The Zabreznik Family

Monitoring System Installed

2010-02-05T20:13:00Z

A couple of quick updates:

Monitoring System Installed - I have a few pages that I've made public if anyone wants to go take a look at production. Not all of the stock reports are useful but I've created a couple that get right to the meat of things (Daily & Monthly Power by Inverter). To access them go to sunnyportal.com and click on "Publicly Available Plants" on the right hand side of the page. Once there simply type in my plant name (zabreznik) and you should see a link to my plant overview.
First two electric bills received. December did not include a full month of prodution but still managed to offset 100% of my electricity usage. January included a full month of production and I produced 165 more kWh than I used. This equated to a $6.02 credit. Awesome!
Google Earth satellite photos have been updated. My solar panels are now visible on top of my house when you zoom all the way in. Address is 4024 Pinckney St, 78723 if you want to take a look. They're hard to see since the color of the panels matches the roof so well.

Joe Z.

Day Four of Production

2009-12-09T16:35:00Z

So yesterday (Tuesday) the system yielded 10.47 kWh. By no means a record day but much better than Monday's dismal 4.12 kWh. Today is looking much more promising with clear skies and cold weather. Looks like I've already generated over 12 kWh and it's only 11:10 AM. Should be a 50+ day. Will report back tomorrow. Joe Z.

Day Three of Production

2009-12-07T23:08:00Z

Was curious to see what the cloud cover on Sunday would do to the system's output. Little did I know how much of an effect it would really have. After Saturday's ideal weather conditions and phenomenal 50.57 kWh of production I was sorely disappointed to see Sunday's 9.22 kWh. Less than 20% of Saturday's energy yield. I was convinced that it probably couldn't get any worse. I was wrong. Today (Monday) the sky looked even worse and the system only produced 4.21 kWh. It can only go up from here. Right? Tuesday's forecast shows continued cloud cover but Wednesday should have clear skies so I'm hoping for more 50+ kWh days. It's a monthly cumulative number that I'm shooting for so will realistically have to wait until the end of December to really know anything. In the meantime I'll keep reporting numbers for anyone that's interested. Joe Z.

First Full Day of Production - 12/06/09

2009-12-06T16:26:00Z

Just a quick update for everyone. Saturday was my first full day of production and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the system pumped out 50.57 kWh. Based on a solar calculator created by one of my neighbors here in Mueller (Aman Jain) I projected an energy yield of about 886 kWh's in the month of December. This was based on my systems specific orientation, inverter efficiency, number of hours of daylight , etc. Sure do hope I exceed that number but it's probably a little early to really tell anything. Curious to see today's production numbers with all the cloud cover. Will report back tomorrow. Joe Z

Woo Hoo - The Solar Power Plant is Up and Running!!

2009-11-20T15:45:00Z

So it's official. The solar system is up and running.

Came home this morning, after dropping my truck off for service, and noticed that my computer had shut down and the oven and microwave clocks were flashing. It took a second, but my next thought was "Has Austin Energy installed my new net meter?". A quick glance out my rear window confirmed that the new meter had actually been installed. I then called Roger Jennings at TXSPCo to confirm it was ok for me to go around and start switching everything on. He said it was ok, so Zoey and I headed out to start flipping switches.........and boy is there a lot of them!

DC disconnects in the attic
DC disconnects below inverters
Flip breakers inside A/C combiner box
Flip breaker inside outside electrical box
Throw switch for A/C disconnect

Once everything was turned on I checked the displays on the inverters and sure enough we were producing power. I've attached a couple new photos below.

The first shows Zoey throwing the final switch (A/C disconnect) to turn the solar power on.

The next shot was taken from the top of a two story house behind me. It shows almost all of the panels on my roof in one picture which is something I haven't been able to capture.

This last shot is of David Burgos (Austin Energy Inspector) and Craig Overmiller (TXSPCo Owner).

Next week TXSPCo should start installing my monitoring system. Once that's up and running I'll have web enabled monitoring of my system and will send a public link out to anyone who'd like to see realtime performance of my solar system.

