Labor Day

September 5, 2016

As much as I dislike starting school before Labor Day, there are a few advantages.  Both last year and this year I felt like Labor Day was more relaxed because we weren’t starting school the next day.  We were able to enjoy it without the stress of getting ready for school.  Not so bad.  This year we labored around the house in the morning, and then had fun in the afternoon.  We headed to Portland to hike a part of the Wildwood Trail with my family.

The Wildwood Trail is a long trail in Forest Park, but we only hiked a short section that led to the Witch’s Castle.   It was a beautiful day.  It’s so crazy that there is such a huge, forested park in the middle of Portland! Grace and I stopped to admire this tree that had several slugs on it.

I dared her to lick one, and she did it!!!

So gross!  She said her tongue felt funny aftewards, so the numbing must have worked!

We explored along the way.

The Witch’s Castle (also known as Stone Castle) isn’t really a castle.  It’s an old bathroom and ranger station that was built by the city in the 1950’s but was damaged in the Colombus Day storm in the 1960’s and abandoned. 

It said to be a witche’s castle because it was built on the same location as a cabin a man built in the 1880’s.  The short version of the story is that his daughter eloped with one of his workers, he killed the worker, and accused his wife of being bewitched and forcing him to commit the murder.

Kind of creepy, but cool!

The twins and I climbed up above the castle.  It was pretty steep which resulted in a few scared moments for the twins on the way back down.

After our short hike we drove to Pittock Mansion.  I love the view from up there!

Isaac and Grace REALLY wanted to go inside.  I promised them a visit some other time with the library pass. 

We realized how hungry we were when Tenley produced a bag of Pirate’s Booty and everybody attacked it!

We went back to our house for a pizza dinner, then we headed to Mike’s for ice cream cones. 

Now it really feels like summer is over.  Time to buckle down!

4th of July

July 4, 2016

We had a great, low-key 4th of July this year.  The day started with the Canby parade.

The parade was finally changed to the morning instead of the afternoon.  Wahoo!  Instead of melting in the afternoon heat we were pleasantly cool.

The parade route also changed so we watched from a new location.  Felt kind of weird after doing it the same way for so many years, but we managed!

Canby has it’s very own set of super heroes.  They patrol the streets of Canby at night to protect residents.  We are lucky to have them! ;)  They were also at the parade.

We walked around a little after the parade and did a few activities.  Isaac loves the fire fighter station.

When we got home Isaac and Grace did a fireworks crafts.  It was a fun one.

When my family got to our house we watched National Treasure.  I was a little nervous about Isaac and Grace watching it.  Isaac was so engrossed in the movie, it was right up his alley with history and action.  He loved it, but it also was a little intense at moments for him as evidenced by these pictures!

That evening we had our usual gathering for dessert and fireworks.  It was a smaller group this year.  It was weird not to have Kristin’s family with us.  We missed them.

Lanna and I took our traditional 4th of July selfie.

We finished the night by watching the city fireworks from our street.  It was such a nice day to celebrate our country and the freedoms we enjoy.