizzed! Dan felt the dampness in his joints, so we are glad to be home in the desert.

Here's a slide show of our trip. Enjoy!

Summer Vacation!!

Thursday was the last day of 6th grade for Amy. It was a very successful year from an academic standpoint (most important to her parents) but for Amy, the social aspects of school are paramount and will be missed this summer. She does have many friends right here in our neighborhood and, I'm sure, will spend many hours in the pool with them but today we were volunteers.



They received their yearbooks yesterday and she was quoted in it regarding the transition to Middle School from home schooling.

When we 1st moved here and had more free time Amy & I began volunteering at the Central Oregon Humane Society, walking dogs, playing with puppies and cats, and checking out all the misc. other animals that showed up on a regular basis.... rabbits, ferrets, turtles, etc. We didn't have as much free time this past school year so we hope to make up for it this summer. Today I took Amy and her friends, Alanna & Miriam to spend some time loving the animals.

Amy picked 'Ben' as her favorite kitty today.



All the girls fell in love with 'Twinkle Toes'.



Here is a brother/sister pair of Great Danes that are victims of the economy - their owners have lost their home to foreclosure and can no longer keep them. They were gorgeous, gentle and gigantic. Such a beautiful pair!



Amy & Alanna were especially taken with this 4 month old Chihuahua. They both wrote sweet stories describing her and urging the right person to adopt her.



We'll be back soon to visit with these lovely animals.

Charlie is ready for Summer!

Yesterday a strange van pulled up to our house and Charlie, our 'intrepid leader' (as Dan refers to him) was kidnapped by 2 women and transformed into an alien being! No really....
We had made an appointment with a mobile dog groomer and a very unwillingly Charlie spent about an hour and a half getting a much needed bath and haircut or should I say shave!



He is now ready for daily swims in the river, which he enjoys very much.

It will grow back!

May Days

It's been a busy month of May! Here are some of the highlights in pictures....

The Spring Football Scrimmage game @ Autzen Stadium in Eugene started the month off. Amy's friend Lily came with us and we all had a great time - despite the weather - it rained, heavily, for about 10 minutes during the 1st half. Needless to say we were drenched and left at halftime for the mall & shopping which was higher on the girls priority list than football.



We did get to see Jeremiah Masoli (#1 quarterback)throw some great passes, so Dan was happy. Jeremiah looks more like a linebacker than a quarterback - big guy!



Of course, we enjoyed daily walks on the river trail with the pups! We had 2 encounters with wildlife... saw 5 river otters playing in the river one day and saw a bald eagle splash down and rise up with a fish in his talons then fly back to his nest. Very cool!


Oregon Grape - the Oregon State Flower


Wildflowers blooming along the path




Amy & Alanna tossing a water balloon one Sunday afternoon - guess who got wet!


This past weekend, we drove to San Francisco (~8 hr trip) to join Dan as he received his MBA from the University of San Francisco. Here is a view of Mt. Shasta in northern CA as we drove along.


The graduation was held in St. Ignacious Cathedral on the USF campus and, boy, were we glad it was indoors because it was in the 50's, foggy & windy - typical San Francisco weather. It reminded Dan of a Mark Twain quote - "I never spent such a cold winter as summer in San Francisco." So true....



We spent the afternoon looking around SF both on foot & in the car - to escape the cold! Here we are on the Wharf with Alcatraz across the water. We all met up for dinner at Bobo's - famous for it's steak & crab. YUM!! Here's our group - on the ends closest to the front are Lucie & Justine, from France, here on an internship - friends. Then, on the left are Dan's grandparents, Don & Reggie Parker, me, Dan, Amy, Dan and his Mom, Diane. It was a great evening and as you can tell from the next few pics, Dan was happy!




On Sunday we met up with Dan's former coworker & friend from GE, Catherine Ye & her husband, Xaio. They treated us to a real Chinese 'Dim Sum'. It was wonderful to have them order for us and explain what we were eating. Lots of good food was consumed this weekend!

Now we're back and loving the warm, dry, sunny weather of home!

80s or 40s??

So... this is the 3rd morning in a row that we have woken to 'white stuff' on the ground! Last week we were sweltering in 80 degree weather and now we are shivering in the 40's... what can I say? This is Central Oregon High Desert Spring. We have transplanted CA friends who are all wondering if the benefits of living here are worth the slow thaw to spring. We transplanted NYs are still sure we made the right decision. Here are a few reasons why:

Sunshine & Blue Skies

Clean Fresh Air - there's just a certain scent to the air here

Warm Friendly People

God's Glorious Creation All Around Us

I could go on but I don't want to make anyone jealous....just kidding - we know there are all sorts of super places to live - we just happen to like it here!

Saturday we motor over to Eugene for the U of O Football Spring Scrimmage. This year we are taking one of Amy's friends so I am sure we will fit in a stop at the Mall before heading home. Maybe we'll have some pictures for you....

margaret comes to bend

It's been a week since Margaret & Mary Beth Burrill left us. We had a wonderful time together and we so appreciate their friendship. They brought a little bit of Voorheesville with them and we shared as much of Central Oregon as we could in 5 days. Our camera was out of commission so Mary Beth sent along her pictures to us. Here is a glimpse of our time together.