Jeff’s dad gave him a small fishing boat that he’d held onto until a few years after we first started dating, back in 2002. When we bought our very first place, a condo in NW Portland in 2004, he decided to sell it, because well, we had so many big ideas about what to do with the money from that said boat. Since, we’ve always talk about how we wished we’d kept it, and one day we’d get another just like it. This summer we did. We wanted to spend the last of our summer days wading in the middle of a river or lake. We’d enjoy some sun and giggles with the girls and feast on a beautiful picnic lunch. Comically its quite basically the complete opposite. The journey started at the dock, Marlowe prepped the ride by closing her eyes and nuzzling her face in my neck right after the engine started, and didn’t move an inch the entire ride. She had her eyes locked on eyes, waiting for confirmation that indeed, we were completely nuts for trying to drown our family.  She’s been like this since birth; never close enough to her momma and not as fearless as her sister. Needless to say there was no beautiful picnic, wading or giggles during cruising, but there was sun, love and a dream of many more beautiful days spent outside growing as a family.

We finally took our first official camping trip of the summer in late August. So. Just a touch behind the rest of Oregon, but we’re still considering it a success. Mainly because of the spot we found, which was tucked in the middle of the forest, down the road, around the bend, and far away from any other camper.  The kids were in heaven,  probably the happiest I’ve ever seen them. It was almost as if they weren’t smiling, they weren’t eating dirt. And waking up next to mom and dad in a small fabric house was like, blowing their minds.