Just a cool photo...

If you can't tell ~ I love to play with my camera! Loads to learn, so little time!


Holly handed me this and said "Mama, this is a wish just for you!" How sweet is that!

The Garden is Growing... or is it?

We planted a vegetable garden for the second time. Last year we had pretty good success for newbies - lot's of corn, tons & tons of tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, radishes, basil and carrots. This year... not much of anything has grown! It is quiet a dissapointment really! Just a few tomatoes over all, our zuccini keeps dying off, no strawberries to speak of, the green beans are gone - I even planted them again for a second attempt, no radishes, no carrots and we'll see about the corn. It is kinda cute though, we have some straggler tomatoes that grew from last year scattered about our garden area in odd places -- pretty hearty little guys!

We didn't do anything differently, except a small layout change due to planth growth - a learning curve. But, the weather isn't great this time around with a late frost season, little sun and colder temps. Also, the bees... they are just not around. It's quiet sad actually, as we do have lot's of bees around our area - we even have two neighbors with hives. But, not many around to do the job of polinating. Even our cherry trees were pretty dismal this season. Our apples though... are crazy this year!

We'll give next year another attempt and hope for better results, but this season - we are pretty bummed! Oh well, live & learn.

Soccer Fun

Holly will be starting a tot-soccer program in a few weeks with a dear friend of hers and she is just exstatic about it!!! Sometimes she talks about soccer, sits and thinks about soccer and ask many questions on the subject of soccer.... to a mom who has never played soccer a day in her life! I have a lot to learn!

But, to capture that full enthusiasm we are breaking her in with a new soccer ball, shoes and some soccer fun in the yard. Today we played for a long time together kicking the ball around and she *loved* every moment of it!!! It really wore her out too... the best part! The worst part she had so much fun today that she asked if we start soccer tomorrow ~ nope, not until the end of September. What to do till then?

Here are some cute shots of her playing with her new ball & shoes:

Sweet Photo

This was one I just caught...................... & love!

Introducing... Kayak #2

In 2004 we purchased our kayak kits (Pygmy Arctic Terns)... it took us until 2005 to finish building our first kayak due to the arrival of little Holly. The second kit sat and sat. Hawk (Bryan's Dad) then started building the second boat... with the intent he would use it. He did a beautiful job building it and I think he had fun too! After he was about done he informed us that he in fact did not want to use it for kayaking as it was of no interest to him. He passed the kayak back on to us... this weekend!!! THANK YOU HAWK!

I still can't believe we now have both kayak's back in our little world and that we will actually get to kayak TOGETHER!!! For so long we have taken turns in our little trips out & about until yesterday! Sunday August 23rd we set out on our first joint kayak excursion after a fun little boat christening. Bryan & I finally were able to enjoy one of our hobbies *together*!

This weekend was spent getting outfitted for our second kayak with new pfd's, a new paddle, car mount rack and more... all of that took a lot of time to gather the right stuff! Then we headed on over to see the finished kayak, admire it, photograph the boat more than necessary and welcome it to the water! When we finished out original boat we had not done this becuase we orignally wanted to wait for both, so yesterday we took care of that! Here are some great shots of our kayaks... they are beautiful!!!

Hawk & the kayak he built!

All loaded and heading over to the lake!

Aren't they pretty?

Something to welcome them with & toast with... note "Liberty Ale", Bryan's choice.

Hawk with his beautifully built boat! After a good speech!

We too welcome our beautiful boat to the water!

And.... off we go! A long time in the making - but, oh so worth it!

Yes, Camping Can Be DIRTY

We had a fun group night where everyone came down to our site and we had a big fish dinner together! Amazing meal ~ Thanks Tex & Annette! During this fun night the kids all had a blast!!!! They were playing - hard - and were covered from head to toe in dirt... no joke! After a hard day of camping we caved and gave Holly a *bath* in a rubbermaid container. She thinks it was fun, the kids thought it was odd... I thought it was a necessity! Anyhow, our night also included a night parade around the campground with neon glowing bracelets, necklaces and sticks! Fun for all!

All of this play.....

Boils down to this kind of bath.....

Now that we are much cleaner... let's enjoy a parade!

Ohanapecosh Hot Springs

At Ohanapecosh they have some natural hot springs. Years ago, as in the 20's, there were cabins and a retreat like lodge built up there for folks to come and enjoy these hot springs. This all eventlually closed due to lack of funding. In the 60's they removed all the cabins and lodge and are now in the process of restoring them.

This was my first time seeing a hot spring. They were kind of cool and incredibly natural - not sure what I was expecting, but these were much more 'natural' than I was imagining. The colors from all the iron, minerals and such were actually quiet pretty.

We took this little walk back with the Gratzer family. The kids had a great time! They discovered a big rock to climb & slide on, did lot's or running ahead to be the 'leader' of our walk and dipped their fingers in the hot springs... which are just as warm as their baths! :)