Scouting For Food

Last Saturday both boys participated in a scout service project, requesting food for the Mount Lake Terrace food bank at one of the local Fred Meyers. Along with the Boy Scouts, they stood by the grocery entry way, handing out flyers for "Scouting For Food". Our boys were signed up for a 90 minute shift. They started off great, alternating turns on handing out the flyer. Unfortunately, half way through their shift, Kristjan started having some slight behavior issues, so I sent him with Pete to do our grocery shopping. All in all, it was a good experience.

Back To School!

Today was the first day back to school! The sound of parents cheering and jumping for joy could be heard everywhere!! :)

In all seriousness, Pete and I were very excited for our boys. Clifford started 3rd grade with Mrs. Marks and Kristjan started 2nd grade with Mrs. Brown. They looked so handsome in their new clothes, awesome shoes, and stylin' hair.

After we dropped the boys off, Pete went back to work and I attended a Moms and Mimosas gathering. Then this Friday I'm invited to another moms get-together for breakfast. So far this year is off to a great start :)

Side Note: The pic of Pete hugging Clifford is my favorite. Clifford didn't want "hugs and kisses" from us. Pete took it as a challenge. Clifford is trying to run away from Pete :)

Clifford and Kristjan's new shoes. Stylin'!

Sundae Dinner

Tonight we had ice cream sundaes for dinner and pizza bites 'n corn dogs for dessert. It's a summer tradition that I like to do with the boys. They were excited. They kept bugging me and asking if it was time for dinner yet. When dinner time finally arrived, they were ecstatic! We've done away with eating dairy, so I picked up some rice milk "ice cream". We did, however, have real whip cream (and we threw the can away immediately after we were done...but not until after the boys got a mouthful of whip cream squirted into their mouth for a treat). I usually try to do this sometime in the middle of summer, but we've been so busy that I almost forgot! With school starting up in two days, it was a nice way to end our summer vacation.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend has finally arrived. It signals the end of summer vacation for the boys. And we typically go on one last summer backpacking trip as a family. Our destination was Snoqualmie Lake in North Bend. That lake seems to be a favorite of ours. We did a personal best, hiking 8.5 miles in only 4 hours!! Pete was expecting 6 hours, so he was very impressed with us. Plus, there were no tears on the way up by anyone. Pete was disappointed when he found out someone already claimed the campsite that he was hoping to grab first. We instead grabbed a spot right off the lake. The downside of that spot was the grass was wet and squishy. We had camp already set up for the night, so we decided to make due with it and try to grab a different spot the next morning before other hikers start to come in. Pete got a campfire going for us and cooked up some fresh steaks for dinner. DELICIOUS!! We were so exhausted from the hike that we were in bed by 7pm. Clifford was the first to fall asleep. The rest of us layed in bed awake, hoping to do some star gazing. Saturday morning was spent cooking up breakfast and meeting our camp neighbors at the next campsite. The gentleman's name was Erik. He was there camping with his girlfriend Melissa and a friend (can't remember her name). Pete was thrilled. It was like talking to himself. Him and Erik had the same interests in camping, gear, movies, etc. It was crazy how well they hit it off. They even exchanged emails. So after breakfast, we decided to take a dip in the lake. Pete and the boys went ahead of me while I put my swimsuit on. At the last minute, I decided NOT to put on my vibram toe shoes. Big mistake! I wasn't in the water more than 10 minutes when, in waste-deep water, I stepped on what I thought was a stick. HARD. It hurt. I walked out of the water to look at the bottom of foot, thinking maybe the stick slightly punctured my foot. Instead, I see a gash with blood gushing out. Some moron threw a piece of glass or metal into the lake, and I was the lucky one who stepped on it. I laid on a log while Pete and the camp neighbors worked on bandaging me up (their friend happened to be training as a nurse!). It looked like I would need stitches, so after we had some lunch we worked on packing camp up. At 3:30 in the afternoon, we were ready to make the long hike out. I somehow managed to hike out on my bad foot in only 4 hours, with Pete carrying both his and mine backpack! Those 8.5 miles seemed to take forever! It wasn't until we reached the car when I finally broke down crying, in pain. We then headed to the hospital in North Bend. The staff there were awesome, getting me in and stitched up in only an hour. The worst pain of all was when the doctor had to stick the needle in the wound to numb it. I bit into a washcloth and smothered my face into the pillow to keep my screaming and crying muffled. I received 7 stitches in all. The stitches can come out in ten days. I've spent the remainder of this holiday weekend just sitting around. I'm really afraid to walk on my foot. I have to buck up though. I have to take the boys to meet their teacher tomorrow afternoon, and then school starts on Wednesday. This definitely made for a unique adventure for us!