Indiana and Ione

Three weeks ago I heard about the AHRMA race that was going to happen down south of Spokane and so I thought it was a great time to get the family out there and go see some cool old motorcycles running all over the hills.  They did have a little kid 50cc class that amazed James and he thought he really would have liked to do that.  I also got pretty jazzed about the vintage class and it looks like the kind of good old fun I would really enjoy.  The general age of the racers is middle aged and there are no jumps so it is a lot safer than motocross, but we will have to see.  I need more room if I want to buy another bike anytime soon.

 

James loved watching the races.  Cowboy boots, jeans and a tank top are standard attire for our boys.

Here is one of the starts of a race.

Matthew is a now an official biker.  He got his training wheels off a couple of weeks ago and is tearing around.  He still has trouble getting started, but he will go over the 4" jump I built without crashing so he has the whole riding thing down pat.

Classic fall picture that I don't get tired of taking.  The pumpkin this year is only about 170lbs, but still is a good one to have at the house. 

 

Last week we got back from a trip to Lafayette IN to see Brenda's sister and her family.  It was very relaxing to go out there and hang out.  The weather was pretty good and the temps allowed for hanging outside by the fire long into the night.  I loved just sitting out there and relaxing while the girls played with the boys.

Popsicle time is always a favorite

S'mores were also a hit and before we knew it, Matthew had four marshmallows down the hatch.  He did not want them warmed up at all.

I am so glad that chain on this swing did not break.  It looked about as good as bailing wire to me, but it held all of the kids hanging on it.

We also went to the local free zoo that is about 3 blocks from Dan and Sarah's.  There was a train there so we had to ride it.

One day we thought it would be fun to go out to Turkey Run SP and canoe down the Sugar Creek.  We had a blast.  The water was a little low, but we saw a bunch of fish and made it the whole way without getting out to drag the canoe over the rocks.

On the float you pass under 2 covered bridges and under a swinging bridge.

Arrr...the crew was getting restless.

Finally it was time to go home and we had an afternoon flight out of Chicago so we spent a couple hours at millennium park.  Perfect day in Chicago, but the price for parking nearly made me puke.

Classic Chicago picture.

Here is James just before the annual pumpkin weighing.

Proof that Matthew can and does go over the jump.

Brenda found these two carrots in the garden the other day.  When taking them apart, I only broke one. 

Finally it was once again time for the annual train ride to see the fall colors I Ione.  we were running a bit late this year and had to go about 80-90mph in the last 10 miles on curvy roads to make it just as the train was getting ready to pull away.  Very close call and I think if Jim and Jan K were not there to let the conductor know we were coming, we would have been left high and dry.

You have to get you picture with the engine...it is a must.

I had a photo similar to this last year with James so we thought we would recreate it with Matthew.

Finally, here is the kiddos with J&J.  James is posing in classic senior class photo form.

Labor day at the Coast and 1st place "racers"

The thing about going on vacation is that I tend to take a lot of pictures and then I have to go through them and get the number down to a reasonable amount to post online.  I have failed miserably this time, but since we had such a fabulous time on the coast and the weather was perfect, I will give myself a pass.  We headed out a few days before labor day to the Oregon coast and had a condo rented in Lincoln City.

The weather when we were out there reminded me of the California coast.  Every day it was 75 degrees and sunny without any clouds.  I had to keep reminding myself that this actually was Oregon.

Our condo was just down the street from the pier and Matthew loved to hang on the light posts and run from one to the other.

The sunsets were perfect and for three nights we had this view.

And of course you cannot go to the beach without throwing stuff into the water.

I was pretty set on clamming and crabbing when we were there so day one had us hitting the flats at low tide and digging for clams.  James was actually a pretty good helper and in no time we had our limit of 72.

This kid can be such a cheeser.

The kids love to dig and hang out in the sand.

We found a little park that had some cool things for the kids to play on.  This was found while walking around and waiting for the crab trap to "set".

Check out that coast.  We saw a bunch of whales or what may be more accurately described as mist being blown into the air and then a indiscriminate back of a whale.

Of course when you are on a coastal vacation with Brenda you are required to go to at least one lighthouse.

We finally found the pier in Northport which happened to be a hot spot for crabbing.  In no time we had a few crabs.  Every time you take that trap up, you never know what you are going to catch so it was really fun.  In all honesty I was just glad to a catch a few.

Then, it was back to the beach, which is the real reason the kids wanted to come in the first place.

James surveyed the waves.  The waves were pretty big and although it was warm, it was not warm enough to swim.  Matthew got knocked over by a wave and James then thought he had to get in as well so he went ahead and laid down in the water...kids.

The next day we were off to Silverton Oregon....

