We left Sacramento June 17th and made it to Portland that evening. We were all so excited to see our family! My middle sister, her wife and their three boys live up there, and they kindly welcomed all six of us into their home for 2+ weeks. The cousins were really happy to be reunited and spent their days swimming, playing board games, creating a spy school and dressing up. There were also fierce table tennis competitions, s’mores by the fire and playtime with the kitties. What fun!

On our second weekend there, an extreme heat wave came through reaching temperatures of 112 degrees F (44.5 degrees C). On Saturday we retreated to the beach and had a great day!

We finished out our time up north with a pre-birthday dinner for the cousin’s other grandma. Shirley is a wonderful, giving, loving mother-figure that has been part of our lives for 25+ years, and we were happy to be able to celebrate a bit with her this year.