Celebrations

Seventeen years of marriage deserves some great fireworks. Having our anniversary on July 4th always brings us a beautiful display. It's been a great journey and I could have not asked for a more wonderful man to be on my side. You are are one of a kind, my hubby, and I'm looking forward to many more firework celebrations.

Since we enjoy spending the holiday with the kids, we always try to sneak away on another day to celebrate the blessing of our marriage. With Christian being at Firwood and Nolan & Ethan being cared by my dear friend Ann, we headed to Lummi Island to enjoy each others company riding our bikes on a beautiful sunny day.

And this is how we celebrated hte 4th, with our friends the Masons, savouring some good summer food and watching the fireworks amidst the crowd. Happy birthday USA! Thank you Amy for letting me use all of therse great pictures you took.

Yes, there is a kid missing. Although Christian returned from camp that morning, he just repacked and headed off to a friends overnight birthday party. He was able to experience the fireworks over the bay from his friend's sailboat. No matter how tired I would be, I would not miss such a party either.

July is sure proving to be a month of celebrations. On the 1st day of this month, my aunt Ursula got married to David. It was a beautiful celebration with the happy newlyweds. I wish you both many years of a blessed marriage.

Rocking and Jamming

It's that time of the year again, where the berries are plentiful, juicy and delicious. That also means that it's picking time, to eat, to freeze and to make these beauties into jam. I wish I had taken my camera to the berry farm. The sight of bright, red raspberries in their bushes were sure better looking than berries in a dish.

Now I can stock our pantry again. You might be asking why the "rocking" on the title. I have to tell you, to endure making this much jam, I have to listen to some good rock'n roll. It sure takes the edge off of all this "jamming"!

Our Birthday Boy is off to Camp

It's been two weeks since Christian's 12th birthday. We were on our road trip at the time and even though we could not light the candles due to the breeze up on the mountain, we still celebrated. On this past Saturday, we made it official. Christian and a couple of his friends went to a shooting range to practice their marksmanship skills. A big hit with 12 year old boys, I guess!

And now he is off to a week at Firwood camp. We dropped him off yesterday, under beautiful sunny skies, quite a welcome contrast from last year, when we dropped him off under a monsoon. Here he comes out of the lake after his swim test. Quite a nice looking young man, I should say!

Here is a sample of the fun he will have this week.

Have a great time at camp, my dear son!

Snow Level

Our intention was to hike up Mt Pilchuck, but upon stopping at the ranger station, we learned that the snow level was still quite low. Search and Rescue had been called out last week due to lost hikers that became disoriented by the snow and fog. We were in no mood to meet the S&R crew, so we followed one of the ranger's suggestions and hiked up to lake Twenty Two, not sure why the name?

The kids were thrilled to play in the snow. As for me? The more it melts, the more hiking possibilities we will have!

The Rest of the Story

After a great time at Mt St. Helens, we headed to Astoria, OR, in order to visit some sites that Lewis and Clark explored over 200 years ago.We had studied their journey and became quite acquainted with their beloved Newfoundlander, 'Seaman'. I would recommend the book Seaman, by Gail Langer Karwoski, to anyone who would like to introduce their children to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Like Nolan said, with a dog around, it just makes the story sound happier. Ethan even found a Seaman in the gift shop that he was able to take home.

As you can see, the boys got right into the atmosphere surrounding the fort. Nolan got a leather pouch that he sewed and where he now keeps his treasures. We continued to head South and stopped at Cannon Beach. We took in some breathtaking views and some good ol' Mo's clam chowder.

Our tent was pitched at Cape Lookout State park with the intention of staying there for two nights. We woke up the next morning with a constant misty rain and occasional stronger showers. After a unanimous vote, we decided to pack up and head home. Christian put it this way: " I don't mean to be a wimp, if it was our first night camping I would tough it out, but now, at the end of our trip, I'm ready to go home." Amen! It was good to get back to our own bed after 7 nights on the road!

In Route

From Leavenworth we went to Yakima and visited our friends, the DeVores. Not enough time to catch up on the last three years that have past since we saw them last, but it was great to see them again. The next morning we headed back west.

Next Stop

I thought it was amazing how Mt St Helens erupted and made a giant hole in the mountain. I saw dead trees that were blown away from the blast.

Nolan is picking up a giant rock that is light, because it's lava!

We are walking on ash and mud that came from St Helens.

(mud flow on the Toutle river)

We also explored a lava cave, here we are standing under "the meatball".

We stayed at a yurt, it was comfy and did not feel like camping, it felt like a really small home. By Ethan Buhler (a man of few words)! This was a truly unique educational experience and we are still in awe of the force of nature. Again, we saw first hand what a powerful and wonderful Creator we have!