Solar System Update - Final Size 12.425kW

2009-10-18T15:43:00Z

It's been a while since I've posted anything on the Solar install so I thought I'd provide a couple updates.

System size has been increased. The system is now at 12.425kW or seventy one (71) 175W panels. I've incorporated every available section of South & West facing roof that the City of Austin would approve for Solar. The south array still comes in at 7.7kW (4 strings of 11) but the west array was increased to 4.725kW (3 strings of 9). I'm still using the SMA 7000 inverters for the south and the SMA 4000 inverter for the west.
Austin Energy inspection is "tentatively" scheduled for today at around 10:30am or 11:00am. I'll cross my fingers (it was cancelled two weeks ago). Once they actually inspect and approve the system it will be another two weeks before I actually receive my additional power meter that will allow me to actually turn the sytem on and start producing power. I'll provide pictures of the meter and initial power generation when I get to that point.
The SMA WebBox for system monitoring still needs to be installed. This little box plugs into my two inverters and logs all data related to power production and system performance. After capturing that information it sends it back to SMA via my router where it is then made available for reporting on SMA's Sunny Portal site. There will also be additional Sunny SensorBoxes installed on the roof and panels capturing solar irradiance and module temperature. This additional data will also be captured by the WebBox and sent back to SMA for reporting. The data from the sensors will allow me to see projected output for my system vs actual output. This should help identify any drops in energy yield related to dust & dirt, module defects, etc.

Here are some pictures of the final install.

Progress - Panels

2009-09-17T01:43:00Z

Just thought I'd post a pic of some of the panels going up. It's been slow going with all of the rain we've had but things are really moving now. All panels should be up by the end of the week or early next week at the latest. Will post more pics once everything is finished.

Inverters Installed

2009-09-09T02:20:00Z

Today the installers wrapped up most of the installation related to the two inverters. In the photos you can see three boxes on the wall (ignore the small box to the far left, it's my sprinkler control). The largest one on the left is the SMA Sunny Boy 7000US inverter. This is where all of the DC power from my southern facing array will be routed (7.7kW). The box to the far right is the SMA Sunny Boy 4000US inverter. It will be handling all of the DC power from my western facing arrays (3.5kW). Just as an FYI....the conduit for the western facing array has not been dropped through the ceiling yet. After the DC power goes into these boxes it gets turned around and exported as AC power which is then fed from both of the inverters to the small box in the middle. This smaller box is a combiner where the power from the two inverters is routed and then fed back to my City of Austin Meter via a single line which you can see going back up the wall.

Upgraded Outdoor Breaker Box - 200amp

2009-09-04T16:03:00Z

The outside main breaker load center has been upgraded from 125amp to 200amp. This was necessary due to size of the system I am installing. The box on the left is new load center. The center box is the city of Austin meter and the box on the right is my low voltage panel for cable, phone, etc. There will also be an additional city of Austin meter tracking electricity that is produced by my system. This is one of the last components of the install so I probably won't have pictures of it for a week or two.

Solar Racking - Non-Flashed Penetrations - Step-by-Step

2009-09-01T22:02:00Z

Due to all of the discussions at Mueller regarding flashed and non-flashed roof penetrations for the solar racking I asked Texas Solar to go ahead and shoot some step-by-step photos showing how they install the mounting feet. This is a non-flashed installation. The sealant they use is Sonolastic NP1 Poyurethane Sealant. Just as an FYI.....this is the method that I believe all Solar installers in Austin haven been using, with success, up until about a year ago when a few of the vendors started using flashed installations. Texas Solar Power has been using this method for approximately 15 years with good results......they wouldn't still be in business if their installations leaked. Meridian was also using this method for about 9 years prior to switching to flashed installations last year.

Step 1 - Drill holes through shingles into rafter and fill with NP1 Polyurethane Sealant.

Step 2 - Allign mounting foot over holes and use impact drill to drive stainless steel lag bolt into rafter.

Step 3 - Apply NP1 Polyurethane Sealant to top bolt heads and top and sides of bracket.

If anyone at Mueller is interested in taking a look at a bracket or anything else please don't hesitate to stop by.

