Summer Fun

We broke down and bought a pool last weekend.  I wish we would have had it for that super-hot spell last week.  But I'm sure there are more hot summer days ahead.  It really doesn't have to be all that hot for the kids anyway.  They could hardly wait for us to get the pH and chlorine balanced so they could finally take a dip on Monday (the temp. was only around 70-75).  Now we've got to get some fun toys to play with in the pool!

Look how big our sunflowers are getting!

Backpacking

Last weekend we scattered our children to the four winds and had a backpacking trip with some friends. We hiked up Herman Creek and Nick Eaton Trails to Deadwood camp.

Imagine if you can, this amount of steepness for at least a mile.  We went about 4.6 miles the first day up, and it took us about 4 hours because of the ascent.

I made these pants myself!

This is a beautiful shot up the Columbia from Indian Point.

That's Indian Point behind us.  Waaay down there is Washington across the Columbia.  About 2700' elevation here.  We got up to 4050' on our second day hiking.

As we wandered over the ridge on the middle day of hiking, we came across an underground river beneath a massive rock slide.  We could hear the water rushing beneath the boulders, but couldn't get a glimpse of it.  At the very edge, I climbed up into the brush and found the tiniest pool of water, but there was a lot of sound that didn't have anything to show for it.  It was pretty weird to walk over water hearing it, but not seeing it.

All together, Shonee hiked 19 miles and I hiked 17 miles in about two full days.  So much fun, I can't wait until our next trip!

Stuff we've been up to

We've had quite a flurry of activity the past few weeks.  Here's a quick tour of our fun:

We went hiking a few weeks ago on a moderately dry Saturday.  It was drizzly, but we didn't mind it at all.

Check out the gigantic tree trunk, and the very cool mine shaft.  It was "rainier" inside the mine than outside.

Shonee and I also took a hike up Wakeena Falls two Saturdays ago, which had gorgeous weather for hiking. The view across the gorge was amazing!

I made a "fiesta" dress for Alena because we had a fiesta for the last day of school on Friday.

Montana and Alena were waiters.  Emma was the owner (she designed and printed the menu).  Everything was made to order.  Emma also made the pinata.  Alena and I revisited my childhood while making paper flower decorations.  Emma made an enormous one which leant the light fixture a festive air.

And finally, last Saturday, we all went to the beach to soak up the sunshine.  The water was unusually warm, so all the kids got soaked more than once.  There was a mountain of sand we climbed.  It's really hard work climbing up sand!

This shows how steep it was.

My Scout

It's been a great experience to go through cub scouting with Montana.

First Year of Cub Scout Day Camp

Year Two at Cub Scout Day Camp

One of Many Awards Along the Way

Space Derby ^ v

Getting His Final Pins in Webelos

2nd Place in the Final Derby!

Look How He's Grown to Receive His Arrow of Light

First Overnighter as a Boy Scout!

Good Times Just Keep Coming!

Fun by the Yard

With a few days of sunshine, we've been getting our garden in and tilling up some bare spots for grass seed. The kids love to play in the freshly turned dirt, it's like a total kid magnet. They make paths and create games with elaborate rules, it's so great.
We neglected to spell out the "no water in the dirt" rule clearly and Emma and Savannah had a bit of a spa day before we caught them.

The snow tube has done double duty this spring as a yard toy. Endless fun for the kiddies.

Shonee's beautiful nose

Shonee's nose before Saturday's basketball game...


Shonee's nose after Saturday's basketball game...

Notice the unnatural bulge on the left side of the nose. Ouch!
He had an ER doc who was playing ball say that he may have gotten a slight fracture, but I don't think he's going to go get an x-ray to make sure. He kind of likes the notoriety of having a broken nose. He loves to tell the story, please ask him next time you see him.

Alena's Amazing Apple Pie

Today Alena had a school assignment where she had to create something with local natural resources. She didn't have to actually make her creation, but she wanted to. She decided to make a pie. Local ingredients included apple, raspberry, wheat flour, butter and egg.

To make her pie she took a simple press-in crust from a kids cookbook, an apple filling from the BH&G cookbook, tossed in a cup of raspberries, and added a crumb topping from a different BH&G recipe. It was absolutely incredible! So scrumptious!

Here's her recipe:
For filling:
5 c. peeled, cored and sliced granny smith apples
3/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon juice
Toss together to coat apples. Then gently fold in
1 c. raspberries fresh or frozen (thawed)

For crust:
4 c. flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
Mix these together, then cut in:
1/2 c. butter
When the mixture is crumbly, add
2 egg yolks
Combine it until it's a ball, then press onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie tin.

Pour apple-raspberry filling into prepared crust

Topping:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
Blend together then cut in:
3 Tbps. butter.
Sprinkle topping onto filled pie. Bake in a 375* oven for 50-55 minutes. Put a cookie sheet directly beneath the pie tin to catch all the syrup that will boil out as it cooks.

Serve warm with ice cream and enjoy!!