Our New Playground

New state...new family playgrounds! And by that I mean new places for us to explore. We bought a used canoe yesterday and tested it out today in the Columbia River. It was a beautiful day and we were not disappointed. We saw lots of huge fish swim right under us and that was very cool.



Can you see Multonmah Falls in the background?

We saw a couple seals...we couldn't get better pictures. We were surprised to see them this far up the Columbia River, but we did a little research on them when we got home. Apparantly they are a nusiance because they are killing the salmon population in the river.

We also saw this heron


For some reason we thought it would be fun to just walk for a while...it was crazy muddy and there were even spots of "quick sinking mud".





I have lived in many different kinds of homes....apartments in basements of houses, single family homes, a town house, a mobile home...NEVER did I think I would live in house like this. It's a tad bit extravagant and I'm happy that I don't feel "at home" here. We are renting this house for a year and are already looking forward to finding something more comfortable and family friendly. We have over 4000 square feet...6 bathrooms....5 bedrooms and several large open spaces. My closet is bigger than the girls' bedroom in Michigan!

Don't get me wrong...I'm thankful that God provided a place for our family. We are in a convenient, nice, safe location - which is a huge answer to prayer since we had such limited knowledge of the area. But it does seem a bit excessive to have 2 staircases that lead to the exact same place. And the master bath has a shower with 3 shower heads in it.

So much for simple living. But seriously, having only been here 5 days, I have an even deeper desire to live simply.

For now...enjoy a few pics of the luxuries we are surrounded by. When the house is a bit more organized, I will post more.


This balcony is off the master closet and it's purpose is to allow access to cleaning the window. The girls like to give "puppet shows" from up there.


It's so big the girls were lost in there!

Kevin has one more week before he begins his new job and we still have lots of moving related things to take care of. Not to mention we will begin our homeschooling adventure this week!