Summer 2017

The MUCH anticipated summer finally arrived, and as usual was kicked off with a big family camping trip on the Breitenbush River.  This year Josef really developed into a rugged little explorer, and you can imagine my delight at his enthusiasm for climbing around on fallen trees and creeping through the forest.  We went on a pretty arduous bushwhacking adventure with our friend Diego involving treacherous stream crossings and stinging nettles, and then regaled the rest of the family with our daring exploits.  Unfortunately, I ate some spoiled produce the next day, so the remainder of my camping trip was spent in distress!

For July, I had planned some spectacular outings with Josef–the Portland Blues Festival, and the Oregon Country Fair.  Alas, I found that my amiable little companion of the summer past had now developed some ideas and opinions of his own, and was not overmuch thrilled with my plans.  It was rather frustrating and painful as I dealt with the trap of my own expectations alongside a child who was testing the limits of his power.  The Blues Fest turned out to be a real bummer, but was rescued by my friends in Portland and their adorable daughter–they let us crash at their home and invited us to the neighborhood block party on the 4th.  Josef ate snow cones and ran wild with a big group of kids, ranging from 3 to 18.  He got in a huge water sponge fight and witnessed his first street fireworks display.

Next up was the big Orrock family reunion, which took place at a state park outside of Portland.  Everyone had had such a fantastic experience two years ago, that we all wanted to do it again.  This time, the Oregonians wanted to host, and the rest of the family was eager to come visit Oregon.  We found a wonderful place that had small cabins, camping, a huge meeting hall with a kitchen, and mile of hiking and biking trails.  We feasted like kings, took art classes from Grammanette, and the kids disappeared for hours into the forest.  Huckleberries, thimbleberries, and wild blackberries were all ripening, and the kids picked the forest clean.  We stayed up sing around the campfire every night, and everyone seemed to have a really special visit.  We are already looking forward to 2019!

After a July of non-stop activity, we were happy to have a pretty mellow August with nothing on the calendar.  Aunt Janet and Henrique were visiting for the summer, so there were always some willing companions on impromptu excursions.  We rode our bikes to the craft beer picnic, watched Willy Wonka at Avery Park, and attended another Shook family reunion up in Washington.  Jeez, I guess August was pretty full too, but it felt quieter somehow since nothing was really scheduled.

At the end of the month we made our annual pilgrimage up to Vancouver BC to visit our old pals.  This has really become the capstone of each summer and we always look forward to the visit and think fondly on the last.  We stopped long the way in a turn of the century village in Burnaby and saw some living history: a school house, mercantile, home, apothecary all just as they would have looked 100 years ago.  We saw how type was set in a print shop, and how a real steam engine works.  Then it was off to see our buddies.  All the kids are big enough for serious hiking, so we had some great adventures in the woods.  The boys are old enough to really play together now, though there were frequent accusations of perfidy.  My favorite memory of the visit was Parker coming over to inform me that “Josef isn’t cool.”  I do agree that Josef needs to work on keeping his cool!

Finally, for Labor Day Grammanette came and watched Josef for a THREE DAY WEEKEND, the most time Rach and I have had together since his birth.  We joined our closest and oldest group of pals at a vacation rental on the McKenzie River and recreated all the joys and delights of an 80’s summer camp: arts and crafts, taxidermy, tube socks, etc…  We didn’t let the raging forest fires and the lack of visibility due to smoke impede our revelry.  I stayed up to 3am every night… So that’s the summer for you.  Off to a bit of a rocky start, but a spectacular finish.  We are happy to settle back into the rhythm that school provides, as Josef will start his first year of Kindergarten at the Corvallis Waldorf School.  September has always been my favorite month, and hopefully this year will be no exception.  Until next time…