Our last HOO-RAH!

Marc went back to work today. (Boo-hoo.)

It doesn't seem real that summer vacation is already over. It's been a good one! We decided that we needed to make one more trip to the cabin last week so that the girls could enjoy some more time in the river. The water has been too high to be safe for swimming until just recently. This time it was PERFECT! With their life jackets, Sierra and Ally can go just about anywhere without causing this poor Mama to go into a panic. I love that they are getting older and more independent. I was able to take book out to the beach and actually get some reading done while they played. (I did get all the way in the water several times as well!) And Valerie had a great shallow area with plenty of sand to play in. We spent lots of time outside kayaking, floating, hiking, digging, swinging, sliding, eating and playing games. Oh! And as I briefly mentioned before, we had some good friends join us for the last day. The kids had a blast together while the grown ups got to talk, play games, pick berries and stay up late for a good movie. It was a great finale to the summer....but I may just have to plan another short get away. I'm already aching to get back to more of this:

Picking God's Huckleberries

Wouldn't you know it - we found a huge patch of delicious huckleberries that God planted for us on the hill right behind the cabin! Thanks to our friends, the Berggrens, we were able to identify them and bring home several containers full. We would have had even more, but after Ally picked her berries she ran down the hill to show me....

...and, well, you can probably guess how many were left in her cup. ARGH!

You've Got a Friend In Me!

Our very dear friends, Josh and Janella Stimac, loaded their five precious children in the van and drove over 600 miles (each way!) to come spend last week with us.

Carter ~ Lucy ~ Emily ~ Calvin ~ Molly

When we lived in California, Marc and I used to spend just about every free day with Josh and Janella. We have lots of memories of attending Placerita Baptist Church together, lazy Saturday breakfasts at the Way Station, kayaking in Carpinteria, playing croquet, endless games of Sequence and Yahtzee, trips to Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon, playing the nickle slots in Vegas, late night runs to Golden Spoon for frozen yogurt, etc. etc. etc. Now we are making new memories with our EIGHT OFFSPRING!!! Funny how some things change and others never do.

Calvino and Val-Val really hit it off this time!

Besides just talking, laughing, and playing together, we kept them busy with
a day at Roaring Springs...
... a bug expedition...

... lots of river play...

... and their very first rodeo experience at the Snake River Stampede.

As you can see, we kinda wore the kids out!

We are so thankful for these wonderful friends who continue to be an encouragement to us as we raise our kids and follow after God!

Silver City Adventure

Last weekend, the "big girls" and I enjoyed a day trip to Silver City with several other families from our church. Other than the fact that our church bus broke down on a windy, dirt road about 5 miles outside of the ghost town, we had a great day! Thankfully there were several other vehicles that were able to rescue those of us who had been stranded in a cloud of smoke. We ate a great picnic lunch before walking all over the quaint little valley that was once a busy mining town.

At the Dan's Ferry Station before crossing the Snake River.

The Owyhee Mountains were beautiful!

On the porch of Pat's What Not Shop.

Sierra standing in front of the old hotel which is now home to a small museum.

Other views of Silver City:

Warm Lake Camping

Finally! We have officially been on a full-fledged camping trip as a family of five. (The little stint at Brownlee a few weeks ago was just a practice run.) This time we spent four glorious nights at Warm Lake. We couldn't have done it without Chuck and Missy. Our car was packed to the gills with foam mats, sleeping bags, camp chairs, food, a cooler, clothes and our tent. They brought the cook stove, pots and pans, chainsaw, water containers, etc. We shared a beautiful camp spot just above the North Shore Lodge. The weather was perfect - minus the insane windstorm the first night that we were there. In my ignorance I had packed watercolor paints, kids chapter books, and several games for the kids to play when they got bored. HA! They were entertained from dawn 'til dusk with water, dirt, rocks and sticks.

Here's a look at our awesome camping scrapbook:

The scenery was spectacular.

Camping activities: throwing rocks, minnow catching, hiking, lots of swimming!, house building, playing hide and seek, star gazing, eating ice-cream on the dock, hot-dog roasting, napping, reading, and playing games.

Butterflies

The monarchs are making their way through Idaho this month. They were THICK up at the cabin last week. Sierra enjoyed chasing them with a net and was successful in catching several for closer observation. We noticed that they liked to "sleep in" until the weather is nice and warm. We couldn't find any butterflies until about 11:00 a.m.! After that they liked fluttering around any puddles of water that the sprinklers had left behind.

Being tickled by a butterfly.

Cherry Season 2011

Friday, July 1st, was opening day of U-pick cherry season at Tyler's Orchard in Emmett. You can bet that my family was there bright and early. After a long, cold spring the cherries were finally ripe!! The branches were HEAVY with the beautiful fruit. We spent 1.5 hours and $14 filling our buckets to the brim. Susie and Annie met us there and took home even more cherries than we did.

Marc says that in his next lifetime he would like to be a cherry orchard farmer. :)

These two ate about as many cherries as they put into their buckets. I still think that the good people who run the scales need to weigh their customers before and after they go out into the orchard.

Time for a pit-stop! (Pun most certainly intended.)