Pavliks, Humphreys and Olsons visit

The Pavliks and Humphreys at Cresent Lake, Washington

July turned into a great month for summer visitors. First we were visited by two families with roots back to our Germany days. Of course we loved the opportunity to have a long weekend of visiting with the Pavliks and Humphreys and catching up on news of mutual friends. We also had a great time exploring and sharing places in our area. What fun it was to have Mark and Terilyn, Zachery, McKenzie and Nathaniel Pavlik (ages 17, 15 and 13) here visiting at the same time as Robert and David Humphreys (age 12). It did make for a full house with lots of excitement. Everybody pitched in to create meals and clean up, which made the chores go as easily as the explorations. David enjoys cooking so learned how to make Whidbey Island eggs with Nancy and then he helped Ray make blueberry pancakes from scratch on another morning.

David ready to serve breakfast

The group finishing up breakfast on the deck

One day Mark and Terilyn led the group to a favorite beach on the Washington coast. We skipped seeing Hurricane Ridge since the Olympic Mountains were hiding in the clouds, but enjoyed seeing Crescent Lake along the way, with the sky clearing. By the time we arrived at Beach Number 2 near La Push, there was not a cloud in the sky and also no wind. The name does not do the scenic beach justice and we look forward to going back again.

The group enjoying the Beach at LaPush

The group discovered the very interesting Navy Undersea Museum just as it was closing at 4 PM one day so made arrangements to go back the next day. Because we spent so much time at the beach the second day we did not have as much time as we would have liked to explore the museum in depth. On the last evening we had a nice “campfire” in the fire pit out on the pickleball court and the kids had fun feeding the fire and cooking marshmallows. Soon the morning arrived for everybody to part. Pavliks headed for home in New Mexico and Humphreys began their trip back to Germany.

Mark and Terilyn on the beach, you had to be there!

After our guests left, we went to Eugene for my treatment and were lucky enough to babysit our granddaughter, Cecilia, on the way back. On Saturday we stayed with my brother Roy and helped him with a couple of projects. The next morning went out for breakfast to a little local restaurant that serves great breakfasts!

Snack at the park

We returned to Hansville in time to rescue our yard from the heat wave that was setting records and get ready for Brenda and Ron Olson to visit for a couple of days. We enjoyed the sunny morning breakfasts on the deck before heading for a walk on the beaches. The spectacular sunsets enhanced by the temperature and trapped pollution were ones to remember. Brenda and Ron had been to this area before but had not been to Port Gamble which they found enjoyable.

Breakfast on the deck with Ron and Brenda

On the last night we had a hard time finding an air-conditioned restaurant to have dinner. We finally ate at the local casino which also didn’t have air conditioning, but we survived! We have been providing extra water to plants around the yard during the record setting heat wave and have noticed fewer animals passing through the yard. We figure they are resting in the woods to stay cool. We do look forward to the return of cooler weather soon. The heat wave in the Northwest has made the national news for several days, hitting as high as 107 in Vancouver, 106 in Eugene, 108 in Medford and some of eastern Oregon and Washington. Even Seattle topped 100, but here in Hansville we managed to stay relatively cool in the mid-80’s, though we think we hit 90 one day.

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Sunset at Foul Weather Bluff with Olympics in the background.

June brings Lawson for visit

Nancy, Ray, Kari, Roy, Wren, Travis and Suzanne

Toward the end of June Kari, Charles, Travis & Wren arrived in Portland for a family visit. Much of the first weekend was spent enjoying the sunny warm weather we were having. One day we enjoyed walking to some falls on the Lewis River near Vancouver, Washington. The Portland Rose gardens were the destination on Sunday afternoon and we soon found it was the destination of many.

Charles, Travis and Wren enjoy the river

With parking at a premium, we parked a distance away and then walked down a trail through the woods to the roses. An unexpected benefit of taking the back trails was crossing the zoo train track. We managed to scrape up a few pennies to put on the track to be flattened by the little train, much to Travis and Wren’s delight.

Travis, Kari Charles and Wren wait for the train.

Then it was back on the trail which just happened to come out at a playground which the kids also enjoyed. The rose gardens were beautiful and we all enjoyed seeing the many varieties in full bloom. Then it was on to Eugene so Travis and Wren could spend a few days visiting with Great Grandma. Of course Nancy and I enjoyed visiting playgrounds and parks with our grandkids.

Enjoying the Portland Rose Gardens

As is the family tradition, we had to pick blueberries and have a blueberry pancake feast, with Travis and Wren’s able help. They have been well trained by Grandpa over the years. The time in Eugene flew by and soon the Lawson’s went back to Portland to celebrate the 4th of July weekend with Brett, Kasey and Cecilia. Nancy and I were lucky enough to have another visit with them before they headed east to Tennessee. Nancy and I returned to Hansville where we found ourselves doing a lot of chores that had backed up. We continue to be entertained by wildlife that wanders through our yard. The hummingbirds are a favorite to watch and they visit our feeders regularly, as well as a variety of other birds at our regular bird feeders, but occasionally the larger animals entertain us.

Travis and Wren preparing Blue Berry Pancakes

We have a raccoon that we see regularly but so far he has been able to avoid our camera. The deer are much more cooperative. We had a couple of young bucks that were running around our back yard jumping fences until they settled down for a picture. We also had a doe and her fawn spend a lot of time in our back yard eating our plants. We were relieved that she was teaching her fawn to eat our weeds rather than our flowers and tomatoes.

Doe and her fawn weeding our garden