First Hair Cut

For some reason I have a hard time getting my girls hair cut for the first time until they are quite old. Maybe it's because they are practically bald until they reach the age of three. Then their hair starts growing double time. K didn't have her first hair cut until she started kindergarten at age 5. This time I went a little sooner with L, she is only in pre-k this year and I decided it was time. We have a great friend in town who cuts hair for only $5 and she does a fantastic job! She was a little apprehensive at first (L not Tami)  but once some snipping was done she relaxed and actually smiled for me.

I brought K with me so she could also get her hair cut. It's been a year and she really needed it. She helped to entertain her sister and told her what to expect, she's good at that.

Here's my big girl with her cute new do. It isn't much shorter however it looks a lot better! She really likes it but says next time she wants to cut it to her ears. I'm thinking maybe her chin instead.

I forgot to get a before shot of K's hair. It was all the way done her back and really needed to be cut. It was so tangley and looked just awful. Think Rapunzel's hair snarled and matted. She decided to go for a shorter hairstyle like mine so she could wear it down more often. Tami cut it to her shoulders and put in a few layers. It turned out super cute and she loves it! When it's dry it has lots of curls, just like mine. Now if I could only find time to get my hair cut. We will have to work on that.

Cruising vs. Hiking

For our anniversary this year we wanted to do something special, like go on a cruise. I mean, this is our ten year anniversary and we wanted to do it right. Well, the summer came and went and we never really had the time to do anything. So, M decided to take me on a backpacking hike to celebrate, just the two of us.
We originally planned to do a 30 mile hike but things didn't quite work out so we did a 10ish mile hike instead. We started near Charnelton Lake on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was pretty easy at first, the trail was clear with an easy up and down trek. The area by hubby wanted to take us to had been in a forest fire some years before no longer had a trail to follow. So we spent some time blazing a trail of our own crossing logs and pushing our way through new growth trees.

Eventually we got to the place we wanted to set up camp. As always M thought of everything. I got to relax in our hammock and read while he set up our tent and other items we had carted in on our backs. I must say it was enjoyable and relaxing sitting by the lake.

After camp was set up we headed for a short hike around Lily Lake. It was pretty and at the top of one area we could see other lakes nearby and the Sisters mountains. We headed back to camp to have some grub.

 See that "mountain"? You will see more of it later.

Although what I call a mountain my husband calls a hill.

I must say that Mountain House makes terrific meals. We split Beef Stew and Chili Mac. The chili mac was a little spicy but tasty. After dinner we enjoyed some cheesecake that M snuck up in his pack. What's an anniversary meal without sweets?

After dinner I was energized and ready to head out on an adventure. M had told me that the "hill" near by wasn't much farther than we had already walked that day and would be easy to climb up to the top. I was game but boy was he wrong! We had no trail to follow and most of the terrain was covered in fallen trees and burned branches, not to mention some parts were super steep and dusty.

 Lots of balancing on logs and crawling over logs hiking up the mountain.

 This was just the first summit and the picture doesn't do it justice.

It was pretty steep although this was the easier part of this hike.

 Gorgeous view from this summit.

 The Sisters

 See this picture? We wanted to get to the top of this.

Still doesn't show just how steep the mountain was. 

I am so glad we didn't have to carry our packs for this.

Here I am near the top. By the time we got to the top it was starting to get late. We had to make it back in double time so we weren't hiking in the dark. Luckily going downhill was faster than going up but we (okay, I) did a lot of sliding. It was mostly dusty dirt and hard to get a foothold. We got back just before night.

In the morning we awoke to warm weather and a dazzling sunrise. M made a fire for us to roast some marshmallows on while our Mountain House breakfast of eggs and bacon cooked.

While M packed up our campsite, I read my kindle and enjoyed some hot chocolate my thoughtful hubby packed for me.

 Getting ready to hike back out to our truck.

I had a great time and would love to do this again (a cruise would be nice too, just saying). We actually are thinking of doing a couples hike next summer. We have one couple already in mind (you know who you are 'V') but it would be fun to do with others. Are any of you game?

Fall Back to School

My girls headed back to school this week. K is now a big second grader and is excited about starting a new year. She is in a 2nd/3rd grade blend class because of school cutbacks. There are 37 children in her room and it's the smaller of the three classes. She already loves her teacher and knows most of the kids in her class.

L started her pre-k class today and loves her teacher. She was excited to see Shadow, the classroom bunny and hopes to feed it sometime this year. She knows a few of the children in her class from last year and had a great first day. She seems much more confident this year and was happy to let me leave when I said goodbye.

 

I am excited to have the girls back in school only because it will get us on a sane schedule. This summer has been crazy and hectic. I think the girls are excited to get back to learning and I will have a couple hours each day to work around the house, exercise, volunteer in classrooms, and maybe work on some projects. Here's to another great year!

Acrobat in the Making

L called me outside one day to see her do something "cool" as she put it. She told me I had to bring the camera with me. Imagine my surprise when she showed me this little trick. I had to go get the video camera too.

Cousins Part 2

After camping we decided to head up one more time to see our cousins before they headed home. We hung out for the day playing soccer, riding the ATV, hula hooping and we took a short trip to Silver Falls.

 Soccer in the field.

We only went to South Falls with the kids. On the way down K got stung by a yellow jacket. Her finger swelled up and she couldn't stop crying, it hurt so badly. M took her to the ranger station where they applied some ointment to take away the sting and gave her an ice pack. After a couple of hours the swelling went down.

We had a picnic after seeing the water fall then we headed back home. 

The kids played together some more and then we said our farewells one last time.

Loon Lake

We headed out to a fun camping spot with our close friends for the weekend. They brought their boat so we could go tubing out on the lake. The water was so warm, it was like being in a bath. The girls loved it! K even went by herself a couple of times.

 L liked hanging out in the cabin below deck.

 Our campsite wasn't too bad. We were close to our neighbors but had some room to spread out. There was also a hill behind our site that the kids enjoyed exploring on anytime we were at camp.

 The kids took chalk and beautified the rocks at our site.

Friends holding hands.

On Saturday we hiked up to a waterfall that was near by.

 Aren't they just adorable?

 There was a nice, clean sandy beach for us to play in when we 

weren't out in the boat. The kids built sand castles and 

swam with we watched from under out pop-up tent.

We went out again the second day to tube. I had a ton of fun. M took the girls out again and then wanted to go by himself. He told Randy to try and knock him off. Randy drove pretty fast and sent M over the wake. M had a terrific time but said it was tiring for his arms to hold on for a long period.

 Becky got to go out with her boy. Randy wanted to go but no one else had a boating license. I told M one of us should get one so next time Randy can have some fun too.

 Love his adorable face mowing down a s'more.

 Roasting up some s'mores.

 Getting ready to head home after a fun-filled weekend.

Thanks V's for camping with us, it was awesome!