Now that summer is in full swing here in Oregon, Hillsboro and Portland are sweltering. But while it's in the 90's here, it's in the high 60s, low 70s on the beach, so it's not too hard to convince Amy to head to the coast for some kiting. Last weekend was a little something old, and something new. New was Crabby here, made by Peter Lynn. Although you can't see it here, his feet wiggle about in the wind like he's scuttling... very cute. The Something old was my buggy, which I finally got around to reassembling. When the tide is out you can really get going, though I did learn the hard way that not all puddles are shallow. Needless to say, I was a bit wetter heading home than I'd planned on being.

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Lincoln City is about 2.5 hrs south on the Oregon Coast from us, and every year they have several kite festivals: Summer, Fall, and a winter one held indoors. A couple of weekends ago was there summer festival. The sun was out, the temp was perfect (about 70), and the winds were blowing! And when I say blowing, I mean hard. By the end of the festival only a couple kites were still in the air, most having either crashed, or taken down for safety reasons. I still have a rope burn on my leg from when I was helping take down someone elses big piece. Overall though it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for their next festival in the fall :)

In case you subscribe to my rss feed, you're probably wondering what's with all the updates. Well, a little bit ago I tried to move to a new system, and it didn't work out. The rss feed was broken, and it was a mess with the server. Anyhow, here're the updates I previously posted then, but have brought back to the old website setup.

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A long time ago (April), before Bri was a dad, he came out to visit us. We hung out, showed him Portland, visited the coast, and played a little badminton. Here are a few pics from that last bit...

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You may have guessed from the kiting photos, but summer has arrived in Oregon. As such we've been enjoying the outdoors a whole lot more lately. At least until it gets too hot. With all this sun we've been busy working out in our yard. Here are a few pictures of the very first plants (and us planting them) we put in our yard...blueberries!

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It has become clear that kiting in the northwest means flying on a beach along the coast. I've always avoided kiting on beaches for two reasons, sand and salt. I don't personally have anything against them, but my kites aren't particularly fond of being coated with either. Well, we recently went up to Long Beach in Washington for the day, and I believe I may have to change my stance. There's something to be said for being able to drive out onto the beach and keep going until you find a pleasant spot to call your own, park the car, and fly. No more hunting for parking, no more hauling bags, and no more fighting for space to fly. That's got win written all over it :) It was a bit cooler since it's the coast, but the sun was out and the sand was warm. I can't wait to go back...