First Day of School 2021

Everyone is all ready for school!

Jack didn't want to pose for me on the first day of school so I snagged this a few weeks later.

Seems like this year is going to be great! Mark seems less nervous about school. It's weird not having Maxine start school. 

 

Backyard Chair Fix

This is a little random but I fixed this chair the other day. I bought these chairs used and one had a bent leg. When I tried to straighten in, it broke off. I bought 7 of these metal chairs so they could stay outside by the fire pit and the whole family would have a seat. Then I broke one. I was bugged. I kept it around with the idea of trying to fix it. 

I ended up ignoring it until Maxine said she wanted to have a party outside with some friends. I had an idea of bracing the leg with a rod and bolting a piece of metal on both side of the break. It's perfect! I think it will last for a long time like that! And that is why I love fixing things! Making something useful again makes me feel good!

 

Mark vs. Nerf Dart

Summer has filled my house with tons of neighborhood kids! We have a basement and that's a great place to hang out and have Nerf wars. During one such battle, Mark got a Nerf dart in the eye! He was crying and so I brought him upstairs and put a wet washcloth on his eye, in hopes of calming him. When he allowed me to inspect it, I realized his eye might need some medical attention. His iris was filling with blood. It was already 5:15 p.m., late for an optometrist office to be open. I didn't feel like taking him to the E.R. because they'd look at it and refer me to an eye doc. 

I opened Google and searched for ANY open optometrist office. Luckily, one was open until 6:30 p.m. I called and asked if they could squeeze us in or if we should go to the E.R. I was told to bring him into their office. This is the picture I took as we got into the car. The blood is partially covering his pupil. Mark said it orange-tinted his vision but he could see okay. Eyes are important and that's a little unnerving. 

We waited and the doctor examined his eye. He thought it would be okay but wanted to get a second opinion from the St. George Eye Center. They prescribed 3 different types of eye drops, one to dilate his eye, one to reduce swelling and inflammation, and one for to reduce the pressure. This is the first night. The dilation makes his eye look crazy. He had to sleep with his head elevated to help drain the blood.

We saw a specialist the next day. He was advised to take it really easy during the next 7 days, so as not to reinjure the eye. If it bleeds again, it could be very difficult to stop.

He was told to be the ultimate couch potato and watch a lot of tv. I banned him from rough housing and riding his bike. We bought him some sunglasses and told him to be careful. 

Update: It took about 6 days for all the blood to disappear. We went to a follow-up appointment after 8 days and he got the green light to resume normal activities! We are keeping up two of the drops for another week but he'll make a full recovery. Yay!

Mikayla in Maxine's Baptism Dress

Summer means random games at our house. Juliet and Mikayla dug out all the baptism dresses to play a wedding-dress-shopping game. We decided Mikayla should be wearing these dresses because she fits! Today she wore Maxine's dress to church. It was made by Grandma Campbell.

 

Hiking the Subway

Once upon a time, Merril and I took Maxine down the Subway when a family member told us there was no way you could take a little baby on that hike.

Merril's brother, Jared, helped us by packing a little inflatable raft and we floated Maxine over the cold water sections. This was September 2003, she was 10 months old. A park ranger seeing us exiting the hike said, "That might be the youngest person I've ever seen on the Subway!" We were stubborn, proud parents of that achievement.

Fast forward 18 years and Maxine, Jack, and Merril were invited to hike the subway by Ellen's Dad, Daniel Fagergren.

The subway is a pretty hard hike. Estimates range from 8.0 miles to 12 miles long. 

There's stunning scenery and a few rappels. 

The water is cold and mostly unavoidable, unless you bring an inflatable raft. They had to get wet and stay wet in a slot canyon. It's so nice to find a place to dry off and warm up.

Merril was a cutie pie and recreated this photo of Maxine, me, and him.

It's adorable: Maxine, Merril and Ellen!

It started raining as they were finishing, not the best situation in a slot canyon, but they were out of the most dangerous sections by then.

Maxine was sore for a few days but she made it. She might tell you it's better when one gets carried the whole way and get to ride in a raft. 

