May 2009
June 28, 2009
May was a very fun month for us. In mid-May, I went to FL for a conference (SAP Sapphire). I also had the chance to visig my folks and get in a bit more fishing. We split Memorial Day weekend between our 20 acres over in Goldendale, WA above the Columbia River Gorge and Amber’s folks place on Crooked River Ranch in Terrebonne, OR.
Click here for traditional Picasa web album link if desired.
We hope the summer is treating all of you well!
Amber's first harvest from here crazy 1600 sq. foot garden
Our kids and the Helmy boys at the Oregon Zoo (notice the elephants in the background)
April 2009 including Beryl’s 5th birthday
May 24, 2009
Another eventful month and our little gal is now 5!
The arrival of new baby chickens
Bike riding on the Columbia River
Passover at Little Garden Preschool
Passover at our house
Little League/Coach Pitch Baseball
Fishing a family pond in Hubbard, OR on the ranch
Beryl’s 5th birthday party
The Clem Snide show at Doug Fir
Chocolate face at the ice cream shop
Fisher in the gear
Coach pitch Little League baseball (spring 2009)
April 21, 2009
Fisher and his teammates are having a great time playing coach pitch this year. 
The coaches are doing a great job keeping it fun for the kids while teaching them some of the fundamentals of the game.
Holding on 3rd base
more about “Picasa Web Albums – Seth – 2009.04 – …“, posted with vodpod
Batting Practice
Wild and Wooly March 2009
April 21, 2009
Amber and the kids at Summit Ski Area - Government Camp on Mt. Hood, Oregon
The month of March was an amazing one in terms of both the weather and all the different things we did as a family, as a couple and alone.
Amber and I got to Vancouver, BC alone for a friend’s wedding.
I managed to fish my favorite river at the Oregon Coast for the largest steelhead in the state.
We got the kids out fishing for stocker trout and for some great skiing at Summit ski area on Mt. Hood. Both Fisher and Beryl now ski independently!
Fisher started coach-pitch Little League and I managed to get out for a day of big boy skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows.
And so it continues…..
We hope this finds all of you well!
Much affection,
Seth, Amber, Fisher and Beryl
Picasa Web Album for March 2009
Like father like son....
-
- Amber and the kids at Summit Ski Area – Government Camp on Mt. Hood, Oregon
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- Like father like son….
For those of you that missed the earlier Vancouver, BC trip album, here you go. Picasa Web Album
A trip to a special coast river with Rod – March 2009
April 21, 2009
Few details on this special place. It does not look like the railroad will be repaired. The water was a bit too high and off color this time to coax a steelhead to a fly. It was a great day on the water nonetheless (as always).
Rod carefully navigates the tracks
Suspended track before the second trestle
We found some softer water including this run, but did not find any willing steelhead there.
Vancouver Trip for Seth and Amber
March 9, 2009
We flew up to Vancouver for Daniel and Leslie’s wedding. While both Amber and I had been to Vancouver for work in the past, we’d never had a chance to poke around. It is a wonderful, beautiful city (and might even give Portland a run for the money)! I’ll elaborate on this post later, but I wanted to get these links up for a few friends who could not make the wedding.
Picasa Web Album & Slide Show
All in all, it was a super trip with lots of napping, good food and time with old friends. The wedding was amazing and Daniel and Leslie were just beaming the whole time. We also had the good fortune to spend time with our old friend, Amos and his wife, Lauren. I’m very proud of my friend Daniel.
:”)
Caveat: Be sure to click the “HQ”/High Quality button in YouTube or everything looks awful!
February exploits in FL and WA
March 9, 2009
Picasa Slideshow direct link (click here)
We were really excited that Amber’s Aunt Patti joined us in Orlando for two days of fun at Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom). Patti had a meeting in Orlando and stayed over several days to help take the kids to the parks. She had originally taken Amber as a kid to Walt Disneyland in Anaheim, CA!
