First Day of School

We traditionally take a group picture on the first day of school. Some serious ones and some goofy ones. This is our 2009 goofy picture. I spent a 1/2 hour straightening Hannah's hair. I told her there is no way we are going to straighten it every day. :o)
Hannah is in 7th grade this year and will be 13 in November. Parker is is 6th grade, he turned 11 this past May. Eli is 9 and in 4th grade.

I couldn't find the 2008 picture. We had just moved to Susanville and if I remember right we had some computer issues and lost a batch of pictures during download. So this is the 2007 silly picture. Wow! How they have changed is just 2 years. Hannah was so mad that her haircut was shorter than she wanted. But it looks so good on her.

This is the 2006 picture.

Oregon Cherries!!

THE DALLES cherries to be exact.

I went to the IGA here in Susanville a couple of weeks ago and the first thing I saw in the fruit and veggies section was cherries. As I got closer I saw that they were ORCHARD VIEW FARMS cherries. I bought 2 pounds. :o)

When I got home you would have thought it was Christmas. Who cares what else I bought, give us CHERRIES! When I first started working at OVF the kids hoped I would get paid in cherries.

Today I discovered they still had them. I don't know if they were a new shipment or just more of the old one pulled out of storage. But they were in good shape so I bought 2 more pounds! Same reaction when I got home . . . give us CHERRIES! Thanks OVF!!

Shasta Caverns

On the other side of the McLoud arm of Lake Shasta, only accessible by boat are the Shasta Caverns. It is so amazing what mother nature can do with water over time. Brian says "if you've seen one cavern, you've seen them all." But I think this one was very different that the lava caves near Bend or the caverns we went through in the Black Hills of South Dakota. These caverns had a lot of different formations and what they called "cave bacon" which was created from the deposits in the water as is waved in and out.

Lake Shasta Camping

Last weekend we went camping on the McLoud arm of Lake Shasta. It is about 2 1/2 hours from Susanville to the west. I-5 crosses the Sacramento arm. The lake is a man made lake created in the 1940's when they built Shasta Dam. The lake has 5 arms and several towns are under water as the valleys were flooded by the dam.

It's been a few years since we used the big family tent. But we got it up in no time!

The area is bear country so you have to put your food in a bear box. The chain has a key on it that you use to lock the door. Apparently bears haven't evolved enough to figure out how to unlock the door. :o) Give them time . . . .

These are the dogs that we have aquired. We adopted "Midge" our greyhound from a greyhound rescue group on the Oregon Coast called Homes for Hounds. She arrived on Parker's birthday in May of 2004. She turns 7 (in human years) in August. We will never forget her birthday because greyhounds have it tatooed in their ear. Midge is a lot of fun, but most of the time she is a couch potato. "Skipper" is my mom's pomeranian mix. Some of her students found him outside a store by the school in Dayton. After no one claimed him she took him home and cleaned him up. He had no hair from his mid back to his tail. He had horrible fleas. We keep him shaved now in what is called a "lion cut"; fluffy head, fluffy tail. He seems to be more comfortable. He follows Midge everywhere. If we want him to go outside we have to convince Midge to go first.

The weekend of his birthday and father's day, Brian and the boys went on vacation to Southern California. On Friday they met up with Mark (one of Brian's good friends he met while working at DaKine) and his family. They went to Universal Studios. The hits of the day were Water World and Jurasic Park. On Saturday, Brian got to go to Disney for FREE because it was his birthday. They had a lot of fun with Mark's family; Mark has 2 boys similar ages. It was a lot of driving, but Brian said it was worth it. Even if you factor in that Eli puked going over Donner Pass both times. :o)

Notice the Monopoly box he is sitting on...........

Eli is 9. He will be 10 in October. Eli is our "pot-stirrer". He keeps us all on our toes. He LOVES to play games. Cards, Scene-it, pictionary, you name it; he'll play. He loves soccer, playing the drums and riding his new bike that Santa brought at Christmas time. Eli is our bonus child. He is special and here for a reason. According to Eli it is so that he can be a professional soccer player.

Celebrating a lot of "Scouting" hard work! We did it!

On a Safeway shopping trip, Brian discovered "Parker's" brand of Root Beer (I don't know if they may other varieties of soda pop). When Brian brought it in, Parker was so excited that there was Root Beer made just for him.

Parker turned 11 in May. He finished Cub Scouts, earning all the ranks from Tiger to Arrow of Light. Brian and I were the Webelos leaders this year so Brian got to present him with his Arrow of Light award. It was a very neat pack meeting. The Arrow of Light is the only Cub Scout patch that moves to the Boy Scout Uniform. Parker is our facts and figures guy; about animals that is. He loves to watch discovery channel and animal planet. He loves books with animal information in them. When he has to do reading time at school or for homework, it is really hard to get him to read a "chapter book." Unless of course it's about some kind of animal. When we go to theme parks, Parker and I want to see all the shows. Everyone else could care less. Parker will be in the 6th grade this year.