If you're looking for the fund raiser/drawing...click
here!
Once upon a time, this particular adventure took place in the Columbia River Gorge on May 28, 2011. And then the Jefferies got so busy with life that it took 2 and a half more months before they got around to recording it. And if it seems like the Jefferies have been having a lot of adventures this summer...dare I say, more than their share...then it's because they are making up for two summers in a row where they couldn't do much because the lady of the house was uncomfortably with child...
So without further ado...I give you pictures of Beacon Rock:
A very tall rock in the Colombia River Gorge, with a criss-crossing, switch back boardwalk trail up to the top.
Brent: performing "The Top of Beacon Rock, Baby On Your Back
Plank"
This hike has officially made my top 10 favorite hikes.
Have you wondered if it is worth it to keep up with blogging?
I have...but first:
If you're looking for the fund raiser/drawing...click
here!
We're coming down to the last few days of the fund raiser...THANK YOU to all have participated so far! I need to get a current tally of the money we have raised so far. I CAN'T WAIT to pick some winners...it'll make me so happy to give away some presents on Elsa's birthday! I feel so loved and blessed to have such wonderful friends.
Our blog...
It started back
here, a long time ago (2007), after we left our motherland (Utah) and moved to Oregon. That old blog was a log of our adventures, and is missing a lot of posts that somehow got erased, which is sad. It was mostly for our parents, so they could see the boys from far away. And it was for us, so we could keep a record of everything we were doing. And then our friends started to read it...and they liked it. Then we moved to the blogger format, which is easier to deal with...but then entered the world of comments and followers. I think I rather liked it better when I didn't think anyone was reading it and I didn't expect anyone to make comments. Now I just get sad when I write an awesome post (in my mind), and no body comments. But then I have to stop and remind myself the reason why I started blogging in the first place. It was for us. And our parents.
Flash forward to 2009...two years ago.
Elsa died. My blog became my outlet...free therapy. It helped me a lot, and by "a lot" I mean it was almost everything to me for a while. And so many people commented and said nice things to me that helped me to feel better {thank you}.
And now...it's quiet again.
But {even though I love you} I don't need you to comment. The purpose of this blog is not to complement farm. It is for me. It is our family history. It is therapeutic. It is a good way to stay in touch with family and friends. And IF it can help a few mamas struggling with loss, I will cry and smile all at the same time. Because I know.
And MOST OF ALL I am NOT writing this blog to make anyone feel inferior or jealous of our adventures. That's just us. We are the OREGONIAN JEFFERIES and we LOVE ADVENTURES. And we've experienced BABY LOSS, which has changed us FOREVER. Hopefully in a good way.
If you're looking for the fund raiser/drawing...click
here!
5/17/11
Toby took his last kindergarten field trip to the Portland Children's Museum. Sadly, I was not able to go with him. I picked him up from the bus as usual, and was VERY surprised to see his face painting job. I *think* he was going for a "circus clown turned hobo" look.
Toby never ceases to entertain me.
If you're looking for the fund raiser/drawing...click
here!
5/14/11-
We took a little drive through the Colombia River Gorge. There is SO MUCH to see and do in the Gorge. I don't think we'll ever see it all. But on this day we took the Historic Colombia River Gorge Highway. We stopped at Crown Point {where we've been many times} and visited the Vista House {which was a first for us because it's been closed every other time we've been there}.
This is a picture of Crown Point from our visit in March. This view is from below the cliff off of the freeway. The Vista House is that bump on top of the cliff. The Historic Highway meanders along the cliffs and through the forests. It is a splendor.
This is the Vista House:
This is a better view:
This is Joshy and Toby inside
standing in front of an awesome little band that was performing that day:
This is what they were looking at:
Here we are on the deck:
We stopped at one of the very many waterfalls {I didn't catch the name of this one, but it was a beaut!} and took a little hike down from the road to the top of the fall.
Top of the waterfall
The historic highway runs along that bridge
Some spring beauty
I am completely fascinated by the beauty of all plants,
but especially the little flowers that grow in cracks on cliffs
one of my special favorites...I never could understand why anyone would consider these cheerful flowers to be weeds. I LOVE them. And the greens are very good for you.
The next thing we did was drive up to Rowena Crest. It is a couple of hours up the gorge from Portland but it is supposed to have a lovely hike with lots of wildflowers this time of year. So this was the main item on our agenda for this trip. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was POURING rain. We did not come prepared {like we usually do} with all of our rain gear, because it had been sunny in Portland. I was not feeling like taking the three boys for the hike in the pouring rain, and I could tell that Brent was sad about driving all the way out there and then NOT doing the hike. So I told him to just go by himself. He ran the whole hike in about 1/2 hour in the rain. It was exhilarating for him. He took some pictures:
Flowers with storm clouds and Colombia River in the distance
muddy trail
One very wet, but very happy Brent!
I'm sad I missed this hike...hopefully we'll get back there another spring.a
If you're looking for the fund raiser/drawing...click
here!
So I ended my last blog entry with the question "what do you have to give to the world". And I can answer that for a lot of you right now...a lot of you are MOTHERS!! You are giving so much and doing so well. I look up to all my friends and family and think you are so amazing!
So this is a post about Mother's day 5/8/11
Brent had this idea to have a Swedish picnic for us on Mother's Day. So he went to IKEA and bought some fun Swedish foods and took us up to North Fork Reservoir {a fun place}. We were very lucky that day that a) it was a rainy day because nobody else was there and we had the place all to ourselves and b) that the rain stopped right when we got there so we were able to enjoy our picnic without getting soaked.
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| Swedish picnic on North Fork Reservoir |
OK...no, this was really the first picture of the day. My little guys made me breakfast in BED to start the day. But I wanted that other picture to be first so that it would show up in the blog feed...haha!
But I LOVE my thoughtful little guys.
being a mother is the BEST work I could ever have
Happy Mother's Day to all of you...only 3 months late! But hey! We're mothers EVERY day!