Joe

Ridge Vents Installed

2009-09-01T21:32:22Z

As of Thursday of last week the ridge vents were completely installed and all of the old vents were removed, holes patched and new shingles applied. Since then I've been monitoring my attic temperature in relation to the outside temperature at various times during the day. I also did some monitoring of my attic temperature prior to the ridge row venting going in which of course was necessary or the measurements I took afterwards would be meaningless.

Here's what I've found:

My attic is always at least seven degrees cooler than it was prior to the ridge vent being installed. How did this happen you may ask? Well my house had a signifigant amount of soffit venting, in the form of hardi soffit, that I was not taking full advantage of with the old round passive vents. These round vents that were installed allowed for probably the minimum amount of passive ventilation that is required for my size house/attic. Most builders construct to code, and this is not a bad thing, but it doesn't mean it can't be improved upon which is what the large amount of soffit venting combined with the ridge vent has allowed me to do. I now move much more air through my attic and the ridge row venting is situated at the peak of my roof which is where the hottest air sits.
The attic cools down much quicker in evening. It essentially follows the outside temperature throughout the day by 5-13 degrees. In the early morning up through about 8 or 9 am it is actually cooler in the attic than outside which never happened, except in the winter, when I had the other venting.

This morning TXSPCo came back out and they've resumed work on the solar install. They continue to focus on attaching the solar racking system and things seem to be moving along.

Again, if anyone wants to check out the progress on my install feel free to stop by.

Joe

New Solar Array Layouts & Ridge Vents

2009-08-26T21:03:00Z

So it was a big day today. Ridge vents are being installed, new solar array layout was decided on (more panels and two inverters) and a reporter came by from the Austin American Statesman for an interview and photos. The Statesman article will focus on a number of items (Pecan Street Project, other Mueller Neighbors, etc) not just me and my solar array. The article should be in this Saturday or Sunday's paper.

Ridge Vents - All previous venting is being removed or moved, holes patched and new baffled ridge row venting is being installed. See photos of work in progress.

New Solar Array Layout - System will now consist of two inverters and 64 panels for a total of 11.2 kW. The array layouts are as follows:

South - 44 panels @ 175 Watts each for a total 7.7 kW. This array will run into an SMA Sunny Boy 7000US inverter.
West - 20 panels @ 175 Watts each for a total of 3.5 kW. This array will run into an SMA Sunny Boy 4000US inverter.

Photos below show the array layouts with shading patterns.

Will post more pictures and info as the work moves along.

Joe

8.75 kW Solar Array - Installation Begins

2009-08-20T14:01:41Z

So this week marks the start of my home Solar installation. Tuesday I had four plumbing vents rerouted to the other side of my roof to free up some valuable southern facing roof space. I had the plumber tie one of the four vents into an existing line on the other side of the house and take the other three vents and tie them all into one larger pipe and then route that pipe out to the other side of the house. The original pvc vents that were penetrating the south side of the house still need to be pulled and the holes patched and shingled but that will be done by the roofers next week. You can see the new location of the vents alond with the old lines that were cut in the picture below.

Next Monday or Tuesday I will also have all of my existing attic vents (five round air hawks) removed and replaced with ridge row vents. This will also free up some valuable southern and western facing roof space for more solar panels. In the meantime the Solar Installation Company, Texas Solar Power, has started to install the "feet" that the solar racking system will attach to. Once this is completed they will probably have to hold off on everything else until the roofing company has completed their work on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Below is an overview of the system I'm having installed.

8.75 kW Solar Array (7kW Southern Facing & 1.75kW Western Facing)

Comprised of the Following Equipment:

Inverter - (1) SMA Sunny Boy 7000US http://www.sma-america.com/en_US/products/grid-tied-inverters/sunny-boy/sunny-boy-5000us-6000us-7000us.html
Solar Panels - (50) SunTech 175 Watt MonoCrystalline Black Label Panels http://www.suntech-power.com/products/docs/STP_170S_Ab-1_STP-DS-STD-N01.03%20black%20label.pdf
Monitoring Equipment - SMA Sunny Web Box http://www.sma-america.com/en_US/products/monitoring-systems/sunny-webbox.html
Monitoring Web Interface - Sunny Web Box http://www.sma-america.com/en_US/products/monitoring-systems/sunny-webbox.html

June 22, 2009 - We're Home!!!!!!

