A Sunday Hike

Today we ventured out to Forest Park in NW Portland.  For those that don't know Forest Park is the largest, forested natural area within city limits in the United States.

Walking along the Wildwood Trail.

The kids at Stone House.

The boy on the wall at Stone House.

The girl after the two mile hike.

The sound of the stream next to the trail captivates me and takes me back to the backyard of the home I grew up in in Tigard.  We went into the Audubon Society and saw a couple of captive owls they have on display.  Having Owen on the hike with us made us feel like we fit in with the Portlanders a bit more.  I would say half or more of the hikers we passed on the trail had a dog with them.

It was a good day with the family.

Mt. Tabor

Today we hung out at Mt. Tabor Park in SE Portland.

We are doing our best to spend Sunday's as a family and trying new things and seeing new places.

We're trying to find a balance between work, school, church, and other things in life that keep us busy...

Before my lady and I...

Blow our tops.

What are the odds?

I call it Boy Floating in Grass

He's a Little Runaway

Yesterday I called home to talk to the family. My daughter answered the phone and all I heard was "Alex AHHHH, bah-WAH-HAWAH, he AHHHHHHHH-AGH WAHH-AAAHHH, Owen UHN-HAAAAAAAA!!!" So like a good dad I immediately hung up and called my wife's cell phone. She filled me in on why I got hysterics. READ EXPLANATION HERE.

All I could do was laugh. I did. Unapologetically laughed while my wife told the story. He packed his bag walked out because he doesn't like spelling or math. He packed a jacket and his blanket. No food, no water, no cash, no pocket knife, no tent or sleeping bag. He's never been a boy scout so maybe I need to work on his preparation skills. What made me laugh was the image of him standing there in the backyard with his backpack looking out into the woods, the great unknown ahead of him, his trusty dog under his arm - a dog who would be gone at the first sign of a squirrel - wondering what the heck he had just committed to.

The question I have is - what possesses young kids to run away. Where do they think they will go?

Mis-heard Lyrics

This weekend we had a chance to rock on Guitar Hero - Metallica at a friends house. It was a good time. My kids love Queen, so when "Stone Cold Crazy" showed up on the play list, since Metallica covered it on Garage Days, my kids wanted to play that song. After the song played Alex said "I thought it was 'Snow Cone Crazy'." We had a good laugh.

Last night I was playing Metallica from my iTunes and he asked me to play that song. When I laughed and said "you mean 'Snow Cone Crazy'"? He said, "I thought it was 'Don't Go Crazy' before I thought it was 'Snow Cone Crazy'".

Silver Falls

The sun came out so we decided to make a break for it. We ended up at Silver Falls. It is such a beautiful place.

There is Nothing Like a Powerful Testimony

Recently I've seen a few video testimonies linked on the web that are truly facinating and powerful.  They come from Iamsecond.com.

This one is very powerful.  Former guitarist for the band Korn, Brian "Head" Welch.

God is good. Stories like this one must be told.

Got a story?