Russian River Falls

We had Family Night last Sunday. After church, we drove up to Cooper Landing to hike the Russian River Falls trail. Oh, it was beautiful. Fall is just setting in, so there is a little color going on. It was a peaceful hike/ bikeride. Dad and the kids rode, Mom walked.

When we arrived at the Falls, there was a brown bear fishing for his dinner. We watched for about fifteen minutes while he caught and ate a couple fish. Then he caught one and ran into the forest. We were truly blessed, because not everyone who goes to the falls gets to see a bear. Oh, we also got to watch the salmon jumping up the falls. :).

The photo is of the boys at the beginning of the trail. Dad and Mom forgot to take the camera on the trail - that seems to be a theme this year. So, no photos of the bear or the falls. Sorry.

August Photos

Hey - it finally worked. I have been trying to post these photos for three days. For some reason it hasn't worked.

Anyway, this first photo is of the kids on Abigail's seventh birthday. She had a jungle cake, in case you are wondering. On her birthday, we ended up at the beach, where, although it was cool, the waves were lazily rolling onto the sand, and Abby announced it was her best birthday ever. Of course that was hours before she did a face plant into the pavement while riding her bike. Yes, she was wearing her helmet. She ended up with a bruise on her knee. Poor birthday girl.

This photo was taken last week when Brian got his trailer for his business. The kids helped him clear-coat it, then he added shelves and hangers. It's his pride and joy. The kids had a blast "painting."

Scott

The other night, as the kids were getting ready for bed, Scott started asking me questions:
"How come you work so much, Mom?"
"What do you mean - like dishes and laundry?"
"Yeah, and cleaning and taking care of us?"
"Because that's my job - to take care of you."
"And Dad goes to work to get lots of money?"
"Yes."
He got quiet, so I thought he was done, and went back to what I was doing.
When he and Chad were giving me their good-night hugs, Scott said, "Thank you, Mom for taking care of us all the time." Of course, put me close to tears.
But you should have seen Chad's face. I have yet to figure out if the look was "What a little suck-up." or "Shoot! I wish I'd thought of that." Either way, both boys were priceless that night.

VBS

The kids had a blast at VBS last week. One of their craft projects was tye-dyed T-shirts. They have enjoyed wearing them.

They came home with lots of stories each night. Abigail's favorite part was the food. They ate things like snake eggs (grapes), monkey tails (bananas with chocolate and sprinkles), tiger milk ("some type of milk" with whip cream and chocolate chips), ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins). She's a little gross.

Chad's favorite part of VBS was the bridge he made at craft time. He also really enjoyed the games.

Scott's favorite part was the games. His age group played ring around the rosy, London Bridge is falling down, tug of war and "What time is it, Mr. Tiger?"

Mount Marathon

Okay, the photos are up. Computer is going very slow today, so I wondered. This first photo is of Chad with Mt. Marathon in the background. Mt. Marathon is 3200 ft. elevation. And we start at basically sea level. The full hike is about three miles. The boys, Chad and Jared, made it to the top. Rebekah and Kaylena made it a ways past half way, and Mom (Debbi) made it about half way. We spent a total of about five hours on the mountain, but it would have been a lot less, if Mom hadn't been along.

This photo is of the four kids (l. to r. - Chad, Jared, Kaylena, Rebekah) standing at the Mt. Marathon board - maps and warnings were posted here. The reason there are only photos from the bottom of the mountain is that Mom forgot to take the camera out of the van. We had a beautiful view of several miles of Resurrection Bay and the surrounding mountains. There were about a dozen sail boats and many motor boats and cruise ships. It was amazing. Next year, we will take the camera to the top of the mountain.
We had a lot of fun this week, and some of us are tired. Others (Jared) are already making plans to climb the mountain again in a couple weeks. He also wants to race it next year on July 4. Mom told him she'd go - to cheer.
Chad will be nine on Friday, and this was basically his birthday party. He was very happy with it.

August

chad: So much is happening this month. The sixth, me, Mom, Jared and his sister are going to climb a mountain in Seward. The 12th is my birthday. Mom is going to take me to
a restaurant, shopping and go-carting. We were going to the movie theater, but mom said no. That is all.

Berry Picking

We went berry picking yesterday. Us kids could only pick the currants, so Mom picked raspberries, then we all picked enough currants so we could take all the raspberries home.
We also played in the lady's playground that she keeps for her grandkids. We had fun. Scott slept through church last night.

Kenai Landing

Mom dragged us to Kenai Landing Saturday. It's a bunch of tourist shops, not much to interest us. The only thing that kept it more interesting this time was that she bought us ice cream. We all got "Bubble Gum" flavored.

Today, Chad is watching a documentary on space - Oma and Poppop brought it for him from Kennedy Space Center. Abigail and Scott are playing LEGOs quite contentedly, which is why Mom is writing this blog.