Crater Lake & Harry and David Aug 26 &27

August 25 our family headed out for a little mini-vaca and checked out Crater Lake (about 90 min. from Bend).

The lake is SO BLUE, it is hard to describe.

At 2000 feet deep it is the deepest lake in the U.S.

It is a caldera filled only by precipitation, hence it's pure clarity.

I thought about packing a lunch, but read there were dining options available.

Um, not next time... we paid 4 BUCKS for a PB & J!!!
So pretty... you can drive all around the rim of the lake

Along our drive on the rim

These were called the pinnacles

Interesting volcanic fumaroles

After Crater Lake we headed into Medford.

Here is the princess travelling light.

She is carrying 4 bags in this pic, and I had to take her shoes for her for our 2 night stay!!

Medford is the home of Harry and David.

Their pear orchard is in Medford as is their production plant, so the next day we went on the free tour they offered. It was really interesting.

EVERYTHING is packaged by hand!!

I'd never seen anything like it... lots and lots and lots of food and candy!

Here is a woman tying bows by hand!

Now I have a better appreciation for and know why their products are rather pricey.

Making "Moose Munch" Yum!!

At the end of our tour we got a little treat. Mmmm!

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and recommend it to anyone heading out to Medford.

While in Medford we were also able to catch up with Brad's colleague, Po, from Boston, and his fiance, so that was a nice treat too.

Abby's 6th Birthday

On August 24th we celebrated Abby's 6th birthday.

In attendance were Isaac, Ethan, Chole, McKenzie, Carson, Kennedy and Taylor Abby helped decorate her puppy cake.

I thought it turned out cute!

The party guests

Grandpa's first visit without snow: Aug 16-25

As part of our backyard improvements we have finally bought a firepit and chairs for everyone to sit on. It only took us 2 years... I know... sad.

The kids were having a great time having rolling races in the backyard until they noticed they were getting tiny cuts from the grass. In an effort to protect themselves they donned the carrying totes for our chairs and continued to roll around in the grass... weirdos! Dad chillin' by our new fire pitGoofin' around in the yard

Ethan's first cub scout activity was the Space Derby. The boys and their siblings were invited to make rockets to later race with the other boys and their families.

This was a great activity and kept them engaged in sanding, glueing, shaping and painting for the better part of the afternoon. This was a great grandpa activity too since he spent a good 10 years as a cub scout leader in the 80's. Sadly I do not have a picture of Ethan with his finished product, and I was unable to attend the actual Space Derby which sounded fun. The real hit however was not the Space Derby itself but the awesome backyard it was hosted in. Check it out...
Aug 19 Space Derby



We took dad up to Sparks Lake
where it got a little toasty, and Abby and Ethan engaged in a little sibling rivalry

Abby lookin' for frogs

Caught one! (actually a bunch :D)

Saturday August 22nd we headed out to the Central Oregon Airshow.

It was a perfect day for an airshow. Not too hot at all (notice we ALL have chairs!! :D)

Grandpa's always up for an airshow.

It was a pretty small scale airshow. This was the only jet they had, but it was still a fun, entertaining afternoon.

We also went floating down the river, but it is a bit risky taking the camera down the river, so we don't have pictures of our float trip I'm afraid.

It was nice having dad visit with some nice weather. The only time he has visited us in the last 8 years was in the winter, so it was great to go out and have some summer fun!

First snow fall?? on Oct. 4th???

This morning we woke up at 6:45am to Ethan jumping on our heads telling us: "Get up! Get up! Come see I wrote my name in the snow... It's snowing outside!" I thought there was maybe a skiff of snow (it IS after all OCT. 4TH), and then Ethan threw up the blinds to show us the accumulation outside, and it was a pretty good snow!

The kids were so giddy with excitement to go out and play in the snow. I think there is nothing like the excitement of kids on the first day of snow. They are so thrilled, it's just like they've seen it again for the first time. It is so fun!!
The first snowfall is always so fun... especially so when it was so unexpected!

It continued to snow until early afternoon and we ended up with a couple inches of snow to play with in the afternoon.

It was especially nice that it was General Conference today, so we didn't have to go to church and could stay at home with the fire and hot chocolate :-D

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!