Two Moons?

A couple of weeks ago, Karen's dad got an email describing the solar event of a lifetime: Mars would be so close to the earth that is would rival the moon in size. This is the closest Mars was to come to the earth until the year 2287. To celebrate the big event, we had a fire in the backyard and enjoyed some cocktails waiting for 12:30 to arrive; the time at which the event was supposed to be most spectacular. Here is a picture of Karen enjoying the fire.Karen's parents showed up a little later to join in the fun. At one point, I decided to check the internet to get a better idea of what we were in store for. As it turns out, this two moon phenomenon is an urban legend. In fact, the story I read suggested that if you ever see something in the sky as big as the moon, you should immediately run for your basement. Apparently this legen has been circulating since 2003. I guess we're just slow to catch on... Here is a nice picture of the "Two Moons."Not all was lost. We had a nice evening around the fire and enjoyed some s'mores. We're even thinking about having an annual "Two Moon" party to celebrate.

Seven Devils

Last week Barry went for a quick pack trip to the Seven Devils Wilderness Area. The main objective was to help a friend scoutfor elk and pack in some camp items for when they return to hunt. This is rugged, but beautiful country. Here is a view from the ridge above our camp.These mountains drain into the Snake River in Hells Canyon. From this vantage point, you can see the Snake River WAY down in the bottom of the canyon (it's the little strip of blue in the center of the picture).
Here is a picture of Mike with his pack string one switchback above me. It sure wouldn't be fun if your horse stepped off of this trail!

Six Months

Here is a picture of Elena posing for her 6 month photo with her puppy. This month she has really started rolling all over the place and she is nearly able to sit up on her own. She still doesn't have any teeth, but we are expecting some soon.

Donnelly

We spent last weekend in Donnelly with Justin, Bev, and Zarek at their cabin. On the way there, we stopped by a family reunion camping trip for part of my (Barry's) mom's family reunion. We were only there a short while, but our time there made us decide that we'll definitely join them for their camping trip next year. While we were there, Elena had the chance to meet her great great great aunt. Yes, that's 3 "G's." Oh, and yes, we really blew it by leaving the camera in the car...

So the Williamson family cabin is right on the water at Lake Cascade. Saturday the girls took the kids and the dog Cider down to the beach in front of the cabin. Here, Bev, Zarek, and Cider are all enjoying the water.
Meanwhile, Karen and Sprout supervised from the sandy beach.

Here is a picture of the Mack family standing behind their cabin.

...and here we are for a family photo opp as well.

We had a fun time seeing my family and hanging out at the cabin, but Sprout really doesn't travel well. I am deaf in one ear, but during the drives to and from our destination, I found myself wishing I was deaf in both ears!

Rolling

I've been trying to capture the elusive action sequence with Elena and her rolling around. Despite the new camera, I've had numerous failed attempts. In fact, Barry is getting a little annoyed at having to delete a multitude of pictures on a daily basis. But really, it's not like he has anything better to do with his day.

This is the on the back getting ready for the take off.
All done.

Somewhere in the middle.

Sticking the landing.

Don't despair, I'm hoping to try a few different settings in the next few days so hopefully you'll be able to tell what Elena is actually trying to do.

New clothes

Elena is very fortunate to have talented grandmas that are always spoiling her with new items. The latest acquisition was this adorable sundress made by her Nana. Even more impressive is the matching hat.
I just love this picture of her.

Newspaper

Barry has been falling down on the blogging job, so I decided to intervene. Elena has discovered that the best toys in life are free. She feels that cardboard boxes are grossly overrated and has her sights set on something a little more manageable for small hands.
Needless to say, this has made reading the newspaper a bit more challenging. Exactly how toxic is newspaper ink?

Camping with Alex and Katie

On Friday night, Karen and I hosted our niece and nephew for a night of camping in the backyard. Here, Katie is holding the tent up while I staked the guy lines.Meanwhile, Alex played with this Light Bright, which he won at his school....And here we all are in front of the tent. I discovered that is it literally impossible to get three children looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. I think Karen took about 15 pictures, and this is the best I could come up with.As luck would have it, we had what was probably the biggest wind storm of the summer near dinner time. When I first bought this tent, I was complaining to my friend Matt about how much work it was to stake all of the guy lines. His reply was, (and I quote) "I really like guys." While I thought it was a bit creepy at the time, I have to admit that he was onto something because the tent flapped like crazy but the guys never budged (for those of you who don't know, Matt is a tent connoisseur.) We all hid out in the tent to eat our dutch over dinner while the wind howled outside.The wind foiled our plan for a campfire, but Alex suggested we use charcoal to make s'mores. So I lit some charcoal and we roasted s'mores around the "campfire" in the shop.Karen and I had a good time hanging out with the kids and I think they enjoyed playing with "Miss" Elena.