Hot day hiking escape to Gorge

The Tucker/Goldens and we escaped the September heat (what?) for a nice hike in the Gorge = LaTourelle Falls.

Homework

   It's increasingly common to see Eleanor busy with homework these days.  She volunteered to be a peer mediator, which has kept her out of class for a couple of mornings and made the homework load especially high.

   Stephanie also is staying very busy with neighborhood association, school, and other concerns.  So this is not an uncommon late afternoon:

Campfires and Candlelight at Fort Vancouver

We really love this event - it's a re-creation of one night from 1836, when the American ship called the Shark wrecked along the coast near modern day Astoria. The refugees were brought to the British trading fort in Vancouver. The volunteers do everything in the old fashioned way, and we get to watch. This year was the first year Mike has been home to join us.

Grandparents from Texas!

My Dad and my step-mother came for the long, Labor Day holiday weekend, which leads into the start of a new school year up in these parts... so they were here for Eleanor's first day of school, too!  We drove up to the Bonneville dam and fish hatchery to see the early end of the big salmon run predicted for this year, then we headed into Hood River for pie and wonderful farm views of orchards and mountains... and we naturally didn't take a single photo of any of this lovely day.  We also visited the Rose Garden, where we did (take a photo or ten).

First Day of School - 4th Grade!?!?

I'm behind on everything, especially photo posts.  But school started today so now I can catch up, right?  Here is The Fourth Grader!

too excited to wait for the photo to snap