Portland

 Jason, Alaina and I just got back from a week in Portland for the Triple Crown Softball world series.  This is a week long softball tournament from players ages 12-18.   There were fewer teams this year compared to last year in Alaina's age bracket, but a lot of older teams.   

The team did not do as well as they wanted to (they came in 3rd in the Gold Bracket), but Alaina had a good tournament, including her first triple--her coach had her hit instead of slap during the tournament, which was fun for her.

The beginning of the week was hot (100!), but luckily the second half of the week cooled down.

There was some downtime during the tournament too--the girls spent one day swimming in a tributary of the Colombia river.

On that day, Jason and I took a hike near Mt. Hood called the Tom Dick and Harry hike.   It was a beautiful hike to the top of a small mountain (Tom) with views of Mt Hood, Mt. Rainer, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens.   It was really quite scenic, and only about an hour away from Portland.  Unfortunately, on the way way down the mountain, Jason slammed his foot into a rock as he was walking downhill, and ended up breaking his big toe!   Yuck.

  

We also enjoyed some good food in Portland, including out favorites Grassa, Pine State Biscuits and Lardo.   And, a walk around the Portland Rose garden--always beautiful.

Anyway, it was a bit of a let down to the softball season, which has not been too great.   But onward.

Work Party

 This weekend, we hosted my annual work party!

Unfortunately, I schedueld it during the world cup finale, which I didnt realize, so that reduced attendance a bit.   But, for once it was not such a hot day--we had some cloud cover to keep it a bit cooler.

George Greorgy, the foiunder of pediatric anesthesia and emertitus professor at UCSF joined which was great (guess that the world cup was not on his list either, ha ha)

Anyway, it was nice to get together outside of work and see all my colleague's kids growing up.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Time for an garden update.   As you may recall, this spring we decided to try a Dahlia garden.   Now, I do not conisder myself to even have a tiny green thumb, as evidenced by years of dying tomato plants in our yard.   But I really wanted to try to do this right, so I ordered the dahlia tubers (bulbs) from a dahlia nursery in Washington state (Swan Island Dahlia's), and followed their instructions exactly.

We planted 10 and 7 have grown.   I was hoping for a higher yield, but luckily they come with a guarantee, so we will get three new tubers free for next year.

Anyhow, I have followed the instructions to the letter, and and very pleased with the results!   Look at our beautiful garden (minus the gaps where the missing plants are, ha ha:

 

 

The best part is, at least according to the instruciton manual, the more you cut the flowers, the more they bloom!   So we have beautiful cut flowers in the house too.   

 

I have to say, I am proud.

July 4

Well, America just turned 250--and we went to the cabin to celebrate for the long weekend.  

One of Alaina's friends from school just bought a cabin a few blocks away--so now she has a nearby friend.   

On Friday, we took a hike south along the PCT for about 6 miles and had lunch enroute.   The wildflowers were all in full bloom and the weather was perfect!

 

Friday night, we had Alainas friend's family over for a BBQ.

The next day was the 4th of July.   Alaina and her friend Hannah decided to enter annual Chili Cook-off.   They spent the morning making 2 gallons of "Firecracker Chili".   I was told it turned out quite good--but unfortunately they did not win a prize.   There is always next year!  

 

Afterwards the kids had fun playing and swimming at the beach--it was a warm and beautiful day!

In the evening, Ethan picked up a babysitting gig, and Alaina was too sleepy to watch fireworks--so we stayed in.   But overall, a nice weekend away.