Fall is Here!!

I know, I know, it was here last week, but I needed something to post about. ;)

Yes, sometime soon the nasty flies, gnats and mosquitoes will go away! Yes!!
And all the creepy spiders that are everywhere!! *shudders* I very muchly dislike spiders.....
Has anyone else noticed there are spiders making webs everywhere!?!

Anyways, this last Saturday we had our Summer's End Promenade at Fort Vancouver.
That's wear folks who participate can wear outfits from the 1840's - 1940's.
Megs wore a buckskin outfit like one Sarah Winnemucca wore in the 1880's, Kai wore a very cute 1940's dress and I wore "my" WWI nurses outfit. :)
We all had lots of fun! Well, except that Kai got several blisters from her shoes.... :/
I didn't get any pictures, otherwise I' would have shared them. Sorry!

Lately us girls have been going down on Wednesday to help out in the Fort Vancouver Sewing Department.
That's always fun, learn more sewing skills, help get stuff made, and get to help find clothing to fit folks coming in for new "costumes". :)

My parent's 33rd Anniversary is coming up in a few days!! :D
Not sure what the plan for that is yet..... they haven't decided......

I get to help photograph another wedding on Oct. 8th!!
No one I know again, but it'll be fun and I'm so excited she asked me to help again!!! :D

And..... since I don't know what else to talk about I shall post some sayings and funnies I like here:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mac

On Sunday our family took a trip to Idaho! :D
Okay, okay, we were in Idaho for a minute maybe. It just so happened that the road we traveled went into Idaho then back into Spokane, WA. :)

So on Sunday morning we got up at 3:45ish, at least mom and I did, everyone else got up between then and 4:00am.
Then us girls went out and fed the critters, our friend Sarah milked for us later that morning and again that evening, Thank you Sarah!! :D

Then we got back in and got ready to go, mom and dad were getting ready while we fed, then we had breakfast, loaded the car and headed out.
Six hours later, at 11:00am we arrived in Spokane! I got to drive the last hour to Spokane and drove up to Huckleberries, a health food store we shopped at all the time while living there to meet a friend.
That was great getting to see him again!
I was so excited that, once dad told me which exit to take, as we drove along I could remember the way to the store! :D
Which is exciting for me if you think about it because I haven't been there since I went back to help a friend with mom when I was 13, and we moved away from there when I was 11!!
It's so hard to believe we have been gone for 10 years! That's twice as long as we lived there!!

Anyways, after that we went to meet a Pen Pal of ours that we'd never met that lives over there.
Her church was only 8 minutes away from the reason we were going to Spokane! (wait, I'm getting to that...)
Anyways, we arrived at her church and saw her, and we saw someone else we recognized too!
Our friends who we hadn't seen since we moved away goes to the same church as our Pen Pal Emily!!
We didn't know they had changed churches about 9 years ago!
It was SO fun! We got to meet our Pen Pal Emily and our friends!
Of course the oldest two kids weren't there, the daughter had left to go hang out with her boyfriend and his family, and I'm not sure where the son was. But it was really fun to see how the little kids had grown.
The "baby" of the family is now 10 and I hadn't seen her since she was less than a year old!

So after we got our picture taken with Emily, (you can see that post on her blog :), she went with us to our destination and the whole reason for our trip to Spokane!
Her "biggest" brother followed in his truck so he could take her home afterwards. :)

Here is the reason for our trip:

Puppy eyes!!! <3

MacArthur!! Yes, We went to Spokane to get a puppy!!! :D  (I took these pix of him the day after we got home)
Now I know some of you might think we're crazy, but I don't care.
There were no Mac's around here so to Spokane we went to get him. ;)
Once he gets bigger, he will eventually take over as "Head of Ranch Security".
(if you don't know what that is, I recommend reading the Hank the Cowdog series, which are really funny!)

We got to get our new puppy and hang out with our Pen Pal friend Emily at the same time!
I mean, this trip was meant to be! Everything fell into place perfectly!

So after we picked up Mac and said goodbye to Emily, we headed over to one last friends house before heading home.
We also got to go past our old house as our last destination was just down the street from where we used to live.
After we got to talk and hang out for a little, we gave them hugs and headed out for our 6 hour long trek back home again.
We got home about 9:30pm, fed the critters, came in and went to bed!
It was a busy, tiring day, but oh so worth it!! :D

MacArthur, Mac for short, is such a good boy and so sweet! I'm so glad we were able to get him!

Ok, this was a longer post than I thought it would be!
So I shall end it by sharing a few pix from our trip. :)

The closer to Spokane we got, the more Pine Trees!! :D

Coming into the South Side of Spokane City!!

The WA/ID border!!

Spokane countryside whizzing by.

