We went for a walk this morning in the open grassy area on the east end of Alton Baker Park (aka the Whilamut Natural Area). Evan rode his bike, Jen pushed Erin in the stroller, and I got to take a few pictures:

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We headed out to Mt. Pisgah early this morning for a “breakfast picnic” and then to “hike” around for a while. Erin, who turns 8 months old tomorrow, rode around in the backpack for the first time. She absolutely loved it, cooing and giggling almost the entire time.

Evan walked on his own the whole [...]

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Just a quick note that we attended the Lane County Fair today and, among many other things during our 5-hour visit, we enjoyed front row seats for the All-Alaskan Pig Race. I’m hoping to post a bit more (perhaps a video — gasp!) of this fun little show later on, but for now these stills [...]

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It had been several years since our last jaunt north to Junction City for the annual Scandinavian Festival, but today we made our return to this popular festival. We arrived just as the festival opened at 10am and promptly got in line at the Faith Lutheran Church booth where they serve the single most popular [...]

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Last weekend we made an impromptu and inaugural trip to Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR (just south of Roseburg). We’d heard from a couple other parents that it was worth visiting. I’m happy to report that we had a pretty good time. Evan really enjoyed it, and even Erin seemed to respond by trying to [...]

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Evan loves UPS and FedEx trucks, and he can spot them from blocks away when we are driving. We’ve had friendly encounters with both UPS and FedEx drivers in the past, but I have to say, the FedEx drivers have been exceptionally generous. One driver we met last winter offered to help us order [...]

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On Sunday morning, we got up even earlier than the day before so we could make the hour drive from Portland to Hood River in time for our 9am ride with Thomas the Tank Engine. Though it wasn’t initially our first choice, we were relieved to be on the first train of the day because, [...]

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On Friday afternoon, we arrived at the Embassy Suites in downtown Portland. We’ve stayed at a few places in downtown Portland, but this was our first time at this Embassy Suites. Let me just say that when you have kids — especially ones with early bed times like ours — it is so worth paying [...]

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The theme for the Portland leg of our trip was “trains,” as you can see by the following photos.
From downtown Portland, we rode the MAX light rail out to the Oregon Zoo:

Once at the zoo, we rode the “zoo train” through the woods to Washington Park and back:

The following day, we drove out to Hood [...]

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If you happen to get the Register-Guard newspaper (Eugene, OR), go dig out your May 15th edition, locate the special Discovery magazine insert, and turn to page 6. (If you don’t have a copy, read on for instructions on how to access it online.)
It turns out that an underwater photo I took while diving in [...]

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