Spring Break: Detroit Lake Edition

We decided to stay close to home this spring break.  (Gotta save money, and vacation time, for our trip to WY this summer!)  

So four days and three nights at Detroit Lake was our fun getaway this week.  We did get some rain free moments!

Gabe suggested we try a hike near Mt. Jefferson to Tumble Lake.  I assumed he'd done some "research" about the hike. But as we're practically scaling down the side of the mountain, it became clear he did not do enough.
Here we are after the almost 1.5 mile steep trek down (800 feet elevation drop) and back out (800 feet elevation gain).  The views would have been amazing since we're over 4,000 feet up!  Too bad we were socked in by the clouds.  I'm very proud that Levi is smiling in this picture.  He actually complained pretty minimally about his legs hurting.

After the scrambling steep trip down, I was concerned about Levi being able to get back up.  And it was getting close to lunch...our kid gets mighty hangry.  Snacks were waiting in the car, but we didn't know for sure how far we'd gone.  Just that we'd come down some really steep terrain.  So we never actually made it to the lake.
Here's our elusive goal, Tumble Lake, from near the trail head when we got back up to the top!

Apparently there is a 100-foot waterfall at the lake's outlet creek so we might have to try this hike again someday.  

The rest of the week Levi and I are just relaxing at home.  We've already been busy doing laundry this morning and building our own indoor mini-golf course since it's too wet to go out today.  Levi's hoping his best buddy can come over to play...we'll see what happens!  I'm just hoping we get some sunshine!

"Trail" Riding

We really just had the most mild February I can remember.  So Levi and Gabe have been taking their bikes up to the dairy to ride the "off-road trails" up there.  I tagged along as the race official and photographer last weekend.
Love the look of concentration on this future trail blazer!

And here we are looking forward to March (also known as birthday month extravaganza!)  Between family and friends, March is one continuous party.  This weekend alone will host 3 different parties.  (One of which will be Levi's first sleep over...we'll see how that goes.)  Sure seems like spring is here early and is sticking around!

Another month bites the dust

I need to stop making excuses about how much I meant to get on here and update what we've been up to. I need to just forget the excuses about how busy we are and how slow our computer is.
Honestly, February has been very relaxing.  We've spent more time at home this month than any month I can recently recollect.  Levi has been trying out Tae-Kwon-Do on Tuesday evenings.  Dad and Levi went to the car show.  February has been embraced with relaxed open arms.
(It has helped that we've been enjoying a very mild winter compared to the rest of the country...especially at the moment I write this.  We know how lucky we are.  Just afraid that when August comes, and we have no water because we currently have no snow pack, there will be trouble.)

We did have a fun adventure in Central Oregon for the long holiday weekend.  Sunriver sure is a nice spot. And it's even nicer that our wonderful friends let us stay at their fantastic vacation home!
Valentine's day morning started with cards, goofy smiles, and heart shaped pancakes!

The weather was so nice, we rode our bikes over 4 miles down to the Deschutes River.  It was quickly decided that Levi will be upgrading his bike in June. We have to get that boy some gears! Trying to ride a bike up hill is no fun when you can't down shift!
Levi and I did some ship battling and attempted to beat Gabe in tether ball at the park.  We were also very lucky to get a chance to visit with our friends Mark, Mindy, and their new baby Amelia, who live in Bend.

Sunday we went up to Mt. Bachelor to ski/snowboard. The roads were snow free and the sky was blue.  I even sat outside in the sun to watch Levi during his ski lesson. The lack of snow in the west meant a lot of snow seekers from Seattle area and California were on the mountain as well.  Gabe said everyone he rode lifts with was from our sister city to the north, or our second cousin to the south.


Gabe's been wanting to check out some "trails" around our house for awhile. He read a while back that there is a pretty extensive trail system in SW PDX, and perfect weather pushed us out the door this afternoon. We "hiked" under Barbur Blvd., 1-5 and onward to the river.  This view was our 3 mile (and 700 foot elevation) pay off.

We have to get Levi trained and ready for some serious (and high elevation) hiking. We have all our plans finalized for our summer road trip to Wyoming.  Yellowstone and Grand Tetons...we'll be ready!

Welcome 2015!

I wanted to do a better job of getting on here to document the big and little moments of our life, but obviously I'm not doing so well!

We celebrated the new year by playing games at the Nichols family abode.  We toasted along with the east coast.  A 9pm celebration is much better since all the kids are all under 6!  But my favorite moment was Levi reading books to Addie when the kids got their jammies on.  We have a true reader at our house!  And I think Addie really loved Levi reading to her too!

We've already had our first camping adventure of 2015!
On New Year's day, we went up to the Washington coast and camped at Cape Disappointment State Park.
We explored lots of lighthouses.  Both the North Head lighthouse and

the Cape Disappointment lighthouse...from a distance.

We learned about Lewis and Clark at the interpretive center.  And explored the remains of Ft. Candy.

We might have a future ornithologist.  Here's Levi getting a closer look at the great blue heron at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge.  We also saw two bald eagles on our drive to the wildlife refuge.  Amazing!

And we enjoyed lots of walking and biking the Discovery trail!

The rain chased us home a little earlier than planned, but since everyone had to head back to school and work, coming back into town a few hours ahead of our planned time gave us a needed chance to get things ready for the normal routine.  We are looking forward to lots of fun in 2015!