Weekend of July 16th-A Trip to the Beach

Brett and I took a trip to Lincoln City. We took the trailer down there and parked it on his parent's lot there. Catherine ended up coming down on Saturday and joining us. We had a great time!!

Brett, holding my shoes. Now that's love!

Catherine walking and enjoying the ocean. It was quite windy, hence the hood.

Feet in the Pacific =)

Beautiful sun @ Pacific City

Yep, we ate at the Oar House lol.

On our way back from Pacific City. Glad I got this shot. By the time we made it back to Lincoln City, it was all fogged in. It's amazing the difference 10 miles makes!

A self portrait shot. You can tell by my hair it's seen better days, thanks to the wind :p

Some deer along the way =)

July 7th & 8th...This is why I will never sleep with any of these kids...

Because it's absolutely impossible for any of them to stay still. The kids (Jake included) went thru a "I want to sleep on the floor" phase. Josey went thru a "I want Liv to sleep with me every night" phase as well. Josey definitely sleeps a little better than Liv, but not by much. This is what I would come out to every morning.

Liv eventually kicked the fan hard enough that it fell on her.

I just don't know how they do it...

Monday July 5th-Miss Liv on her way to her first dance lesson

Liv did a 4 week trial dance class, to see if she would really like it. Of course, as I thought, she LOVED it. This was her first day. I couldn't observe until the very last day because the kids tend to not pay attention when Mommys and Daddys are there (and boy I understand NOW!)

This was afterwards. She had to pee, and was extremely perplexed when she couldn't get her tights off lol

Day 40-Final Day at Crater Lake-July 5th

Our last day...we had a great time. We had to do the dance of 1000 mosquitos because they were after us. Brett ended up finishing the truck loading so we could get on the road.

Josey and Brett, with our final shots of Wizard Island in the background

Awww...

Note to self: When taking pics, make sure *I* am on the down slope next time, instead of the upper slope, effectively making me 10 inches taller than I really am...

Crater Lake-Day 3-Sunday July 4th

Day 3 brought is alittle warmer weather, and a trip to Diamond Lake, and the head of the Rogue River. Jake went in the water just a tad, but Liv would have nothing to do with it. The water was FREEZING. Once you numbed your body, it felt good, but until then, brrrr! Josey went in, no problems, as always. She made me go out with her, much to my dismay. After we left Diamond Lake, we took a drive to the head of the Rogue River. We stopped at this little shop to get some ice cream. Brett had a Northern Industrial catalog in the back of the truck. Jake loved this thing! He circled all kinds of things, from nuts, to wrenches, etc. It was the funniest thing. When we got out to get the ice cream, Jake brought the book out with his pen. Brett and I went in to get the ice cream. I turned to check on the kids. Jake was sitting at the table, with all these 4 wheeler people surrounding him, while he pointed out all the stuff in the catalog, things he wanted to order, ETC. It was so cute! While we were eating our ice cream, Josey and Jake started messing around. Jake started chasing Josey, and Josey slipped and fell on the gravel. Initially it was funny (well, who am I kidding?? Karma...that's all I have to say) but she did scrape her leg pretty good. She recovered quickly, as all youngin's do.
Josey, the crazy nutball, in the water. That's the top of my head. I was sitting on the fallen tree, debating...

and here I sit on my perch...

Brett, sititng there, drinking a buckskin. It was too cold for him to even get in his shorts (which he doesn't do very often anyway lol)

Josey and Jake, giving thumbs up.

Josey and me, in the water-BRRRRRR

Miss Messy Face. Her nose was running and she kept wiping her face, getting dirt all over it. GAH!! It was gross.

Note to self: Never swim when there's still snow on the upper mountains. It's never a good sign.

Yep, that's my girl...picking her nose *sigh*

Part of the Rogue River

Awww...look at them!

I found this so amusing...

If you look closely, there is a mosquito on my thigh. They were the bane of our existence while we were @ Crater Lake. I swear they stalked us. At night, we'd go in to play games with the kids because the mosquitos were so bad. You'd look out the window and there they were, staring us down, daring us to step out of the trailer so they could bite us.

Saturday, July 3rd-Day 2, Crater Lake

This is a panoramic I took on the observation deck

Day 2 was definitely more promising than day 1. We woke to sunshine, blue skies, and most importantly, warm weather! We ended up going back up to Rim Village to check things out a bit more. Jake was totally in love with the room off the observation deck. It told all about how Crater Lake formed (it was a volcano that imploded). It didn't take Jake long before he was telling everyone all kinds of facts on Crater Lake LOL. He was so funny. We hung out around the campsite in the afternoon. I allowed the kids to finally play in the snow banks around our campsite because I wasn't fearful they would freeze to death. There were still a lot of campsites that were SNOWED IN. Yes, this is July, people.

This pic is alittle out of order, because I forgot to add it below, and it's a pain to move, so here it is...We were roasting marshmellows later after dinner. Liv didn't want to try one. I was trying to give her a taste and decided to be mean mom, and put it to her lips. She freaked out, as you can tell. Yes, I know, I'm out of the running for Mother of the Year. Blew that back in January-No worries here...

Ahh...Pure beauty!

I love this pic =)

Jake, climbing on some old tree trunk sticking up in the walkway.

The kiddos with Wizard Island behind them.

we went for a walk in our campground. This was snow on the side of the road. Craziness!

Jake and I playing pokerkeeno (notice the snow in the background and the fact that we're wearing shortsleeved shirts and a tank top LOL)

Liv, chillin'

Josey, standing in the snow, no shoes on.

Again, the kids with no shoes on. I take that back, Jake has no shoes, Liv does lol

Jake, "helping" Liv over the snow in our campsite. He SAID he was helping her, but what he was really doing was what I call "border collie-ing" or in layman's terms, forcing her to go his way no matter what because that's what he wants, not what she wants.

Want some snow, Mommy????

Now, this is the cabinet for the campers to put their food in...

We just used it to keep the kids in....

More snow, IN our campsite

Our campsite....

Yep, we were that close to FLUSHING toilets LOL

Our trailer =)

Friday, July 2nd-Day 1 at Crater Lake

SO, Brett and I decided to take the kids to Crater Lake for 4th of July weekend. Back when he and I discussed this (which was back in December) we knew the snow took a long time to melt up there, but I don't think we even considered the fact that there would still be THIS much snow. I, as usual, obsessed over the weather forecast. To say I was thrilled that it was going to be over 70 while we were there would be an understatement. The day before we left, it said that Friday would be partly cloudy, chance of showers, and 68 degrees. Not bad, right? So, as we're driving closer, we start seeing bits of snow on the side of the road, that increased the further up the road. To say I was panicking would be an understatement. All I kept rolling thru my head was, "the damn weather channel lied!" I saw all my hopes for this being a fun vacation slide right down the hill, the closer we got.


This was how it was looking when we were climbing up to get to the camp site. I wish I'd thought it thru more, so I could've brought their snow boots. As it was, I was wearing Flip Flops LOL

First glance @ Wizard Island on Crater Lake! Beautiful, but man oh man, the wind was blowing and it was FREEZING! You could see the sun trying to make it's presence known, to no avail.

Another cool shot of the sun trying to break thru...

We got out to take pics, and Liv decided playing in the snow would be a good thing lol

This was what we saw walking down to the observation deck @ Rim Village. And we were told this was GOOD lol

Later on in the afternoon, this is what we saw-Finally! Sun is out, and things are looking UP! Can you believe how blue the water is? It's unbelieveable.

Ahhh...Beautiful!