THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for our laundry drying racks. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

52 HIKE CHALLENGE - APRIL 2018

April marked the first month we missed a weekly hike so far this year. Frustrating, but life goes on. Maybe we'll pick up an extra another week.

Hike #14 - 4/15/18 - Memorial Park
1.60 miles this day
33.80 miles this year

It was a little drizzly for this post-church hike, but the downpour held off until we were back on the road and headed home. We've been to Memorial Park countless times, but had never hiked the trail along the river before.

See that sign near the top of one of the pilings? That's where the Willamette River crested in the 1996 flood.

For reference, here's Devon standing below the sign. I don't know how deep the river usually is in that place, but he's a little over five feet tall, so that gives you an idea of how much water was raging down the river that year.

Just another dirt path through trees. My happy place.

Hike #15 - 4/19/18 - Basket Slough
2.50 miles this day
36.30 miles this year

We planned on doing Morgan Lake Loop and the Basket Slough Trail, but missed the path for the Basket Slough portion. Such is life. We didn't bring binoculars, but this is prime bird watching territory.

I prefer forested hikes over open ones, but the wide open space was nice this time around.

Misuse of quotation marks aside, this sign near the end of our hike made me chuckle.

The beginning of the hike was muddier than expected, so we took a quick shot of our dirty shoes before hopping in the car to head home.

Five minutes later we were calling a tow truck because we'd been forced off the road. Good times.

Hike #16 - 4/29/18 - Cooks Butte Loop
1.80 miles this day
38.10 miles this year

The big boys were gone, but the rest of us busted out a quick hike before heading home after church. This hike wasn't long, but it had some elevation gain, which I always like.

It's hard to see in these pictures, but this rock has a bunch of things carved into it, such as "All things wise and wonderful"  and "We better learn to laugh". Super neat!

Oh, you know, just my usual trail and trees picture.

I asked for a picture and got a "let's be tough" pose.

There we go!

The parental units.

By request.

The view from the parking are, which we didn't realize until we pulled up would include our church as a speck in the distance.

Hike #17 - 4/30/18 - Minto Brown Island Park (Orange Turtle Loop)
3.50 miles this day
41.60 miles this year

The river, a slough, trees, flowers, open spaces, and kids who ran as much as they walked. It was a perfect way to spend a Monday morning! We'll definitely be going back here to hike some of the other loops.

Predictable? I prefer to say consistent. 

Can you see the osprey next at the top of that pole? We could just barely see a bird's head moving around in there.

Blurry, I know, but I don't care. Four little Ws all running down the path at the same time made me smile.

Naomi, looking at the creek bed, "Wow! It looks like a desert!"

"Check out the foot prints!"

"Big ones and little ones!"

This is the fallen tree that led us to the view of the slough in the previous picture.

52 HIKE CHALLENGE - MARCH 2018

Hike #10- 3/11/18 - Graham Oaks Nature Park
2.60 miles this day
23.80 miles this year

It was somewhat warm and totally sunny, so five of us went for a quick hike on our way home from church. We've done this trail numerous times, but convenience trumped trying something new. 

Hike #11 - 3/16/18 - Tualatin Hills Nature Park
3.90 miles this day
27.70 miles this year

We decided to head to an old favorite we hadn't visited in years, a park Silas and Devon had been asking to go to for a long time, Naomi didn't remember, and Tyler had never been to. 

The picture doesn't capture it well, but there was a layer of red branches above the green reeds and I thought it looked neat.

"Hey, Mom, it's a two! Actually, it's a twelve!", Tyler exclaimed as we walked along.

Kaleidoscopes pointing to plants.

Hike #12 - 3/25/18 - Legion Park
1.50 this day
29.20 this year

Scheduling conflicts this week meant squeezing in some laps around a local park and calling it a hike. I used the outing as an opportunity for one-on-one time with Tyler.

Hike #13 - 3/31/18 - Champoeg State Park
3.00 this day
32.20 this year

Sometimes you're tired, have work to do, and aren't particularly enjoying humanity, but you go for a hike anyway. Like today. Still want to crawl in bed, have things to get done, and find people to be a bother, but the time outside was bliss and I'm glad we went.

Isn't this amazing?! We stopped at a little viewpoint and I noticed a pile of twigs on the bench I was approaching. This is what I discovered as I sat down! I love the creativity of the person who made this and am thankful they left it for people to enjoy. I showed the other Ws, told a couple who as standing two feet away and hadn't noticed in when we passed by later, and another family who was approaching it. So cool!

Tyler keeps finding numbers on the trails when we hike.

Doesn't it look like a giant dandelion where the branch was cut off? It was about twenty feet up the tree and I thought it looked neat.

The collection continues and documentation is always requested.