Campfires & Candlelight

Well, Campfires & Candlelight, the biggest event of the year and I think might be my favorite (can't decide) has been and gone.
I can't believe its already over!!! The year is just going by way to fast!!

Anyways, at Campfires & Candlelight the girls were in the Oregon Trail camp in 3rd person,
Kai got a new very pretty brown dress and apron and got to wear it for the first time at this event!
And Megs also got a new apron to go with the pretty green dress she wears. :)
My dad was inside the stockade in 1st person year 1844, the year a fire burned up to 300 ft away from the fort wall! (can't remember which side)
I was an American Red Cross Nurse in the WWI "camp" in 3rd person.
(ok, we had a fly tent and a few pictures of the saw mill that was in operation at the time)
This was my third year in the WWI "camp" and once I again refreshed my mind to the subject we talk about to visitors I think I can once again talk about in my sleep! ;)

I was able to take pictures on my break, so I shall share them here. :)

Oregon Trail Camp, they used a fly tent too. :)

Hmm.... looks like a group of trouble makers.... ;)

Everyone had so much fun and we of course were all wiped out by the time we got home!
Didn't get home and into bed till 11:45!

Next Saturday us girls are going to the Summer's End Promenade, where everyone dresses in era's from the 1840's to the 1940's and promenades back and fourth and talk  to visitos. :)
Megs will be dressed in buckskins and portraying Sarah Winnamucka
I'll be in a 1945 dress and we're not sure what Kai will be dressed in yet......

It's raining today............... yeah. *sigh* :/
Oh well, we need it. :)


Oh! We're getting a surprise tomorrow! I will post pictures next week. ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fall Is In The Air

You can tell Fall is quickly approaching. Leaves are turning, its getting chilly out, especially at night.

Last Friday our family went up to Packwood's giant flee-market.  It was HUGE!!!!
It took up practically the whole town! We walked for 5 1/2 hours strait with no breaks and still didn't see everything!
 We had fun though, got some yummy chocolate cupcakes from a bakery booth for our lunch. :D
 I know, healthy right?!? ;)
Don't know if I want to do it again though, I hate to say it, but I'm somewhat of a germaphobe.
Forgive me if I spelt that wrong, spell check doesn't understand what I want to say, so I just spelt it as it sounds. ;)

This Saturday is the Forts biggest event of the year!!
Campfires & Candlelight!!!
Megs and Kai are in the Oregon Trail camp, and I'll in the WWI camp as a nurse. :)
Its so much fun, and they have a new theme inside the stockade!
After 10 years of the theme being about the sinking of the U.S.S Shark, it's going to be
about the Fire of 1844. I can't wait to walk through and see what it'll be like this time. :D


Here are some pictures my mom took last year. :)

See that pink dress in front, we made that for Kai, but she outgrew it after our first season. :/

Hope you all had a great week! And for those in our area kept dry. ;)

The Ape Cave

I can't believe it's September already!! *sigh*

Fall is only 21 days away!! 

Though I think its already started, it just won't be here "officially"until then.

Last Friday, or family went to hike the long way in the Ape Cave up by Mt Saint Helens for the first time!

We went to short easy way 2 years ago I think it was, and finally went back to do it again!
It was so much fun!! Climbing over 27 big rock piles in a 1 1\2 mile long lava tunnel under ground is exciting!
Though there were times I wondered if we'd ever get to the end. ;)
Then once we got to the exit, we had hike back down to the parking lot. 

Which again was lots of fun and I enjoyed every minute of it! I love hiking!

Wish we were able to do it more often. The area and views were beautiful!!!
Here are some pictures I took while we were there. :)

One of the neat rocks in the cave, and one of only three times my flash worked!

This is what it looks like in the cave when the flash doesn't work. ;)

A skylight in the tunnel, kind of a let down when you think it's the end of the trail but it's not. ;)

And this is the exit. Yes, we had to climb a ladder from the bottom to get our that hole, very steep!

Start of the hike back to parking

Isn't it beautiful?!

I love this area!!

A really cool looking stump along the pathway!

Wild red huckleberries! Didn't eat any as my hand were dirty....

More forest beauty!

Next up, I want to go hike to the top of Multnomah Falls!
Anyone want to join us? :)

It has cooled down this week. Started raining yesterday, which is nice because we needed it!
Hope it doesn't stay this way the rest of the year, I'd love an Indian Summer!
If any of you haven't guessed, Summer is my favorite time of year. ;)

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Summer Heat & Weddings

This last week was REALLY HOT!!!
We went to the Kite Festival at Long Beach on Friday for Megs and Mom's birthdays.
It was 100 at the beach!!! At least there breeze made it feel a little cooler. :)
Here are some pix of some of the kites we saw:

Then on Saturday, the girls went to the Fort to hang out with friends an interpret in a few buildings.
But by lunch it was too hot, so they all went to the park across the street and played Frisbee all afternoon!!

