October Delights

Our Colville kids traveled over the mountains to visit the Westside Aunties and Uncles and oh boy did they load a lot of fun into a few days!

Thomas Family Farm in Snohomish was a great destination for a variety of activities!

A Monster Truck ride!

Sifting for treasures.

The epic Apple gun!

Pumping water for the duckie race.

Putt putt.

And some excavating!

Thomas Family Farms for the win!

I was sent many more photos of this packed long weekend that I will be sharing for my memories of the life and times of our family.

Marcus Ciderfest 2024

It was that apple time of year again and we headed out to Marcus on Saturday to enjoy the small town Ciderfest.

The kids had Jamie’s Thunderbird on display again.

We had another glorious sunny albeit chilly start to the fest.

The Grands enjoyed playing checkers before the parade began and while many folk came around to look at the Thunderbird.

Hi Baba!

Time for the parade!

Here comes Granny Great and Jim. Granny Great threw out a lot of candy for her great grands!

After the parade we stood in line for our caramel apples and a half-gallon of fresh apple cider and headed home.

The views of the Columbia were glorious again this year.

Hope you all have a good new week!

Here at Home

While we were in Scotland life was busy on the mountain. Our Colville family went out to their favorite forest location to down and prep firewood for the winter. The most exciting thing is that while getting more firewood they found the axe that they left behind/lost last season!

Awana had a beach night and the Grands dressed in style for the theme!

This little guy got a haircut. He’s always ready for a snack!

It is so good to receive photos and updates in real time while we are traveling.

Another School Year Begins…

Time for the new school year!

It’s always fun to see their favorites. Busy days ahead with homeschooling and with Co-op.

We had twin fawns visit and I only managed to get one of them in a photo.

I will be hit and miss on the internet and with posting for the next little while. I’ll pop in when I can.

End of the Season

The last game of the summer soccer season for the Bobcats! Jamie captured this great photo with Addy doing her little kickback move with her dad in the background being the coach and the referee. Great season Bobcats and coach Dan!

I have the cutest video of JJ and his end of season scrimmage but I wasn’t able to share it with my photo platform.

These next photos are of the roads we travel back and forth to get to the play fields and to the high school for our Stair climbing fitness times.

We had some sprinkles on the morning I took these.

I love the layers of mountains that we get to enjoy. We are so thankful for our peaceful country views with most of our traffic pauses because of animals crossing the road!

Here in the USA we have our Labor Day Weekend with the Monday holiday. The last hurrah of summer for many. Our schools start next week here in Colville. Our Fall programs at church begin next week, too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Hodgepodge Full of Cliches!

We made it to our little Country Fair Parade on Saturday morning. We were only sprinkled on and didn’t get wet…just sprinkled. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’ Our Grands were able to gather a bunch of candy as the different participants in the parade threw the treats to the sides of Main street. Our Fire department starts the parade off with their sirens and such and that is why Addy and JJ have their ear protection on! ‘Better Safe than Sorry’

Onward to our questions of the week…

Yikes! It’s the last Wednesday Hodgepodge for August! Thank you to Jo, From This Side of the Pond, for the questions that ‘give us a run for our money‘.

1. What is one cliche you think is nonsense?

‘Easy as pie’, for me, is nonsense. Getting the pie crust just right and making a great pie without a ‘soggy bottom’ is not easy for me. I wasn’t raised with a pie baking mom so making a pie has always been intimidating. That said, I do appreciate my pie making friends and their great pies with the crust being just right!

What’s one you think holds truth?  

‘Ugly as sin’ Sin is ugly and has caused all the trouble we’ve ever seen in our world or will ever see. So thankful that God made a way for us to be out from under it’s condemnation! That way came through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for our sin. Colossians 1:13-14: For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

2. What’s the last thing you broke and how did it happen? 

Recently, I knocked a stemless wine glass off my little side table and it shattered and traveled to many places unknown. The glass did not have wine in it, it was empty which was a good thing! It was a cheap variety of glass, too, not a Riedel, (if you know, you know). ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk’

3. Are you a fan of s’mores? Have you had a s’more this summer?

Not a fan and no I haven’t had a s’more this summer.

Last thing you ate that you wanted to ask for ‘s’more of’

A Scone with lemon curd. ‘One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s poison’

4. A mode of transportation you’ve never tried? Will you someday? 

I’ve never tried a Hover board and I will never try them. I’m at the ‘it’s too easy to break a hip’ stage of life! ‘Don’t Play With Fire’

5. Believe it or not, next week’s Hodgepodge lands in a brand new month. What’s your happiest memory from the month we’re bidding adieu? 

My favorite part of August was when Josh and Laura came for a 4 day visit in the middle of the month. All the gathering moments together were sweet and it’s always good to spend time together ‘face to face’.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of Josh and Laura, they celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary this past Sunday.

