Garden Party, New Cousin and Maiden Voyage

Goodness, what a busy weekend!  On Saturday I drove my two sisters to a baby shower for my niece who is expecting her first baby, a girl.  :-)  It was up in the hills and countryside of Corvallis, OR.  It was at a friend's house with a lovely yard and the temperature was perfect in the shade.  They had some fun games and then we enjoyed watching her open all the thoughtful gifts.  Her sister was there with her darling baby girl, her sister-in-law also was there who is expecting her 3rd child next month, too.  Such a nice party.

My niece Jessica on the right loved the little hat and booties that I made for her and her best friend Emily loved the little hat I made for her baby that she brought to the shower.

My younger sister Denise made several fun things, blankets and this adorable bunting to hang in the baby's room.

My sister-in-law D'Ann was chilly in the shade, so I gave her my shawl to warm her and she wrapped her sweet granddaughter up with her.

The girls and the baby.  

A diaper cake.. those are so cute and useful! :-)  My other niece Johanna planned the party, that is her sweet baby girl in this photo.

After the shower we met up with a new-found cousin!  Quite the story - I had my DNA tested and when I visited the webpage recently there was a note that gave me a few possible relatives that had used the same company - it gave me the opportunity to click on a link to email the person so I did.  I got a note back telling me that her grandfather was my dad's brother!  She said she lived in Corvallis, so I suggested we meet for coffee after the shower, so we did - my brother even joined us (all four of us siblings).  We found we had so much in common!  It was a wonderful time.

Yesterday when our son got home from work at 3:00 pm, we gathered things together and Kristi packed a picnic and we headed off for the maiden voyage of our new boat.  We drove to Chinook Landing to launch and were disappointed to see the parking lot was full and it was completely crowded!  So, we decided to drive to Cascade Locks to see if the boat launch there had space.  We were pleased that it had plenty of space for us.  We launched the boat and here is my first photo as we started our first cruise - the Bridge of the Gods spanning the river between Oregon and Washington.

The boys were enjoying themselves and so were Dayle and Kristi.  Travis was at the helm and I was in the passenger seat.

Travis gave Kristi a lesson on being skipper of the boat.

Grandpa helping Caleb with his life jacket.

I snapped the front of a big barge going downriver.

And the big tugboat pushing the barge.

This is Wind Mountain, on the Washington side, I climbed to the top of this mountain when I was about 10 years old while in Girl Scouts at camp there. 

Heading upriver.

From the middle of the river Travis noticed a park and boat ramp I didn't know was there, so we decided to take the boat into the dock there and let the boys swim and have our picnic dinner.

Kristi was resting her sore foot which she'd had surgery on a few months ago.  I'm waving at you from the boat.  

The boys couldn't wait to get in the water for a swim.

Hayden.

Caleb.

After a picnic of deli sandwiches, macaroni salad, fruit ambrosia salad, chips, grapes and fig bars, we all got onboard and headed out to the river and a nice cruise back to Cascade Locks.  Wind Mountain again.

Travis gave each of the boys a chance to be captain of the boat.

Enjoying the day.

Hayden getting his navigation lesson.

The Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge is so scenic with the big rugged cliffs.

A great first day on the river in our little C-Dory!  

Now to wonder where the next place we'll go on the boat!  What a busy weekend!  I hope you're enjoying your summer, it goes by way too fast!  August is almost upon us!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)