On the second day, Amber was incredibly flexible and gave me chance to flyfish on the Mosquito Lagoon for Redfish and Black Drum. It was quite the adventure fishing in the shadow of the Space Shuttle gantries on the FL Space Coast near Titusville. I hooked four fish including the “puppy drum” below. An @18 lb. black drum was a LDR (long distance release) next to the boat just as we were getting ready to land and release it. I had two other larger redfish on briefly. Tough fishing AND highly addictive. I’ll be back. I fished with Capt. Scott MacCalla at Redfish on the Fly and Mosquito Lagoon Flyfishing. He is top notch and came recommended by my friend Mark.
Fish/barnyard animal caught by a client via spinning rod the next day using shrimp (above).
Fishing Picasa Web Album (click here)
Fishing Picasa Slideshow direct link (click here)
Not to take much of a break from our travels, in mid-February, Amber went to Terrebonne with her writer’s group for the weekend and I took the kids to Seattle to spend the weekend with our friends, Ethan, Bee and their 2 year old, Sage. We had a wonderful time with them and they were incredible hosts in their home in the Greenlake area. We also had a chance to visit our friends Jason and Deb that Sunday for brunch at their home before driving home. It was a really fun trip and we had incredible sunny weather on Saturday.
Seattle Picasa Web Album (link)
Seattle Picasa Slideshow (link)
Early February 2009 trip to FL Part 1 (of 2)
February 15, 2009
In early February, we cruised down to my folks place in Port Charlotte, FL for a week. We and the kids were very excited to see GrandB and Pops, Nana and Aunt Karen (visiting for a few months from NH), and Bethany who came in from her home in Belgium especially for this trip.
We had a great time and got in a fair amount of exploring including the beaches where we went “sharking” (looking for fossil shark teeth). Beryl also got in a wonderful horsebackriding trip and my Dad and I took Fisher saltwater fishing in the canals leading to Port Charlotte harbor. We lost a jack crevalle, but he was excited about the stingray he caught and the near miss on a large blue crab that held onto his shrimp on the way in.
We had a great family party and a nice dinner out amongst a lot of kibbitzing. It was great to see everyone including George and Ellie, Dotty and Al and getting to finally meet Edie and Mark. All in all, a great time was had by everyone over the week. Thanks Mom and Dad for being such great hosts!
Part 2 of these adventures for early February will be on the last 1.5 days of our trip in Orlando.
Traditional Link to Picasa Web Album (embedded slideshow below)
January 2009 pics and videos
February 15, 2009
Somehow, the camera didn’t get a lot of use in January (don’t worry, we abused it in February). I’m trying out a new embed function using Picasa Web Albums and VodPod. Please let me know what you think!
The high country north of MSH
Diaper Show Redux
Chanukah Moment
December 2009 – Pics and Vids
February 6, 2009
Picasa Album for December (click here)
Slideshow for December (click here)
December was wild, woolly and fun for the Tomato Family. We found another benefit of our new home on the mountain – lots of snow and a 300′ street luge run to the bottom of the cul-de-sac!
Much affection,
Seth, Amber, Fisher and Beryl
[We hope you enjoy the album above and YouTube videos below]
Fisher shows off his skiing stuff video
Winds whipping over the Chicken Taj Mahal video
Snowball fight at the Mariposa (Fisher and Emme)
Just like Madeleine, my kids like winter, snow and ice (plus the Pilot stuck in the deep snow – high centered)
Holiday Letter 2008
December 24, 2008
Yes, we have received a tremendous amount of snow here in Portland as the national news has reported!
We are getting around just fine in the truck, but Seth did spend 3 hours digging neighbors out on the 23rd.
Portland is ill-suited to a prolonged snow event (happens once every 5 years) due to a lack of investment in snow clearing equipment.
