Fair Time

It's that time of year again.  The time when everyone starts coughing and sneezing...the dust in the air is so thick you can see it, you wonder if the weather is ever going to cool off, and the smell of cow poo hangs in the air.  Around here, that means it's Fair time.  Time to go eat some overpriced, seriously disappointing fried food and step in some animal excrement.  Oh yeah and see your kid's artwork (the highlight of course)...

Here's H posing in front of her artwork.  She won an honorable mention this year.  Way to go girl!
Here's a close up of her old lady (no...that is not a portrait of me...very funny!).

In case you couldn't tell, we are not really farm folks.  This was evidenced this year at the fair as we walked up to the cows and Sarah exclaimed, "Daddy that one is a girl because she is wearing earrings".  If they had an animal decorating contest at the fair, that girl could compete. 

Hey...Take a Hike Man!

OK...Don't mind if we do.

Last Sunday we went on a hike with the Outdoor Adventure Club from the High School. 

We hiked to the top of the Needles Fire Lookout.  You can't see it in this photo because it's hidden behind the tree on the left at the very top of that rock.

Here the girls are at the top waiting to go up the last few steps for a breathtaking 360 degree view.

There were about 40 high school students who went including this guy...

Being the chivalrous dude he is, he was sure to help all the single girls scramble down from rocks...hey, this hiking thing is kind of fun!

These little studettes and the big one in the background made it the whole way...about 5 miles in all.

Well...almost the whole way.  Daddy pitched in with a couple brief shoulder rides towards the very end.

It was a beautiful day!

Birthday Celebration

For their 6th Birthday, we took these two ladies to Hume Lake for a weekend celebration complete with fishing (they got poles for their birthday), row boating, swimming and cake and ice cream eating!

Daddy taught Grace how to cast her Disney Princess fishing pole.

Sarah was a pro with her Barbie pole.  Nobody caught anything, but the fun was in trying anyway.

This great looking bunch of kids joined us for the celebration!

Row, row, row your boat...but first put on some sunscreen!

It was a fun birthday weekend!

6 Years Ago Today...

Six years ago today, my babies looked like this...

A year later, they looked like this...

And a year after that...

And a year later...

And the year after that...

And one year later...

Happy Birthday my sweet, silly, special girls.  Stay tuned for this year's birthday picture.