North Umpqua

Helping Papi pack.

All the dirt ...

The fly fisherman is getting ready.

Dirty face before Mami came with those wipes ...

Looking at the majestic trees.

Andrin visiting with Becky.

The kids are enjoying the inflatable couch.

On our way up to Watson Falls.

Last year with my parents, I was carrying the belly like Becky, now I had Andrin in the Ergo ...

Hazel is enjoying the view.

Taking a nap in the car.

Andrin just needed a snack on our hike.

Playing by the river.

We spent a beautiful weekend with our friends, Becky and Beau, and their family at the North Umpqua. Clemens checked with the ranger in advance and he confirmed that the road was once open again and that there was not too much smoke from the fire which is 100% contained since last week. And indeed, we only saw a little bit of smoke once we left. But we also saw the damage that the fire has left behind. In some spots, the fire came all the way down to the road. It is always sad to see the dead trees. On the other side of the river, there was a fire in 2002 and they now know that it was caused by humans. Even more sad!
But let's come back to our camping experience. We went ahead and scouted out a tent site. Unfortunately, the campground at Horseshoe Bend was already full and we thus camped at Eagle Rock. This is the campground that we were at last year with my parents. There was only one decent campsite at the river left. It was too small for all of our tents, so that we had to claim another camp site. A couple hours later, Beau and Becky arrived. We had some dinner (Pasta by Clemens). The following day (Saturday), we went to Watson Falls (Tokatee Falls are still closed) and hiked up there. After this short hike, we hiked along the North Umpqua trail, looking for a nice spot to swim. We did not find a nice spot, but there was a nice place right by the parking lot where we spent some time in the cold water. Hazel at first screamed when she put her feet in the water, but then started enjoying it. Andrin was though from the beginning and he just wanted to sit down in the river). That night, we enjoyed a campfire with hot dogs, and then smores (I never had them before). Sunday, we packed up after a nice breakfast with pancakes and made our way back to Eugene. We had to stop in Rice Hill and get some lunch and their famous ice cream. Thank you, Beau and Becky, for sharing your tradition with us. The "baby ice cream" was already big!
Well, another beautiful weekend in wonderful company! Unfortunately, this probably was our last camping trip for this year. Clemens is really busy in September and we might not have time to do another trip!

Our busy weekend

We started our weekend on Saturday morning with a trip to a farm in the Riverroad neighborhood where Dana, Paul and Owen live. We got delicious peaches, plums, and tasted melon. Andrin and the other babies really enjoyed the melons!






On our way back home, Andrin fell asleep in the car. Clemens ran into the fly fishing shop and got back out to the car all excited ... one of his favorite actors (he did not even know his name) also came into the shop and of course Clemens know even likes him better because he is ALSO a fly fisherman! At home, we had some play time and Andrin was busying himself with reading some books (he also likes to eat them:). In the evening, we met up with Dana, Paul and Owen again and went to the first annual Bite of Eugene. We had some really good food and listened to some music. We hope that this event will attract even more businesses next year because it clearly has the potential! And please do not ask us about the cupcakes. Of course ours did not survive our walk back home from Alton Baker Park.

It is getting harder to take a picture of a moving target!

Thank you, Oma! The sweater looks beautiful on me, don't you think so?

On Sunday, Becky, Hazel, Andrin and I went for our traditional walk along the river. Becky warned me that she is not as fast anymore, but she is doing pretty well for being almost 33 weeks pregnant! Our two little precious babies fell asleep and we decided to have our little "snack" consisting of one, two, three, ... pieces of cake outside while the babies slowly woke up. Of course we had another beautiful walk and we are looking forward to our next adventure, the North Umpqua.

What I have been up to ...

Let met tell you what I have enjoyed doing this past week. Since I am getting mobile, I have been really busy. I am discovering our house and it is much more fun since I can move around on my own. (Even though it is sometimes still fun to be carried around :)

Reading books.

My "egg" rattle. (Mami's slippers are also really interested because they have holes that I can poke my fingers through and there is a crocodile on them!)

Sitting on my books (I scooted backwards and landed on them).

Getting all the magazines off the coffee table.

Playing with the little frog that Opa made for me.

Pulling myself up on everything possible (with a little help from Papi).

Farewell!

On Wednesday night, we had an exciting and sad event to celebrate. Since we moved to Eugene, OR, we have had this group of international friends that we have some really fond memories with ... trips to the coast to go whale watching (we never saw a whale that day), a trip to Olympic National Park, many dinners, the cago tio, Christmas far away from home, ... Last winter, Rachel, Loic and Yves already left Eugene and are now living on the east coast. Now, Adriana and Cristian are heading back to Barcelona and Momo and Hayato are going back to Japan. That leaves ... Yasuko, Jesse, and us ! We are really happy for Cristian and Adriana and Momo and Hayato for finding jobs in their home countries ... but, we will also miss their friendship. But like my "American" Mom always said, there has to be a goodbye before you can have a get-together again! We wish the four all the best luck and hope that we will be able to keep in touch!

I am on the go!

Mami and Papi, gone are your quiet times! Here I come!

I am stuck!

Somehow, this does not really work out! My Opa even suggested that they should take me to the car shop to see what is wrong with my "transmission." Somehow, I only go backwards and then I "bump" into everything and get stuck!

Camping ... finally!

Even though the odds were not on our side, we made it this past weekend and went camping! We had to change our plans though since there is a fire on the North Umpqua. I am glad that we decided not to go there since the fire increased in size this past weekend and they even closed down campgrounds and voluntarily evacuated the Steamboat Inn Lodge. We went once again (we have been going there every year) to the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette. The campground was busy, but not too bad. The first night, we spent alone and were lulled to sleep by drum beats. There was a big group on the other side of the little road leading through the campground and they were drumming and going crazy. Early in the morning, we awoke to a guy on his dirt bike hollering "Let's party ... let the drumming begin." We were not quite sure if he belonged to the group. It turned out that he did NOT belong to the drumming group and was quite mad and infuriated. He even went as far as to call the police ... With the consequence that the next night was really quiet ...
Andrin enjoyed being at the river, even though he would have liked to eat every little rock that he found. He also loved just sitting on his blanket and playing with everyone. On Saturday, our friends Keiko and John joined us as well. We already thought that they would never make it because it was getting late ... but we were wrong!
Altogether, we had a relaxing and nice weekend and we are looking forward to more camping trips!

Hanging out with Keiko.

Andrin's newest funny face ... not entirely sure if it is a grin or what ...

Keiko and John joining our camp.

Andrin taking a nap ...

Papi had to document the size of the trees compared to Andrin.

Taking another nap with Mami.

What is on your nose, Papi?