...after a stop at the coast for one last photo op of course

We headed to Silverton for the "Oregon Gardens 200".  The race is really not a  race in the sense that if you finish first you win.  This is a timed event where you win if you finish closest to the time that you should have finished in...which you don't know.  There is some strategy in it, but since you are shooting in the dark as to the time you need to get to win, it is really a guessing game.

We were relatively trouble free (lost all brakes twice and had to do some roadside repair), but we did help a fellow race with a flat tire.  You can see the hose connected to the tire in this picture and the other end off the hose is actually ran off of compression from the cylinder of the model t engine.  Pretty cool invention and it was nice to see it in action.

James got to hang out and wave the finish line flag.

Jim and I did finish first in the race by about 45 second and we were as shocked as anyone.  Last year we broke down in the first 15 miles and this year we win it.  I will forever be memorialized on the trophy as the navigator and mechanic although Jim did all of the wrenching.  We had a blast.

On the way home we stopped by Snoqualmie Falls for a "attitude adjustment" and a good photo op.

When we get home we found all of these in the garden.  I guess it is time to make some salsa and some tomato soup.

James and Matthew are doing some team corn eating here.  I don't think it worked to great, but they enjoyed it.

Classic summertime fun in the backyard.  The best thing about eating outside is that you don't have to clean the floor.

Now it on to the stuff the really matters.  James asked for a jump the other day and so I grabbed a 4x4 and threw it on the ground and then went to go grab a ramp.  While I was grabbing the ramp, I guess James thought the 4x4 was the jump because the revved the engine up and hit that thing at full speed.  Luckily he did not crash, but before he could hit it again I got the ramp up.  Then he informed me that the ramp was too low and so I put some bricks on it.  After that, he was golden and ran over that thing about 50 times.

 

I took a ton of pics.  That kid took to the jumps like a frog to water.

And the end this post with I think I will end with the ride the boys took at the fair last week.  Although there was not a rodeo, they insisted on dressing up "cowboy" and ended up having a great time at the fair.

American River Guard Station Vacation

Two weeks ago we got the chance to got o Mt Rainier and rent a USFS abandoned guard station so we grabbed it.  In all honesty we have had this scheduled for a few moths, but we were glad to get away for three nights in the middle of nowhere without any semblance of cell coverage.

Immediately it was time for climbing and outdoor fun.  A tree had fallen at the cabin a  few weeks before(according to the visitors register) and that made a perfect place for the kiddos to climb on.

This picture must have been taken on the first day since Matthew is clean.  The cabin did have electricity, but there was no running water so there were no baths for the few days.

Bear with me since this post is going to be very heavy on the kiddo pictures, but it had bee so long since I have had a bunch of days together with the kids away from work that I did take a ton of pictures.

We did bring the bikes and the kids did ride down the drive to the campground that was just down the way.  There was only two campers at the campground, so it was a nice quiet place to tootle around

James is a master at riding off road and that of course means that he gets flat tires.  This was his first flat, so I did not have any patch kit with us which meant the bike riding was not possible for the last day or so.

The cabin had a great classic screen door.  It was so nice to sit and read my magazine and listen to the screen door open and slam shut and the kiddos went in and out of the cabin.  The slam of that door reminded me of summers at grandmas house and there was something so refreshing about that.  The sliding screen door at home just does not cut it.

Here is a quick pic of the cabin.  Kind of rustic, but very clean and fun.

The first day we headed to Sunrise to get a great view of Rainier.  The smoke was minimal up there due to a wind shift so it was nice to get out of Spokane.  As you may be aware, Washington is really on fire and the air quality in Spokane is the worst air quality ever recorded.

The kids and wife were troopers on the mile or so hike up to the ridge to get a great view of the mountain and the mountains to the north.

Such a nice view.

Later that day we went to hike a cave.  It was pretty mild as far as caves go and really short which is perfect for kids.  They were pretty scarred, but since it was so short, they only were worried for a little bit.

The next day we went to Paradise for yet another view of Mt Rainier.  It was crystal clear this day and apparently there was a mom and cubs hanging around the lodge right before we got there.  We did not see it and decided to go on a hike and then when we got back, we found out the trail was closed since the bears were on it....and we still did not get to see them.

Cool view from up there

On our short hike the kids thought they could stand up like the marmot in the background.

Then it was back to the cabin for another game of connect four.  James is still learning it.  He understands four in a row up and down, but is really confused about the diagonal.

Dirty brothers loving it.

On the way home the kids were getting a bit restless for the last 40 minutes so we opted for the old "lets try and make truckers honk".  Matthew was adorable and got a ton of honks.  Since James was on the wrong side of the car he was not very happy, but I honked my horn to try and appease him.