I went and helped my professional photography friend Sarah photograph a wedding.
My first time doing photographs at a weddings!! :D
Here are a few of my favorites I took while there. :)

The Bride and Bridesmaids Boots

The Bride and Bridesmaids :)

The most adorable little flower girl!! Isn't she precious?! She posed for me!! :D

100 degrees isn't the best weather for a wedding, everyone was SO hot!!
But it was fun, and I was able to get quite a lot of good photos.
Maybe I can do it again soon..... We'll see. :)

This Saturday an electrician is coming out to redo our very outdated, non-breaker-blowing electrical panel! :D (did I confuse you?) ;)
And the plumber is coming to get the new shower base in the front bathroom hooked up.
Yay! I love progress!! :)

Hope you are all keeping cool in this hot weather we are having!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer Busy-ness

Megs birthday was this week! On her birthday, us girls and mom all went to IKEA since we hadn't been there in forever since Megs was wanting to go.
It was fun! Found some stuff we might get as we remodel the house. :D

The other day, Kai and I got some cute pix of one of our baby bunnies.
So thought I'd share. :)

I'm so excited this week because the Virtual Goat show I'm in charge of is finally done!! :D
If any of you are interested in what it looks like, here is a link to it. V-show
I have to put everything together, website, I had to resize every goat picture, then put everything together for the judges.
It's fun but can be a lot of work!
None of our goats are in this time, but I hope to enter a few of my goats this Fall. :)
One of our goats babies (now grown up) that we sold, won Best in Show though!
Her name is Sweetie's Spirit and she is so pretty!!

Yesterday Megs and I went down to help out at Fort Vancouver's costume shop/sewing department.
We helped start on making aprons for some of the girls dresses so they will be ready for the new school year. :)
After two attempts of attaching the shoulder straps to the apron bib, I finally got it right and looking nice! (yeah, shoulder straps only work when they go up, not down) :-P
And I also got a really cute 1940's outfit for Promenade in Sept!! :D

Ok, so I thought I'd share another favorite song song by "Celtic Thunder". :)

This Saturday, Megs and Kai will be down at Fort Vancouver volunteering.
I'll drop them off in the morning, but I have a wedding to help photograph.
First time! So we'll see how it goes. It's supposed to be 100 on Saturday!!! Ahh!

Have a great weekend everyone! Keep cool!

Fair!

Last Friday Dad, Megs and I went to the fair. Kai and mom stayed home as they woke up with the cold I just got over. :-/

It was hot but fun, got to see a lot of interesting things and see some friends! :)
Here are a few pictures I took while we were there.

Herefords from a farm in Ridgefield, they also have a feed store. :)

Angora goats!

Look at the size of this guys head!

Cute sheep. :)

I know the lady who makes and sells these fun 18"doll outfits!

I really liked this cool fort! Great job James! :D

Right after the fair, everyone but me had the respiratory cold! Yuck.
But everyone is almost over it now!

A happy thought, blueberry picking season is almost over! I'm hoping next week will be the last. ;)
It's been kinda fun, but I'm glad it's almost over.

Megs birthday is coming up next week! Not sure what we're doing yet, but we'll see what she wants to do. :)

How was your week?

Summer is Half Over!!!

I had a very relaxing boring weekend/first half of the week.

Last Saturday morning I woke up with a respiratory cold.  Yuck.

So after 3 1/2 days of resting in bed, I am up and back to normal!!!

I did get better just in time to because tomorrow the the Fair opens!

We've been going to the Fair opening for the last few years. (since 2012, only missed one year, 2014) :)

It's really fun seeing all the things folks enter in the fair.

I need to remember and enter some stuff for fun again next year.

For this post I share share some pictures with you all. :)

Took this of some flowers in my mom's planter box of flowers a few weeks ago. :)

I was thinking back over the events of the month, and then started thinking over what happened in July of last year.

Last year was fun as we got to go to the beach TWICE in one month!!! :D (not excited about that or anything) ;)

So here are some pictures I like from one of those visits. :)

This is one of my favorite pictures I took of one of the creatures at the Haystack Rock tide pools. :D

Oh so pretty waves and rocks!

Megs, Kai and two other friends walking on the beach, we went with/met their family there to see the tide pools. :)

I LOVE the beach. I think it might be my favorite place in the world. :) <3

One of these days I have to spend the night there!

On another note, my friend Sarah's little girl is getting big! Here's a picture Sarah got of her a week or so ago. :)

I found a new favorite song this month and I'd like to share it. 

It's called "Ireland's Call" and is sung by Celtic Thunder. (they are SO good!!) :D

I'm actually listening to it right now! :P ;)

Hehe, and when I started this post I thought I had nothing to post, now look at it!

Congrats if you made it to the end! What do you think?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Can you believe that Summer is already half over! No!!!!