This is what I posted on Facebook about them…
Thanking God today for your twenty third wedding anniversary Josh and Laura!
We are so thankful to God for creating each of you and bringing you together, the very best of teams. Your generosity and caring hearts have helped so many. Your niece and nephews’ lives have been enriched with your love and care and generosity! May God continue to strengthen you in Him and with each other and in the ‘Body of Christ’! We love you, we love you, we love you!
Pops and I will take you out for dinner in Scotland to celebrate…soon!!
Happy Cliche Hodgepodge y’all. I hope to get around to most of you this week. Wow! Labor Day weekend is just ahead of us. Put on those white shoes and celebrate those remaining days of summer!

On the Water

On Saturday the 17th of August an afternoon boat adventure became reality. The younger set filled up all the seats on the boat for a cruise and landing on a beach. Gramps and Baba relaxed and recuperated at home.

Enjoying the best that summer offers in our own backyard! The weekend and Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo’s visit was coming to an end.

We all gathered at church on Sunday morning and Josh and Laura hit the road for home right after the service ended. Till next time, adieu!

Last Saturday

Saturday morning the 17th of August we hit the Rotary Trail at 9am.

JJ was determined that Uncle Joshie would get him a Cat Tail from the trail.

The Battle of the Cat Tails!

Father and son #1. Our 2nd son was working this Saturday.

After our walk Greg and I headed home while the rest of our crew headed up to Bayles Mountain. An outing on the water was planned for after Dan’s work hours. That post is coming soon.

The Rotary Trail runs along and through the golf course and it is beside the high school and our little Colville airport. We noticed this huge craft at the air field. We’ve had several air resources around to help with the fires in our region.

Back to the current Saturday we had a nice amount of rain overnight and a lot of wind. There were many power outages around our county. Thankfully we weren’t part of any outages. Hopefully the storm aided instead of created more fire danger. The Fair is in town since Thursday and runs through Sunday. Greg and I went to the Fair on Thursday morning. Boise Cascade, a local company, pays for the first 1200 fair goers on Thursday and we were 2 of those 1200! There is a Fair parade this morning and I’ll meet up with our Grands for that. Other than that it will be a quiet Saturday.

Mornings around here are feeling more and more like Fall. Enjoy your last full weekend in August.

More August Fun on Friday

Friday morning the 16th of August we had Greg’s famous Swedish Pancakes for breakfast at Our Country Bungalow.

Our daughters in law were twinsies without planning it.

The three of us took off to do a little shopping while the guys stayed at our country bungalow. We couldn’t resist trying on these beauties off the sale rack. They did not come home with us but gave us a chuckle.

While we were gone the guys and Addy did some clearing of fallen branches on our property for which I was very thankful.

They finished that task and decided it was time to scale the mountain behind our home. We own part of Rattlesnake mountain and it was fun to hear about this trek up the mountain using game trails to traverse the steepness. Here is the team of four who took the climb!

Here are the views looking back down on our home.

It was fun to see these views without having to make the climb!

Friday night we enjoyed hamburgers at the Colville kids’ home.

Earlier a couple chickens got loose and they were tracked down and put back where they belong.

A little basketball and more shenanigans before dinner.

I could have gotten my days mixed up with all these photos.

After dinner and on our way back to our home we couldn’t resist snapping these photos from their driveway.

We all wonder when that great old barn is going to collapse.

Good night, Colville.

Saturday was another good day in Colville filled with fun in the sun. That will be another post or two.

Happy last full weekend of August!

Four Full Days in August!

Wednesday evening August 14th Uncle and Auntie arrived just at the end of soccer practice. We enjoyed dinner out at Rancho Chico before resting up for a full Thursday.

Bright and early Thursday morning the brothers had a tee time.

 

On Thursday after throwing some roasts in the slow cooker we headed to Bayles Mountain for lunch. The guys were there already after golfing 18 holes.

We had home made sourdough pita bread and tzatziki with steak and with the fresh veggies from the garden.

Everyone gathered back to our place in the afternoon after Addy’s dance practice.

We had dinner early and then some outdoor activities.

Mama deer was outside, too, and very interested in this little guy who got a kick out of seeing her so close. The Aronia Berries were ripe for the picking and everyone had a chance to get their hands stained purple.

While outside I got stung by one of these. The Yellow Jackets and hornets are in abundance this summer and they are aggressive. Our traps have been filling up quickly. Lots of chatter on our county sites about how to get rid of them!

Addy’s Soccer games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30. Our son is coaching which makes it even more fun to watch. We piled into our vehicles and headed to the soccer fields.

Turned out that there was not a referee available so our son Josh stepped in for that role. Triple the fun watching Dan Coach, Addy play and Josh referee!

Go Addy!

Great job, Bobcats, Coach and Referee!!

I had to add a few more photos that I missed the first time around!

Thank you to Auntie Lolo for all the great photos!!

And that was Thursday. Friday and Saturday were two more full days that I’ll post about later this week.