A Day at the Lake

Coffinbury Lake, Fort Stevens Park. What a beautiful little spot on this earth. Zoe swam for hours and I do mean hours. Mostly in circles. People would come up to me and ask if she was ok. Or how I trained her to do that. Or how come the other dog wasn't swimming too. Or... how was I going to get her out...





When I did get her out, she wasn't happy. She wanted back in, but I was afraid she was getting hypothermia. She was whining to go back in though, crazy girl.



Frank and Luke went fishing while all of this was going on. They rented a boat and headed out.







Meanwhile, Kesia was nice enough to hang out with me while I watched everyone else having fun swimming or fishing. Well, ok, neither one was really on my plan for the day, but sitting on the dock in the sun WAS.





Eventually, the boys came back from their boat ride (no fish caught) and joined me on the dock. Except by then Zoe was shivering and whining because she wanted to go back in and I wouldn't let her and I was ready to leave. However, this went on until almost dark:







Sadly, no fish were caught off the dock either. Many photos were taken though.

Back at the campsite

Here, Frank, Luke and "Bubbles", the name Luke gave the RV.



The party cabana tent - I figured, if I was going to do this RV camping thing, I might as well do it in style.



And here it is in full glory:

More Beach Happiness

The day started to get nice - the sun came out and the light was amazing. I was sorry not to have brought my nice camera - these shots are all with my cell phone.

Off to explore

The skies opened up at breakfast again, but were looking hopeful after. Pancakes were the best we've ever had, aside from those blueberry pancakes Luke and I had at some little restaurant at Pike Place Market once. Yum.

Off to explore Fort Stevens State Park, across the way.

Made it throught the night.

Just barely. The bed sucketh. Seriously. Plus... the sky opened up and dumped down at half-hour intervals. The loudest rain in the history of downpours. The shower skylight leaks... at least it's the shower and not the bedroom, right? But still. Diesel trucks and RVs are loud and travel through out the night it seems. Just inches from us each time... Luke slept like the dead, I think I may have gotten an hour total.

Lucky thing, I brought my espresso machine. The coffee is good at least. The dogs enjoyed their breakfast too.



The sky is dark, it's brr windy cold. Free all you can eat pancakes coming up if we can find the breakfast hut.

We're Off!

Two hours packing up the RV, dogs on last... and it starts to pour down buckets of rain as we drive away from the house. Lucky. Seriously feeling lucky. We didn't have to load up in the rain. Even though the forecast calls for rain all week, we are starting out dry.

The dogs are thrilled beyond words. To be included. To come with us. So very exciting! Luke is bouncing off the wall, at least his energy is. Physically, he's strapped in and trying to play it cool.







That lucky feeling fades as we hit I5, traffic backed up all through the city... and all the way down to Olympia as it turns out. It took us over 3 hours to get through Tacoma. A record, I'm sure, it should have taken one. Three hours of driving a vehicle the size of my living room down the highway in stop and go. Feeling a little "what were we thinking". Not loving this RV thing on the highway, even though Frank is doing a great job driving it.





Finally, the rain cleared out near Fort Lewis, as did the traffic. Blue skies... feeling a little luck again. Behind schedule though.



We hit Oregon and cross the Columbia River. It's past the time we had planned on arriving at the site, but it's still not raining... soooo... again, that lucky feeling... Luke is starting to fade, he's lost that excited bouncing off the wall attitude and has started asking, quite regularly, the age old question: "Are we there yet?" and "When are we going to get there?". The dogs are still quite happy to be included in this adventure, though Zoe seems to be getting nervous and if she could talk, I think she would be asking the same questions as Luke. She spent the entire trip standing in that spot between the driver and co-pilot seats.







Oregon is beautiful. We see elk, deer, an eagle, Luke says a fox... gorgeous windy roads that go on for a long long time... (No, we are not there yet.) the skies get dark again... not because it's time, but more rain. Astoria... 29 miles... getting close. Rain. Dark. Oh we need gas. Might as well get some ice cream too since the freezer seems to be cold now.

