Sharilyn - Dont look. Serious.

We grabbed the boys again last week and tried to do another letterbox. We got mostly there, and then Gabe found a snake and chased it through the woods. He caught it. I have no idea what it was, but I gallantly took a picture and acted as non bothered as possible. After that, the desire to finish the letterbox lost their appeal. We left and went swimming!

Letterbox at Parker Dam

So, one of the days that Mom and Dad were here, we picked up Gavin and Gabe and headed to Parker Dam for letterboxing and swimming.
Last summer when Mam and Dad were here, we did this letterbox. I thought it was fun, and the clues were not super hard to find and it was long enough that it wasnt over too quickly. And I thought that the boys would enjoy it too. We found where the trail was to begin and followed a trail through the woods. The next clue was to find 7 stones crossing the stream. Here they are.

It was a bright, sunny day, but the humidity was okay.

Next we had to cross 3 bridges. Here is the first one. It was makred by the large rock beside it.

Here is the next one.

It was marked by this stump beside it. Hard to see with the surrounding greenery and the new trees growing from the stump.

This little guy was laying in the trail. Of course, we had to have Dad pick it up so we could all see it.

One of the clues was to look for an enourmous rock IN the trail. Think we found it! It was warm from the sun.

Next was to look for an enourmous rock IN the creek.

Made it to it. Without getting wet, or taking shoes off.....

Then we had to find an enormous rock ACROSS the creek. The kids decided they needed to get to it.

The first 3 made it over quite quickly. Dad helped Shelby navigate the rocky pathway.

They made it!

Next, find the "S" shaped tree. Here is Shelby by the tree.

And all of them standing with their backs to the "S" shaped tree looking for the next clue.

Tada! They found it!!

When you go too quickly up the trail and then have to wait for everyone else to catch up, well, it can get a little boring..... Poor Colesy!

This is a pretty cool stump that has been pecked by wood peckers.

Mom taking a picture of the pecked tree!

scary sight! :)

We went for a 4 wheeler ride over the weekend. First, we went up to the shale pit and shot pistols. Matt used his Glock and I shot a springfield armory 9mm. It was fun. I dont really like the double action trigger, but regardless, I hit 100% of my targets with the first shot! And it was fun. The girls put clay pidgeons around for us to shoot. Pretty neat to watch them explode.
Then we went for a ride. The girls sit on pillows on the back rack thing and I sit behind Matt on the seat. It is cozy! We tried to go through a ditch, and the bike stood straight up and dumped all 4 of us off. Colesy got it the worst, as she landed in the muddy water. We laughed about it. Thankful no one was hurt.

Matt lets them ride it around the yard of the office. They LOVE it. I get very nervous. I take a couple pictures, and then turn my back! :) Mama is a chicken. I know it. They know it. Its a good thing they have a brave Daddy!

HOT!!!

Did I mention that it was unbearably hot last week? not only hot, but so disgustingly humid as well. This NW girl doesnt do too good in that. HA!

Robins: take two...

At the beginning of summer, we had a robin building a nest in our flower pot by the front door. We got tons of good pictures of her from the building the nest through when the babies left. And then my computer ate them! I was so mad to have lost all the pictures. But then, one day after the babies were gone, and the nest was empty, I saw a bird fly away from it. I didnt think much of it until I saw her fly away again... And so we got a second chance to watch over our robin eggs. First one.

Then two.

Then three!

And then one by one, they hatched...

Such ugly little helpless creatures.

And the girls named these birds too. Meesha was born first and is Colesys.

Melissa was born second, and is Shelbys.

The third egg was named Montgomery, before he was born.

But something happened to Montgomery, and he never hatched. :(

So while his sisters bet bigger, and hungrier, Montgomerys beautiful blue egg begins to turn. Brown splotches start to appear on it.

Meesha and Melissa are big enough now, that we can no longer see Montgomerys egg. I'm not sure if it is still in the nest or not.

Pretty soon these babies will be gone too. It is a nice feeling to have baby birds on our porch!

A perfect summer day....

We headed out for an adventure on Tuesday, and got more than we expected. It was a perfectly lovely day!
First we went to Farmers Inn. They have lots of animals and you are allowed to feed them snacks. Iguana

Turtle

This crazy emu. He sorta freaks me out, sorta fascinates me. We put his snacks on the fence...

He has the oddest color eyes. Sort of an orangey-brown.

Fennec Fox. Colesy's favorite of the day.

When we were done at Farmers Inn, we went up into Cook Forest and played in the stream for an hour. It was so quiet and relaxing. The girls enjoyed their time, and I enjoyed my book. (I did walk barefoot down the creek bed first.)

It was so pretty. The sun was shining, but the humidity was low.

There is a log across the stream farther up that was named the Mossy Highway. The girls named this one the Slippery Y. (the tree has lots of branches to walk on.)

When we were done with the stream, we went up the road to the Silver Stallion Stables.

Here is Colesy petting a 2 year old. He was not participating because one of the newest workers had startled him, and they didnt trust him for a while.

These were the other 2 horses that were wating at the stables. The rest of them were out on a ride when we got there. We had plenty of time to pet these guys. The roan on the right is Shiloh and he is 18 years old. The speckled one is Gambler.

Shelby is riding Freedom. This is the one horse that Shelb decided she did NOT want to ride, and yet, this is the one they chose for her. She did great, and her and Freedom were great friends at the end of the trail.

Colesy was RIGHT in front of me the whole time. This is her on Thunder. She had a great time.

Ironically, my horse was named Olga!!!

So, turns out that taking pictures while riding a horse is hard! Most of them turned out ridiculously blurry.

The trail we went on was gorgeous! We saw a mama deer with 3 fawns. Our trail guide said that one of the babies mom was killed on the road, so the mama with 2 babies adopted it. He said it was about a 2 week process. The orphaned baby was just wandering around in the woods alone, and then eventually, he started running with the other 2 babies.
There was another spot along the trail where a doe was laying in a grassy area beside a fallen tree. The guide said she was there everyday.

Around another curve, a tree had fallen, and the dirt was still surrounding the roots. It was quite impressive, but there was a button buck laying in the shade. The guide said the deer could only smell the horses, not us, so they were not afraid.

Here is Colesy with Thunder after the ride.

Colesy, Thunder, and my horse, Olga.

And Shelby saying goodbye to Freedom.

Our ride was an hour long, and it was SO MUCH FUN! The girls were a little apprehensive at first, but they were glad we did it. They have asked to do it everyday since.

I dont know. My sit-downer is still sore.....