Celebrating after a 300 yd sled run
We did manage to extricate the Pilot with a little more digging
The 2nd night of Chanukah
The view from Skyline Blvd - December 23, 2008
Happy sledding gals
Seth guides a crew down the long run
Dear Family and Friends,
The close of 2008 finds the Tomato Family settling in to our new home on the “mountain,” as our neighbors call it. We’re still in Portland, but we’ve moved to a much more rural area called Skyline Hamlet. The new spread is 1.3 acres, and we also have deeded access to a 2.5 acre forested preserve. There are only nine houses on our little dead-end street, and the kids can really run wild.
Seth and Amber joke about the his and hers halves of the lot. His is a lovely sod lawn upon which Seth is waging war against gophers and moles. Hers is quite a bit weedier, houses our little flock of hens (Parsley, Hope, Piplup, and Charlie Parker) in the Chicken Taj Mahal and is the future site of Amber’s organic farmette. Beryl’s angling for pygmy goats and a miniature horse. Seth’s agitating for a bird dog.
We loved our house and neighborhood on SW Vermont Street, but as the kids have grown, we’ve been talking about finding a place with more space for all of us, room to entertain our family and friends, real home office space for both Seth & Amber, storage for all our adventure gear and moving away from a relatively busy road. We mulled over moving to central Oregon but were hesitant to leave our beloved city. We were starting to get an image of what we wanted, but we weren’t quite ready to start looking.
However, Seth, who does indeed love to look at property, serendipitously found a house in NW Portland (while driving the napping kids around after a zoo visit) that seemed liked it might really meet our needs. After a lot of agonizing, Amber decided she was ready to give it a go. The stars indeed lined up, allowing us to execute on our contingent offer to some motivated sellers. Even in this tough market, we feel very fortunate that we were able to sell our place on Vermont in just one month. Not that it was all easy, of course. Most of the summer was sucked away in selling/moving activities including Amber’s amazing staging of our old house (Seth’s grateful comment J).
On August 27th, we made it into the house, barely before school started on September 3rd. Fisher is a first-grader at Skyline School, which is a fantastic, small, public, K-8 school that is working toward certification as an International Baccalaureate World School. His blended K/1 classroom has only 20 students, headed up by Mrs. Cole. Beryl continues at Little Garden Preschool, but we’ve moved her to three days a week this year since the drive takes us 30 minutes. Beryl loves being home with her Mama on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Both Seth and Amber are working from home, and believe it or not, this has been great. Seth likes having a coffee delivery girl, and Amber likes having him home for dinner! Speaking of work, Seth has a new job. As of late May he’s managing business development for EDS’ new SAP Practice for both the West and Midwest. EDS became an HP company as of August, and the corporate culture at HP is a good fit for Seth. He is thriving but also mindful of personal productivity and discipline to avoid working 60 hours/week (see 43Folders.com & David Allen’s book – Getting Things Done).
Amber continues her freelance writing. Her latest book is a graphic novel about cell biology commissioned by Capstone Press. Tentatively titled, Cells with Max Axiom, it’s due out in February and joins their popular Max Axiom book series. She also has a book on loon migration ready to go out to editors for review. There are several other books for kids in the works.
We did get in some fun this year but not as much as we usually do – just a little biking and zero camping close to home. Luckily, we got to make a trip to our cabin on Smoke Lake, which included a five-day canoe trip with Amber’s parents – great fishing and pretty good weather. The kids tromped over all the portages with nary a complaint and slept in their own tent every night. Fisher caught his first lake trout with Amber’s assistance. The kids also loved plunking worms for shiners and sunfish near cabin and camp.
We’ve mostly stuck close to home this year outside of Seth’s many business trips and our trip to Canada. Other highlights of our year included visits to Oregon by Seth’s parents in April and Seth’s sister, Bethany, which included a very fun weekend in Astoria at the coast in June. Pops and GramB got to watch Fisher play tee-ball, observe Passover with us, and help celebrate Beryl’s birthday.
