Pumpkin Patch

Took a little trip to the P-patch with the kiddos. They had a great time in the Hay Maze, on the tractor-driven hayride, but mostly in the Corn Pit. The corn pit, for those who have never seen one, is like a ball pit (at McDonald's or Chuck E. Cheese or wherever), but instead of balls, it is full of dried corn kernels. Seriously. Five kabillion tiny corn kernels. They had a blast!

And Farmer JT (our tractor/hay-ride driver) had a little song with hand motions to keep kids sitting that I think I will have to use at home as well:

This is the hammer (Fist pounding on palm of other hand)

This is the nail (Pointer Finger tapping in the palm of other hand)

When the tractor is a'rollin (Lasso motion in the air above your head)

Keep your bottom on the bale. Thanks, Farmer JT!

And thanks to Ashley for the great photos!

Backpacking Copper Lake - August

Okay, so I'm a little late in posting photos from my backpacking trip in late August. I went with Rob Lee and Rob Harrill (I made up fun nicknames for them during the trip - they loved that) to Copper Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wildnerness, about an hour or so Northeast of Seattle. It was about 3.5 miles to the lake and nearly killed us. For some more fun, we hiked another 4 miles that day to Big Heart Lake (after dropping off the heavy packs at Copper). Total round trip ended up being about 14 miles. It was a great trip, we walked around four lakes total, several waterfalls and had a great time - except for the ever present mosquitoes of course. Each time I do these trips I wonder how I ever talk myself into them, but a few months go by and I want to do one again.