Camping Above Cascade

Yep, more camping pictures. Different trip though. We are trying to take full advantage of our summer. In August Michael starts back to school with five classes. Plus he will be working 36 hours a week. We are trying to play just as much as humanly possible because soon life will suck. A lot. In the mean time, life is wonderful and happy.

We went camping with my brother (Joe) and his wife (Kerry) and her whole family. Ethan and Libby think Joe and Kerry hung the moon. It doesn't hurt that they own horses and let our kids ride them, or that they take them to McDonald's, or that they take them to parades, or that they...well you get the idea.

This was the first time on a horse for both of the kids and the first time in almost 20 years for both Michael and I.
Super-flattering picture of me, yes?
Libby was a little afraid of the horses. She was willing to sit on them and pet them, but they had better not move. Any time anyone asked her if she wanted to ride one, her answer was an emphatic, "NO."
A pretty little meadow we found while riding the horses. I think this is where Joe let Michael shoot his .22 rifle and .44 magnum handgun. For the first time in years, Michael felt like a "true man."

Ethan is becoming quite brave! He used to be a bit of a pansy, but he is quickly becoming more and more willing to try just about anything!Ethan and Uncle Joe taking on the river.

Really, I don't need a nap anymore!

Michael's Great Joy

As I have already mentioned, we have been biking a lot this summer. In the last month we have driven our car a total of four times. Once to go camping, once to go to a movie when it was raining, once when Michael woke up to find his bike had a flat, and one other time that I don't remember the reason for. I can hear you asking, "How do you get the kids around?" "How do you get your shopping done." It is because of this thing.


This is Michael's true love. It is called an Xtracycle and he loves it more then he loves me (almost). It is really the neatest thing. Once we save up the money, we are getting one for me too. He has hauled over a hundred dollars worth of groceries and both kids home on this thing. In the picture he has a lamp, our tent and the kids on the bike. We had just come home from Con and Linda's.

Camping in Cascade

Dad's ward was having a campout at Horsethief Reservoir and Mom didn't want to go, so Dad asked Katie and I if we'd like to go with him. After some minor hemming, hawing, and a promise of homemade ice cream, we conceded to go.

Ethan and Libby were all ecstatic about going camping with Grandpa and eating ice cream while doing it. We also lured them with the promise of canoes out on the water.

We arrived safely and set up our camp. Our family in our tent and Dad deciding to camp under the stars. We took the kids out in the canoe. Upon getting myself into the canoe, ensuring I was keeping "three points of contact" at all times with the boat, it tipped to the point that a slosh of water got in. This, I believe, was due to the kids not understanding how to balance themselves, let alone themselves in a boat. So I paddled across the reservoir with my knees in an inch of water.

Upon arriving on the opposite shore, we took a short little hike. We found a MONSTROUS ant hill made of dirt and pine needles with thousands of red ants crawling all over it. I managed to escape with only one of the little buggers biting me on my tow.

The rest of the trip was very pleasant and uneventful. Ethan spent about 3 hours on the dock fishing with a bunch of perfect strangers and, generally speaking, got along quite well with everyone there. We went out in the canoes a couple more times, Dad and I played a game of Scrabble on our Palm TXs via Bluetooth by the light of the campfire, slept, woke up, ate breakfast, canoed some more, made lunch, watched Libby play Frisbee, then came home.

Thanks for the trip Dad! A buncha pictures follow, in chronological order.

People Yelling at Me on My Bike

I try to be considerate. I have never been in a car accident. I watch where I am going. I just don't understand. Between Sunday and Monday I had four different people yell at me while I was on my bike. I am starting to feel picked on.

Sunday: "You must be an LDS woman. Well I am just as stubborn as you are." I was riding my bike on the sidewalk home from church and a mom, her three school age kids, and their dog was crossing in front of me. I stopped my bike to let them go. She looked at me and told me to go first because I had a kid on the back on my bike (Libby). I pointed out that she had three kids and a dog and she should go first. That's when she crossed and called me an LDS woman. I think she was making a joke, but she could have been trying to insult me too. I just don't know. But I did laugh the rest of the way home about it.

Monday: Michael and I were on a moderately busy road, him with Ethan on the back and me with the Libby on the back. There was a bike lane, so we were just tooling along in that. A guy in a foreign car came up behind us and honked until we pulled all the way off the shoulder. Then he gave us no room when he passed us. He seemed to think we had no right to the bike lane. Very Rude!

"Hey, watch where you are going. Jeesh." This one I may have slightly deserved. I was going uphill from under a bridge on the greenbelt. There was a person walking in front of me. He was all I could see. I told him, "On your left" and went around. I stayed on the yellow line passing him, while I was passing him a guy on his bike came down the hill. He had plenty of room, but I guess I was too close to his side. So he yelled at me.

And then fifteen minutes later I got yelled at again. Now I am starting to have issues. I was crossing Myrtle St. at the new light on 3rd. There were two rather scruffy men crossing in front of me. One crossed and stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk and the other was still on the street. I had to swerve around the one on the sidewalk, and apologized to him. He smiled and said no problem. He apologized back. Then I rode on down the sidewalk (Myrtle is Heck of Busy, I am not riding on that street). The guy who was still on the street hopped up on the sidewalk right after I passed that spot and called me a rather nasty name under his breath. I thought that was pretty unfair. If anyone was going to call me a name shouldn't it have been the guy I swerved around?
So needless to say I am starting to have issues. Michael just laughed and laughed. Maybe I was sending out vibes that I needed yelled at yesterday. Who knows. All I know is I might be scarred for life.