Ella's 2nd Birthday

We all gathered to celebrate Ella's second Birthday on Friday night. Matt made it back from his business trip in Utah just in time for the festivities. Katherine had made Ella's favorite---chili, as well as green salad and fruit. We all had a great time visiting in their backyard. Katherine made a 'Man with the Yellow Hat' cake that we ate; as well as a 'Curious George' cake for the kid party the following day.

Banks to Vernonia Ride

James and I felt we needed an 'escape' from responsibilities for a while and left early this morning for a bike ride. We drove an hour west of here to Banks and then embarked on our 37 mile (round-trip) ride. The day was sunny and warm and the scenery was beautiful.

We spent 4 hours getting there, stopping along the way to look at the scenery and eating a lunch we packed. The ride to Vernonia was mostly uphill; and so the ride back took only 1.5 hours at speeds of 20 mph at times. We had dinner in Banks before heading back home.

We had a very relaxing day with our friends Chuck and Robin.

Sunday Dinner with Family

We had dinner all of us together today--we were grateful Matt could join us after returning from his business trip to Lima, Montana.

First Boat trip on the Columbia River--2011

John, Anne, Riss, Titus, and Ginny arrived yesterday morning after picking Titus up at EFY in Tacoma.

They arrived in Troutdale under cloudy, cool skies--which seems to be the norm this summer. We have not had our boat out this entire summer. We looked forward to boating with great anticipation. We all froze! We were grateful for the warm blankets we could wrap around us. Riss, Titus and Ginny were the only ones that tubed, and even though they flew up several times off the tube, they all held on tight and no one got wet. We all had fun, despite the cold.

We went home and had warm burritos that had cooked all day in the crock pot.