SWIMMING - THE END

After all the fun of the trip...one of the favorate things we did was SWIMMING! Yes, that is Dad in the water...quick take a picture, you won't see this much...I don't think the girls remembered the last time Dad swam with them. Natty became quite the little swimmer this summer. Her fear of the water from last summer had left!Hang in the there Audrey! Don't drown!How strong is Dad??? Can he do it???

TAAAAA DAAAAA!!!

High Desert Museum Bend, OR

During our stay in Sisters, we spent a lot of our time with Grandad and Grammy since they live so close in Redmond. One of the days we went to the High Desert Museum which was so much fun. HOT, but fun. We enjoyed the inside exhibits in the air conditioning a little more than being outside. But, the homestead exhibit outside was definitely worth the sweltering walk. Notice Becky is not in this picture. She opted to stay in the air conditioning.

The old Saw Mill. Several people dressed the part of homesteaders.

Daddy and Natty with the chickens....we do miss ours in Pennsylvania. Hopefully we'll be able to get more soon!

Whitewater on the McKenzie River

After we left Crater lake, we headed for Sisters, OR. We LOVED getting back to some camping civilization...water, sewer, electricty, and even internet. You can't even call our kind of camping, "camping!" We enjoyed spending some time with Grandad and Grammy! They were so wonderful to watch the little ones for us so us "big kids" could do a little whitewater rafting. Audrey was happy to have graduated to "big kid" status. As for Becky and Audrey...this was definitely their favorite part of our vacation. I wish we had more pictures of our rafting trip, but we were too busy paddling and staying in the boat (ask Becky about her "near miss with death!") We are defintely doing this again...but next time...bigger rapids!

The Eighth Wonder of the World

CRATER LAKE
THE BLUE ENIGMA

By Russell Andrews, Park Ranger

Blue enigma of ages, ringed with immutable rock,

Fiery cradle of mountains whose barren ridged mock

Man's puny and ceaseless endeavor, his straining and pigmy strife;

Let him look on the patience of ages and know the end of life.

Mighty forge of the Titans where mountains were welded and made,

Glaciers have cooled your seething, hemlocks reared their shade,

And now you mirror your cradle, your mountain-making done,

And now your inscrutable depths reflect the dwelling of the sun.

Now men stand safe on your lava brink with awe intaken breath

Lost in the contemplation of a mighty mountains' death.

Incredible! Breathtaking! Better than we'd ever imagined! I grew up in Oregon and never saw Crater Lake until now. Our one and a half day excursion taught us so much about Mt. Mazuma, the volcano that folded in on itself to form the lake 7,7000 years ago. We went the first few weeks that the park was open for the Summer. We learned we should have waited until August when the mosquito population dies down. We camped in the national park which didn't have any camp sites with electricity, water, or sewer. We weren't prepared for dry camping and had a fridge full of food, so we could only stay one night. The drive in Crater Lake National Park was gorgeous and trecherous! They had recently just cleared all the roads of snow to open the park...and it was July! It is only open for driving around the rim (33miles) July - October. They were doing some construction on the road shoulders while we were there. With good reason....check out the video below...Tim's knuckles seemed permantantly white after traveling this road with a 5o ft. camper in tow! Nana would have peed her pants on this trip! I almost did!

We all wanted to know...WHY IS CRATER LAKE SO BLUE?
Answer: The water is so blue because there is hardly anything else in it – just water. It’s not pure water, but it’s close. Water molecules with no sediments, algae, pesticides or pollution, will absorb all the colors of the spectrum except the blues. Those wavelengths will bounce back and make the water appear blue. The key is to have relatively pure water and lots of it. There has to be enough molecules to absorb all the other colors. (There are 4.6 trillion gallons of water in the lake, so it works really well.)


Everybody had their pictures overlooking the lake...

Dad

Mom

Rebecca

Audrey

Celeste

Sophia

Natalia

Our campsite was pretty dusty. Mix dirt and kids and you get FUN! Lety Natty tell you all about it!

Breakfast with Mr. Ed

Our first stop was Madras, OR. The first moring, Dad and I spied hungry horses right next to the campground and quickly went to rouse the troops from their beauty sleep. They couldn't get up and out of the camper fast enough to get the chance to feed our neighbors in their PJ's. Sophia had just the breakfast Mr. Ed was looking for!This was Bella's first encounter with a horse, let alone her first time camping. She did great! She just wanted to know why Mr. Ed didn't want to hop the fence and play. After a while of sniffing and a few barks, Mr. Ed began moving his hind legs...feeling a little urge to kick. We decided it was time to keep walking. Natty and Bella...best friends!

Celeste has always been the horse lover in our house. What treat for her!

This picture turned out a little fuzzy, and Becky just LOVES the squinty look on her face. But, after a crazy day with the blown tire the night before...we were happy to have a good night's sleep and enjoy the horses the next morning.

