Claustrophobia

I don't like this.

On the Boat

Monday night we enjoyed a beautiful evening.

We anchored the boat and the boys paddled the tube over to a little island.

Who's this dark and handsome stranger?

First Day of School

They are, apparently, just too cool.

Lucy Barks At Something In the Bush

Yesterday afternoon I heard Lucy barking outside. She was untied, so I thought she was barking at a walker and ran outside to call her back. But she was fiercely barking at something in the bush.

Hmmm...

Kendall came out and for some reason I said, "I think she's barking at a wolf." I'm not sure why I said that. (Maybe it was the way she was growling or the hair bristling on her back or just my overactive imagination at work.)

Kendall bravely went to investigate. Silly me. It wasn't a wolf. It was a bear. Oh dear. The bear quickly excused itself.

I wasn't particularly afraid- more just disappointed that I didn't get to see it.

Later Kendall had a chat with our neighbors across the bay. They've been having trouble with that same nuisance bear. In fact, they have a hole in the screen on their front door where the bear stuck it's paw through. Lovely.

And so much for Kendall's convincing little theory that we are safe from the wild animals because "we live on an island." When I respectfully pointed that out to him, he just said, "Turns out bears can swim."

P.S. Eli says my title is pathetic. ("Very pathetic, in fact," he adds.) He thinks I should title this post 'The Wild Thing' or 'The Mysterious and Unexpected Visitor.'

Aww. Look at these serene little cuties sleeping so peacefully.
But all is not as it appears. What are those 2 signs posted on the bed? Upon closer inspection, it is clear that danger is lurking...

Thankfully, they made it through the night unscathed.

And here we have a typical morning scene:

In spite of all the land mines and "boms" that need to get worked out of their systems, they manage to be loving brothers and best friends.

Awww...

S'mores

We cut a path through the bush out to a rock point on the bay. Last night we walked out there for our bedtime snack.

Colorado- Part 2

Finally posting the pictures from our time with the Hochstedlers in Colorado. For various reasons, I haven't gotten around to it yet.

So here they are, in no particular order:

Once again, Eli and Evan experienced one of the highlights of their young lives- time with cousins. There's an awesome teenager to look up to, 2 big girls to shower attention on them, 2 playmates their age and a baby to hold.

Horseback riding was one of the highlights for everyone.

A walk close to our cabin.

In the distance you can see our cabin. It was in a beautiful location.

Here Marley enjoys a pampering foot rub from her cousin. (Or is she enjoying it? It's hard to tell.)

This is the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was amazing. Unfortunately, it was also extremely windy. Spa treatments by sand blasting.

One glorious night, Nana and Papa slept out on the deck with all the grandkids.

We found a reptile farm nearby. These 3 tough men wrestled this monster.

We took some great family pictures. Unfortunately, I'm having problems getting them from the website to my computer. So here are a couple of inferior quality.

I just love my women-in-law.
One of my personal highlights of our time together was when all the males left the premises and we laid out in the sun and talked.

And yes, we are somewhat afraid of this wild and wooly bunch of outlaws.

Our time together was great. It was a celebration of Leonard and Twila's 40th anniversary and Leonard's 60th birthday. They had so many special things planned for us- nature hikes, sand dunes, reptile farm, rodeo, horseback riding, star-gazing, cowboy songs, scrumptious meals, fun things for the kids and on and on and on.

I feel very fortunate to be part of this family.

Handsome Men

Just thought I'd show off 2 of the 3 handsome men in my home...

(I keep thinking he looks like he belongs to Sam and Cathy's family in this one.)

The 2 cowboy pictures come from Colorado. I haven't gotten around to putting up photos from our time with the Hochstedlers. Getting the group photos from the website Joelle put up is giving me fits. These are the only 2 of our family that come through okay. I'll keep working on it.

Here are some belated camping pictures from 2 weeks ago:

Racing the dog:

These 2 have a love-hate relationship:

Proud of his big catch:

Thirty-five

It's true. I am 35 years old today. Kind of weird. I handled the transition fine, exept for one small moment. At 10:30 Saturday night, someone mentioned that I only had an hour and a half to be young. I was tired and wanted to go to bed, but all of the sudden I felt like I should quick be doing something fun! Anyway, I ignored the urge and went to sleep before midnight, wasting at least a good half an hour of my youth.

I had a good weekend of camping with our church. It was a good way to spend my birthday weekend. On the way down to the campground, Kendall gave me a great birthday gift- an eBook reader! It's like practically my first cool gadget ever! Well, not exactly, but maybe the coolest thing I've ever owned. And it fits me so well because I LOVE TO READ.

Random things from the weekend:
-Cinnamon rolls with birthday candles this morning- Thanks Glenda!
-A cool, refreshing (cold) bucket of water poured over me- Thanks young women whom I attempt to guide in good paths. Obviously I've failed. (Just kidding- they're awesome.)
-Playing a really fun game in which teams chose cardboard pieces, duct tape and random junk and had 45 minutes to build a boat which they then raced in the lake.
-A spur-of-the-moment spa complete with pedicures.
-Playing Lawn Dutch Blitz (thanks for the cards, Kendra). There were 2 individuals in particular that you really had to watch out for in this game or you would be trampled. But if you kept your guard up, you were fine. :)
-2 boys who played hard all day, then were more than willing to collapse into bed at night.
-Having everyone sing Happy Birthday to me. In the absence of candles, anyone with a lighter was asked to light it and let me blow it out.
-Our camper was so squeaky, I was embarrassed just crawling around in it making the bed!
-There is a close forest fire and Friday was very smoky around here, so I (wisely) took our computer and the safe with important documents inside along to the campground. I didn't want there to be an evacuation while we were down there and not be able to get back up to Red Lake! No evacuation was necessary and tomorrow it's supposed to rain. I was rather sheepish about being so (wisely) prepared, but later found out I wasn't the only one who did this!

The boys had a great weekend. We gave them firm boundaries and then let them roam. Eli said tonight that one of his favorite things was that the kids could do their own thing so much. They had their bikes and there wasn't much traffic. They loved it. We're spoiled right now. Eli and Evan are at a great age for camping. They are pretty independent and usually obey the boundaries we give them, so we can relax a lot more than we could have a couple years ago. Really, the main things they needed from us were meals, bedtime and supervision at the beach. Oh- and love, of course. Other than that, they were having a blast with their pseudo-cousins.

Oh yeah, when we got home, we were wearily putting things away, I opened the refrigerator door and lo and behold! There was a platter of delicious cheesecake setting there waiting for me! Thanks to my new-ish friend, Parla!

Too bad, I'm not good at pulling out the camera. Sorry, Grandparents. I'll snag some from facebook when I can.