Silver Lake

Since it is such a nice, warm day, we thought it would be a good chance to visit Silver Lake. We're feeling kind of guilty that we haven't even been up to the mountains yet this year. Of course, we missed most of the wildflowers (but at least we saw them in Yellowstone) but it was still beautiful. We took Gibson's friend Mikayla and they had a ball playing in the dirt and with their "fishing poles" (sticks) in the water.
Brady, Christen, Gibson and Mikayla
Gibson and Mikayla having a snack. It looks like the sun was in their eyes!
Of course, when it's snack time, all the potguts come out of hiding!
Gibson took this picture for us! I think he did a great job!

Our Trip to Triangle Lake in Oregon

As some of you know, we met some great people, Rob and Monica, on the first cruise we ever took. We have since cruised with them again and call them our "cruise friends." They have invited us to visit them at Triangle Lake for 2 years now and this summer we were able to take them up on their offer. Monica's parents, John and Donna, have a cabin on Triangle Lake in Oregon (about an hour away from Eugene). So we drove up there in the middle of July. It took 2 days and 16 hours. Gibson was very good in the car. It was an interesting drive - we had never driven that way before. Brady was able to stay up there for a week and then he drove home. Gibson and I stayed for almost 2 more weeks and then we flew home. We had a wonderful time and wish to thank Rob and Monica and John and Donna for their wonderful hospitality! Since we had so many adventures, I have split the pictures and stories up into different categories below. Enjoy (we did!)!

Our Accomodations

This the "the cabin". Brady and Monica are standing on the deck. We would eat our meals outside right behind where they are standing. Our room was the one on the left. Our room - appropriately named the "Bat Cave".
My lounge chair on the dock - this is where I sat all day to read, drink and relax!
The lake was very beautiful. It was completely surrounded by trees. If you woke up in the morning and it was foggy - that was a good sign; it meant it was going to be a hot day!

Fishing

During the month previous to our trip, Gibson kept talking about going fishing. When we were in Yellowstone, he kept asking my dad to take him fishing. So when we got to the lake and they had fishing gear, he was so excited. His first morning fishing, he actually caught a fish! He was SO excited (and we were, too). A little bit later, Brady also caught a fish! Ha ha!
Gibson with his first catch - he is so proud!
Brady with his "fish" - ha ha!
Gibson and Rielly fishing off the dock in the morning fog.

Playing!

Of course, most of the time we just played!
Monica and Christen floating on rafts. Rob taking Gibson on a waverunner ride!
This is the beach area where Gibson and Rielly played all day.

Christen got to waterski! (One of her favorite things to do)
Gibson and Rielly put a chair in the wagon and pulled each other around the yard - they thought it was great fun!
Christen and Gibson in the paddleboat.
Brady and Gibson in the paddleboat.
Brady playing "giddyup" on the red rocket!

Rob pulled Gibson and Rielly around on the knee boards!
Christen and Gibson - a couple of floaters!
Christen and Gibson on the partyboat. We could take a cruise around the lake in the evenings. Sometimes we would take it out in the day and park it in the middle of the lake and swim.
Gibson going for a tube ride! He liked it at first but was bawling by the end!
Brady and Rob playing redneck golf!

Florence, Oregon

We did have a few days of "blah" weather (it's beyond my comprehension that anywhere could be cold in July!!!), so on one of those days, we decided to visit the coast. The town of Florence was about an hour away from the lake. It was a fun town. We had some really good burgers and fries at the Bay Street Grille and did a little shopping. I was surprised by the ocean - I expected the coast to be rocky, but it was really nice and sandy!
Christen and Gibson in town.
Brady, Christen and Gibson at the ocean.
The hill down to the ocean was HUGE! Of course, Gibson wanted to run down it!
Gibson and Christen playing in the water.

Wine Tasting!

The Friday before Brady went home, Monica, Rob, Monica's friend, Johnnie, Brady and I all went wine tasting. There were several vineyards/wineries in the area. I had never been wine tasting and it was so much fun! We tasted some really good stuff and some really crappy stuff. We learned a lot and even got to take a tour at one of the vineyards.
Brady and Christen standing in the gardens at the Kings Estate Vineyard.
The red wine aging in oak barrels at King's Estate. White wine is aged in steel containers.
Johnnie, Monica, Rob, Christen and Brady ready to go wine tasting!

The Story of the Bat!

