Frosty Snow in the Grays River Valley

 Lindsay went out with the camera last week when the temps dipped down. No snow on the ground but plenty of Jack Frost.

The Dalles and Cherries

Way behind on my posts. Last weekend we took a trip down to The Dalles. Found Lindsay a new bike and picked Cherries with Aunt Mindy.

The Dalles in July

It's the latest venture for us in what is turning out to be a busy summer. Here's the rundown on summer so far...We had a fun little 4th of July at Dun Elsie in Grays River. Saw a Beaver Game in Portland went to Eastern Washington to for Emily's first birthday. Grace graduated from pre-school. Click through to view the whole gallery.

To the Portland Beavers Game

Pasco and Emily's First Birthday

Westport

Pre-School Graudation Day!

Geocaching

A few months ago, Mindy was telling me about a Geocaching adventure. You use GPS coordinates to find hidden boxes. Some boxes have trade items, others just have notebooks where you can write your name and the date. It reminds me a lot of the Orienteering and Mailboxing that I did when I lived in Ireland. I decided to look into it and thought it might be a fun way to get the girls out hiking. I bought a Garmin Etrex off Ebay for $50 and today we went on our first trial run. We found the cache near the Grays River Bridge and had lots of fun. Check out the pics. 

Still raining, and the water is still rising...

It's still raining and the water is still rising. My my marks we're at the level of the 1996 flood, which is a benchmark around here. We drove around on SR 4 and it looked like it was still passable over Seal River but we decided not to chance going to town and risk not being able to get back home.

That was smart -- we just got word Seal River is completely flooded. Sounds like there's a lot of water in Naselle too. One of Lindsay's friends is now over visiting because her mom couldn't get back across Seal River.

We're still fine here. It's strange with no traffic on the road ... just the odd truck cruising around looking at the high water. Grays River is completely impassable. Back home, I had to cut a trail around the picket fence so that we could get to the truck -- the water on the driveway is now too high for our boots. In the basement, we have about two inches of water that has seeped up through the floor. WE keep everything up high and so there's no damage. Our wood supply and pellets are elevated as is everything else -- and it all drains right back out through the floor as soon as the ground around the house is less saturated.

High Water

First photos of the flood are up. I'll be adding more as things go on. At about 10:00 am the water started coming up fast and the school called to say they were sending kids home. The bus driver told me that she had to drive through water on SR4 to get to our house "and I don't think it's done coming up yet." 

Our cars are moved to high ground and the garage and driveway are underwater. The house is high and dry as always. The weatherman says this sort of storm system hasn't been seen since the big flood of 1996 -- we'll see how it goes as the day goes on. Should peak about 4 p.m. this afternoon.