Summer Road Trip, Part 3: The Fourth

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than to have a picnic at the beach? We couldn't think of any, so we called up Andrea's brothers and had them meet us at the Sandy Point beach just below the Lucky Peak reservoir dam. We had a fine time.

Anya looked her patriotic best.

The kids get in some quality sand time while we wait for the rest of the crew to arrive. We got to the park early because we knew it would be crowded later. We were right.

The park has a great beach and a nice protected swimming area. The water is separated from the river channel so stays a little warmer, but is still quite 'refreshing'. Miranda, Anya and Mia work on a sand castle while Paxton floats on by.

Little punkin'head Luke was all smiles. Andrea's wide angle lens makes his head look enormous.

The crew, getting ready to enjoy some sandwiches. When all these kids grow up we might have to roast a pig or something to feed them all.

Stuart and Dad find a shady spot to visit.

Cheryl and I find a sunny spot to stuff our faces.

The cool trio; Shanna, Sam and Joel.

Hunter and Kenrick practice the fine art of floating.

Some of us reconvened at Sam's place later that evening to watch the fireworks. First up, a local show hosted by Cooper.

I wanted to get some pictures of the fireworks later that evening, so I practiced a bit on the smaller stuff. In some ways the picture is more impressive than the real thing.

We walked down the road from Sam's place and found a grassy spot to watch the show. The fireworks in Meridian are launched from the local race track, so the view is pretty good from anywhere in the general vicinity.

I put the camera on a tripod and set it so that I could hold the shutter open. I got a few decent shots.

OOohh, saaay can youuu sEEE.....

Happy Birthday America!

Summer Road Trip, Part 2: Fish Tails

On the Tuesday morning before the Fourth, my brother Sam and my cousin Joel and I got up early and skipped across the Oregon border to Lake Owyhee, dumped Sam's boat in the lake and left the civilized world behind for a full day of fishing. It was awesome.

Lake Owyhee, or "Lake Oweejee" as Grandpa used to call it, is a long, narrow, deep, high-desert reservoir out in the middle of North Western Nowhere, Oregon. It follows a winding canyon into the Owyhee Mountains and most of its shore line is completely inaccessible except by boat. It's also full of fish.

It didn't take too long before we were catching some of them. Sam's the expert bass man and he quickly snagged a few good looking small mouth bass.

It's not a real fishing trip if you don't have a few contests going on. I got the award for the smallest fish

I did manage to catch some more respectable swimmers. I think this one is actually the Day's First Fish.

Joel lured a really nice large mouth bass out of her hiding place in the rocks.

We released all the bass, kept all the crappie, and shot as many carp as we could with Sam's bow. We learned that it's harder than it looks. Joel finally managed to skewer one of the prolific critters.

We got home early enough to be able to fillet our cooler full of crappie before it got dark. The boys weren't much help.

Thanks again Sam, for hosting a very memorable day.

Summer Road Trip, Part 1: Grandma's House

We spent the Fourth of July in Boise this year, so you know what that means don't you? That's right; Road Trip!

The requisite Kids-Packed-In-The-Van picture. We're almost there kids, only 28 more hours to go!

The boys tried to mutiny about two hours down the road, but failed because Anthony's legs weren't long enough to reach the gas pedal.

No really, everyone did fine. We left Thursday after I got off work and drove through the night. By Friday afternoon we were ready to stretch the legs out a bit so we stopped at a little park in Rock Springs and had a picnic lunch.

It felt good to pull into Mom and Dad's on Friday evening. We slept in on Saturday.

Mom and Dad's little yard looks fantastic. Dad built some planter boxes along the side of the house this spring for Mom to work her magic and they've got vegetable plants exploding everywhere.

Mom has a few roses too...

My brother and his family stayed for lunch after meeting on Sunday along with a few others. It didn't take long for the kids to get reacquainted.

Anya and cousin Mia and Brandon and Shawna's girl Lily take time out for tea.

We convinced Uncle Sam to take us out on Lake Lowell in his boat to try a bit of fishn'. Anthony and Paxton and Cooper keep an eye out for carp.

Kenrick hooked at least three nice large mouth bass. He's turning into quite a persistent fisherman.

Anya thoroughly enjoyed having Grandma around to play with. I think Grandma kind of enjoyed it too.

More to come...

Handyman

When I finished the shed last summer I only gave it one quick coat of white paint, intending to come back later and give a little more permanent protection. Later tends to come more quickly that I would like these days so, facing the possibility that I wouldn't have time or energy to get it done any time soon, I told Kenrick that I'd pay him to give it another coat.
I figured it would take him a week.

He got it finished in a day and a half.

I guess I should find some more projects to do...

Summer!

Enough said.

Happy Father

With his four little chaos makers...

Second Swim Meet

The boys had their second swim meet this morning, an intrasquad meet here on home turf. They were originally going to be facing another team, but their pool was leaking or something so they couldn't make it. Anyway, we cheered just the same.

Anya won the glamour contest.

The cheering section. I know I look a little funny with two pairs of sunglasses, but one can never be too careful...

Anya again. She's just so CUTE!

Oh, I guess I should post a couple of pictures of the Kenrick and Anthony. Anthony swam the Free and the Fly and one of the relays. He's getting stronger by the week.

Kenrick swam nearly every event. Including the Upside Down Underwater Basket Weaving relay.

Sorry, I'm finding that after a while all the swimming pictures start to look the same.

Classic Paxton

 

First Swim Meet

So, after a week and a half of freezing cold, early morning workouts, the big day finally arrived;
Kenrick and Anthony's first swim meet. A week and a half of practice (with two mornings canceled because of cold weather) didn't seem like nearly enough time to get ready for your first swim meet, but there we were anyway, ready or not. The guys did great - Kenrick swam the 50 meter freestyle, the 50 meter backstroke and anchored the medley relay for his age group, while Anthony swam the 25 meter freestyle and the 25 meter backstroke in his age bracket.

The anxious swimmers in their Monticello Marlins shirts and snazzy racing suites.

The meet was at the Turtle Run pool in Danville, the home of the Turtles. It was a beautiful morning.

The team.

Kenrick's first start ever. His relay team was well behind by the time Kenrick started, so it wasn't much of a race, but he didn't lose ground anyway. Go Kenrick!

My camera battery died just before Anthony's first event, so I didn't get any pictures of that. Bummer. He swam hard the whole length of the pool and finished with a smile. Not bad for someone who wasn't sure he could even make the team just a week ago.

Kenrick's second event was the 50 meter freestyle. Kenrick already looks like a pro, now we just need to work on adding a little more speed.

Anthony gets set for the 25 meter backstroke. This is his favorite event. So far.

It looks like Anthony's drowning, but he's really not. Good job Anthony!