Charlotte and the Family Renunion

We had the opportunity to visit with Charlotte, our 2001 Rotary Exchange student from the Netherlands in July. She was here for a few weeks with her family. It just so happened that there was a Smith/Hill and Laseke/Lemmons family reunion at our house on the 27th. Tom and Kathy Hill lived down the street from us in Toledo and had five kids about the same age as ours. We would do stuff together so Jill organized a reunion and Charolotte and her family got caught in the middle.

Charlotte and her family with Goni

Charlotte & her dad and Patrick visiting

Everyone is having a great time visiting.

Kathy and her granddaughter Marley.

Tom and Natalie with Paul in the background talking on the phone.

And of course the food!

Soundview Expedition

Every summer Grover and Goni help out with a summer youth camp expedition in the Columbia River Gorge. For one week we camp, hike, canoe, whitewater raft and in general have fun. This year we had 13 kids and the weather was really good. This year our nephews Drew Bradley and Alex Allen went along and had a great time!

Picture of the group at the very end of the week.

Our tent trailer (aka: The Palace) and Goni's camping kitchen.

The campers and counselors all slept in two man (or woman) tents.

Our first hike was to the top of Beacon Rock

Steve Klump acting the part of Capt Meriweather Lewis

Unloading the canoes at LaCamas Lake for canoe training

Canoeing on the Sandy River.

Whitewater rafting on the White Salmon River

Goni having fun.

What a Busy Summer!

I knew it had been a while since we updated our blog but when we checked today we found it had been over a month. We have been busy with all sorts of things. Goni has had a few catering gigs and Grover has been busy at work (it's not fair that Goni gets the summer off). In between all this we fit in family events, a trip to the Arlington Fly-in, the week long Sound View Expedition with the church kids in the Columbia River Gorge (and yes Goni did fall out of the canoe twice), the reunion with Tom & Kathy Hill and the various children on July 27th, a visit from our 2001-2 Rotary exchange student Charlotte, church work parties, camping at Lower Falls with Pam & Bruce Brown this past weekend, and on & on & on. Grover hasn't been flying since July 9th although he has been down to the airport to visit and work on the airplane a few times.

So there will be some pictures posted and more information in the near future. We promise!