Birthday Wishes for #4

Camp made ice-cream and cupcakes!

Blue Heron French Cheese company

Nice place to stop for some Oregon wine and cheese. Blue Heron Pino
Gris 2007 sooo good.

Lauryn yanked out her tooth in a bizarre family tradition where the
kids have lost a total on 4 teeth on a family member's birthday. Eric
3, Dylan 1

Dylan turns 4

We had to have a party but we are camping, so we decided to make our
own ice-cream. Turning four never tasted so good.

Cape Meares Lighthouse

What a great view on a sunny and breezy Oregon day. This is how it
was done when I was Dylan's age. We even saw several whales in the
distance.

Sydney's DreamSlice!

More Schmizza for the Swadburg Girls

Loving the 7pm sunshine and Schmizza beer. 83 degrees beats 115, no?

Lauryn on the Tillamook River

Lauryn was the final family member to land a fish. The small mudpuppy
did the trick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRI1AqV0GEQ

Brazen Powered.

Fishing on Tillamook river serenaded by happy cows

Sun sets and rainbows bite. Dylan enjoying it all. Syd and Beth were
also fishing pros.

Campfire with Smores

Cool nights next to the Tillamook river.

Sun sets on Tillamook.

The sun sets on Tillamook and all we can see is stars while we listen
to a chorus of frogs on the banks of the Trask river.

Lo Lo the Adventurer!

The giant sushi boat!

 

Berry Farmer or Wine Maker?

Career day for the kids at Hoffman Farms and Cooper Mountain
Vineyards. Saturdays don't get much better. We saw a great 1935 John
Deere General Purpose tractor. Anti Oxidant tip of day, "Black Cap
Raspberries have 8 times the punch of even Blueberries."

Willamette River lunch in Lake Oswego's Roehr City Park

Crushing it in Scholls Oregon.

I Love you Berry Much!

We have Farms in Arizona, but this was a special treat.  No one loves the taste of summer berries more than our three and now they could gather their own.  Courtesy of Hoffman Farms. 

First were the Raspberrys.










 

The next ones required croutching, Strawberrys.










  

Finally, we went after some Blueberries and remarked on our HAUL!

We even had some classic John Deere tractor time with this restored 1935 General Purpose with Farmer Hoffman's permission.  After all that, we recovered with a picnic lunch in the bright OR sun.

 

Mizithra cheese anyone?

Old Spaghetti Factory strikes again. In a tribute to Grandma Judi's
birthday tomorrow every tried Grandma's favorite.

Portland Zoo

July is here and what better way to kick it off, than to take your animals to see other animals.  Black Bear, Bald Eagle and Mountain Lion were all on display and a great first week in OR was on track.

The taste of Summer courtesy of Beaverton Farmer's Market

Dylan's view of his father.

I didn't realize I would look so ominous to a soon to be 4 year old. I was fitting in with Portland style(unshaven, plaid shirt, riding fixed gear to work). I guess the glasses and tan should go if I really want to fit it here.

Crater Lake is just plain beautiful.

A collapsed volcano formed the lake and the water reflects a brilliantly deep blue.  Click to enlarge the pictures and then make a plan to visit.  Warning:  They have plenty of mosquitos, enough that Dylan was afraid for his life. You can make a 1.1 mile hike down to the water's edge and even catch a boat to Wizard's island for more exploring.

We woke up Sunday to Crater Lake National Park.

Here is where we were.  More photos are coming, but they say the water is a special color.  I had doubts until I saw it.  Just amazing. 

I can verify that the mosquitos were in full bloom, and they get a lot of snow here in the winter.  A LOT!  The campground is Mazama and many of the spaces had not been cleared of snow yet and it is the last week of June.  Reports were that it has taken until July 15th some years to clear the road that circumnavigates the lake.









Just stopping by the Ranger's station brought back memories of being a kid in Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Sequoia and so many more amazing national and state parks as a kid. Here is our rig and picnic table, seating was a bit on the cool side.