First Hike of the Summer

Once we had our minds made up Tamara quickly packed us a lunch and we were out the door. First hike of the summer Mt. Rainier. Parking was a little hard because eveyone else had chosen to go to the mountain, too. Because of the construction at Paradise everyone parks at Longmire and waits for the shuttle bus to take them to the top. They run about every 1/2 hr.
We will wait til we can drive all the way up.

James Longmire's son 1888 homestead is on the trail . There is also several hot mineral springs bubbling up. They use to sale the water to tourists as a source of healing power.

The Trail of the Shadow is very cool and a comfortable walk.

Dad and son stretched their legs a bit after lunch walking around the Longmire Lodge. V was very social with all the people waving and jabbering with them all.

Our second hike was cut short. We took the Kautz Creek trail only to find that it was boring and too hot. And the bugs were very hungary. So we called it quits and headed for home. On the way out of the Mt. Rainier Park you should have seen the line of cars just on their way in.

We finished the night by going out to dinner.

A little too close for comfort

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We have already reserved our space at Dick's for next year.

This is our new tent we pitched in the backyard along with the Flannery's tent and outhouse, and the DeMark's rv trailer. We slept very comfortbly.

Everyone brought a dish and the eating was delicous. I forgot how sweet white corn is. Yummy. The burgers and Mariner hotdogs were great. I could continue to tell you how great everything was but then you would know exactly how much I ate.

Emma and Van got along real good. She is a cutie. She had a good time feeding the dogs chips.

This shot came from standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.....with a hit to the elbow and hip, I took off running and so did everyone else. Bill knelt over Patty because she was on the ground and couldn't get up. Everyone else grabbed a child and took off running. I think next time we will observe things from afar. Out of the danger zone...... Before this we had watched Tony and Travis light off some spectacular fireworks that night but things got very quiet after this.

Fourth of July Weekend

Our weekend started out at Carney Lake with Uncle Bob's family and in-laws

Grandkids I love them all

Kristine was very productive during the week. She cut out a dress with a pinafore and bonnet. With the exception of the hem she had it all sewed before they left.

Anna and Leah were explaining to Zara how to match up the puzzle pieces to the "I Spy" game. Good little teachers.

Ira is such a cutie. He is a hearty eater too. He smiles easily and likes to be cuddled.

Sunday afternoon we all relaxed and blew bubbles in the back yard.

Zara loved her ride with dad. He rolled and bounced all over on the back yard.

Ira and Van had a go at the animal puzzle. Van was excited but I think 6:30 is a little early for Ira and puzzles. He seems to have his eye on something else.

Maia and Eli playing some Mancala. They had fun.

All got together to help support the tower Anna was building. Before it toppled over they were able to build it much higher.

Two trips in one

The Bryans made the long drive from Nebraska to do a two family vacation. First stop in Utah for Jerry's missionary farewell and staying with friends. Then on to our house to be here for Van's birthday celebration. They stayed a week and then returned to Utah to see family again before returning home.

Neal and Kristine had beautiful weather for sleeping out in the backyard all week.

The kids all slept in our bedroom. Somehow Maia ended up over by the computer one night. Rather than wake her we just covered her up.

Van's 1st Birthday was a Family Affair

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and friends came to help Van celebrate his first birthday. He received some exciting gifts that we play with each day. He likes to dance to the silly song cd that his cousins gave him. He is getting the vroom down while playing with his trucks. He now has four balls and we play with them all. Great Grandma V gave him some puzzles that he likes, especially the giraffe.

Babyback Ribs - Yummy!!!

Mother's Day dinner was early at the grandparents house. My older brother, Rod, on the left is having knee surgery today so we had our dinner yesterday. His wife, Linda, and son, Roderick, are to the left also. My dad was more interested in playing with the baby that never looked up for the family picture. Jared had to leave early for a baseball game so he is not in it.
We had a delicious meal. And today we have leftovers. yum!
We hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day with your loved ones.

Weekend at Pacific Beach

Last weekend we joined Danny and Patty at the ocean. Danny is Bill's brother-in- law. We had a wonderful time walking the beach, finding sand dollars, flying kites and watching the eagles. So we thank them both for a marvelous time and hope we can do it again. Our grandson, Van, and his parents came down for the day. We enjoyed the playground, and later went bowling.

In the evenings we would play card games, and watch movies. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" is real cute. "Dan in Real Life" was quite funny. We had an ocean view from the house we stayed in so Bill went out and captured this sunset on our last night.

Pacific Beach Weekend

We left a little message in the sand for our grandkids. We wish they could have been here playing and building sandcastles with us. We love and miss you all!

Hop, Hop, Hop

Van is always at the back window when Bill mows the yard. We have a variety of little frogs in various colors that Bill always finds to show to Van. This little guy was hard to catch but settled down enough to put on Van's arm for closer inspection.

Look who I have?

Tamara and I go up to my parents twice a week. We help around the house, cook them a meal, and do their shopping. Today Van was just as happy to see them as they were to see him. He even wore the froggy shirt Gr. Ida bought for him long time ago. He now fits into it. Gr. Ida and Van had a good giggle before we left to go back home.

There's nothing to see Grandpa

Grandpa took me for my first bike ride. We rode for 3 miles around the new housing development. We went slow and fast but there wasn't much to see. I was happy but after awhile I fell asleep so he took me home. Next time he says we will go to the bike trail. Yeah!

Warm weekend out

This past weekend we had warm weather and took advantage of it by spending the days outside. On Friday we took our grandson for a five mile walk at Nisqually Refuge. We enjoyed seeing lots of cool birds, including a large heron that stalked and caught a snake. On Saturday Bill and I headed to Mt. Rainier, it was beautiful. Temperatures were in the high 60's. As you can see I snowshoed in short sleeves and was still too hot. It is probably the last time we will be going up for snowshoeing because the snow was getting real slushy. But now we can look forward to our summer hikes.

THEY HAVE ARRIVED

Finally after much prodding and suggesting but little action on their part I have started a blog for my parents. They enjoy looking at friends and families blogs so I decided they should have one of their own. Hopefully after a few mini-lessons they will keep this updated on their own. Welcome to the blogging world!