2009-06-25T03:11:00Z

We’re home! We got home Monday night and are so happy to be home (except for the horrible heat). The trip was a definite success - quite an adventure and not without it's challenges but we're already romantizing our time away from home.

We spent the last few days of our trip last week driving through Colorado and in the Denver area visiting wonderful friends. Heading from Salt Lake City we spent one night in Steamboat Springs – what a great little town. Beautiful mountains, lots and lots of hike and bike trails, green everywhere, small town feel, lots of people out exercising, and great hot springs. We spent a few hours at the Old Town Hot Springs which has like 5 different pools fed from one hot spring, at varying degrees of temperature ranging from 85 to 103. Very nicely done with waterfalls and a rock climbing wall above the water that Joe had fun trying to get up. It was heavenly. But we were forced to get back in our car and keep driving.

That evening we drove over the 12,183 foot pass in Rocky Mountain Natl Park on the highest continuously paved road in the U.S. The oxygen masks deployed in the truck at 12,000 feet, an option we didn’t realize had been included in our vehicle. J Very awe inspiring being so high up and surrounded by mountains but I don’t like heights so I of course was nervous for part of the drive. You get into the alpine where no trees can grow which is very interesting to see.

Later that night we camped at a great campground in the park called Aspen Glen. It was the best night of the trip for star gazing – unbelievable view of the stars. Just wanted to sit there forever staring up at the sky next to the fire but of course a little girl had to be put to bed. Joe even saw a shooting star and some possible alien spaceships J. We got to spend some time playing in the falls by the campsite before heading on to spend the day in Boulder. Another very cool town I think I could enjoy living in except for the winters. They have this great pedestrian mall full of people, splash fountains, book stores, coffee shops, shade, lots of benches, people playing music and doing magic tricks. I hope our new town center at Mueller can have something similar. Western Colorado is just breathtaking and of course the weather in the summer is fantastic – in the 70s. And then we hit Denver and got to spend a couple days with my wonderful friends Terrie and MJ and their kids who are about the same age as Zoey - Cadence, Karson and Stephen. It was soooo much fun seeing them and so sad to have to leave so soon. Just hanging out talking, going to the park, watching the kids play, eating good food – that’s the life.

But boy, when we got on the road for home we made a beeline. We thought we’d take three days but we just kept on driving and made it in two– the pull of home is amazing when you’ve been gone so long. It was exciting to leave on our roadtrip but even more exciting to come home I think. Now we're just unpacking, going through two months of mail, catching up with everyone and settling back into regular life. Till our next adventure that is.

June 15-16, 2009 - Salt Lake City

2009-06-17T16:31:33Z

We are halfway between Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado (staying the night in Vernal, UT) heading east to see friends in the Denver area. Yippee! I’m ready for some fun, familiar faces and Zoey will have some kids to play with! ,

We spent a night camping by the Great Salt Lake out on Antelope Island night before last. It was a very nice view across the lake to the mountains beyond and Joe had fun floating in the salt lake but the bugs were a bit much for us. We had to kill about 100 mosquitoes in the trailer before we could settle in for the night and sleep with the trailer closed up tight. And the Great Salt Lake was very interesting – I had never thought about it before but no fish can live in it. Instead it’s full of tiny red brine shrimp that can live in the salt water.

We had planned to head down to Zion National Park after SLC but we both decided it was time to start charting a course for home. Plus Denver’s got a world class skatepark that Joe plans on spending some time at. I think we are traveled out, at least for a while.

June 10-14, 2009 - Yellowstone

2009-06-15T18:47:00Z

The last few days were spent in Yellowstone National Park where we got to see cool hydrothermal features, beautiful waterfalls, lots of bison including two that hung out in our campsite, met some really nice folks, got rained on a lot, and got sick, again (Joe and Zoey, not me).

