Spectacular Date!

It has only taken us 7 years to make the trip but we finally embarked on a 4 hour journey to Crater Lake in southern Oregon. It was our August date weekend - what a fun trip we had! Here are some of the spectacular sights!

This is the long stretch leading to the turnoff to the National Park. It was tree-lined all the way to the entrance. It didn't take long after that to reach the tree line and end up in meadows and canyons!
Of course, Rusty had to go with us - he is quite the camping dog! And he managed to bring quite the souvenir of dirt! One lady commented on how old he looked - we just laughed because we knew his "gray" look was all dirt!!There are lots of black bears that roam Crater Lake and each campsite is equipped with a bear-proof storage unit. These were big and we managed to get everything in for safe storage. There is a $50 fine if you leave your food out. It all has to be locked up!We took in the sunset on Saturday night - this is on the west side of the rim drive. There were lots of people doing the same thing as we were! (The haze in the background is smoke from the California fires!)

We got up early on Sunday morning to take sunrise pictures - it was a bit on the chilly side! The days are very warm but it cools down quickly once the sun goes down!

The sun is just starting to illuminate the crater. It was so beautiful and serene. We had the sights to ourselves! No one else had ventured out at 6am!

We want to come back up in the late fall to see all the foliage changes. The leaves on the plants were already turning and it won't be long until the snow starts flying! We are loving our date weekends!

Survivor!

Well, my brother-in-law, Bryan, loves Survivor and has even applied to be on the show. We always tease him that he has to be able to "make fire" in order to win the game! So......this weekend while camping, Greg attempted to start the campfire on Sunday morning. He added some kindling that was too green to be successful so I told him I would work on it and he could head to take care of his "cleaning up." While he was gone, I gathered my moss and dry kindling (just like Survivor!) and voila! I made fire. So Bryan, you now have competition! Survivor here I come!!! he, he!

Fast and furious!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. I managed to score a Friday off (thanks to working 4 days at the county fair the week before!) and drove up to Beth's on Thursday night. After a slight detour of 20 minutes due to construction, I arrived at 10:45pm! No time to talk and catch up as we were all tired and had a big day ahead of us!

We headed up to Mt. Rainier with Mom and Dad (I sorta crashed in on this party - but what's family for???!). It turned out to be very foggy and very misty. No outside pictures but this is what it looked like from inside the lodge. The lodge has been redone, along with the new visitor's center, and it was really magnificent.

Got mail? Beth, Mom and I stop to check out the mail box! It was pretty cute!

Both ends of the large lobby/sitting area had these gorgeous fireplaces! We cozied up to them as it as was quite cool! When they redid the lodge, the construction workers took down the stones and labeled them as to exactly where they went. The fireplaces were then reconstructed exactly as they had been before. Job security there, I tell you!

Here we all are! After spending the night at Mom and Dad's, it was off to see the grandkids and Ryan & Aimee! It was Wyatt's 1st birthday!
Meysa and Ayden decided to play croquet with the neighbor friends and here they are enjoying the great weather! Meysa was quite good at getting her ball in front of the hoop. Classic pose for this guy! Ayden reminds me of his dad - I have a picture of Ryan on the ball field in the same pose! And probably close to the same age!

Happy Birthday, Wyatt! Aimee made this darling cake and had the greatest idea! She set him on the table with his cake and let him go to town on it! He wasn't sure about it all but managed to do enough damage that he had a bath afterwards! Everyone else enjoyed creamsicles as the cake was not fit to eat!

After the kids were in bed and Ryan off to the movies with a friend, Aimee and I sat down and did some digital scrapbooking and photoshop! She taught me how to add actions and work with my photos. Thanks, Aimee! We had a great time and even ended up going to bed before 1am! (Okay, it was 12:45 but who's counting!!!??!!) It was a fun time, even though it was a jam-packed weekend!

Molting in August?

All around the house today I was picking up tufts of hair. How can this dog produce so much loose hair? It befuddles us but he does! I took him outside to brush him and I tell you, he's molting!!! I kept telling him he's not a bird or snake! Is this a sign that winter is on its way as he is developing a new undercoat????????? Perish the thought!

All brushed out and nowhere to go!

Tools of the trade - Rusty likes to be brushed so these really don't seem like torture to him.

So here is the end result of 15 minutes of brushing this dog! Greg has been vacuuming the carpets and floors lately and he decided to play around with blocks! I'd say it was a fitting saying! Oh Rusty, you are a joy to have around, but not so much the hair!

