We are leaving on a family trip to Japan tomorrow. Nate has very much taken the lead in planning this trip. We both went on separate work trips to Japan years back and loved it.
Nate earned a work sabbatical that started in early July and will extend into early September. This provided an opportunity to take a "big" family trip and Japan won. We will explore several cities around Japan. We are especially excited to see our good friends Aya, Ichiro, and their son Ren whom we haven't seen for about 5 years now.
Other than this trip taking up plenty of real estate in our heads, we have also taken advantage of what Portland is so well known for - wonderful summer weather.
Here are some glimmers from these past couple of months. As I was looking back at pictures I had taken, I noticed that I was picking family and sibling shots for a certain reason: there wasn't any fighting between my daughters for +/- an hour or so from the photo snap, a true glimmer reprieve. Yes, it's hard to believe looking at the pictures how much our girls fight. Paul really does a good job staying out of it.
Family trip to Bend over Memorial Day to cheer on Paul in his baseball tournament. Enjoying an easy Spaghetti dinner at our cute Airbnb.
Our girls did a nice job cheering on Paul overall. Giving Elise the fancy camera to take pictures definitely helped. Had a little fun with a sibling shot 10 years apart.
End of year 6th grade band concert. Paul really likes the drums and plans to continue band next year.
Elise made this crafty vase out of shattered Paulaner beer bottle and fabric flowers
Thank you Inside Out 2 for helping me get all my kids to the tennis court for some family tennis before hitting the movie theater to watch what will easily be one of my favorite movies of the year.
Elise and I took a quick 24 hour trip to Bend to see her favorite band, Vampire Weekend. It was in an outdoor theater. I was watching her almost as much as the stage. The moment they started playing, her face lit up. I included a couple links to the concert below.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/16hXAji63HREW3R69
Father's Day at Olympia Provisions. Charcuterie and Octopus for the win.
Super proud of Paul and his bike crew riding to school regularly throughout the year up a steep incline in the early morning for several miles.
Gma and Gpa came in early June for a quick visit after their Canada adventures. This visit ended up being a bit of a doozy with both Gma and Gpa bringing Covid with them and most of us ended up getting sick too - but testing negative...? At least we got to enjoy one meal out together with Gma.
Proud of Elise for marching in the Pride parade with a couple of her friends in an inflatable unicorn costume. She had a blast. She even made it on the news.
Enjoyed a quick weekend getaway with dear friends on Bainbridge Island. It was super chill, calm, and relaxing. This is at Boedel Reserve.
Fun Girls Night on Abby's boat. 20+ years of Girls Nights.
This is the first picture of 12 year old Elise where it took me aback looking at it because I saw a grown up Elise in it...like I know what she'll look like when she's much older for the first time.
Family dinner celebrating the first night of Dad's sabbatical. Sushi of course.
Paul and Nate making time for mountain biking in between baseball games. Ironic that just one month later, it would be a baseball game that resulted in a broken foot for Paul just a day before he's supposed to leave with Nate, a couple of best biking friends, and their Dads, on a mountain biking trip/camp. Trip canceled. Nate and Paul were super bummed. This was how Nate was kicking off his work sabbatical too. Oh well. Best silver lining is that a walking boot will suffice in Japan. No crutches - yay.
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