Curren at 2 1/2 months

One sweet little boy! Curren is smiling and "talking" now. We can hardly restrain ourselves from going over the mountain every weekend!

Family things

Alan has worked very hard this summer building us a beautiful patio on the back of our house. We really enjoy sitting out on it esp. in the evenings with friends and a fire.

Also we are hearing good things from Amanda at Woodstock, seems like she is settling in.
She love emails, but would really like to get real mail.
The address there is

Midlands
Woodstock School
Mussoorie, Uttaranchal 248179
India

This photo was her and some of the other girls from the Sage Program dressed up for Indian Independence Day.

Alan's patio

Eli took this one!

Eli wanted to try out Peter's camera, and he just started shooting and caught this one! Fun times!

Beach Party Prior

The post below reminded me of another picture, that I apparently don't have, but in the process of looking for it, I found this one and thought everyone might enjoy it...

Clam Chowder at Mo's

We can't spend time at the coast without some Mo's Clam Chowder!

Beach Party - Lincoln City

Floyd and Mark made a perfect fire pit with rocks, Floyd went out a logging road and found some dry wood and some hot dog sticks, and then we enjoyed roasted hot dogs, corn on the cob and S'mores. A good time was had by all!!

Cape Kiwanda sand dune

An exhausting climb to the top, but worth it when you feel the ocean breeze and see the view!!

Tumalo Falls near Bend - The Hikers

We had a great time visiting Mark and Susan, Eli, and Curren in their new home in Bend. We did alot of hiking in the mountains and along the Deschutes River. Now we're laying low for a few days before we go the the coast. It's a real special time being with family.

I've arrived.

After many long, laborious hours of trying to get to be able to post on this blog, my brilliant son (pictured above) finally figured it out. So hopefully you'll be seeing more of the Halsel family in days to come.

Lois and Mary in Oregon

Here we are in the backyard the morning after the long flight. Gary, Lois, Ben and Laura arrived last evening in Portland around 10:30 pm, but by the time we got home, fed, and in bed it was 1:30 am here, and 4:30 am to the Pennsylvania bodies. Needless to say, everyone slept in this morning!
We are looking forward to heading East to Bend tomorrow for 2 days, and then back to McMinnville for a few days before heading to the coast at Lincoln City for 4 days!!!! Looking forward to good times!!

Grace, your photos of Amanda's departure to India are great. Thanks for sharing them. Glad to hear that Amanda arrived safely.

Our visit with family

We had a wonderful visit with family before taking Amanda to the airport. Jim, Beth and Andy are as always the most gracious of hosts. We had a very nice meal and visit with Grammie and Poppie. It is good to hear that Jim's surgery went well. Our home is quiet....but how happy we are for Matt, Jon and Amanda that they have rewarding lives. We had a 3 minute phone call from Amanda,Thursday 1:20am, 11:00am her time, she was in New Delhi, said the flight was really long, they landed in a scary thunderstorm, and the hotel was not as nice as Das Dutch Village Inn. She sounded happy and said the group of students was getting along really well.
Keep putting up photos Mary, etc. we love seeing them.
Grace

good byes and Hello India for Amanda