August's Adventures

August was jam packed with places to go, things to do and people to see. The kids spent a few days with each of the Grandparents one week while I attended an intensive music class all day during the week. We went camping, the guys went hiking, Sadie and I enjoyed a scrapbook weekend together, Curtis went to camp, we all enjoyed a day at the beach. It was a busy, busy month. I think Curtis was only home for a total of only 9 days in August. Here's a few pictures of our adventures.

APE CAVES

Giuseppe (the youth pastor at ACC) was taking the youth group to the Ape Caves in Washington and invited Erik, Sadie and I to join them. The caves are underground and are formed by lava tubes. It is the longest continuous lava tube in the US. The section of cave that we hiked through was 1.5 miles long. It is completely dark in the cave and when we all turned off our flashlights we could not even see our hands in front of our faces... kind of an eerie feeling.

Curtis descending the ladder into the cave.

Sadie, entering the cave. (This is the part where she started to get a little worried).

However, as the youngest in the group she sure was a trooper and did a great job in the cave.

Look at those strong girls, Sadie and Hannah, holding back that bolder.

Three guys helped lower everyone in the group over this tricky little drop off.

Erik was the last person down and had to climb instead of be lowered.

The gang

An attempt at a self portrait in the pitch dark.

HIKING THE SOUTH SISTER

Erik and Curtis climbed the South Sister. One more of Oregon's top 10 peaks marked off of Erik's list! They left home Thursday morning and then hiked 2 miles up the mountain to Moraine Lake where they spent the night. The next morning they left the camping equipment that wasn't needed for the hike to the top at the lake and with lighter packs they hiked 3.5 miles to the top. Elevation 10,363 ft.!!!!! After hiking to the top, they hiked back down to the lake and spent the night. Curtis was so tired that he crawled into bed at 6:30 pm and did not wake up until 6:30 the next morning! The next day the guys had an easy 2 mile hike off the mountain and celebrated by going to see the new GI Joe movie in Bend.

Curtis at Moraine lake, ready to take on the South Sister.

Top of the mountain!

View from the top.

Snow melting into Teardrop Pool, the state's highest lake.

Obviously, these guys are used to humans.

The Lewis Glacier and a pool collecting its runoff.

The Middle and North Sisters.

Erik has plans to climb both in the same trip next summer.

Views from the top:

WI-NE-MA

Curtis came home from hiking the South Sister Sunday evening. I washed and re-packed his clothes so the next morning I could drop him off at the beach for a week of Jr. High Camp at WI-NE-MA. This was his first year at camp by himself with out Dad and Mom directing or Mom being a cabin mom. So, there are no pictures. But, from what I hear, he had a great time.

Then the poor guy was home from camp for about 12 hours before we left again for a week at East Lake. All in all, he was gone from home for almost 17 days straight!

EAST LAKE

We camped at East Lake with some really great friends. We hiked, fished, boated, visited an obsidian flow, fed ducks, played in the dirt, tried not to play in the dirt, shopped in Bend, ate ice cream for lunch (twice!), found some hot springs, and had a lot of fun.

Sadie feeding the ducks ritz crackers near the hot springs that were too hot to go in during the heat of the day. And the water smelled like Sulfer. The hot springs were waaaaay across the lake from where we were camping. Erik and I rowed our little boat all the way there and all the way back!

Sadie, James and Ethan threw pumice rocks towards the duck (it's a Juvenile Drake Mallard (thanks to a duck lecture from Doug)) in hopes that the duck would think it was bread and come closer.

Poor Sadie was the only girl out of the four kids. She was definitely feeling it. However, she got to go shopping with the Moms on Wednesday.

All the boys on top of a large rock.

An attempt at a group shot of the kids.

James, Sadie, Curtis & Ethan

Did I mention it was kind of a dirty, dusty place?

The little boys looked like this pretty much the whole time. Curtis and Sadie

did their best to avoid getting dusted to death by the boys.

A picture proving that Jen was there. Why are the Moms never in the pictures?

Doug and the boys

Look at those Happy Hikers!

A shot of me... just to prove I really was there.

Well, that's August for you. One week left and school starts. We'll be taking this week to get back in the swing of things and to get organized and ready for a busy, crazy school year. Curtis will be in 7th grade, no longer the lowest of the low in Middle School. Sadie will be top dog at the elementary school as she starts 5th grade. This year I will be starting my 4 terms of the Ed. Program at WOU. Erik will start his second year of work on his Master's degree. There's never a dull moment for the Neilsons. Hopefully, there will be time in there somewhere to update the blog, we'll see how that goes.