Fun at the Lake

Aww, I love this picture.

We had fun taking the Far G & G and Blake to Lake Tahoe.

I thought the bark on this tree looked sort of jigsaw-puzzle-ish.

It was a cool day at Tahoe, still early in the season, but the boys didn't care.

Hey, whatch you lookin' at?

The animals at the beach were rather bold, as most creatures at a populated park are.

The video below makes me laugh for a couple of reasons.  One is because of how the chipmunk looks when it eats--it's twitching nose is especially funny to me.  Two, is because of how Onion Ring freaks out at the end.

Witness the "Chipmunk Whisperer" below:

Visitors

The Far Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Blake came to visit us about a month before school let out.  The first thing we did was go hang out at the Bucket of Blood Saloon because that's our favorite place to go hang out.  Just kidding!  It was just a fun place to take a picture when we went to visit Virginia City.

Because of course we took the Far Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Blake to see Virginia City.

We took an underground mine tour of the "Best and Belcher" mine.  The entrance was located in the Ponderosa Saloon right in the middle of town and the mine went under the town and into the hillside.

This is the emergency escape route.  Luckily, we didn't have to use it.

We also checked out the Virginia City graveyard.  Hmmm, I guess the theme this time was "under the ground".

We think above ground is best.

Hello, Unc!

Two years ago, Uncle Blake departed from his home and life as he knew it, and began a new life as a missionary for the LDS church.  Having finished his service in Missouri and returned home, we were eager to see him again.  So we took a little (11-12 hour drive--aagh!) trip to the Far Grandma and Grandpa's house a few weeks ago (sadly, sans Brandon--he was very busy at work).

It turns out that Uncle Blake served well and had an excellent time being a missionary (except for when he face-planted onto the asphalt after a brief flight off of his bike and then had to have a new tooth implanted into his jaw).  It was fun to hear about his experiences and we also got to hear him speak about it at church service.

I think Blake was a little disturbed by the fact that he and Onion Ring are now the same height.

It was fun to take some time off of school and the normal routine and play at the Far Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We got to visit Great Grandma Norma.  She showed us a slide show of her trip to the Arctic where she saw a lot of walruses, birds, and polar bears.  It looked like an awesome trip!

This is Uncle Mountain Man Tyler and Jessica.  Tyler (along with his cross country teammates) is preparing to enter a mustache contest.  When contest time comes, he will shave off everything but the mustache.  I can't wait to see.

Great Grandma Ellen even came!

She got her 90 year-old self onto a plane and cruised on over to stay for a few days.  She doesn't look much older than 75, does she?

Welcome home, Blake!

For Your Viewing Enjoyment...

While at the Far Grandma and Grandpa's, Buttermilk Sky shows off his amazing piano skills and Eggs on Toast shows off his excellent dancing skills:

Climbing Badger Mountain

Yes, we climbed the mountain again.  I guess this is becoming tradition now.

It was a beautiful day for a mountain climb...uh, hike.  Sorry.  I just can't resist joking about this hill "mountain".  See?  There I go again.  Apparently, I have become a mountain snob, living in the shadow of the Rockies.

But it was a perfect day.  Clear, blue skies, the air just a little cool.

Yes!  We made it to the top.

Below are views of the northeast side.  You can see the Columbia River.

And below are views of the Southwest side.

On this side you can see the Far Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood.

And here is their house.

Palouse Falls

The Far Grandma and Grandpa also took us to see Palouse Falls.  This is on the Palouse River, shortly before it flows into the Snake River, and is about an hour and a half drive from the Far Grandma and Grandpa's house.

This was our first time to visit this waterfall, and it was amazing.  It was huge!

Want to see pure insanity?  Check out this video I found:

I love the different expression on each boy's face in the picture below.

This expression wins the prize for the day.

The boys wanted me to take a picture of the critter below.  Can you see it?

The terrain here was Grand Canyon-esque.  It was so beautiful.

Once again, the boys brought their filming gear and shot some more scenes for their movie.  I think this movie is going to be epic.