Our other vacation was in March— a houseboat trip on Lake Powell, Arizona with our friends Mitch, Beth, and Nick Simons, and Barry Lyon.   Mason learned to walk during that trip, progressing from taking 1-2 steps to walking all the way across the room. Everyone got a big thrill out of seeing that! We even extended our trip by one day so we could attend Janice Roedel’s 50^th birthday party! In June, our friend Ken Bragg visited from Phoenix and we spent a day showing him the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls.

A lot happened in July. Sadly, we lost MacKenzie, our 11-year-old Dal, after he had suffered a long time with spinal and digestive problems. We miss him— he was so gentle with Mason, unlike Miss Mingus, who, at 10, is still as frisky as ever!

July also brought Mason’s first camping trip— to the Metolius River in central Oregon with our friend Thor. Mason proved himself a most hardy camper, running around everywhere and covering himself with a suitable amount of dirt! He especially liked sitting at the picnic table "helping" us prepare meals.

Right after that, Brian’s Mom visited us for two weeks. She and Mason really got to know each other and had a lot of fun together. We stayed busy—Mom still has a lot of get-up-and-go! We drove up to Ocean Shores, WA so Mom could party with her old (as in former) crowd, who was thrilled to see her.  They had a luncheon for her at the Senior Center, and it was cool to see more and more people show up as word got around town that she was there.

August brought Sharon’s family a little closer together. Her niece, Summer, contacted her dad (Sharon’s brother Mike) after an eight year absence. Mike’s trip to see Summer in Arizona also brought contact with Sharon’s biological mother, Susie, who Sharon and Mike had not seen in 20 years. Susie flew up to spend Thanksgiving with us and Mason enjoyed getting to know his maternal grandmother! It was quite an emotional time but the renewed relationships are a good thing. We look forward to spending more time getting to know Summer and Susie.