Braley @ Kingfisher

Braley is fun and a fish so that makes her the perfect camping partner.  She is the winner for being in the water for the most amount of time.  That means any second she was allowed in she was in, swimming and having a ball.  Here are some of my fav's of Braley camping.

Above: Playing in the roaring rapids.

Below: On her way to the Bagby hot springs.

Loving her some hot, hot, hot water.  Seriously it was scalding and all the kids did it.  Not me---too warm.

Our bathing beauty.

She is such a fun friend. And she loves a good game.

Telling the Prop Man story.  In broad daylight.  OooooooOOOOoooohhhhhhhhh scary!

Above and below is my water baby.

Look at that good big sister.  She made sure that her little brothers ears were covered while the guns were going off.  Then when the noises freaked them both out she went and put Ansen, Ramses and her in the car and kept everyone safe.

Thanks for camping with us Braley.  You are lots and lots of fun!

Kahau @ Kingfisher

Here are fun pictures of Kahau @ Kingfisher.  I took so many that it is kinda nuts.  So here we go.

Above: Kahau and the falls.

Below: At the hot springs we had her fill this tub with some crazy hot water.

After Jason soaked Kahau and crew soaked.

Tree house for 6.

After jumping big falls into freezing cold water.

Mmmmm, dinner.

Our animal lover.  She kept him for quite a while and even introduced him to Ramses.

Daddy bought a bb gun.  She was super excited to give it a try.  I think her outfit is totally firearm appropriate, don't you?

After playing in the BIG rapids and strong current and where she made her first rescue as a lifeguard.  *See Rammy's upcoming post*

At the gravel pit.

I call this one:  "You saved my little life.  Now carry me everywhere."

She had fun.  She is super outdoorsy and we love her for that.  I think we will keep this kid around forever.
Thanks for being so adventurous Kahau!

Camping at Kingfisher

 We went camping this last weekend (Thursday-Sunday) at a great place about an hour outside of Estacada called Kingfisher.  It was a perfect location with a nice big site with a lazy river floating by. Add in being with our family (just the 5 of us) and great friends (and the 5 of them) and it was relaxing, exciting, and a great way to end our summer vacation.

 We hiked, well it was more a nature walk, hot springed, waterfall jumped, floated, rafted, climbed, and then the usual...ate, ate, ate, and slept.  Here are some pictures from our excursions and I have lots more to come.

 Oh.  And I shot my first gun.  This thing.  I think it took me about 15 minutes to gain the courage to even touch it.  I don't do firearms but with Jason's help I did it and I am glad I did.

It was a lot of fun and so, so, so peaceful....well except for the last hour where we blasted the heck out of a gravel pile full of targets.

"I survived and I loved it"

Today was the actual first day of school for Kahau.  Last Thursday was orientation and fun stuff.  Today she met her teachers, school staff and all of her class mates. Her school schedule rocks.  She has "really cool" teachers and she is uber excited about 1) science 2) health 3) an elective class called "That's so sick!" (all about diseases) and 4) sharing a locker with one of her best friends, Lexi.

She was convinced that she didn't want to go this morning.  She was nervous which, in turn, made me super nervous but we were both having butterflies in the belly for no reason.  She walked through the door this afternoon and and declared "I survived and I loved it."  The big smile across her face was so nice to see. She couldn't be more excited to see what this year has in store.  We are sure it will have it's ups and downs but I know she will have a wonderful year of fun, growth and all that new big kid stuff.

What?  Where's the picture of her this morning?  Oh.  You noticed there wasn't one?  Well, I was kind of banned from taking one so you are just going to have to imagine a cute blonde in a sassy outfit wearing the cutest look of "holy crap" mixed with confidence. Yea, it was priceless.

And she is off

 I tried taking a few pictures this morning as Kahau left for her first (unofficial-it's orientation) day of Middle School.  They weren't really working out.  So unusual.  How hard is it to stand there and smile?

 Answer:  Very hard. 

Especially when this is what you have talking to you from your left :

 And your right:

Good luck today Kahau.

You got this.

Face plant

Tucking the girls into bed the other night Braley crawled onto the top bunk and I said, "You are doing a really good job up here.  Thanks for not falling out of be and busting your arm."

Famous last words.  Why do I jinx myself and my kiddos?

A mere 6 hours  latter we hear CRASH and crying.  Braley.  On the floor.  Mouth and face bleeding.  My poor baby.  We think she fell out of bed face first and wham! drama ensued.  

So her face is busted on her forehead, all down her nose and above her top lip.  This picture doesn't show the damage as well as I would like it too but believe you-me, it is there and an angry red color.

The picture she is hold is proof of one of her many prior face plants. I believe she is about 10 months old in that old photo. Lucky for this chica she is pretty as ever and healing nicely.

***

And p.s.-Jason has now added extra beams to keep falling children off the floor.  One in particular.

Guess what-revealed!

That is right we thought it would never, ever happen...but it did.  We learned how to play the Jews Harp and the Kazoo! The whole family did.  I know!  So exciting. The previous Guess What!?!?!? pic sure did look like something else at first glance, didn't it?  Nope it was just a new, shiny, white kazoo.  And it is now the bane of my existence.  Just when I think I have put all 5 away-the noise begins.

On the way home from camping a few weekends ago Jason kindly found us the International Jews Harp festival to attend.  We do love us a good festival; so we went.  Honestly, no one had a clue what a Jews Harp was (we drug our friends the Stimpsons and the Maughans along on our epic adventure) but we all do now.

Just look at our crew.
We literally doubled the festival size with our 13 people and let me tell you how excited they (the organizers of the event) were.  The music was really neat.  Ever been to the Country Bear Jamboree at DisneyWorld and/or Disneyland?  It was like being at the real life version.  So neat.

What a Jews Harp actually looks like below.

I would have to say that my most very favorite moment of the day was the incredible rendition of Burning Ring of Fire done on the kazoo.  It was just about the purtti-est  back country version I've ever heard.  Thank you for bringing that gem to us Johnny Cash, I owe you one.

We love embracing our inner hillbilly.