Life is good!

Summer is swiftly coming to an end - too soon, too soon! At least as far as I am concerned. Michaela is very much looking forward to fall.

Lots of kayaking these last few months!

We did some serious paddling...

...but there were also some Zen moments while out on the water.

Corie and Jody visited us in July for some delicious tacos at 'Love and Hominy'.

Larissa...

...and Joe had a great BBQ.

A little board game fun was had, too.

We celebrated our anniversary at the 3 Rivers.

Breakfast at the Riverside.

Plenty of windsurfing!!

I needed a board more suited for stronger winds than my trusty JP and Terry was looking to sell one of his 'glass boards'...I got a good deal!

And then my JP finally gave out after 16 years. Morgan had a spare he was willing to part with - I got another good deal 😁

Instead of re-installing our 'commercial grade' dog bath, Skittles is now getting her baths in Rayne's bathroom.

We got the neighborhood gang together for some traditional German sausages!

We agreed we should do this every year now.

Larissa and Joe visiting after a hike on Mt. Hood.

We have a Disc Golf park less than a 5 minute walk from home.

Had to try that, of course!

Helen invited me to her group's annual BBQ despite my 'alumni' status. I couldn't miss that!

Brady retired in October 2026 - we had fun comparing notes.

Catching up with old friends - good times!

As the days get shorter, we installed some lighting in the front yard.

Very pretty!

Summer time

 It's July already - time flies while having fun!

We started early June with getting our stairs into our front yard redone to be able to more easily move carts up and down:

Before

After

Michaela had already stained our front and back patios. Don't have great before & after photos on that, but it looks very nice now 😁

Joel arranged a lovely party commemorating my departure from MKS. Quite a few ex-MKS folks made a showing as well, which lent itself to a lot of catching up - good times!

Greg was in town from Austin shortly thereafter, too.

We got our bike racks in mid-June and went on our first biking trip along the historic highway trail with Skittles in tow and gorge-ous views. Plenty of windsurfing was had as well of course, but that's hardly worth mentioning anymore. By the end of June I had already surfed more than in most entire years of the past decade.

After our roof rack arrived, it was finally time to get us some kayaks!

The first test run was at 'the Hook' in Hood River, to ensure everything is working as intended (it did, of course).

A little walk along the historic highway section followed the next morning, this time on the east side of Hood River:

We had lunch at the Gorge White House and - while waiting for our food - did a quick trip to the local Panorama point, taking in the views of Mt. Hood:

The next day was our first kayaking trip with Joe and Larissa starting from Rooster Rock - good times were had. Skittles joined us on the kayaks for the very first time - she did great!

Which brings us to today, where Jacob reached out on short notice wondering if I'd be up for a little hike in the area - which of course I was! We hiked up to Dry Creek Falls:

We also replaced our gas stove with an induction range and the city inspector signed off on our electrical work today (different breaker & wall plug).

Long story short, we are not bored, yet!