Story of my life....

I am playing catch-up. Thankfully I have good reason to be slacking because we have been enjoying summer and doing fun things.

Way back at the end of July we headed down south to see Jake's family for a weekend. It was a good trip and we are used to the drive now so it goes by pretty quick. While we were there we enjoyed an afternoon at West Valley Reservoir. It was gorgeous weather and perfect for a day by the water.
















The next day we went down to Susanville to visit the Bonham grandparents and had lunch with Grandma Jeanne. It was great to be able to spend time with them and just visit. It was a quick visit and we headed home the next day.

Last weekend we decided to hit the water again and went down to the Tualatin River and rented a kayak for a few hours. I had not ever been in a kayak before so I was just learning the paddling and trying to not get myself soaked or flip the thing over!! It turned out to be an awesome day. We got into a very good rhythm going up river. Found a spot to stop and eat some lunch. Then enjoyed a slow coast back to the rental spot. We saw a bunch of ducks, some geese and even a few Great Blue Heron. It was a ton of fun and I hope we can get in another trip before the summer is over.


And to get all the way caught up, yesterday we kept up the water theme and took a trip out to the coast to Cannon Beach. The weatherman said it was supposed to be in the 80's and sunny out there. Sadly weathermen don't know what they are talking about most of the time. Turns out it was foggy and only in the high 60's or so. But that did not stop us! We headed down to the beach and enjoyed just laying down and relaxing for a few hours. After a walk down the beach we headed back to the car and into town. A stop at the candy shop for a dessert to go and then dinner. After dinner we went back down to the beach for a little walk. At the time the tide was heading out and you could practically walk all the way out to Haystack rock. A little more walking on the beach and it was time to head home.

It has been great to have Jake home to go do fun things with this summer. He is getting ready to leave this week for Alaska for a couple weeks though. But I can't complain since he has been home a lot more this year.

It's me again!

That's right, Jake. Somehow I have successfully avoided writing a blog entry for quite some time now. However, I could not stay away. I write this under my own free will, with no coercing needed from the lovely wife. In fact, she is unaware of my blog takeover and most likely will not find out I posted for several days (insert maniacal laugh). Thankfully, Kari has kept the blog going in my absence and hopefully you all (yes you, the three people who read our blog) enjoy the updates we share. Now, on to the business at hand....an update!

Somewhere between our last post and now I came back from San Nicolas island, that was good. A rather short tour this time of only a couple weeks, with two days of meetings in Santa Cruz, CA on the end. The island was pretty much the same, still had island fox, thousands of seals, and nesting seabirds. I did have some nice Nat. Geo. moments that put things into perspective, reminding me how special it is to have a job that allows you witness nature up close and in the raw. Check out the slide-show on the right for new pics. By the way, speaking of SC, if you are ever in town check out Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Wednesdays are $6 liters! So that makes me home now for a few weeks. I took some time off right after coming home to feed the fishing addiction. Explored some new rivers I hadn't fished before and made the best of high temperatures and low water conditions. No catches to write home about, but just being on the rivers was really all I needed. After my time off, we cruised down to Nor Cal for a short visit with the Bonham clan. Our little nephew Tristan isn't so little anymore and just celebrated his first birthday. My brothers are both fighting fire for the BLM and we luckily caught them for a day at the lake just before a huge lightening bust that has had them slammed since. Visited the parents, traveled to Susanville to see the Grandparents, and back to Portland all in a long weekend...time well spent!

As for work, next stop Alaska. More info to follow.