September Birthdays

September birthdays were very low key in 2023. For mom's birthday we had the SRC fundraiser. We did a little get together with the Feltons (no pictures). Julia made a nice cake and charcuterie board. 

To Portland to see Reign vs. Thorns

 In September (for Julia's 14th bday), Julia and Joanna did a fun trip to Portland to see the Reign play the Thorns. The Reign didn't have the best game, but it was fun to sit in the supporters section. We also had some great food and did an awesome waterfall hike near Eugene called Silver Falls State Park. 

Back to School

Alex went back to school 8/30/23. He's a junior at Eastside Prep. In the first trimester he will take calculus, American literature, American history, physics, object oriented programming, geoscience, and Spanish 3. And he'll do debate team. And he will work 16 hours per week at Pacific Regent. Wow! Thursday/Friday he did orientations with his classmates including dragon boat racing, laser tag, movie, and other fun. 

Julia starts back 9/5/23. She's an 8th grader at Open Window School. This is our 12th and final year at the school! She is excited about her teachers. Besides the core classes, she'll do debate club, the musical Shrek, and cross-country. 

Alpine Lakes Wilderness Backpacking Loop

 Julia, Maeby, and Joanna did a 49-mile backpacking loop Aug 28-31 with 6k ft elevation gain. We started at the Pete Lake TH and walked to Pete Lake. After a water crossing where Joanna got soaked and had to hike in crocs the rest of the day, we climbed up to Spectacle Lake just off the PCT. We swam in the lake and soaked up the sun. At night we had an exciting lightning and wind storm. (~11 miles for the day). In the morning we hiked back nobo on the PCT, downhill and then a long uphill to the Escondido Tarns. This was a beautiful ridge area with glacier views and interesting terrain (but no water!). Then we made a long slog downhill to Waptus Lake, broken up with a deer encounter and many chipmunk encounters. (~20 miles for the day). We were so tired and hungry that we prioritized dinner over setting up camp. As we were finishing dinner, it started to pour and we scrambled to set up the tent and hang the bear bag quickly. Everything was a bit wet and very dirty but not too uncomfortable. In the morning we left our gear and walked to the south end of the lake for some photos. We got a few rays of sun in between minor showers. We debated a steep day hike up to Deep Lake and instead decided to walk along Waptus River trail to a nice camp on a bluff. We had lots of time to dry everything out, read, and hang out. We only saw 2 parties all day. (~10 miles for the day). On Thursday we headed back to the car. It was a nice hike along the river to Salmon La Sac where we ran into 1 day hiking party and then didn't see a soul the rest of the day along the Cooper River back to our car (~8 miles for the day). We celebrated the trip with lunch at Basecamp in Roslyn and an ice cream. But Julia and Maeby did great the whole time. What a special trip!

Around Town Summer 2023

The most exciting part of summer was Alex was fully employed. We worked about 30 hours per week at Pacific Regent as a server and about 6 hours per week as an assistant tennis coach at the rec club. We are very impressed! We had a nice visit from Grandma Brady where she did some cooking with Julia, watched the Barbie movie, went to 2 cover band concerts, and played lots of trivia pursuit. John got a new drone and had fun taking pictures way up high and chasing Maeby. We did a few hikes (not enough), went to the Sounders, did a boat ride on Mercer Island with an OWS parent, and generally enjoyed the great weather. Summer in WA is so nice!

Finally, John did Ramrod in July and the Belgian Waffle Ride in Utah in Aug. He was doing great until he crashed on his face and trashed his teeth. Thank goodness for his fancy helmet. He's ok now.