Setting sun

Yesterday on the way home from Odin's gymnastics practice, we noticed how low in the sky the sun appeared. The days are getting shorter, and for some reason it took me until yesterday to notice. We have one more week of summer around here. For Odin school starts right after Labor Day.

Since returning from Michigan we have been able to fill our summer with great things. The day after our flight home we went to the county fair.  It was fun watching the FFA and 4H kiddos show their (unruly) animals.

We took a trip up to the Skagit River for a day trip on the river. It was a great day to be out on the water.

Last week Odin and I went to Horse camp! I volunteered for the week and helped out and took some pictures. It was at the farm where I am training Zarah. She has come a long way recently and I was very pleased that she was able to be used for the camp.

The eye says it all!

So what are our plans for the next week and a half? One day at a time. Tomorrow's plan is to go to the farm and then on a bike ride. Over the weekend we plan to go to a sandcastle festival downtown.  And a little savoring the moment I think. . .

Michigan

The past week has flown by. Odin and I went to visit my parents in Michigan. The first couple of days were a bit stormy and I wondered if we would get adequate pool time. Not to worry, we got plenty. We also played with flying toys, legos, watched Olympics and had an all around great time.

Fun Fun Fun in Michigan

The diving board was all he could talk about before this trip. It took until the last day for him to decide to jump. He loved it and decided to do another!

In the company of Giants

Two weekends ago we stayed home. We had no big plans. We survived it, but were determined to do something next weekend. So on Friday John and I still were a bit undecided on what to do. He really wanted to canoe the Hoh River. I thought it was a great idea but we were a day late in planning. The river is far away and we were not packed up or headed out. In the end  we drove up to Olympic National Park and checked out the Hoh River. Camped in a lush temperate rainforest (it did in fact rain) and did some hikes.  We were unable to check out the entirety of the park, but we got a pretty good handle of the Hoh River and Rainforest. Would we go back? For sure!

 We stopped by the beach on the way home. It was almost the nicest day we have spent on the beach since we moved here. It was so lovely.

Last stage of Montana Trip - a Wedding!

Mardell and Jon's wedding was the reason for our entire trip earlier this month. We had such a great time.
Here are a few of the highlights!

I did my hair for the wedding at like 9 am.

There were youtube videos involved.

This is well after 9pm! Still pretty tight, and I only used one bobby pin.

Yellowstone

After a beautiful night at Craters of the moon, we pushed onto to Montana. We camped on the edge of Hegben lake for two nights and during the day explored Yellowstone park. There was swimming, animal sightings, Geo-thermal feature viewing, hiking and  lots of roadside lunches.

Volcano Tour

Last week the Thielings were on vacation. Some great friends were getting married in Montana, so on the way out the the wedding we camped while looking and playing in neat and volcanic landscapes.
 
We drove to Boise the first day and stayed in a hotel. Then we went on to Craters of the Moon. I had been before in college with my family and also went back with a roommate. This time we stayed the night at the campground and saw much more of the park.

Where's Waldo?