Our first day in Yellowstone we made the rounds of Old Faithful, visited a lot of the geysers, springs, and steam vents and saw lots of bison, elk and deer. When we got back to the campsite Zoey, ever friendly, made friends with a boy named Steven who seemed happy to have someone to hang and explore with. We had Steven and his Dad Bob over to the campfire for smores after dinner but the evening was interrupted by two huge bison bulls who decided to munch their way through the campground. It was really amazing and a little scary to have these 2000 lb creatures hanging out by you –when they came too close we walked behind the truck and trailer. Yellowstone puts out these notices that every year visitors get gored by bison to put the fear into us so we kept our distance. They hung out at our campsite for about 30 minutes before moving on. What an experience.

The next day it rained, and rained, and then rained some more. Joe and Zoey were down with the crud by then so I headed out alone to see the canyon and waterfalls and do some souvenir shopping. Zoey and I also got to attend a couple of the campfire programs put on by the rangers which brought back lots of memories of my youth camping with my family. I didn’t get to see the elusive bear but maybe next visit.

Then we headed south to the Grand Tetons but the rain and clouds obscured our views and nobody was up for camping or hiking in the rain so we just kept driving. The Jackson Hole Wyoming area was absolutely beautiful – if we were sans 3 yr old I would have loved to do some horseback riding or white-water rafting in the area – guess we’ll just have to come back when Zoey’s about 9 years older J.

On to Salt Lake City.......

June 5-9, 2009 - Glacier National Park

2009-06-11T02:02:00Z

On our way to Glacier we stopped at Kootenai Falls and walked down the trail to the swinging bridge so that Joe and Zoey could walk high across a torrential river on a small wooden cabled suspension bridge. I’m not a fan of heights, or swaying foot bridges, so I just watched from the shore. The falls were pretty impressive too – right now with all the snowmelt going on the rivers and creeks are way above normal and are colored this beautiful aqua blue/green that you don’t see in Texas.

Wow, does Glacier Park deliver! If you have the need to be awed by rugged mountain wilderness then this is the place to go. We’re really enjoying being in the parks pre-summer season but that’s about to end now that schools are out. We’ve had our choice of prime camping spots and enjoying the parks without huge amounts of humans surrounding us so far.

We spent the first couple days on the east side of the park at Apgar village, which is on the bank of the 10 mile long McDonald lake (which was formed after the a glacier melted), with the white capped Rocky Mountains off in the near distance. Did some hiking up to a sub-alpine lake called Avalanche Lake. Incredible views of huge waterfalls up in the mountains behind the lake feeding the snowmelt down to the lake. We saw lots of mule deer on the trail and at the campsite. We hiked the trail on Saturday and then read in the paper that on Sunday, the next day, a man had been bitten by a Grizzly bear a mile and half from that same trailhead! So the bears were there, we just didn’t see them. First attack since 2005 and the guy was jogging on a trail by himself and not making noise to alert bears he was coming. We joke that Zoey is our bear alerting system because she’s always making noise.

Then we headed to the east side of the park which just blew us away. It is much more remote and rugged, and about 15 degrees colder due to the weather patterns across the Rockies. We stayed at Many Glaciers which is basically at the foot of huge snow capped mountains in all directions – absolutely breathtaking. First day we were there we saw a huge bull moose just off the road and the next morning had a moose walk through our campsite.

There’s a fabulous lodge built in 1915 in the Swiss chalet style which looks out over a lake with the mountains surrounding it – it’s where I wanted to spend my time. Huge fireplace going in the lobby with comfy couches and chairs around it – deck chairs on the balcony so you could sun and just stare out at the mountains. A boat ride, which Zoey insisted we take, allowed us to see mountain goats and more moose. I even convinced Joe to forgo hotdogs on the fire one night to have a great meal in their dining room – trout and beef medallions, yum! We would have stayed longer except it was cold, cold, cold. It snowed on us a bunch and the temperature never got above 39 which is too cold for me but Joe didn’t mind.

We got one good hike in up to see a waterfall on a trail that rose 700 feet in the space of one mile. Good workout especially for Joe with Zoey in a pack on his back.