Fisher mastered the bicycle this year along with his adventures in tee-ball in the spring. He likes the social aspects of team sports and has a lot of fun. Our winter exploits this year included many family trips up to Skibowl & Mt. Hood Meadows, cross-country skiing in central Oregon,and a powder ski weekend for Seth and Amber on Mt. Bachelor for their 10th anniversary. Seth has also managed a fair number of trout and steelhead day trips on local rivers and even some duck and elk hunting this fall (he’s trying to fill up the new chest freezer in the garage).
We’re looking forward to visiting Seth’s folks in Florida in February including a search for Megalodon shark teeth on Englewood Beach. We’ve had our first rare snowstorm here and we are sure looking forward to seeing the family and enjoying the sun.
We’re hoping that this next year has a little less change and a little more peace and tranquility for our family. To that end, we’ve joined Temple Havurah Shalom and are attending quite a few of the family services on Saturday mornings. We hope that some of you might find your way to Portland. We think you will enjoy the sunsets over the Coast Range. Even the guest room has a great view of the valley and mountains! The hens promise fresh eggs, and the kids will let you race scooters down the driveway.
Much affection,
Seth, Amber, Fisher & Beryl
Amber’s website: www.amberkeyser.com
Amber blogs on books at: amberkeyser.livejournal.com
Seth blogs on family activity and posts photos here at: tomatofamilyjournal.wordpress.com
November 2008 including Thanksgiving
December 7, 2008
The big news from November was that we hosted Thanksgiving this year. It was amazing to be surrounded by our family and friends in our now relatively new home. I apologize for the length of this album, but this has been a super month in terms of weather and we got out a fair bit. Happy Holidays to everyone and you can look for our next communication to be our holiday letter. We’ll post it here as well.
Serious by Ethan S.
Chipper by Ethan S.
Thanksgiving Album from Ethan & Bee (amazing photography by Ethan) -
http://beethan.com/2008/11/30/thanksgiving-with-the-keyserisenberg-clan/
November Album including additional Thanksgiving pics -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/200811November2008#
Direct slideshow link (click here)
VIDEOS
Raking leaves video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz1KbXfo7×4
Dancing on the bicycle (select high quality replay)-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5QChzWmw1M
The 100 foot table....
Seth’s album of hunting and fishing in the land of plenty -
http://isenberguncertaintyprinciple.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/91/
Sauvie Island
October 2008 in the Pacific Northwest
November 1, 2008
October was an unbelievable month here in Oregon. Typically, we get about 3 inches of rain in October. In 2008, we received just over 50 percent of the average. The party’s over however. November has started off blustery as normal – avg. rain in November is over 5.5 inches.
Pics from throughout the whole month of October:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/October2008?authkey=giV6n6QtTuA#
Videos:
Fisher getting confident on his bicycle
Beryl working her muscles on the bike
Long haul trucker (Fisher on the track)
Pics from Fisher’s 7th birthday party:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/FisherS7thBirthday?authkey=XwoRqPdO1tg#
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/Halloween2008?authkey=bT-ddsrhrlw#
We hope all of you are well and we look forward to hearing from you.
Much affection,
The Tomatoes (on the Organic Tomato Farmette – according to AJK)
August and September 2008
October 6, 2008
The new Tomato Family Farmette –
Pictures of the new pad (as of August 28th). We’ve landed on 1.3 acres off of Skyline Blvd above Portland!
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/20088August2008AshStTheNewPad?authkey=OC3OnA6ohoM#
Mosier Twin Tunnels September bike ride -
Portland Pirate Festival under the St. John’s Bridge –
July 2008 – family journal entries
August 9, 2008
Hi everyone! July was a great month for us and provided a bit of a respite to our move pending in August (across town to NW Portland). Below you’ll find three albums.