So... one night when I was asleep, I woke up because I could hear this weird scratching noise. I sat up and listened and came to the conclusion that there was a mouse in my room. I had a sack of food on the floor, so I turned on the light and moved it off the floor. Then I went back to sleep. I woke up a few more times and could still hear the scratching noise. Then I woke up around 3 am and could hear this "th, th, th, th, th, th, th," noise on the floor above me. Monica and Rielly and Gibson and I were the only ones at the cabin this night. I couldn't believe that Monica couldn't hear the noise, too, because it sounded like something was running around on her bedroom floor upstairs. I started wondering if a raccoon or squirrel had gotten into the house. After sitting there for a few minutes and realizing that the noise wasn't going away, I sat up and turned on the lamp. A bat flew one inch over my face! The noise wasn't an animal running around on the floor, it was a bat flying around my room. And it wasn't flying near the ceiling, it was doing figure 8's around the room only inches from my head!!! So I quickly pulled the sheet up over Gibson and I's heads and started panicking. Gibson woke up and pulled the sheet off his head and I said, "No! There's a bat flying around!" So now we're both wide awake and terrified. We couldn't even roll over onto our sides to get out of the bed because it was flying so close to our faces. Finally it stopped, but it perched right above the door! So we were still trapped. Then it started flying around again. Finally it stopped somewhere else and Gibson and I bolted from the room and slammed the door! But then I realized we needed our pillows! I opened the door back up and the bat almost flew in my face! I slammed the door again. Finally, we got our pillows and went to bed in the other guest room. In the morning, I told Monica our story and we tried to decide what to do. We were the only ones up there. The only guy around was the next door neighbor. So we took Aaron some pancakes and bribed him to come over and catch our bat. He came over, but could not find where it was sleeping. Later that afternoon, Monica laid on my bed with a flashlight and finally found the bat! It was sleeping on a log right above my head! Kim was at the cabin playing Go Fish with the boys, and she said that she would catch it! We equipped her with gloves and a butterfly net. But the bat wouldn't budge. Finally I got a wire hanger and pushed it out of its hole and Kim caught it with the net. However, it got out of the net and Monica and I SCREAMED! Monica ran out the bedroom door and I ran out the sliding glass door. Kim was running around the room with the butterfly net trying to catch the bat by herself! But she finally caught it and we let it go outside. Fortunately, he never came back to visit!
Christen and Kim trying to get the bat to come out of its hole.
The bat in the butterfly net after Kim caught it the second time!

Our Oregon Friends

We met so many nice people at the lake and made some new friends.

Gibson and Rielly had never met before, but had a ball playing together everyday!
Rob, Monica and Rielly
The neighbors: Aaron, Kim and Kara (and their dog, Ellie). We had fun playing games with them. Kim is a children's librarian and would read stories to the boys at night. She also taught Gibson how to play Go Fish! (so he could play cards like the big people).
Monica's parents, John and Donna. They were absolutely wonderful hosts! We love them!
The grandchildren from next door: Tyler, Connor and Maddie. They were at the lake for 4 days and Gibson had a ball playing with them. Their grandma, Debbie, was so good to Gibson - she fed him and played with him; she built a big fort with all the kids!

Gibson with Jim (from next door - Debbie's husband). Gibson and Jim really liked each other and they hung out a lot.

First Airplane Ride!

Our flight home from Oregon was Gibson's first time on an airplane! When we got off, he said, "That was FUN!"

Fun at the Farm!

So it has been a few months since we've been to "the farm" (Wheeler Farm). We go there so often that it's not really that big of a deal. But since it had been awhile, it was really fun. It was a nice day because it wasn't very crowded. Which meant that the geese and ducks were actually hungry (they hadn't been overfed with old bread all day). Gibson and I went on a wagon ride (thanks Colleen for the coupons!) and Gibson went on a pony ride (but he calls it a 'horse'). Then we had a picnic. All the animals that were babies in the spring are so big now! Gibson was excited because he got to watch the pigs get hosed down (they loved it!). We also saw a kitty that looked like Two and we saw 2 new additions to the farm - donkeys! All in all, a fun morning at the farm.

Gibson on his pony (horse) ride!
Gibson wanted me to take a picture of him 'right here'. I had to put it on here because the grin on his face is so cute!
You would think the geese never got fed! They ate right out of our hands - I was glad Gibson wasn't afraid of them.

Funny Thing Gibson Said...

So all summer it has been a battle to get Gibson to wear his sunscreen. It got really bad in Oregon where we had to apply it 2 - 3 times a day since we were outside ALL day. So we had a battle again on Sunday. Then, as we were driving in the car, Gibson started talking about winter and how he likes the snow. Brady said, "you know what winter means, don't you? It means mommy and daddy will be depressed because it's cold." So Gibson gave that some thought and about 5 minutes later he said, "They should have Winterscreen. You put it on your body to keep you warm." What a smart kid! You could almost see the cogs turning in his brain! We told him that he should invent winterscreen so mommy and daddy can be happy in the Utah winters!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

We love visiting the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and have been meaning to go for months now. The $2 Tuesday special was just what we needed to get our butts in gear and get down there! We had a great time. Everything looked so beautiful. And even though there were a lot of people, it wasn't bad because the gardens are SO big (however, I wouldn't recommend trying to go to the museum, etc. on $2 Tues - those were some lines!). We ended the day in the Children's Garden and Gibson and his friends had a ball playing in the water!

Brady and Gibson running down the BIG hill! There was another big hill and I think that Gibson probably ran/rolled/fell down the hills at least 50 times that day!
Brady and Gibson sitting in front of one of the small waterfalls.
Christen and Gibson in front of one of the BIG waterfalls!
Gibson playing in the fountain (and trying not to get splashed by the annoying "babies")!
As I said, we ended our day at the Children's Garden, where they have a huge water playground.We didn't bring any towels, so Gibson, Mason and Tyson dried off in the sun!

A HUGE THANKS!

A HUGE thanks go out to the person who left flowers on my doorstep this morning. Wow! They are absolutely beautiful and completely cheered me up. For those of you who know what we are going through right now, I have been so stressed. These flowers just confirmed that others are thinking of us and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends for support in a time like this. Thanks again - you don't know how much this meant to us.

Quick Update

So... it's been a long time since I've posted anything. But, then again, it's been a long time since I've been home! I had ZERO internet, phone, cell phone, etc. access in Oregon - which was definitely nice in a way. Here's a little bit on what I've been doing since Gibson and I got home.

I could not believe how big my plants had gotten while I was gone! Look at the size of these Hibicus and the vincas (below - in the island). Wow!
We got to babysit Lukas (Courtney's little boy) yesterday! What a cutie! He is 2 1/2 months old and weights almost 16 pounds!