ZOO TIME!

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago we stood at this same place and celebrated Ryan and Aimee's wedding! Now, it's 4 kids later and here they are again. We spent Saturday with them to celebrate this great day!
The temple was closed for cleaning and construction so we stood outside the fence to take pictures.

What a cute couple (I know Ryan is cringing at the "cute!")

Then it was on to the Oregon Zoo! The kids loved the exhibits and we spent over 4 hours exploring! The weather was perfect - mid-70's with overcast skies - true Northwest weather!

The only goats in this area were bronzed but that didn't stop us from posing with them! Meysa and Ayden were anxious to get going and not stopping to take all these silly pictures!!

Lauryn loved the sea lions, especially when they were up close and personal!! Unfortunately, Wyatt was in the stroller and we seemed to have missed out on getting him in the photos. I'll have to get some from his mom! We really had a great time! The kids crashed on the way home - quiet ride for Aimee and Ryan on their way back to Washington. Happy Anniversary, Ryan and Aimee! Thanks for sharing it with us!

CPR

CPR: Creative Photography Retreat = a chance to become a better photographer, meet new friends, and learn from the some of the best scrapbooker/photographers. I had a marvelous weekend in Dallas, TX (if you exclude the 102 degree weather with 85% humidity!) learning as much as my brain could take in! We spent 16 hours in class, lots of hours outside of classes taking photographs, and very little time sleeping! Here are some of my photos:

I met Donna in my classes; we had the same track so we spent two days learning from each other. She's from the Houston area and was a great photographer and mom of 2 girls. We had to go on a photo scavenger hunt and this is one of the pictures I took of "natural light."

I met Kristin in my very first class; she didn't have any other classes with me but what a wealth of information she was. She was well on her way to being a professional photographer and she helped me gain confidence in my shooting skills (she encouraged me to shoot in "manual mode" rather than in auto mode (aka dummy mode! by our instructors!). This photo is taken in manual.

Kristin took this picture of me during dinner. I am having a ball!
One of our classes focused on wedding portraits. I'm telling you, this is hard stuff! Our instructor had couples set up to come and "recreate their wedding" and I love this shot. She is telling us we need to be aware of where the groom places his hands (I'll let you figure this one out!!!).

Our hotel had a beautiful pool; the only free time I had was when the pool was closed so no swimming for me!

This is a picture of a flag outside the hotel at the CompUSA building. The entire building was reflective glass and I loved the design. I also wanted to give a perspective to the next picture:

I took this picture standing in front of the flag. The building formed a "V" at this point and both of these flags are reflections of the flag pole. I entered this photo in the "Best of Dallas" competition and won an honorable mention (5th place). The coolest part was I took it in manual mode, edited it as best I knew how and really was pleased with the outcome. I had never entered a photo in a contest before and to receive an honorable mention on my very first entry was amazing! I feel very blessed and excited about this! I now have a 13 x 19 photo of this to hang in my scrap room! What a great weekend!

SKUNKED!

Rusty has (or should I say had) a new playmate. Only this one isn't the type I want to keep around. Late Thursday night, I took Rusty out for his nightly "duty" and he literally bolted off the steps. No way was he stopping. I'm thinking "he's after a cat - no stopping him now!" As I yelled for him to stop, he kept going not even looking back to see if he was in trouble! I should interject this at 10:40pm! Suddenly, the brakes came on as he accessed the river bed rocks and came up close and personal with: As I stepped off the deck, I knew what stopped him - the smell totally gave it away. Yep, he discovered why skunks don't like to play! Luckily, he stopped just in time to avoid being directly sprayed but managed to get most of the spray on his legs and tail. Not quite sure how it happened that way, but I can tell you I was very glad!!! Now Rusty, on the other hand, wasn't quite so glad. He kept shaking each paw as if to shake off this disgusting smell. Pretty funny sight!
I called my neighbor (after checking to see if lights were on) and told her not to let her dogs out as there was a skunk now in her yard. She assured me she had just let them out the FRONT door so all was safe. She then said to bathe Rusty in pure vinegar (doesn't matter white or cider) or Listerine. I had both but decided to try the vinegar first.
Now, Rusty normally loves his bath. Not so much this time. He kept fussing with his legs, even licked one (wish I had the camera to catch his expression after that!) but settled down once the vinegar dissolved the oil and smell.
We had no lingering smell in the house nor on him so we all managed to crash around midnight and call it a good night! Not an adventure Rusty is likely to repeat any time soon! (Or at least we are hoping!)