Camping Trip
Hola! Kids and fam (most of them) all arrived at Laurence Lake at the base of Mt Hood on Thursday for our annual family gathering (3 yrs running). I joined them Friday after I packed car, etc. so I got up at about 1:30 AM-sorry guys! Saturday had just about everyone there, but Aaron who arrived in the wee hours later that night. (Work! What a crimp it puts in plans!) Saturday was spent swimming, kayaking, swimming some more, eating, hiking to Tamakalla (?) Falls, and swimming again. Lee and Cindy had brought a colossal inflatable "island" that just defied "cool". The lake just would not have been as fun as it was without this "island"! :) Also on Saturday Noah and Cameron went rock-climbing with Lee and Cindy, while the girls, Nanna, Amanda, Tristan and I went for a small hike to a large waterfall. Amanda and I ended up "back"-packing our kids! (lol) Also, on Saturday Lee put Cindy and I through part of her training session that she has with a private trainer; it kills! Amazingly I was able to somewhat keep up, but Lee was just mind-blowing; she is getting her money worth...I still hurt while walking and it is 3 days later.
On Sunday the kids swam again, and Cindy and Lee took Sarah, Aunt Pris. and I to the rock that they had taken the boys' too. It was absolutely addicting! I fell in love with rock-climbing all over again. (Bring it On!) Sarah did excellent despite her bleeding finger and made-love to the rock like a woman should! :) (only joking Sarah *smirk*) And Cindy just made me stand in awe of her...she climbs like a freak, despite her shaky legs! :) Lee got sick and than we all spent the rest of the evening trying to guess just what IT was: did she drink too much creek water? Did she inhale too much lake water? Did she get food sickness? Can't say that there isn't any love in this family. (lol)
On Monday it had narrowed down to just a few, basically mom, myself, the kids, Aunt Car., Amanda, and her kids. Did some more swimming and kayaking and sometime in the later part of the day we packed a few of us to hike on the Mount. Amanda graciously offered to watch the two younger ones (and Cameron stayed too) while the rest of us hiked up Mt. Hood to leave a part of Jon on the Mount. We drove up to Tilly Jane Campground and hiked along Tr.600-A (head left) till it met with the Cooper Spur/Timberline Trail Junction. Once there I located a large boulder (on your left) where Noah and I built a cairn to take a picture of the ashes I have of Jon, and Mom thought it was an apprioprate place to also put Jon's ashes. I did not spread my ashes yet, but mom had brought a small amount (there is ALOT of him) and we placed him under a rock under the big boulder. If you go to see the boulder (and hopefully the cairn will be allowed to stay) please tread VERY carefully since we committed a eco-no.no. and were walking on Alpine meadow soil to get to the boulder. (Noah commented that it felt like a rubber mat; very bouncy.) As we were up there the weather started to turn, and as we finished placing his ashes the rain started to come down. Today I learned that in Russian folklore this is a sign of a blessing; that when it rains at either a wedding or a funeral it is considered a good omen. Which is neat because coming down the mountain in the rain ~felt~ right. We got to listen to thunder and watch some lightening as we descended back down to the car. We all just went to bed when we got back to camp because Amanda was the hero of the day; she had saved all our gear from getting wet by covering it up or stashing it into tents. So we all could relax and go to bed.
Today we spent too much time packing up the cars, and I drove to Mario's where she is currently preparing a feast for us while I type away like a lazy fiend on her computer. Hannah and Jennie have become the best of friends and are off playing 'girlfriends and boyfriends at school' somewhere, while Natalie and Aidan are watching a Barbie (Princess and the Pauper) movie and start dancing together whenever the music/song starts to play. Too cute! Noah is keeping Newton company, and watching Uncle Derek play his online game. But, I should go do SOMETHING!
Well, I will now leave you with pics. Thanks for the chat!
Post note: okay I won't leave you with pics because I am working on a STUPID computer! But, I'll try again this evening...
3 Comments:
You need to get your stories straight, Aunt Carolyn went with you, sarah, liorah, and cindy rock climbing
Noooo...she did not. She went with Lee, Cindy AND the boys'.
the computer's not stupid, there just isn't any bandwidth leftover for uploading when the guys are playing their game. unless you're talking about the one at mom's in which case i keep my mouth closed.
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