We had more hiking planned for the next day but that got nixed when we got back to our trailer and found out that we had no propane to run our heater for the night! We had the tanks filled not too long ago but apparently they got filled with something that was not propane! With the temperatures going below freezing at night I refused to sleep in a trailer with no heater so we ended up packing up early and driving into the night to Great Falls, Montana where we got a hotel J. Aaahh, a big bed, heat, a shower, and a free breakfast – it was heaven. I’m so amazed at how few people there are in Montana! Talk about wide open spaces. There are no cities per say, only what we would consider a big town. I can only imagine what it is like in the middle of winter when everything is totally covered in snow.

On our way to Helena, Montana last night we were driving behind a little white Toyota Camry when all of a sudden we saw a big deer flying over the car. It had hit a buck going 70 mph which appeared out of nowhere. I’m amazed that the car was able to maintain control and pull over. We pulled over too and stayed with the older woman and her granddaughter for an hour until a wrecker and the state trooper showed up. Their front end was totally smushed.

June 4, 2009 - Tonasket, WA

2009-06-06T00:00:00Z

We just entered Idaho on our way to Glacier National Park. And we’ve driven 5113 miles so far on our trip – passing 5000 miles seems like a big milestone. Also the fact that we are officially heading for home now. Will take us about a month to get there if all goes as planned but we hit our farthest point north in Tonasket and now are headed east and then south. Lots of national parks in front of us. Really cool was the fact that just as we hit the 5000 mile mark we saw a moose on the side of the road up in the mountains of eastern Washington.

The last week was spent visiting the Zabreznik clan. From the Olympic Peninsula we headed due East through Tacoma and into Wenatchee where Joe’s Uncle Clyde and Aunt Lana live. They own these really cool drive through espresso stands called Aut-to Mocha. They are little buildings planted in the middle of parking lots or on corners and we see similar ones everywhere in the Pacific Northwest – every little town we drive through has one or two. People here take their coffee seriously. I guess as cold as it gets here during a large part of the year it makes sense. I think it’s a great business model – I wonder why it hasn’t taken hold in Texas yet. I’d certainly frequent one if it was handy. Thanks to Clyde and Lana we drank some good coffee while in Wenatchee. We also met up with Joe’s Dad, Rod, who flew in from Texas to join us for a few days.

Then we headed north to Tonasket which is only about 25 miles south of the Canadian border. We actually thought about heading up into Canada and then east over to Montana but then realized they just changed the law June 1^st and now you have to have a passport to get back into the US so that was out. We’ve also had a little bad luck with the truck and trailer - hopefully bad luck comes in threes cuz that means we’re done for the trip. First the battery went kaput and we had to pick a new one up, then on the road up to Tonasket our tire blew out and off – completely off so we were driving on the rim which immediately buckled up. There were guard rails on both sides of the road, with the Columbia River on one side and a big hillside on the other so we had to limp along a little ways before we could pull off and put on the spare. Then finally, coming down out of the mountains after Tonasket the truck started shimmying and we ended up having to get new front brakes and rotors on the truck. It turns out the trailer brakes were not working so the truck was having to do all the braking.

In Tonasket we stayed with Joe’s Uncle Donny and Aunt Carolyn. They hosted a family gathering for us and we got to visit with Uncle Roy and Aunt Beryl, Joe’s cousin John and his wife Donna, his 2^nd cousin LaGail and her fiance Darrel and kids Michael and Alex. It was great fun seeing everyone and listening to Joe’s dad and brother and sister talk about growing up - lots of good memories. One afternoon sitting in Donny’s living room he pointed out the window at a big bird sitting in one of his trees above the Okanogan River that runs behind his property. It was a bald eagle! I was so in awe to see one fairly close up and right out his window!

Next on to Glacier National Park.

