Labor Day Weekend

I'll have to add pictures later...I'm at work...wasting time...and my pictures are on the computer at home. So the pictures will come later, but I'll fill in some details now.

Over Labor Day weekend the boys, Brad, and I went up to Manila with Brad's sister, Brooke, and her family. Okay there were lots of us up there. Brian (Brad's bro-in-law) has a cabin, and two of Brian's siblings have cabins just yards away. Staying in our cabin were Brad, the boys, and I, and Brooke, Brian and their girls. Jason and Monika (Brad's other sister) and their 4 boys came up and stayed in a neighboring cabin, along with Shanell (Brooke's friend) and her two girls. Oh yeah...and we had 6 dogs.

We had lots of fun. There was a parade on Saturday morning. They just shut down the highway and have a good old time. I was impressed. There was a fly-by, a motorcycle gang, candy throwing, Smokey the Bear, and lots of horses. Saturday night they do a boat parade out on the Gorge and fireworks. In usual fashion, Jake was not impressed with the fireworks. And like always, he fell asleep in my lap during the fireworks. Everyone else enjoyed it. Hiking to and from the firework watching spot was a little sketchy in the dark...but everyone made it with no real injury.

I was also VERY grateful for some good lookin' out on Brian and MacKenzie's part Saturday afternoon. Jake, Lij, and Kenz were playing in the weeds near the irrigation ditch trying to find critters and bugs and stuff. Brian was near by doing some yard work. Let me preface this with...when the ditch is FULL in the spring we don't let the kids anywhere near it...however, now the irrigation season is over there is not a lot of water in the ditch. I suppose you can guess what happened. Lijiah got a little too close to the edge and fell in the ditch. He screamed and cried and MacKenzie yelled for her dad and then ran for me. Brian had Lij out of the ditch and 1/2 way back to the house when I got outside. (I was taking a nap.) Lij was soaked up to his armpits. Brian said he was sitting in the water...so it was not even quite waist deep on Lij...still enough for a disaster...but thanks to the careful watching of Kenzie tragedy was avoided.

We got Lijiah stripped down and in a warm shower, put in his cozy jammies and watching a movie. He was fine. Jake, on the other hand, was still crying, "my brother, my brother." He was VERY upset that his brother had a mishap. He cried for a good 10 minutes after Lij was out and dry and in bed watching a movie. That brotherly bond is strong. The kids learned quick though...no one went near the weeds after Lij fell in. They all stayed well away from the ditch bank.

Jake didn't have anything near as dramatic as falling in a ditch. But he did get a whopper of a sliver in the bottom of his foot. It was about an inch long. It took Trey, Me, and Jorge to hold him down while Monika dug the sliver. We put some ointment and a band-aid on to try to protect the gaping hole in his heel, and wouldn't ya know...the stinker was out running around barefoot again in no time flat. I've kept an eye on it and I don't see any signs of infection, so I guess he's no worse for the wear...so far.

Monday Brad, the boys, and I drove down and took the dam tour. Brad had never been to the dam, and I hadn't been on the tour in years. It was a fun little outing. The kids especially loved feeding the fish at the bottom. They also wanted to play in the water. But since I didn't have life jackets, swimming suits, or dry things for anyone to put on we stayed out of the water.

It was a nice restful weekend. I just love going up to the Gorge. The peace and quiet (kind of, nothing is ever really peaceful and quiet with that many kids and dogs around), the beauty of nature, and good friends and family. It was a delightful weekend. Thanks to Brookie and Bri-guy for the invite.