This right here, ladies and gentlemen, is love:

The Husband cleans the kitchen every night (swoon). But even better than wiped countertops and a running dishwasher is how he ALWAYS sets the coffeemaker for the next morning.

He knows I can’t function before the first half pot. And he even asks “do you have your six a.m. meeting tomorrow?” to make sure he sets the timer so it’s ready for me to grab as I stumble my way downstairs and try to remember the call-in code.

(On non-meeting mornings, sometimes he even brings that first cup to me in bed so I can caffeinate up while I’m still cozy.)

Love, I tell you.

Aaaaaand we’re done. Summer’s over. The chrysanthemums have replaced the tomato seedlings at the grocery store, the forecast maybe possibly has rain in it, and – most telling of all – school starts tomorrow!

(Are y’all post-Labor Day starters? Maybe this isn’t even on your radar yet. Maybe you’re still in swimsuits and sunscreen and watermelon mode….)

We’re ready. It’s been a fantastic summer, but we’re all looking forward to the return to routine that school brings. Our “up-till-midnight-sleep-till-noon” experiment has worked out quite nicely. Everybody got rested and relaxed and even a little bit bored (which is exactly how you want to end the summer).

And before I post back-to-school pics, figured I’d give you a taste of what the rest of summer looked like over here.

My parents came for a visit and a boatload of relatives joined them, so we had some super awesome family fun time. I got to shell peas using Aunt Mavis’s patented “bowl method” and the boys did farm-type work. (Literally “the boys” – anyone with an AARP/CARP card helped with the hard work of “supervising.”)

Lots of fun times with hoverboards and games and cousins for the younger set, too.

The Girl’s Minnesota BFF came for a visit and we did the Portland grand tour.

We (that is, the family member with a data plan, i.e. The Husband) got into Pokemon Go and there were all sorts of Daddy/Daughter hunting trips.

On the musical front, we went to see Weird Al Yankovic at Edgefield. Man, that guy hasn’t changed in 20 years.

In other “hasn’t changed” news, The Husband and I were also treated to some VIP tickets to see Jackson Browne. That crowd definitely skewed AARP/CARP, but I’m always up for some free food and drinks (AND my own seat *with* a table) and some good ol’ Running on Empty.

We also did fun outdoorsy-type stuff (after I recovered from whitewater rafting). We went camping (in a FOR REAL tent) with friends from church (FOR REAL friends) at Fort Stevens National Park. Since “camping” for me has always meant Falcon Lake, it felt very strange to pitch a tent a few minutes from the OCEAN.

But there were still trails and foresty-type excursions to make it feel like legit camping.

Also jokes. (I’m always shocked to realize that I’m in cougar territory. I mean, yeah, I guess technically, but having entirely skipped the whole dating scene in my youth, I can’t even conceptualize what a Round Two would look like. Honestly, these days if I’m in a bar by myself, it’s with a book in my hand while I wait for The Husband to return from the bathroom).

A major summer highlight was definitely going to see my friend D.L. Mayfield do a reading at Powell’s. My friend. Reading. Powell’s. Unbelievable. (Also unbelievable is her book. Buy it. It’s amazing and intense and funny and prophetic and raw and real.)

And a late-breaking highlight (this happened just yesterday!) was The Husband’s first solo gliding flight! He’s been working hard at learning how to fly gliders all summer and he wants to get his license before winter comes. He’s done a ton of flights with his instructor, but yesterday was his first time all by himself! (FYI – there are life insurance policies without an aviation exclusion. Just in case you were wondering.)

I feel like we did right by our first Oregon summer. Lots of exploring and adventure but also lots of downtime to hang out with family and friends and to enjoy good food and drink. Which is basically Oregon’s motto, so I think we fit right in.

 

I’m on a city bus heading downtown for a night of fun and frivolity and I noticed again the sign that always makes me laugh:

Not saying you have to or anything, but just an FYI. In case you didn’t know how it worked.

#portlandsplainin

Yep, blah blah busy summer, blah blah bad blogger, blah blah here’s a nice long post to make up for it.

When we last left our heroine, she was teasing and titillating with hints about a magical weekend in Bend, Oregon.

Well, it WAS pretty magical! Check it out!

On our way to Bend, we stopped off at Crater Lake. Oh my.

It was July 1 and, appropriately for these Canucks, there was plenty of snow for a snowball fight.

Look at that water! Just look at it! It’s like a crayon! And not from the thanks-for-coming-out 8-pack either!

Canadian pride on Canada Day.

A CRAYON, I TELL YOU!

Such cute.

What was less “cute” and more “insane” (and was, instead, something I’m glad I only saw after the fact) was my cliff-jumping daredevil:

After mama’s heart started again, we headed toward Bend. It’s a cute little tourist town with a candy shop…

…a brewery (that served chicken wings, natch)…

…a riverwalk perfect for ice cream-eating…

…brunch (aka Bloody Marys with bacon)…

…more breweries…

…and a river just perfect for a lazy afternoon tube ride.

It was also home base for another The Husband Adventure Special aka whitewater rafting.

I repeat, WHITEWATER RAFTING!!

We went down this:

ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

(It was actually not terrible. And that’s about the highest praise I can give for something that is the Trifecta of Evil aka wet, cold, AND fast.)

Our favourite part of the trip was the Pet Parade. We saw signs that the town was having one for July 4 and we thought, how cute, it’ll be Miss Tillie and her poodle and her eight friends will come out to watch.

Oh my. How wrong we were.

They shut down the downtown and people lined the streets! There were so many animals they had to be grouped in categories!

We saw dogs and horses and dogs and chickens and dogs and turtles and dogs and goats and dogs and guinea pigs. Oh, and did I mention there were dogs?

There were also hipsters:

(Lol.)

After the parade, we headed home, but not without fitting in one last hike at Smith Rock:

The Boy and I succumbed to the heat, but The Husband and The Girl took the rock by storm! Impressive, yes?

And with that, we called the Fourth of July a super success and drove our tired, happy, adventured selves home. The End.