(Astoria looks like a wonderful little town, must make it back there some day to explore properly.)

On the road again... yes, those words are accompanied by music each time...

And then there it is... the KOA sign. Park the RV, get up to find the registration papers, trip over a dog, a kid, kid starts crying, it's way past his bed-time. Past mine too. But oh look, the rain stopped again. Ok good. Luke is not crying, we are all registered. They say no rotties, pit bulls, or dobies. We tell them Zoe is a mutt (she is.) She'd better be good or they will kick us out. She says she will be. And off we head to our spot (C8). Oh, missed Columbia drive, here we go touring the campground at close to midnight, ok, back where we started, try again... there it is. Phew, we've arrived. We may never leave, is how I'm feeling... though... that thought is gone as soon as we lay our heads down on the bed and discover it slopes down. Head lower than feet. Can't sleep this way Darnit. Have to make the bed the other way. Not cool. Not comfortable. Dog kisses. Sigh... it's going to be a long night.

My New Favorite Necklace

I love this thing! It's SO me. It's been in my head now for oh... 2, maybe 3 years - however long I've been making these flower wheels. I have tried several ways of stringing/wiring it together, but it's never worked out. Then Luke came home from Summer Camp knotting friendship bracelets and that looked a bit easier than the fancy ways of macrame/knotting that some people do, and since it was hot and I was feeling lazy, I decided to try it, and I like it! It only took about 4 hours to make, not including the time to make the beads, so still pretty time intensive... but not as much as the last fancy knotted necklace I tried to make and remains unfinished still.

I'll be wearing this one to the Frantz August Art Glass Bash - so if you are going, look for it and you'll find me!

An Angelic Moment

Summer camp ended today and his camp councilor sent me this photo. Love it.



Most of the time he's moving so fast you can't catch him. Like this.

Beach Chair Necklace

Amazing, I made something! It felt sooooo good to melt glass again, it's been way too long. Though, I have to say, twirling a mandrel with guitar string callouses is a new experience. Will have to remember not to practice my chords before hitting the studio.

Senior What?

We got a card in the mail the other day from the vet's office. It said it was time to schedule Zoe's "Senior Wellness Exam". What? I remember when she was all of six pounds, looking up at me with those dark brown eyes, begging me to take her home. Eyes that looked into my heart and soul, and mirrored her own. It seems like yesterday, almost. Certainly not the better part of a dog's lifetime ago. How can it be?

More Summer Fun

The hollyhock is blooming, love that thing.

The guitar lessons are going well. I'm learning from David Taub at Next Level Guitar. Luke is taking lessons from me, and Frank is taking lessons from Luke. At the rate things are going, Frank will probably be playing before me and Luke, but that is only because he keeps hogging my guitar. I need to get him one of his own.

Luke's speech therapy is coming along - he's working on "ch" and "j"/"g" and then he's done, all caught up and done with that. Vision therapy is going well too, improvements every week it seems. Several months more of that though, but it's all good.

We were going to take a road trip to Montana to dig for crystal and dino bones this month... but I got cold feet. Or rather, I thought my feet would be too hot. And dry. And dusty. So I pulled a the "I'll miss the dogs too much" card and the next thing you know all our plans have changed. A (gasp) RV is rented, a KOA campground space is booked, and we are off on an All-American Family Vacation. Dogs included. An adventure, for sure. I'm not sure how it happened... but there it is. We are heading to the Oregon Coast. Luke is super excited. He drew this great picture: Frank is driving, I'm cooking something that steams, he's playing a game at the table, the dogs are riding with us happy as... well dogs in an RV could be.



And right this very minute, we are watching the movie I rented for Frank: "RV". Just to see what we have gotten ourselves into. Haha, it can't be that bad, can it? I'll let you know. Stay tuned.