The first details our family canoe trip for a week in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/July2008TomatoFamilyCanoeTripInAlgonquin?authkey=Yr-TKz3KaLI
Slideshow version – http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/July2008TomatoFamilyCanoeTripInAlgonquin/photo?authkey=Yr-TKz3KaLI#s5232767077810756626
The Paddling Team
The next is an overview of some of the family we are grateful to share our time with on Smoke Lake including Amber’s great aunt Mary here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/July2008FamilyTimeInAlgonquin?authkey=9P5akaI8Rvs
Slideshow version – http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/July2008FamilyTimeInAlgonquin/photo?authkey=9P5akaI8Rvs#s5232766801411609394
Mary Cline & Amber
This last album is from Seth’s motorcycle adventure up to the southwest coast of Washington. Gorgeous.
Slideshow version – http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/July2008SethSWeekendMcTourToCathlametWestportAndBeyondInCoastalWA/photo?authkey=4r7M3IiQYM8#s5232769169117950194
Seth's Honda VFR800i Interceptor
Seth at the Westport, WA lighthouse
We hope you are all well and look forward to hearing about your summer adventures!
- Seth, Amber, Fisher & Beryl
June 2008 – Album
July 3, 2008
Picasa Web Album for June -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/June2008?authkey=rMQivJWTYAE
Slide show link for the same album -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/June2008/photo?authkey=rMQivJWTYAE#s5218815945921971058
Link to May’s page if you missed it – http://tomatofamilyjournal.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/may-2008-family-adventures/
May 2008 – Family Adventures
July 3, 2008
This was a busy month with baseball, fishing, bathroom remodels, new job (EDS) and general family fun.
Picasa Web Album for May link -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/May2008FamilyPics?authkey=f5rHNhLBg8Q
YouTube videos -
Water Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T7I7NkJjGM
T-ball
April 2008 – A big month for the little family
April 27, 2008
April was a very busy month for us. The main album is a little bigger than normal (83 pics). Sorry. I am also including a bunch of smaller albums I created for various friends and family members during the month. We were also very grateful that my folks (Steve aka ”Pops” and Beverly aka “GranB”) could come out from Florida and join us for Beryl’s family birthday party and Passover. We are also raising six chickens (Hope, Parsley, Charlie Parker, and Piplup the Boss, Matzoh Ball & Lollipop). Matzoh Ball and Lollipop will go to live with Rebecca and Marcus soon, but we’ll have the rest of the “girls” ready to be our laying hens soon. We also managed to get to the Corteo show of Cirque de Soleil here in Portland (the blue and yellow tent). Fortunately, the kids chose this over an Elmo show. It was truly amazing, but they did not allow any photography inside. Here is some video on YouTube from Corteo -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCxnKz0EIoA, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RxhCHBU9Lw, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9OYEpC3GWI
Picasa Web Album link for all of April -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/20084April2008Complete?authkey=x2S339nH61Q
Beryl turned 4 on April 14th! This album provides the highlights from all three parties -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/April2008BerylS4thBirthday?authkey=VeTP2zISxdw
Our Passover Seder for 2008 (5768 by the Jewish Calendar) -
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/April2008Passover?authkey=0S2I15HNlO4
Fisher started T-ball this month and he’s having a ball. The album and movie below focuses on him and his team (my “mans” as he would say). He’s playing with several of his friends including Shawn.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/April2008FisherSBaseballTBallTeam?authkey=wLvxITQMJtk
Seth’s one day late season trip to Alta, UT -
http://isenberguncertaintyprinciple.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/first-time-at-alta-ut/
Early season fishing -
March 2008 Family Album
April 11, 2008
We are indeed still enjoying the snow here though it is 70F in the valley today.
Picasa Web Album Link – http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/200803March2008?authkey=se_CXf2lQ3g
YouTube link of Amber getting some powder – http://youtube.com/watch?v=vNf5kiAcgug
Photo below is of Patti, tearing it up on Mt. Bachelor.
Another month (February) of winter fun in Oregon
February 26, 2008
The thought of the massive amount of snow we have in the Cascades makes dealing with the rain a little easier.
