Getting hot and sweaty at Catherine Creek

Saturday we spent doing chores and packing and purging the house so we were all ready to spend Sunday out in nature,despite the hot temperatures. We chose the Catherine Creek area on the Columbia River near Lyle, Washington. It was very hot (91 degrees), but beautiful. There were wildflowers everywhere and it smelled so good like cedar and sweet grasses. It was a short scenic hike, good for little ones. Much safer than our family hike to Lava Canyon a few weeks back.

We rewarded our little sweaty kiddos with a trip to the awesome childrens park and ice cream in a treehouse at Mike's Ice Cream in Hood River. 

Multnomah County Fair 2015: Pig races and a blue ribbon winner

Wow things have been super crazy around my house, even more than usual as we are trying to plan where we will be living after July. So crazy and stressful. Hopefully I can catch up and show some pictures from our latest adventures in the next few days. We don't know how much longer we will be in Oregon so we are soaking it up while we can. Sometimes you just need to take mental break from all the stress and go have some fun.

For the holiday weekend we always stick close to the city which for us is very weird because we are always trying to escape the city on the weekends. But holiday weekends in the beautiful nature around Portland gets crazy crowded and for me takes away the whole purpose of getting out of town in the first place. So for the last several years on Memorial Day weekend we have visited the Multnomah County Fair. It is always a good time.

This year I almost died laughing at the pig races. They had names such as "Sloppy Joe" and "Luke Skyporker". My kids loved it too, even my teenager!

The fair is held at Oaks Amusement Park but admission to the fair is free and so are most of the activities. My kids are happy to just watch the rides rather go on them, so it works out pretty nicely.

This year I also entered the whale I knitted into the Fiber Arts section of the fair and guess what?

"Humphrey the Humpback" won a first place blue ribbon, ten bucks and some yarn.

Pretty fun!

Yarn Along: A Finished Whale

Joining along with Ginny at Small things for the Yarn Along.

I finally finished knitting the whale I have been working on since February. Whew! It was a long project mostly because every row was different and I needed full concentration to focus on the pattern. Meaning my kids had to be asleep in bed. It was a brilliantly written knitting pattern. I found the project on Ravelry it is called Hazel the Humpback Whale.

 I brought it along for my Mother's Day trip to the ocean for a photo shoot. Maybe I should have set her free while I was there?

Now I am looking forward to knitting something colorful and easy.