I'm So Glad when Daddy Comes Home

Whew! We made it.

Brett is home from his business trip to Tokyo. He doesn't like traveling on business and we don't like it when he's gone.


But, the best part of any business trip is when Daddy comes home.


There weren't a lot of tourist opportunities on this trip. He got to see the Imperial Palace and Disneyland Tokyo---from the car. But he did get a couple of beautiful shots of the harbor.



And one shot that should have made him feel right at home.

Costco and Coca Cola!

The Story in the Sequence

Sometimes a picture, or a sequence of them is better than a thousand words. Sometimes you get stories you don't even intend to.

Take, for example, this sequence. While hiking at the cabin, I slipped downstream to take pictures of the kids with a long telephoto lens. I tend to get better candid pictures that way.

While I was snapping away, Natalie slipped and fell into the creek wearing only a diaper and t-shirt.



As she tries to push herself up out of the water, she slips again. This time, she falls forward onto her chest. Behind her, an oblivious Cameron stands munching on his trail mix.


Predictably, she is unhappy about being soaked. But the other half of the story is behind her, where you can see that Cam has also slipped and fallen into the creek at the same time. His bag of trail mix is submerged.

As Natalie continues to be upset, Cameron calmly surveys the damage to his trail mix.


Apparently he decides it isn't too bad and serenely resumes munching while Natalie is still VERY upset . . .


and seeks comfort from an amused, if sympathetic Camille.

The Power of Example

The problem with having older siblings . . .


is that the things they do . . .


sometimes start the younger ones thinking.

Clothing is NOT optional.


At least not on the top half.

Catching Frogs

Kids and frogs. In the grand tradition of Mark Twain, they just go together. Their interactions are a blur of darting hands, splashes, leaps, giggles, and screams as slimy bodies shoot out of grasping hands back to the freedom of the water. How could something so simple have delighted children for untold hours and across the decades and maybe even centuries?


Our kids got to get lots of frog experience at the cabin. We found a couple on our hikes, but the real amphibian bonanza was at the creek outside our cabin. They caught probably 30 frogs in less than an hour our last morning there.

Max is our expert frogger. He has quick hands and a good eye. If there is a frog out there, he'll catch it over and over again. Frogs must roll their eyes resignedly as he approaches, sighing "Here we go again."


Camille is not quite as expert as Max, but she's no girly girl when it comes to frogs. She'll generally capture what she's after and is perfectly comfortable holding them. The discomfort on the face in the picture below is more about the camera than the frog.


Elise . . . well, she's our screamer. She likes to look at them, but doesn't really want one touching her skin. They seem to know that, too. Whenever a frog would come shooting out of someone's hands, it would invariably fly right at Elise, who would run away screaming girly screams.


Cameron was a fascinated and delighted watcher, but after the first touch wasn't interesting in repeating the experience. At least he didn't scream.


Natalie loved the frogs. She'd let them sit on her hands or would grasp their legs and extend them ('Gently, Natalie!) curiously. But, after watching Elise's performances, She'd walk up to the frog, fake scream and pretend to run away.

Poor Frogs. I'll bet they were sure glad to see us leave!

Until next year!

Life at the Cabin--Memories in the Making

We started this year, what we hope will become an annual tradition. We rented a forest service cabin in the North Idaho mountains for a family retreat. Lots of the outdoors, lots of each other and nothing that plugs in.

We had high hopes, but the reality was even better than we'd imagined. This cabin was built in the 1930s and was the former Ranger Station.

While there is no electricity, there was still hot water, a fridge and stove, all powered by propane, so we didn't even mind. It was actually kind of a novelty to cook and play games indoors by the light of propane lanterns. There was a living room, a master bedroom, bathroom and kitchen downstairs and two cozy bedrooms up the steep narrow stairs.

Two dishwashers were included in the price.

Everybody pitched in

Outside, there was a picnic table with a fire pit.



And much to Max's joy, a horseshoe pitch.


Across the road was a creek deep enough to float, but shallow enough to wade.


We ate good food.

Brett made his traditional shishkabobs.

Peach cobbler with homemade ice cream
(thanks to Grandma Borders!)

We hiked a lot.

Brett fished. (And he was lucky to do so because while he packed his rods, he forgot all the rest of his gear. He got up at 4am to drive more than two hours back to Spokane and retrieve them!)




The kids got wet and caught a LOT of frogs (more on the frogs later).


And I got to take some fun pictures.

A rail fence just doesn't work as well as a tripod.

Twenty years from now, when my adult children are gathered together reminiscing about growing up together, I'm sure this vacation will come up.

"Do you remember when we went to the cabin . . . ?"