Summer vacation to central Oregon/Crater Lake

This will be the first of a few posts about our trip to central Oregon and Crater Lake. What a blast we had...literally! As you will see below we began our trip with a blown out camper tire on our way to our first stop. Luckily it happened about 30 miles from our first campground in Madras, Oregon, after we came off the mountain passes.

We were just riding along and all of the sudden the tire blew! Although it was quite frustrating and did a lot of damage, it couldn't have happened at a better time! We were able to pull right off the road in a turn out area. Within 5 minutes after we stopped a good samaritan came by and had the type of wrench and an extra jack we needed to put on the spare. Then, along came a hitchhiker to help too. When all was said and done, for repayment, the good samaritan only asked that we do something for 2 other people. With that, the hitchhiker and the good samaritan hopped in their car and drove off. And we did too. Do miracles still happen today? Oh yes they do!

Sylvia is now in the shop for a facelift after her dramatic travels. She sure made for good conversation at our next campgrounds. After the blow out we took her into the local tire store in Redmond, OR and they informed us that the tire blew because it was seperating. Upon further inspection of the other 3 tires, they told us they were all seperating! Not the expense we were planning on, but we replaced all the tires which let us sleep at night. Now we deal with the insurance and tire companies! Read on for more posts about our trip from here...

Vanessa is home!

After looking through some old pictures, I found these and realized I didn't post about Vanessa's trip here! OOPS! This was back in May when Vanessa came and stayed with the kids so Tim and I could go to Puerto Rico. After we returned she spent a few extra days, and her friend, Laura also flew up for the weekend. We did the touristy thing around Seattle and showed them the city.Vanessa and Laura on Alki overlooking Elliot Bay.Can't go to Seattle and not stop at the Market! Tim came over to meet us at Ivars for a seafood lunch on the waterfront. Watch out, the "Ivars Divers" are upon us (aka Vanessa and Sophia).

Yes, another aquarium picture. Since we have an annual membership, we put it to good use when people come into town. It was so wonderful to see Vanessa...we just wish it was more often!

Family

A couple months ago, we celebrated Nani's 99th birthday. Before the party we met at a park and had a photographer take some pictures of Nani's posterity! We were still missing a few (Oliver, Vanessa, Josh, Alisha, Greg and Eric), but it was sure nice to capture these moments! Left to right (starting at the top): Becky, Tim, Me, niece Lauren, sister Dana, nephew Taylor, brother-in law-Steven, nephew Andrew, sister Trish, brother-in-law Clint, sister-in-law Sandrine, brother Carl, (middle row): Audrey, Celeste, Nani, my mom, Sophia, niece Margot, (bottom row): Natalia, neice Elise and niece Sacia.

Nani with her granddaughters. (oops, I guess there are a few boys! Sorry Taylor and Andrew :-)

Our family...we love you Nani!

Fall City Days Parade

We decided to take part in our little town's parade this year. First Audrey, Celeste, Sophia, Natty and puppy Bella decorated their scooters and themselves Hawaiian style for the Kiddy Parade.

Becky made the cheerleading squad at school this year, so Tim volunteered his truck and trailer to take the team through the parade. Unfortunatley, Becky is on the other side of the trailer, so I didn't get her in the the picture. Go Mt. Si Wildcats!

Pappy and Nona

After much thought, much deep deep thought, we've finally decided what we want to be called...by our grandchildren, that is. We went down to Orlando recently to meet our newest grandson, Aeden John Alexander Rodriguez. What a sweetheart! It felt a little strange to be grandparents when Aeden's aunt Natty is only 3. But, one look and we fell in love! Not only with Aeden, but with Giovanni who is 8, whom we got to spend some great quality time with! Josh and Mia are wonderful parents and it was so a great to spend a few days with them!Josh, Mia, Giovanni and AedenPappy with little Aeden at the hospital...just a day old!Nona and baby AedenWe were so lucky to be able to see Giovanni graduate from 2nd grade at his school. He received all sorts to awards...way to go Gio!The two Grandpas (Mia's father, Cedric and Tim) with GiovanniLet me tell you, this kid is on fire! Giovanni has a great spirit that we just loved. He is too smart for his own good! He beat me several times playing candyland and checkers while we shared a smoothie at a shop. He had fun with Pappy challenging him to see who was strongest. I think Pappy won that one...but not without a fight!3 GENERATIONS!

Josh drove us around showing us the area and his company's office. The 3 of us enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner out. It made us realize, too much time had passed since we've spent time together. Josh has definitley followed in his dad's footsteps and has a talent for bbq steaks! The evening before we left, Josh treated us to a great steak dinner...YUM!Mia and her mother, Queen

We couldn't forget Duke, the pitbull. What a loveable dog!