Westmoreland Asays

Every two years Meg's family gathers for a few days to reunite in force. Each reunion has grown in number, and even though a few people couldn't make it due to work or mission or school, we numbered about 40 souls. Two years ago we traveled to Virginia and sweat out 20 pounds. This year we got to stay home and also spent five days and five nights on the other side of the Cascades in Sunriver. This visit marked my third trip of significance to Sunriver. My family traveled there in the summer of 1992 for a few days (thanks Grandma!); I recall playing indoor tennis; visiting lava lands, skeleton cave, and the lava river tube; and one of my sisters getting sick in the car. Meg and I spent a brief morning in Sunriver in 2010 where we spent the best ten bucks ever by learning that we should never ride on a tandem bicycle together. But this time was the big visit, the visit to end all visits. Our house, which we shared with Meg's parents (thus it was almost always super-quiet...

I chose to begin Father's Day with a run through the city. But before I could begin, Meg presented me with a new FitBit so I could track how many more steps I take in a day than does she. Many of my friends at work have FitBits, so I wanted to be able to compete with them and give them a goal (i.e., my perfect fitness routines) to aspire to. When I returned after an hour plus run, I was surprised with coffee cake and fruit and other gifts from the kids, namely two five-pound bags of Runts. Whenever Meg makes a Coscto run, she asks me if I want anything. My long-standing is reply is a five-pound bag of Runts, which they stopped carrying many, many years ago. So she finally came through and ordered some from Amazon. The next stage of our day began with a drive to the Washington-side of the Gorge. We have completed many hikes in the Gorge, but never in Washington. Cape Horn, in the western-most reaches of the Gorge, was our destination. Our hike lasted but a few miles, but we ha...

The end of the school year marks another chance to attend one of the year's most anticipated events: The Llewellyn Carnival. Meg volunteers as one of the head carnies, spending hours each month throughout the year planning, and then devoting most of the day to running the actual event. That leaves me to herd the boys to and from the show and shadowing Ian around the event. Even though Ian could not wait for this day to arrive, he still showed much apprehension and caution about which activities to participate in. Perhaps not being part of the Llewellyn student body drives some of those feelings. Aaron spent much of his last carnival chasing after trebuchet-thrown water balloons, while Edward hung with his best friend Oskar. Edward threw a fit after the carnival had ended, for he thought he had missed out on getting a prize for getting stamps on each square in his passport (in reality, the prize was the carnival t-shirt that he had already procured). He threw his passport on the g...

Aaron played his final band concert of the year at Oaks Amusement Park. They played in the dance pavilion, but the building was so overflowing with people, who were all sitting at ground level, I couldn't see Aaron playing. I'll take his word that he played his parts well and that he enjoyed the experience. He's really looking forward to having band class every day at Sellwood Middle School beginning in the fall. We spent the rest of the day amusing ourselves among the rides and games and the carnies.