May 31, 2009 - Klaloch, Olympic Peninsula, Washington

2009-05-31T21:46:00Z

Beach, rainforest, pine trees, mountains, elk, smores, campfires, hotdogs, hamburgers, cold, fog, driftwood, beautiful sunsets, camping on a bluff overlooking the ocean….Olympic peninsula has it all. We’re coming off 3 days of camping at Kalaloch, a national park campround, in a coastal rainforest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Doesn’t get much better. The beach was really cool in that there were thousands of huge logs all piled up against the bluff that you had to climb over to get to the beach – apparently that come down river during the snowmelts or get away from the loggers and get washed up on the beach. Lots of fun climbing and great fuel for fires which Joe took great delight in building everyday. Zoey just loved wandering the beach collecting rocks and clam shells and sand dollars and getting her feet wet in the surf and in the fresh water river that dumped into the ocean right down the beach. The beach was shrouded in fog one of the days which was really neat to walk in – kind of eerie but great fun. And our campsite looked right down to the ocean – we could sit by our fire and stare at the waves.

One day we drove into the Hoh rainforest and went hiking but I think our campground was as beautiful. It wasn’t raining and wet so we didn’t get the full effect and the giant slugs weren’t out, much to Zoey’s dismay, but we did get to see a couple of elk thanks to other hikers. Zoey doesn’t quite know how to be quiet while hiking so all wildlife knows we’re coming a mile away.

We also made a trek into Forks, Washingtn, to pick up a hatchet so I can now say I’ve been to the town where the Twilight series was set. It was sunny there too so all the vampires were in hiding. Not that I’m complaining, camping at the coast was cold enough that I was grateful there was no rain. Not cold enough to keep Joe from jumping in the freshwater river and freezing afterwards. Joe says it’s a guy thing. I’ll never understand.

Now we’re headed back inland to hook up with Joe’s dad who’s flying up from Austin today and we’ll visit all his family over the next week in Wenatchee and Tonasket.

May 27, 2009 - Battle Ground, Washington

2009-05-28T19:11:00Z

Whew, we’ve been on the go! We’ve been spending tons of time with friends and family over the last week. We spent 3 nights in Hermiston, Oregon with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Linda, Uncle Joe, Crystal and Lisa, and Aunt Linda and Uncle Pat. Good time had by all but especially Zoey who totally glommed onto 14 yr old Crystal as her newest idol J. Hermiston is a small town in Eastern Oregon, so rolling hills and farmlands. We were outside the town so had lots of cows, horses, sheep, goats, dogs and even some buffalo around us and had a wonderful place to stay with Aunt Linda and Uncle Jimmy, thanks! A day after hiking in the snow in Bend we were splashing in the Hermiston pool on their opening day. And did I mention 4 wheeling? We did a lot of it, especially Zoey. It was so much fun. Something Zoey and I had never done before. That’s all Zoey really wanted to do – go 4-wheeling. I think she even wore Crystal out! She says when she grows up she wants a yellow 4-wheeler just like Crystal. It was so wonderful seeing everyone. We continue to eat lots of good food, thanks everyone!, and our waistlines are definitely showing it L.

Then we headed through the Columbia Gorge to Portland to visit Joclyn, Jeff and Henry for a night (steak) and then Joe’s cousin Todd and his family Meagan, Tyler and Gibson (salmon). Zoey hadn’t been around other young kids since Santa Barbara so it was really nice for her to have Henry and Tyler to play with so we adults could catch up. We actually didn’t spend much time in Portland but Zoey and I did spend a day at the Portland Zoo while Joe skateboarded.

We opted to leave Portland behind so we could have a few days up in the Olympic National Park in Northwestern Washington. We just stocked up on hotdogs, hamburgers and salmon for some grilling action at the campsite. Olympic has coastline, rainforest, and glaciered mountains all rolled into one – should be pretty spectacular.

Last night we camped in Battle Ground Lake State Park…..which was a lucky find because it may be the prettiest place we’ve camped so far. Towering pines and a crater lake formed by and old volcano. We had our first campfire and smores of the trip. Can you believe it? Zoey and Dad even got to do a little swimming in the lake.

And for those of you who know the Twilight series, we got to visit Belle’s house from the movie in St. Helens where Todd lives – he gave us the tour J. Much of the film was shot there.

Thanks everyone for the comments we’re receiving! We really appreciate everyone taking the time to read our blog.