To the Beach

Part 1 in our summer boredom busters series-

A day at Lake Tahoe is always a great way to spend the day. Sand castles, catching crawdads, eating, swimming, eating, taking rides on the tube, jumping off rocks, did I mention eating? It's obvious why I go to the lake, but the kids loved it and it was a great family activity. So, what are some of your summer boredom busters?






Wow! that's a whole lotta whiteness (I'll understand if you need to cover your eyes)



Master architects at work


um, apparently another popular beach activity, standing in a bucket of water



Beach beauty

NOTE: KJ was too busy to be photographed

14,179

OK now it's G's turn to finally add a post. Look at me go!


This picture does Mt Shasta fairly good justice. The valley below is 3,500', the very tops of the surrounding mountains are <9,000', and then there's Shasta. There's nothing as tall for 500 miles in any direction



The view coming up the Brewer Creek "trail". There was snow across the road at 6,100' in the middle of JULY! Such a beautiful day though!



English showing off our camp site at 10,300', a 4,000' climb up from the truck and another 4,000' below the summit. It was brutal. The site was exceptional though, a 360 degree wind break, although all we had was a nice breeze.



I love how the world just falls away behind you as you climb higher.



Yeh, it really is that steep, and steeper as one gets higher.



English taking a break at 12,800' before the crux of the route, an 1,100' climb which includes a few hundred feet of 45+ degree pitch which turned out to be almost ice.



Our route from high camp.



A view of the summit from a slighter lower peak on the volcano rim.



Please blow this picture up. With a man diaper and a plastic sled we descended 6,000' in 1.5 hrs. It had taken us 6.5 hrs to climb up. Such a SWEET decent.



SLED SHASTA!! I need to make a shirt.
Thanks to the Miss for letting me get away, and props to English for joining me to the summit, an excellent climbing partner.

#4.......

Did I have some of you excited, worried, curious for a moment? No, I'm not expecting #4. We ran race #4 in a series of 6 last weekend. I finally talked Greg into joining us. He pushed the double stroller while I pushed the single. It was an excellent workout. All the kids earned a finishers medal in the junior 1 mile. KJ finished 5th and added another medal to her collection. I love spending time with my family, especially if it involves running.






KJ on the awards podium

Fractured Fairytales

Once upon a time, in a far away casino, there was a beautiful Tinkerbell fairy and an enchanted Red Riding hood. The girls had a wonderful year in dance and topped it all off with a huge recital. They both did such a great job and looked so beautiful. We are proud of you girls, you have both worked hard all year and have learned a lot. KJ, you have become quite the little tapper. RJ, your balance is much better and your confidence has blossomed. Way to go girls!









Look at those eyelashes



the wings! RJ was so excited about the wings






Work



It



Girl!!



Working hard behind the scene



The beautiful flowers that daddy got for the beautiful girls

Swim my pretties Swim

Swim lessons are always fun, right? Well, despite RJ almost drowning last year, she was determined and happy to give it a try again this year. I was nervous, especially since KJ was taking lessons at the same time in the big kid pool. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch them both at the same time. RJ did wonderfully; she kicked, floated and played in the water without much hesitation. KJ didn't make as much progress as I would have hoped. She didn't quite work up the bravery to put her head underwater. Overall, we were disappointed in the quality of the lessons again this year. The majority of the lesson time was spent waiting on the wall while each kid got a turn with the instructor to float or practice with the kick board. We hope to get a punch card and work with them ourselves and get them more comfortable with the water. The girls enjoyed playing in the water and looked forward to their lessons each week, so it wasn't a complete loss.









Little girls contemplating the meaning of life


RJ was excited to take lesson with her cousin Cheyenne














My hair's still dry mom- you little weasel

When all was said and done I'm just happy that you both had fun and were safe

Which came First?

the chicken



or....the egg?

Well, in our case the beautiful little chicks came first. They are now all grown up and laying EGGS!!! We got our first two eggs on the 4th of July. Hooray! We now have five precious, scrumtious eggs sitting in our fridge. OK, OK the chickens have grown on me. KJ came running in the house yelling eggs, eggs, the chickens laid eggs. You can't buy that kind of excitment. She has been talking about it non-stop ever since. They are laying an egg about every other day at this point. We are thrilled to have fresh eggs and are enjoying the continued excitment from the kids whenever they find another egg.

SUPER!

One of KJ's friends from school celebrated his 6th B-day last weekend. His mom asked if I would make his cake and I happily created this Super guy :) I even got paid- Bonus!

"R" is for Raija

Raija was having a tough day today, sometimes being a middle child you feel left out and get a little sad. Daddy came up with a great idea to make you feel special and spend some one-on-one quality time with you. You hiked up to the big "R" on the mountain. We have told you since you could recognize the letter R that it stood for Raija. You have been excited for a long time to hike up to it and get a better look. You were a great hiker and only took short rests, once you reached the R you asked dad were it was. It is hard to see when you are walking right on top of it. After your hike in the hot desert sun it was extremely important to rehydrate with a delicious ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. I'm glad you were able to spend some special time with daddy.









On the way up



Raija the conqueror








She even got to hold a praying mantis