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10 months later

Where have the last 10 months gone? Here is a quick glimpse of July through December 2010.

July

Picnic in the mountains

September

A new baby girl added to our family

Parent's first night out - leaving the bean with us.

One new BLA officially added to the family

October

Budding Soccer Stars

G'rats family at the zoo. Grandma A came down from SD and we all met at the zoo.

November

Hunting trip with a break for geocaching

Thanksgiving Day Races

December

Wrapped up warm to look at the Temple lights

Family Home Evening Christmas Cookie Baking One newest baby boy

Everyone together to celebrate Christmas.

Washington State in June

Solo Point, this is where the Bear starts his PT. Quite an uphill run from here. We saw lots of itty bitty crabs, a jelly fish, and millions of barnacles at low tide.















Up the hill to the old Insane Asylum. Glad it wasn't still there or they may have wanted to keep me.















At the entrance to Mt. Rainier. Have to love camera's with timers. Am I really this fat, it must be the camera lens?















Paradise on Mt. Rainier, or it will be after the summer thaw. We looked at the beautiful pictures of this spot on the internet and didn't think about the fact that those pictures were taken at a much later date. We did get to see the Mountain from a distance, which not everyone gets to do in June.















In the grove of the Patriarch's with the 1000 year old trees (yep abe and I felt right at home).















One goonie girl enjoying the view near the Goonie rock's on the 25th anniversary celebration of this historic movie...
















Enjoying the views at bridal veil falls with one of our favorite people.




















Right from WOW...















Beautiful ripe berries over a fast running stream.




















Seattle Temple (Just in case you can't read the words on the sign)















We had some time to kill before we got to the airport and we found a brown sign showing us the way to a scenic place. So we drove off the freeway and found the "Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection". The price for the tour was within our budget (free dollars) so we parked and strolled among some really cool Bonsai trees. This one is over 400 years old. Well worth your time if you are ever just a little south of the Sea Tac Airport and have some time to kill.

January to May

Resting on a 7 mile hike in January















Abraham boys never run out of energy even after our long hike















A day to remember in February















Building Snow Persons in February















Sledding on a perfect day




















Ski bunny??















Welcome Boy Four to the family in March














Working up hunger on ice cream for Easter






























Just swinging on Easter















First Easter Eggs















Boy cousins















Smiling Boy Four in April















May at the Zoo - Madison the tour guide















Resting near the petting zoo

The end of 2009

Happy 33rd Anniversary - Welcome Baby Boy Three to the family















Petroglyphs in November















Coloring for Thanksgiving















Temple Lights in December















Hiking South Mountain last week of December

Windows

We decided to put new windows in our summer home, so we had someone come and measure them. Since there were quite a few sales, we got them cheaper than we thought we might. So, we are replacing 16 windows. This should be a great thing right?

They were scheduled to come and do the install on Thursday. I knew they had my cell number so I went to work early to get a few things done, they would call when they got the the house right??? Anyway I didn't get a call so I decided that I must have given them the wrong day. About noon I found out that my phone was not working that morning and I had over 6 voice messages - 3 were from the installers. So plan B, they would come Friday morning. Friday afternoon abe was leaving for the Father & Sons and I had thought I could take the girls out and do something fun. Not with installers here, so Friday night they finally left at 7 and I went and bought something for supper. I did take the dog for a walk and scared the installers as they didn't realize that I had taken the dog and they were looking everywhere for him.

Even better, they wanted to come back at 6:30 am Saturday morning, so no sleeping in on this day. Since this house was built over a period of years, none of the existing windows was installed the same. The installers have really gotten frustrated, but it will be great once it is done.

I can't go too far from home today as they are here. Can't really do anything in my house either, and can't even relax and watch TV. Oh, well abe should be home soon so at least I will have someone to talk to. Poor, poor me..

Wednesday - or as we called it Bri's day

Guess what we had for breakfast??? Yep, same old same old. This was the day we planned to take Bri for a drive. I had to stop and email the pics as well as download a few geocaches in Minnesota to add to our day. We left Bri and Melly at the hotel while we went to pick up Auntie Dee since we were going to have to drive right by the hotel anyway.

On to Flandreau, where we saw a covered wagon train going through the main part of town. The first wagon said something about Pipestone days on the side of it. We went to check out a geocache we had missed the last time we were in the area, but we still didn’t have much luck with this one.

We drove to Pipestone and the Pipestone National Monument. Melly slept all the way there and also while we walked the ¾ mile trail around the park. We stopped and took pictures of flowers and other interesting sites. The two ladies sat in the car and Melly stayed with them. The weather was nice enough for that and we left them in the shade with the windows down. Auntie Dee did worry when we were gone. She thought something had happened to us. We stopped by the pond where the Hiawatha pageant in held every year and took pictures of the rocks there.

A lady that works at the assisted living home told us to go to Lange’s café in Pipestone. She told us that they had great pie. I didn’t think we would be able to find this specific place, especially as I couldn’t remember the name of it. But as we were driving around (looking for a geocache) we found the café and bakery. They have their pie in a display case at the front and one of the pies that was obvious was Sour Cream Raisin with Meringue. My all time favorite pie. Bri and I shared a meal so we could have dessert. Melly slept through most of the meal. Auntie Dee of course wasn’t hungry, but could eat a sundae. They had really good food and the best type of ice. They brought us a pitcher of water and Bri and I drank most of it.

We found one geocache and then a second one before heading out of town. We were back on the road in no time and realized we still had quite a while before we were supposed to meet Russ in Sioux Falls. Melly had slept when we crossed the state line so we had to find a state line sign to get her picture by. We drove into Jasper and weren’t sure if we had missed the sign but then we noticed a sign that said “State Line three miles”. We took a little detour just so we could take a picture by the sign.

Enough time for Garretson and Devil’s Gulch. This place is great and the cost is right; it is free. We left a donation and we also left the ladies in the car. Melly came with us this time and we walked the ½ mile loop around the Gulch. Afterward we parked the car close enough to the sign and made them get out so we could get a picture of all of us near the sign. All we had to do was balance the camera on the car and set the timer. Not the best, but not too bad either.

Arriving in Sioux Falls and we still had over an hour so we drove to Falls Park. We were hoping to get Madders a gift, but they didn’t have anything she would enjoy. We did take some pics at the top of the observation tower and near the falls. Again, our two ladies didn’t get out of the car and Melly was asleep again.

We got to the restaurant almost 30 minutes early, but Russ showed up early as well so we were able to get seated quickly. We ate and visited until almost eight P.M. It was a nice leisurely meal and we were near the bathroom and away from the main flow of traffic.

Ahead of us was the drive back to Madison, on to Mone town then back to Madison. We dropped off Bri and Melly as Melly was getting tired of being in the car. She had been really good for most of the day and had even let her mom enjoy her meal, she just sat in a high chair while we ate.

Knowing we had to pack up and wanted to get away early the next morning we didn’t want to stay up too late.