Vanquished by a Costco Bucket**

There is just something fun about a boy with a good imagination and summertime. They come up with such inventive (and sometimes scary) things to do. Max is just ingenious enough that I thank my lucky stars he wasn't born on a farm. Too many dangerous things to get into. But, his ingenuity is always going full bore. He's the latest.

Max decided to make a jousting dummy.

That's right. A jousting dummy.

He and Brett had cut out several wooden spears, so I guess he was trying to give them a test run. Notice the duct taped wrapped shield he also carries. It is a wonder Brett has any supplies of any kind left.

Here's the photo evidence.



**No plastic detergent buckets were harmed in the making of this photo sequence.

Bits and Pieces

I thought I post a few pictures from various events lately.

Max scrounged Brett's wood scraps until he found some thin pieces of hickory that Brett had cut to bend for a fishing net. Max tried to 'laminate' the pieces together with glue initially, but it didn't work out like he wanted, so he duct taped them together instead! The bow string is a piece of Brett's fly line that he randomly hacked off and tied to his bow. He also raided the scrap wood and found some dowels which he whittled to a sharp point and glued on feathers scavenged from Brett's fly tying supplies. It kept him busy for days. Ahh, boyhood ingenuity.

Max and his homemade bow and arrows

Camille finishes Tennis

Camille's tennis ended this month (sort of). She still has informal practices, but the competitive matches are over. It was a nice experience for her. Her teammates and even the opposing teams were quite supportive of the tennis newbies and gave lots of encouragement. We could see lots of improvement.

Go Camille!

FHE at Hauser Lake
We went to one of the many lakes surrounding Spokane for a picnic-dinner FHE with our friends the Christensens. The kids had a good time. We stayed until it was getting to dark and too cold to be in the water.

Cam and Natalie in their own 'swimmin' hole'

My little buddy Garrett

Camille and Natalie

Brett let Max drive. Guess what Max wants for Christmas!

Natalie's scoot trail

Elise and Katie, lost in their own play.

Happy Birthday, Camille!

Camille in The Birthday Hat

Camille is TWELVE today! How exciting. She got her ears pierced last night and didn't even yell. Dad is taking her to Dairy Queen for her birthday lunch. She's chosen Albertson's fried chicken for her birthday dinner. (Sorry, but yuck! Max had Bagel Bites for his. Why do kids always choose gross stuff for their birthday dinners?) We'll start her birthday celebration a little early tonight so she can go to Young Womens for the first time. She just got back a couple weeks ago from her first Girl's Camp. It is the beginning of a whole new era for our family.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea. I sure love you.

Buffalos, Moose and Bears, Oh My!

Old Faithful

Growing up so near to Yellowstone, you tend to take it for granted. We never went TO the park, but only THROUGH Yellowstone on the way to somewhere else. It was a place for 'tourons', which was short for 'tourist morons.' They were the kind of people you'd regularly read about who'd try to perch their children on the back of a bull moose for that perfect vacation photo-op.

How could I have been so blase' about it?

After a nearly 25 year absence, I was blown away by Yellowstone's grandeur and variety. It was a wonderful experience to take our family to see a little of the park. I hope they absorbed some of it. But, maybe like me as a child, all they could concentrate on was how long the walk to Morning Glory Pool felt and how tired they were. Maybe the pictures will help stir their memories. They did love the camping!

Upper Geyser Basin

The first day we spent walking around the Grand Prismatic pool and watching buffalo. After lunch we went to the Old Faithful area and to see the famous geyser and for nice walk around the upper geyser basin. The kids were impressed with Old Faithful and were excited about all the other geysers and pools. Their enthusiasm waned at the end and it was only the prospect of blowing their hard earned vacation money at the Old Faithful gift shop that kept them going.

Natalie shares while waiting for Old Faithful to go off.

One of the secrets to surviving Yellowstone is large bags of trail mix, heavily spiked with M&Ms. You can even share with the kids if you want!

Cameron can't take his eyes off Old Faithful even for a photo!

Camille and Elise at Morning Glory pool.

I love how you can see the clouds reflected on the surface of the water. They loved looking up all the pools and geysers they saw in the guidebook. It was a must have item for keeping the kids interest. The more they knew about what they were seeing, the more they appreciated it.

Blue Star Pool

This pool is notable only in that it was my kids' favorite. It wasn't the shape or color of the pool they found interesting, but its history. Apparently at one point a buffalo fell into the pool and caused it to bubble! Bison stew. Yum.

The fantastical shape of Grotto Geyser

If you look closely, Brett is carrying Natalie in the baby backpack and Elise on his shoulders. People would do the funniest double take as they walked by and realized he was carrying two kids. Since I was walking behind them with Cam, I got to unobtrusively observe their reactions.

Taking a load off.

After a long hike around Geyser Basin, the kids collapsed in the rocking chairs in front of the General Store while Brett went inside and bought his fishing license.

The amazing interior of Old Faithful Lodge.

Shaggy buffalo

Pardon me, I meant to say 'shaggy Bison'. No, I wasn't dumb enough to get this close (although we did see a few tourists who were begging to get gored). This was taken with a good telephoto lens and plenty of distance.

That night we camped in the Canyon area. Cameron found a stump in our campsite that he loved and made his home base. He was perfectly content to play with the sticks and rocks and dirt. It was with great difficulty that we could even get him to pause to eat dinner. Elise, on the other hand, was terribly paranoid of bears the entire time we were in Yellowstone. We had to constantly reassure her that we weren't in any danger.

Lower Yellowstone Falls

The next day we packed up camp and headed to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It only took Brett halfway to the first overlook to realize that this wasn't now and never would be his thing. It was too much for him to even watch us go to the overlook, so Dad, Cam and Natalie just stayed in the car at each stop along the canyon rim. It was a very, very long way down.

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Picnic lunch in the Canyon area.

Gratuitous cute baby picture.

Fishing the Upper Gibbon River.

After a little lunch, Brett was happy to be able to do a little fishing in a legendary area. Of course, there is lots of legendary fishing in Yellowstone, so maybe next time he can fish while we go to all the canyon overlooks.


The kids and I came down to play in the meadow while Brett fished, but after one too many close calls with an unnamed child (named Max) nearly falling in the river, we retreated to the van while Brett fished in peace.

Elise 'hand feeding' a cooperative Natalie.

Pure irony.

We ended our trip with a stop at Fishing Bridge, famous fishing spot shown in all those old Disney shorts and cartoons. Of course, you can't fish off Fishing Bridge any more, just take pictures and buy souvenirs.

While you can't wet a line anymore, you can still absorb the scenic wonders of the Yellowstone River. What a view to close our trip with. We hope to be able to take the kids back for more extended hiking and camping in the future.