Great Weekends
Two weekends ago, my parents and younger brother came up to visit for a long weekend. We played some tennis and my Dad helped me seriously improve my handyman skills as we got some Ikea curtains up and some car maintenance taken care of. My sister Melissa and brother in law Mark threw a great bbq party in their huge backyard (briefly threatened by rain of course) and we got to meet a lot of their friends from church and elsewhere. There's a good chance my parents will move up to Portland as well in a couple years.
This past weekend was filled with very fun and memorable times with good friends. I lived with Paul and Kalen in Davis for a couple years and their extremely hospitable parents hosted us at their lovely house in Weed, California, right next to Mount Shasta. Their house has direct access to the gorgeous Lake Shastina and we had a fabulous time wakeboarding in their sweet speedboat on Sunday. Ivy, by the way, impressed everyone by getting up on her very first try! Her snowboarding skills paid off big time. On Saturday we went on a very enjoyable 4-5 hour hike in the mountains and these hikes always combine great views with great conversation.
Kalen and Melissa had visited us in Budapest last year and now we're thrilled that they're probably going to move to Portland soon themselves (with their son Aiden). Somehow, Crazy Paul was able to become a successful surgeon and he is finishing his residency up currently in Ohio. He and his wife Renay (and new baby Madelin) will probably head out to somewhere in the Pacific NW in the next several years. We are lobbying hard for Portland!
This past weekend was an awesome combination on many levels: it felt a cross between a college reunion, outdoor Christian retreat with lots of singing and trip to Vegas (I learned how to make mojitos). Our batteries died on the hike on Saturday but other people brought their cameras so I'll add those in later.
