100 Days of holiday cookies

Celtic Festival and Scottish Highland Games 8/8

August 8th we decided to head up to Madras for the "Celtic Festival and Scottish Highland Games", not really knowing what we would find.

There were feats of strength like this one: the caber toss

and the stone puttand drinks... but we stayed away from the ale and opted for the sodas.

Brad with our $3 cans of imported Scottish soda, recommended of course by the guy selling them :D

They WERE very flavorful actually. The one on the left is Ben Shaw's and it is DANDELION AND BURDOCK soda and the other is Blackcurrant. The dandelion one won for the most different taste, and was actually quite tasty although the kids didn't go for it at all. and food... well... Haggis in a can
fun for the kids
and dancing

and singing

and of course bagpipes

(which drove Ethan crazy- guess our Scot blood doesn't flow as thick through him :D)


On our way home we stopped by the Crooked River gorge. We drive over it all the time, but never stop to take a look. It was an amazing 300 foot straight drop down into the gorge. It was quite impressive.

It was very romantic that a train went over the gorge while we were there.

All in all another great Bryan adventure!

Water ski trip- Aug 5

The Sunday after Ethan's baptism I was called to be in the YW Presidency. I was especially thrilled to learn that my first activity would be the youth water ski trip, and when mom and Karl offered to stay an extra day to watch the kids so I could go, I was thrilled.

Here are some girls who went swimming while waiting for their turn on a ski boat. The craziest thing happened while we were waiting... this huge branch of this tree next to where we were sitting just fell off the tree!! It smashed 2 of the 4 shade shelters the group next to us had set up. Going for a tube ride

Our fearless leader

More tubing fun

I know you can't tell, but that's me water skiing!! I was so proud of myself for getting up and staying up as long as I did. I hadn't water skiied since I was 17, so I was both nervous and excited to see if I could do it again. It was exhilarating!!

Now I NEED A BOAT!
Last crew of the day coming in

What an awesome day! I loved it!!

Thanks to everyone who brought boats, skis and various toys to play with. It was PERFECT!

Putting on a show for our visitors

I forgot to add this picture from Saturday night after the baptism party. Ethan was very proud of his cup tower. Sunday after church we decided to take the grandparents up to Todd lake for a picnic and walk around the lake.

Sandra enjoyed dipping her toes in the water
and the kids chased after and gathered tadpoles
lots of 'em
The meadow flowers were so pretty

...and then Brad and Ethan caught a snake... of course

It was a perfect day to be up at the lake

Star had a fun (and very dirty) time too and zonked out on the way home

Sunday night the kids put on a little talent/variety show which was fun.

Mother nature put on an amazing show as well

The sky was beautiful

Star didn't like the thunder though...

Monday Sandra had to fly home in the morning, and in the afternoon we took mom and Karl out to Paulina falls, the Obsidian flow and McKay campground.

Here are the falls, but I didn't take any other pictures since we already have plenty of other pics in these places.

Mom's camera has all the pictures from the obsidian flow and the McKay campground waterfall, and I didn't remember to take them off her camera before she left :(

I DID however get this clip of Karl taking a shower:

While our visitors were here we also played alot of hands of these two games. They are both so fun and we highly recommend them.

and tried to show them a good time by not beating them too badly.
I'm not sure what we did Tuesday (although I'm sure it involved a few hands of cards), then Wednesday was the youth waterski trip (later post) and when we got home we headed out to "Meadow Camp" (where we take everyone) for a cookout

Sadly our last visitors had to leave, but it was great to spend some time together while we could and hope they enjoyed our Central Oregon show.