To tell the truth, we have been very lucky for the last two weeks of February. There has been very little rain and last weekend, it was 60 F on Saturday. Even the motorcycle made an appearance.
Below, please find the link for the latest Picasa Web Album for February including a great ski trip in the sun with our friends to Cooper Spur ski area on a low shoulder of Mt. Hood outside of Hood River, OR:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/200802February2008/photo?authkey=r5V0lyed7fQ#s5171525141723253218
Fisher’s buddy Karsten shows his stuff at Cooper’s Spur -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYZITrq_V9U
Fisher off the racer chaser…. -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvWVLx1309o
Puppet show by the kids at Jackson Bottom Interpretive Center -
Album and videos from January & early February 2008
February 10, 2008
Hi everyone! We’ve been having a lot of fun rock climbing/bouldering, skiing, and rollerskating.
We hope this finds all of you well and happy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/JanuaryEarlyFebruary2008?authkey=esmMgnfjVVE
Beryl’s electric toothbrushing mojo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbuVcr-PxWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vd9v0VWsbg
Your friends,
Seth, Amber, Fisher & Beryl
Time to catch up from December
January 5, 2008
Good morning everyone!
Please find below an album of our exploits in central Oregon as a family during the latter part of December including the fun XMAS holiday on Crooked River Ranch (Terrebonne, OR) at the Mariposa.
BTW, you might also like the intro to blogging articles (1, 2), I recently highlighted on my other blog. This will show you how to add the RSS feeds to be notified automatically when new content is added. FYI, Portland is the 2nd bloggiest city in the US.
Picasa web album slide show for the family for Late December 2007 - http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/LateDecember2007/photo?authkey=QTvNM62r_uY#s5152095089071216978
John and Marilynne also kindly watched the kids for three days while Amber and I took a XC and downhill ski trip to Bend and Mt. Bachelor. We celebrated New Year’s Eve at the McMenamin’s St. Francis School where they have a great soaking pool.
Here is the anniversary photo album and slideshow.
Finally, here is a link to Seth’s New Year’s greeting.
Tomatoes “go splat” on Mt. Bachelor – skiing extravaganza 12-24-07
December 26, 2007
No, we didn’t spawn another 4 year old. That is our niece Maddie. Uncle Brandan kindly shot this photo, but didn’t make it into the group shot. (Finally, I’m in one rather than everyone asking where I live….. – SBI).
We had a great time tearing it up on the slopes. Kaitlin shot this excellent video of Beryl (3.5 years) hitting the slopes with Amber. No noodle legs this year. Unfortunately, on the runs when we had Maddie and Fisher screaming down the hill (with a little security from harnesses), we didn’t have enough hands for movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn1kaSM01l0
Short Picasa Web Album for the Day:
2007 Holiday Letter from the Tomatoes
December 21, 2007
*The link above will ALLOW YOU To SAVE/download a MS Word Doc with photos/layout.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! Dear Family and Friends, Here is the executive summary/cliff notes version of our rapidly concluding year. Where did the time go?! Hope you are all happy, healthy, and surrounded by chocolate!
January: Amber kicked off her new career as a freelance writer! Surprised? Check out her work at: www.amberkeyser.com. Famous family member Hailey performed with the Grammy Jazz Band and dazzled the red carpet crowd!
February: Finally good snow at SkiBowl and Tomatoes hit the slopes – even Beryl!
March: New niece, Anna, popped into the world via birth tub and lots of hard work by Stacy. Fisher has another member in his all-girl posse!
April: Pops & GramB visit for Passover and good Portland fun: zoo, science museum, pirate music with Bogg & Salty. Beryl turned 3! Go Ninja Princess, Go Baby Unicorn, Go Scary Cheetah! Boula has no problem keeping up the gang even though she is the youngest and smallest in the pack. You should see her at the bouldering gym!