Tinkers

All my red-shirt boys tinkering on stuff in the garage. It just cracks me up. 🤣

 

Oregon Coast for Salmon Fishing

A while back, search and rescue hiked up Water Canyon and rescued a couple from Oregon. They run a fishing charter business. Hiking down, the couple gave out cards and said if anyone was ever in Oregon, they would take them salmon fishing for free. Merril was planning to be in Oregon to work the radios for a race near Mt. Rainier. He asked if I might be able to break away for the weekend and fly up to meet him and we'd fish and see the Oregon Coast. Absolutely! Wade heard about it and asked if he and Sheri could come because Wade was on that rescue as well. Fine by me! I flew into Portland, OR and Merril and I got some Voodoo Doughnuts. 

We met up with Sheri and Wade the next day and we drove from Portland, OR to the coast. We stopped at an dirigible (blimb) air museum that was pretty awesome. We checked into our hotel at Otter Creek and got some groceries for the next few days. 

I was a little nervous for the next day because I've only been on the ocean in big boats. I didn't want to get seasick but didn't want to take dramamine and be asleep the whole day either. I bought some ginger lozenges, pretzels, and read up on how to keep seasickness away.

We had to be on the boat bright and early the next morning. I sent a bunch of cold weather gear with Merril so I had snow pants and my snow coat. It was still a little cold with the ocean spray at 6:00 a.m. We rode in the boat for about 45 minutes to reach the salmon fishing grounds. 

Luckily the weather was fantastic! Low waves and little wind. I kept breathing and keeping my eyes on the horizon. I did have a moment when I felt queasy but I was able to breathe my way out of it and nibble some pretzels. Most of the time I was doing great! Merril and Wade had a moment as well but none of us had to throw up so that's a win!

We were able to catch and keep two hatchery salmon a piece. All the native salmon had to be thrown back. The fishing was fantastic! We had four poles in the water and there was almost always one that needed to be reeled in. A lot of the fish were native salmon and had to be thrown back and some flipped off the non-barbed hooks. Part way through the day, a pod of humpback whales neared the boat. That was awesome!

We stayed out until we caught our limit and headed back around noon. Dave Petersen was our guide and he cleaned the fish and we put them in our cooler. I think I got a little sunburned.

Afterwards we visited a lighthouse and some tidepools.

Then we went back and had a nap. Later we explored the beach near our hotel.

We found a ton of wild blackberries called marionberries. Wade's trying to get some without getting thorns.

We stayed at the Inn at Otter Crest. They had several hydrangeas growing.

The Oregon coast is beautiful. A little cold too. I wore pants, long sleeves and my down jacket the whole time.

The next day we found this cool bridge.

We drove up to a viewpoint and could see our hotel.

Then we drove back to Portland so Wade, Sheri, and I could catch a flight and Merril had to drive all the way home. It was a great little trip! We'll have fish when we get home!

Jack Caught a Snake!

I think snakes are cute and Jack caught the most adorable baby snake the other night. Summer evenings often finds us outside. Kids are playing and parents are chatting. Jack noticed this little guy making his way up the gutter and caught him. It's so small! All the neighborhood kids played with the snake and then we let him go. 🐍

 

4th of July Fireworks on the Lake

Last year, Dave and Shelly Howard posted pictures of them watching fireworks from the water. They used their paddleboards and kayaks. We decided to try it this year and it was fantastic! The pictures are garbage though. 😂😂

After taking some pictures, I put my phone away and just watched. We kept drifting closer to the fireworks. The sound echoed off the rock island and surrounding mountains. 

After it was over, we paddled back to the dock, which in hindsight was a little dangerous. Our kayaks and paddleboards and tubes didn't have lights and it wasn't very safe. I think if we do it next year, we would paddle to the island, park the kayaks and watch from there. Even though I was sitting in a tube and half wet, that was one of my favorite fireworks displays to watch! ⭐🎆🎇 Fantastic!

Laub Ranch

We put on our most patriotic outfits and headed out to the Laub Ranch.

The kids posing on the tree.

For the crazy war song, Juliet played the ukulele, Maxine and I played guitar, and Merril played the mandolin. Duncan, Justin and Rachel's son, was playing with the ukulele after we were done. It was cute. That ukulele is nothing special so I wasn't worried about him playing with it.