August Fun

August was full of summer swimming, late nights, time with friends, working on a new deck, and making the most of our slower days before school.  

I always end up with random selfie photos!  Some I know about, others are a surprise to me when I download my photos =)

We were thrilled to share an evening with my Uncle Kent and Aunt Debbie!  They are world travelers, and we gratefully jumped on the opportunity to be with them while we were in the same part of the country.  This was the first time Bridgette had ever met this special couple!  Kent had everyone's attention as he explained how simple it can be to learn how to play the ukulele - ha!  We had a family band going by the end of the night =)  Then they treated us to frozen yogurt.

Then more special people came to visit - Tricia and her daughter, Myla, spent the weekend with us!  Tricia and I met our first week at OBU, and were quick friends, sharing in the joy of being music education majors together!  

We had a blast at our first professional women's soccer game, cheering on the Washington Spirit.  Tricia and Myla are big fans, and they passed on the bug so that our girls were giddy about trying to get the players' autographs after the game!

Tricia and I took our big girls on Uncle Steve's moonlight trolley tour of the monuments - a special evening for the four of us. 

And time with this dear college friend wouldn't be complete without sharing a meal of what we like to call "Special Food."   

The beginning of the end:

This is all that was left of the old deck.  We cut those posts down to the ground, and started work on a new deck.  And by "we", I mean that we assisted Uncle Steve in his extremely generous act of love to design and build a wonderful deck for us!

Mid-way through the month, I had a special opportunity to go to the Sing conference in Nashville.  Four of us from our church traveled together, and it was a wonderful three days of music, breakout sessions, and conversations about the important of corporate singing and worship in our church.  We remain grateful to be a part of Cheverly Baptist Church, and I'm especially thankful to be a part of the music team.

Putting the kids to work on our clean-up day to get the church rooms where our co-op meets ready for the first day.

Free tickets from the library to the Nats baseball game, plus free kids' meals = a great family fun night!

Squeezing out the last of our summer days: we met Ryan at the mini golf course after work one evening and closed down the place with a round of putt putt and the batting cages

Portland Trip, Part Two

After our week with everyone at the coast, we stayed to enjoy extra days of Payne vacation in the beautiful pacific northwest.  Mom and Dad are gracious to allow us to invade their space for that long!  And they were able to be flexible with work so we could enjoy adventures together.  Kaye K took all of us to the Portland Zoo one day:

We were sitting directly under a perch during the bird show, so we had a CLOSE-UP view of the birds flying right towards us (see the colorful beak of the toucan heading our way)!

Mom and Dad's backyard is magical.  And Kaye K made it more enjoyable with s'mores and her stories.

Our bunch of Paynes took a day trip to hike on several trail stops driving towards Mt. Hood.  It was perfect weather, and our crew handled all the hiking with minimal complaining.  I think the cronuts (think: a croissant married to a donut) from Joe's Donut Shop on the way was just the morning energy everyone needed. 

The base of Mt. Hood at the start of our longer hike

The view at the end of our hike - glorious!

Another shorter hike in the heart of Portland with Mom and Dad, still enjoying views of Mt. Hood in the distance

Our second day trip was with Kaye K and Big Daddy to Hood River, with a stop at Multnomah Falls on the way

We drove along parts of the Fruit Loop, stopping at several orchards and farm shops.  Though I don't have a photo, we'll never forget our first fruit stop was across the street from the factory where Juanita's tortilla chips are made.  We wandered in, watched the most delicious tortilla chips being made and packaged, and then I unexpectedly crossed paths with one of Juanita's daughters!  After chatting for a bit, she sent us on our way with five free bags of WARM Juanita's chips - amazing!  They rivaled the juicy peaches and samplings of EVERYTHING we enjoyed at the next fruit stand stop:

A lavender farm

Picking rainier cherries (which we paid too much for, but we won't remember that, will we, Mom?!)

Our last stop fruit farm stop was to scavenge for raspberries:

Big Daddy gave each of the kids a few dollars to spend at the orchards and farm shops, so we made sure to choose wisely for our last treat stop where they used up all their treat money!

Unexpectedly, our trip coincided with my 20-year high school reunion.  Ryan had to fly back for work, but the kids stayed with my parents so I could drive down for an evening of seeing old friends.  Some of these friends I hadn't seen in almost twenty years, but catching up and reminiscing was so much fun!  A group of us met up before the reunion dinner.

And then it was time to pack up.  This sweet girl is a big of a pack-rat!  I asked her to empty her backpack and get it ready for the plane ride home.  Here she is, showing me her collection of "treasures" =)

It was a fantastic trip and, despite being gone for over two weeks (a long time to be away from home), we were all still a little sad to be leaving.  What a gift to have time with family in a beautiful place!  We returned home with full hearts.