May: Amber’s idea of the perfect Mother’s Day: camping and zip-lining on our prippity-property with good friends. Seth spent a week on the Situk River in Alaska steelheading, avoiding grizzlies, and watching moose. Memorial Weekend found the extended Keyser clan in Central Oregon for hiking, biking, crazy cousin activities and spelunking at Lava River Cave.
June: Fisher graduated from preschool after a fantastic kayak trip in Scappose Bay and a campout with all his friends organized by Mama aka Professional Camper. We also made the American Cancer Society’s Walk for Life a family affair with an overnight relay team.
July: The Tomatoes (Beefsteak, Roma, Cherry, and Grape) took to the air for an Isenberg family reunion in New England. Aunt Bethany came all the way from Belgium. We spent hours on the beach. Seth surf-fished for stripers & bluefish – at times wading up to his neck! The kids loved the lake at Nana’s and SpyGuy games with Cousin Wess. Whale watching was a bust, but family time rocked especially a big party at our rental house on Plum Island.
August: Amber and the kids headed to our Smoke Lake cabin, but the Salt Mines needed poor Seth. He slaved. We swam, canoed, played with family and friends, and took an incredible canoe trip with Emme and Papa – two moose, one mink, lots of trout, and big fun! The kids hiked every portage. While in Canada, Amber celebrated the release of her new children’s book! Upon our return, we had another great camping and fishing trip with the Kirschner family at Timothy Lake. Seth caught some nice rainbow trout in the lake’s north arm. Who knew we could fit that many people in our canoe?
September: Fisher started kindergarten at Maplewood School! Suddenly he seems so grown up. Each morning he bounces enthusiastically on the bus, and each afternoon he bounces off. Soccer season brought together new and old friends and (thankfully) very few rainy days on the pitch! Amber is officially a “locavore” – this word (selected as the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year) means a person who buys food from farmers’ markets or grows it herself – and an “urban homesteader.” With some friends, we picked oodles of berries, apples, pears, plums, and tomatoes then canned and pickled our hearts out. Next year… WE HOPE TO RAISE CHICKENS!
October: Fisher turns 6! Brandan and Stacy hosted a fantastic pirate party for the family and Fisher had all his buddies join him for a climbing session at The Circuit Bouldering Gym. Seth managed a trip to the beautiful John Day River for steelhead, and our best bike trip of the year was on the Mosier Twin Tunnels trail. In Hood River, we met a baby alpaca named Topaz. I wish we could raise alpacas!
NovemberOur Thanksgiving celebration was way too quiet – only Amber’s parents and Aunt Patti in addition to our crew. Lack of snow on Mt. Bachelor quashed our ski plans but vicious games of Scrabble satisfied our need for thrills! Seth and his friend, Gary, nabbed lost of big trout and steelhead in the Deschutes!
decemberThis month is starting out blustery and cold. We have a fire in the hearth and tea in the pot. We’ll celebrate Hanukah at home in SW Portland and head to Amber’s parents’ place for Christmas. On January 3rd, we’ll be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary with a Mt. Bachelor ski trip and New Year’s fun at the St. Francis Hotel in Bend. Can you believe we’ve been married that long?!As always our home and hearts are open to you, our family and friends. Thank you for enriching our lives, supporting our endeavors, and celebrating our successes.
With Love,
Amber, Seth, Fisher & Beryl
http://tomatofamilyjournal.wordpress.com/
RSS feed – tomatofamilyjournal.wordpress.com/feed/
http://isenberguncertaintyprinciple.wordpress.com/
RSS feed – isenberguncertaintyprinciple.wordpress.com/feed/
AMBER: amber.j.keyser@gmail.com SETH: sbisenberg@gmail.com
November and Early December 2007
December 16, 2007
http://picasaweb.google.com/sbisenberg/November2007FamilyAdventures/photo?authkey=lZ-Ygb191IM#s5144629774485803970
YouTube video (Bend Children’s Museum):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeiN-KzamQM
Early December including Chanukah:
