Fall Update 2010

Just go ahead and laugh at me. I kept my New Year Resolution a whole month. At least I caught up on the year 2009. I guess I better just start with the new school year.

 Erica has been playing soccer. Her team finally won a game last weekend(although they have tied several times)!! They have improved so much over the last few months and are really working together. It is amazing to see how much they have learned. Erica also turned 10 years old on 10-10-10. She had a great party with her friends and also got her ears pierced.

Josh has also been playing soccer. He likes being goalie. Luckily his team has switched to indoor soccer for the rest of the season so now we only have to freeze in the rain for Erica's games. He has been busy with Scout camp outs and is always willing to help me around the house. He had a lot of fun this summer riding  the 4-wheeler while visiting his grandparents. It has been hard for me to see him as a teenager, not just my little boy anymore.

Megan just finished swimming for the Gig Harbor HS Tides. She worked hard to improve her time in the 100 meter breaststroke. I am glad practice is over so she can have a little down time. She is up every morning at 5:15 am to get ready for Seminary. She is very diligent and self motivated. This week her job is to study for the drivers license exam. She turned 16 on Sept. 27th.

Tracy and I enjoyed our 19th Wedding Anniversary at a Huey Lewis concert. I had an AWESOME time, and Tracy seemed to genuinely have fun too.  Don't you think he looks great in a goatee?

March 2009 Victoria BC

My Mom came to visit for a few weeks in March. We took the opportunity to visit Victoria BC and Buschart Gardens. It was still quite chilly to visit a garden, but we bundled up and braved the cold. Here are a few of the 150 pictures taken at the garden.

Tracy

Megan overlooking the sunken garden.

Tracy, Heather, Erica, Josh, and Grandma Noble

Josh and Erica goofing off as usual.

Don't worry, Josh wasn't really peeing in the fountain!

Grandma and Megan

The next day we tootled along the coast for the afternoon just taking in the view and fresh air.

Exploring the tide pools.

We found a cool dead jellyfish! It felt like really firm, slimy jello!

Megan seeking a shelter from the wind.

A brief view of Victoria Harbor.

We enjoyed a relaxing few days in Victoria. Our favorite place is the Dutch Bakery. We ate fish & chips, spent a day at the Royal British Museum, and visited Miniature World. I can't wait to go back again someday. It is a wonderful city with endless activities.

Biking through the Tulips April 2009

My friend Cheri invited me to go biking through the tulip fields with her in Mt. Vernon, WA. We planned an all day trip just for our enjoyment. We dropped the kids off at the bus stop in the morning and took off for Mt. Vernon, just north of Seattle. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful colors and the feeling of spring in the air. It was a bit windy, but we had fun any way.

The highlight of the ride was the giant ice cream cone at one of the flower farms.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

We promised the kids to go camping, and since we didn't go camping  last summer they were really excited. We failed to reserve a campsite though, and were becoming reluctant attempt camping on a such a busy weekend. We discussed the options with the kids and they were willing to take the risk of driving a few hours and then attempting to find a place to camp. Their enthusiasm buoyed me up, so early Saturday morning we loaded the van and started off to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula. As luck would have it, we found a great camp site at the first place we stopped. We had a great weekend tromping around the Rainforest. Yes, I did say "Rainforest." It gets 140-170 inches of rain a year! Luckily for us we had quite a bit of sun that weekend.

Megan getting her glasses steamed by her hot chocolate.

Hiking along the HO river, in the Ho Rainforest, at Olympic National Park.

The sun was shining and we actually got hot while hiking that day. A very rare event in the rainforest in May.

Girls Day Out to Seattle

Megan's friend from Oregan City came to stay, so we had a "Girls Day" to Seattle. We drove to Bremerton and then caught to ferry for a quick trip accross the Sound to downtown Seattle.

Our first stop on the pier was for Fish & Chips.

Erica found a pig to ride.

Taking in the fun at Pike's Place Market.

Erica, Megan and Emily.

Megan can hardly contain herself as she looks at all the different types of cheese!

Sailing Activities

We practiced sailing a lot this summer so Tracy could get ready for his "Mancation" trip in September (check out the Sept blog for more info). We managed to attempt our first sailing campout in the end of August. We sailed several hours over to Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island and tied up to the dock at a local park for the night. I only have a few pictures, but the sunset that night was unbelievable.

We had plans to let the Josh and Erica sleep up on the deck. Had it not been for the rain that began falling as we tucked ourselves in for the night, I think it would have been a great plan (lesson learned, always bring a tarp along for emergency shelter). Since Josh didn't want to sleep in the rain, he squished in with Megan. Luckily Erica was experiencing a stuborn streak at the time, and refused to come in the cabin, so  it all worked out OK. It also stopped raining after a short sprinkle, so she didn't get too wet. Here is what we looked like in the morning. I thought it was a grand adventure, but others think we neeed a bigger boat next time. This boat is a 22" Catalina.

Megan taking Erica and her friend Leah out for a sail in the harbor.

 Our maiden voyage of the 30" Catalina. Not much longer than the 22", but a lot bigger!

Captain Tracy

Firstmate Megan

Deckhand Josh

Road trip 2009

Road Trip 2009 started on June 19th. Originally that was the last day of school, but since we missed nearly a week of school at Christmas time with a freak snow storm, the school district changed the last day to June 23rd! I refused to be thwarted though and decide to stick with the plan. We had along way to go and a short time to get there......


I picked up Josh and Erica from school at 3pm and we were off. (Megan decided to stay home with dad so she could go to her last band concert at 8th grade graduation). Our first stop was somewhere in the middle of Washington, on the Columbia River. I told the kids we were going to enjoy the journey and would be stopping whenever we felt like it. The first adventure that caught our attention was a heard of steel horses on the top of a ridge. We got out of the van and the wind was whipping around and tried to blow us over. We needed to stretch our legs though and just had to climb the hill to the horses. It was a great view, and a great start to our week long expedition of exploration! That night we stayed in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. It took a little while to find a hotel room. Apparently we planned to arrive the weekend there was a big Triathlon scheduled and the town was full of visitors.

Day 2 (June 20th)

We stopped several times during the first half of the day. First we pulled off at a "Hysterical Marker" called Nine Mile Station. Now a "hysterical marker" is really a historical marker on the side of the road. When I was little my Grandma Sims would tell us stories about how Grandpa Sims would stop at every Historical Marker he could find, and she would
tease him and call them "hysterical markers". My grandpa died before I was born, but every time she would see a "Hysterical marker" she would tell us we had to stop and then would again retell the stories Grandpa. Every time I see a historical marker it reminds me of Grandma and her stories and it makes me smile. SOOO...after telling these things to Josh and Erica, we had to also stop at every "hysterical marker" we saw.

Well 9 mile station was the birthplace of the "Smokejumpers". They are firefighters that parachute into back country wildfires when there is no road access. 9 mile station was also where the first mule team firefighters originated to help control forest fires. It was interesting to find out about something we had never heard of before.

Our next stop was about 30 minutes down the road. Erica was feeling car sick, so we stopped at the Elk Federation visitor center in some town along the way (maybe Kellogg, ID). They had a nice display of wild life, and we got free Elk calendars. We finally got to Missoula in the early afternoon and I realized we still had 4 1/2 hours of driving before arriving at Grandpa Yost's in Rigby, ID. So we grabbed a Little Cesar's Pizza to go, and hit the road. After lunch the weather turned a little rainy and the kids managed to fall asleep. I decided to make up some driving time and just skipped the next several "Hysterical markers" while the kids slept. We managed to get to Grandpa's house just in time for dinner. I should also point out this was my first visit to the state of Montana!

After spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa Yost's house in Rigby Idaho, we started off for Wyoming. We stopped for a picnic lunch in Jackson Hole and spent a little time at the Visitor center goofing off with the grizzly bear and elk.

We didn't get much farther down the road before we had to stop for another "Histerical Marker" at Josie's cabin by the Tetons. The view is of course: Amazing!

We goofed off so much along the way it was almost 5pm by the time we made it to Dubois. But we had to stop for the County Museum and see the Jackelope! I can still remember when I was little and saw the Jackelope. I was teasing the kids about it the whole trip. They didn't believe me that there was something like that "FOR REAL!" By this time we were tired of driving, but still had a few hours to go before finding Grandma Noble. We refueled at the nearest McDonald's and just keep going. Just after dark we finally found them at the Six crossings Mormon Pioneer visitor center, 30 minutes drive out of Lander, in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we only got lost briefly, and had to turn around only once.

Our next stop was to visit my Mom, and her husband Dick,at the Mormon Pioneer Trek center in Wyoming. They were on a mission there for the summer to teach visitors about what happened to the Martin and Willy handcart companies that got stranded there in the fall of 1849(I think that was the right year). I had always wanted to visit the center and was happy to finally get to be there. We learned about the pioneers and felt their testimonies of conviction and faith as they struggled to make it to the Salt Lake Valley. We got to pull a handcart for about two miles out to Martin's Cove(one mile each way), and that was enough for me. The kids were troopers though and would not give up. It was hot and they were tired by the time we got to the cove. I told them we could probably leave the handcart at the rest stop and walk back without it, but they said they could do it. I was proud of them for not giving up. Thy even made me ride back the last 400 yards, since I had let them take turns riding when they were tired.

We also stopped to visit Independence Rock. It was a very important marker on the way along the Mormon and Oregon trails. When we started out of the visitor center to climb up the rock, Erica saw a sign that said "BEWARE OF RATTLESNAKES." She was nervous and did not want to go. I told her not to worry because the snakes are use to lots of people being around and they would get out of the way if they felt us walking around. No sooner had we started walking up around the boulders at the bottom of the rock when Erica nearly stepped on this ball of snakes curled up in a depression of the rock! It was so creepy! I nearly had a heart attack. It was all I could do to get her to follow us up the flat face of the rock after that. I don't blame her though, even I was checking every little crack on the way up.

After spending a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Noble we headed off for Green River, Wyoming. I town in the middle of nowhere and home to several of my siblings. I lived in Green River between the ages of 4-9. My Grandpa lived there and worked as an engineer on the railroad. My mom was born and raised there. And I still have many fond memories of that waist land of a town. Why anyone would continue to live there by choice is beyond me. (I apologize to all my family that still calls Green River home.)

Any way, on the way we stopped at South Pass City. It is an old gold mining town that I didn't even know existed. We enjoyed wandering through the Ghost Town of old abandoned buildings, and even stopped for a game of checkers in the old saloon. I remeber it was quite hot and we could hardly get the ice cream eaten, that we purschased at the old general store, before it melted.

In Green River we met up with my eldest brother Eddie. The kids were estatic to get to go on ride with him on his "Harley." We stayed the night at my sister Lynette's house, and also gave my brother Roger a surprise visit. He didn't know I was coming to town, and it took him a minute to relize how I got there. It was one of those perfect "Surprise-I got ya!" Moments.

We also cooled off briefly at the new spash park. It was only 10am when we went, but it was hot and the water felt great.

After spending a night in Green River we started off for Vernal Utah. Land of dinosaurs, hot weather, and my high school reunion. The real reason we were going to Vernal was to stay with my "forever best friend," Anne Marie. The high school reunion was just the excuse to go. On the way we made several stop. The first being the Flaming Gorge "Dam tour." Josh loved saying that! We had just watched the movie "Transformers" the night before and Josh asked the tour guide "Can I see Megatron?." The tour guide responded back right on cue "No, but you will see some transformers." I am sure she had heard that line a thousand times, but it was still funny.

For our next stop wanted to show the kids one of my favorite places. The Dinosaur tracks at Red Fleet Reservoir. I remember how cool I thought they were when I was in high school and I came here on a science club field trip. We had the BEST adventure hiking one mile, in our swimsuits, in 90 degree or more heat, across the sand and rocks to get to the water. It was a wonderful memory we will all remember for a long time.

Our last stop before heading back to SLC was the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal. Here we are goofing off with the dinos.

So I survived my 20th year high school reunion. It was actually a little anti -climatic. I saw several of my close friends that I had not seen in a very long time, and that was what meant most to me. We ended our trip in the Salt Lake valley at Trudy and Travis's house. Then Grandma and Grandpa Yost picked up Josh and Erica to go to Idaho for a week, while I flew back home to go to YW camp with Megan. The road trip was not over though because I then flew back in 10 days to pick the kids up and drive back home. That was another adventure in itself.