Summer Days

I recently spent a couple of nice summer days with my nephew Jacob and some of my grandsons, enjoying the kid side of summer. 

Steph and family had us over for backyard badminton followed by burgers and potato salad - yum!

Jake, Sean, Shea and I headed for OMSI Monday morning. 

Jake wanted to see an exhibit in the Life area; unfortunately, it had been discontinued.  Sean and Shea seemed most interested in the Turbine room exhibits - these are very hands-on!  I was most interested in the Natural Disasters exhibit - earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc.  This is very well done.  And we toured the Blueback submarine - only Sean was willing to sign up for an extended tour of duty.

We left OMSI and headed to Steakburger in Hazel Dell for a brief round of miniature golf - and a milkshake!

We were a little more low-key the next day.  Jake, Cody, Sean and I headed to Wintler Park, which is very small and about the only area in Vancouver where you can go to "the beach."  Luckily we got there early and even so, I was surprised it wasn't more crowded as the morning went on.  Cody read for a while, and the boys adventured up and down the beach, dug in the sand, and pretty much got soaking wet.  I relaxed and listened to an audio book - a novel about people in Dublin.  The book made me think of my mom, because it was all about how people came together in their common interest and love in taking care of a baby.  ("Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy.)  That isn't us paddling up and down the river, but we did see quite a variety of vessels go by, not to mention the steady stream of air traffic coming and going from both the Portland Airport and the Portland Air Base right across the river.

We dragged ourselves away from the river, hot-footing it up the beach, and stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch.  After a video game break, Jake and I headed off to pack up for the return trip home, by way of a walking tour of Portland's Old Town/Chinatown area - the Shanghai Tunnels tour.  This was interesting, educational, and a little entertaining, but certainly nothing on the scale of Seattle's underground tour.

  Who knows what our next summer adventure might be?